I remember eating at Love's in the late 70s. Those were the best beans. As others have pointed out there was pieces of beef in them. They had a sweet tomato smokey flavor and very rich. I remember the beans being smallish and red colored - if I were trying to duplicate this recipe I would start with pinquitos. I am pretty good at matching recipes and I would go with pan drippings and scraps from a bbq brisket, pinquitos, molasses, liquid smoke, tomato sauce/ketchup, perhaps a splash or two of apple cider vinegar, perhaps add in some maple smoked bacon and/or drippings. Let it all simmer a long time and reduce..these beans were thick..hmm maybe I will give it a try or two....