Ex-salesman is back at dealership smoking ribs

Earnest Morgan now smokes Texas-style barbecue ribs in the Infiniti showroom where he used to sell Q50s.

Morgan was the top salesman at Crest Infiniti and among the top 6 percent for the brand nationwide, before quitting to focus on the church he had founded and, eventually, a barbecue food truck.

Crest, in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, persuaded Morgan to come back — not as a salesman, but as its pitmaster. He and his wife, Cicely, turned the cafe by the service department into Earnest B’s BBQ, a busy lunch spot.

Even Texas Monthly, the state’s unofficial barbecue bible, has taken notice of Morgan, a Mississippi native the Frisco Chamber of Commerce named Citizen of the Year in March.

The magazine’s barbecue editor, Daniel Vaughn, said he had been skeptical. But Morgan’s ribs “would have been impressive even if I hadn’t ordered them inside a car dealership,” he wrote in a story published last week.

“I went in expecting a gimmick but instead found ribs worth recommending, and more important, an incredible story of a barbecue evangelist trying to improve his new home,” Vaughn wrote. “It might not entice you to buy a car, but Earnest B’s BBQ should be enough to get you in the door.”