MacDill Area

The third generation of the Forney family now oversees the proceedings at Kojak’s House of Ribs. A white house with the barbecue sauce-colored trim, its wide front porch and knotty pine-paneled dining room as comfy as a ’70s rec room. It has built its reputation on all-natural Oklahoma-style pork spareribs, dry rubbed overnight, smoked for 2-3 hours then served in the buff. They don’t strictly need any embellishment, but there’s a hot ’cue sauce (red bottle) and a mild sauce (clear bottle) on the table. Pace yourself, because the house chocolate cake brings a square of sweet nostalgia struggling under the weight of molten fudge.