Every few minutes at Brown Sugar Southern Cuisine, a U Street soul food carryout, a cook bounds up from the kitchen bearing a fresh tray of stewed collard greens, green beans, candied yams or another dish to restock the large, rotating selection of sides on the steam table.

"We change the case 15 times a day," said Bo Webb, chief cook and father of the owner, Brandon Webb. "If you leave and come back in half an hour, it will all be new."

Make sure to be there when they're serving our favorite entree, the beef short ribs ($9.95). Drowned in a rich gravy perfect for dipping a wedge of fresh, hot cornbread, the meat slides off the bone and dissolves on the tongue. A close second are the slow-smoked barbecue pork ribs ($8.95) that glisten with a thick, mild, vinegary sauce created by Webb, a native of North Carolina. Each entree comes with two heaping sides.

The sauce, which also covers Brown Sugar's popular barbecue chicken wings ($7.95), has been a staple in Webb's kitchen since he opened Webb's Southern Fish and Ribs at 14th and U streets in 1984. That establishment closed in 2000, and Webb, 48, opened 301 Fish and Ribs in Upper Marlboro. Last July, he closed that place to help his 24-year-old son, Brandon, launch Brown Sugar.

Though their roles are now reversed, father and son have always worked together. "He started me with it," Brandon said of the restaurant business. Bo Webb laughed and said, "At 10 years old, I had him on the cash register. He stuck to it like glue."

Returning to the neighborhood in September was like a homecoming. "We love U Street," said Bo Webb. "It's like we went on vacation and came back home."

Donald Betts, longtime owner of Ponytail's Shoeshine and Valet a block away, is happy to welcome the family back. "I like everything here," he said while waiting for lunch. "On my way home, I'll stop in and get dinner. Probably roast beef [$8.95]. They make a mean roast beef."

The Webbs also make sure that Betts, who is diabetic, eats only what's good for him. For starters: no barbecue ribs.

"They know what I should and shouldn't have," he said.

The staff keep tabs on several of the regulars' special diets, calling customers on the phone to make sure they are getting their meals every day. "Wives come in here and tell me, 'I know my husband eats here every day, and I want him to eat right,' " said Bo Webb, who believes watching out for his customers' health is a responsibility that comes with being part of the community.

First-time customer Bill Gladden of Baltimore has his own dietary requirement. "Everything now is so far from home-cooked," he said while waiting on fried chicken. "You want something that tastes of home."

--Matt McMillen (April 12, 2006)