Fatboi Style BBQ in Flint: Tastes like smoke is painted on

FLINT, Michigan—You’ll see him there, standing in front of a barrel grill on the roadside, just on the edge of a little parking lot on the northside of Flint. 

As he tends to the fire,Terrance O’Dell Sales will tell you himself: He’s a big guy. And, he serves up a sloppy, delicious barbeque—as well as few life lessons on the side. So, his place is called Fatboi Style BBQ. 

Sales says he has always loved food, and began trying out different recipes from home. Friends  and family began to take notice. 

“My uncle was really good at grilling, and I’ve kind of done it or have been about it some way my whole life, so when the chance came to to get a grill, I knew I had to do it,” Sales says.

The wind changes, and the coals crackle, with smoke winding in the wind. “After about 3 years of working around the kitchen at home, I got real serious about this the last two years or thereabouts,” Sales says with a grin. “Thats cause, well, ... no ill will to anyone out there, but I just don’t believe there’s a whole lot of good BBQ around.”

Fatboi offers a selection of turkey and chicken wings, ribs, and polish sausage. Customers have a choice of drumsticks or wings, with the ribs made to order in whole or half slabs.

“My barbecue sauce is a bit different,” Sales says. “I use a dry rub and don’t put the sauce on over the grill,” he said. “My thing is the marinade, you know? That way when it cooks through, you can taste all the different spices. It’s a little sweet and it’s smoky.”

And it is ... unbelievable, like the smoke was painted on the ribs.

Even in a downpour the grill is smoking and Sales seems relaxed, focused. “I’ll be real with you,” he says leaning over the waves of heat over coals. “I came home from the penitentiary, you know, and I really saw some things that changed me, and when I got out, I made the decision to change up,” he said.

Sales pled guilty to federal felony charges in 2010, stemming from drug and firearm possession as well as fleeing from police. “I knew when I got out, I had to give back,” Sales said.

After “paying his dues,” Sales says he started mentoring youth in the community through churches and other volunteer organizations in Flint. Then, he started his own program. 

“I knew I needed to talk to these kids out here,” he says, as a stream of flame leaps about the grill. “They’re out here dealing with so much, so I started Urban Youth Ministries, because I knew if I could change my ways and they saw that ... they might do the same.”

Whether volunteering his time cooking for the homeless or speaking to kids about hard work, Sales says his message is about hope for his community. 

“I want to show them the value of a dollar, because I don’t believe these children hear that enough,” he straightens a bit. “I want them to realize that hard work can take you better places than that other life—because on the other side, there’s no life for you.”

In just a few months, Sales plans to open a storefront in a building just a stone’s throw away at 6801 N. Saginaw St. The sign out front already says Fatboi. 

“I love it when people come out here for the first time,” he smiles. “Because good food translates to people feeling good. Good food gets people together, and that's what Flint needs right now—people feeling good and getting together. That way we straighten out this whole thing.”

Fatboi Style BBQ is set up at 6715 N. Saginaw near the corner of Alma Street and N. Saginaw. It is open noon to 7 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. 

Our tip: Lean-in and get the whole slab of ribs with a side of cornbread and coleslaw (it comes with every meat order, anyway). Yes, you will need extra napkins and be sure to block off time for the nap that comes afterwards.