What's The Best BBQ You Ever Had?

Kruez Market in Lockhart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1mEgyOlDn8

Rendezvous and Corky's in Memphis, it's great because they don't really compete with each other, they are both great in their own ways.

Van's Pig Stand in Norman, OK

I've never been to KC or any of the good TX BBq places, I know, I'm not worthy.  But I'm still new to Roadfood.

Jam


Vince Staten's Old Time BBQ in Prospect, KY for the ribs, Peak Bros in Wavery, KY for the mutton and ham, and the Moonlight in Owensboro, KY for the spread of their BBQ buffet.  I have also eaten and enjoyed the beef brisket from the Central Texan in Castroville, CA.  I have eaten BBQ in Texas, Missouri, but never the Carolinas which I very much want to do and now I may have to take a trip to Alabama.  Road Food trips are the best way to travel.

Vince Staten's in Louisville? You have to be kidding? Unless It's got a whole lot better from when I was there last summer, that was the worse garbage I've ever been served and called bbq.
I'm not a big fan of Moonlight either but most people seem to like it. To me it seems like pressure cooked meat and not smoked.

Personally I really like G.T. Souths in Indy.

The best BBQ I ever had, at least today, was the sliced ham at Peak Brothers in Waverly, Ky.

Norton,
   I watched the kitchen guys at the Moonlite do those chunks of Beef and Mutton in their smoker IN THE KITCHEN at the Moonlite. Trust me there is no pressure cooker use there.

I do agree with you about Vince Stantons in Prospect. The food was not good and the service was worse. We have tried it and found it very poor three times in the last couple of years. The name is the only link to "Real Barbecue"!
 
I do think I already posted my entry for the "Best", but I will repeat it here...I give the ears and the tail to Lockhart TX  Kreuz Mrkt, Blacks, and Smitty's all do a wonderful job on the BBQ. Add to that (tied in a 4 way for first place) Louis Muellers in Taylor, TX.
 
Honorable mention goes to the Brick Pit in Mobile, AL. great BBQ but in serious competition with the Oyster Houses in Mobile !! 6 dozen oysters on the half-shell will cut into your Rib and Pulled Pork eating, thats a promise!
 
Others worth mentioning. We like the Moonlite in Owensboro. The Central Texas BBQ in Castroville CA (near Monterey) was a favorite of ours from our SoCal years.  We miss Dennis Hayes at the Pit-control in Lexington, TN, The new owner just doesn't have the quality of the old guy! OH Yeah, Don't forget the Rib King in Indianapolis. Several Stores. We like the one on the east side near 465 and US 40.

I am so bummed out!

My daughter has been stationed at Ft Campbell KY since early 2007 and I have visited a lot, especially last year to help out my sil with their baby when she was in Iraq.  Anyway, I kept driving by Old South BBQ and wanted to stop by, but for one reason or another, it was the wrong time of day, sil was making dinner, etc. 

Well, they are moving in the not to distant future and I told them that this visit, we were going to eat there.  The place has good reviews on YahooLocal and I really wanted to taste their bbq.   We actually tried to go one other time, when my oldest son and his wife were visiting from Abu Dhabi, but there were ice storms. :-(

Anyway, we finally went and I got a combo plate with ribs, chicken and pulled pork as well as slaw and burgoo, which was also rated highly.  The waitress warned me that the burgoo was hot, but my sil said try it and if it is too hot, he'd eat it.   He later did and said it was very good.

I never did get to the chicken as I was too full, but the ribs, oh my gosh, the ribs!  They were so good, probably the best I have ever had.  They really didn't even need to be sauced they were so good, and tender, oh so tender.   I wished I had got a rib plate they were so fabulous!  The pulled pork was very good too, but it is the ribs I will be thinking about.  

The other night my sil said he kept  thinking about those ribs and really wanted to go back, but my daughter wasn't in a bbq mood and so they ended up at the Olive Garden.  Not a very good trade off if you ask me. 

I'm hoping to visit again in the next month or so and eat there again.

Old South BBQ
(270) 439-0351
11275 Fort Campbell Blvd, Oak Grove, KY 42262

Exit 86 off I-24.

The best I've ever eaten was from a little joint named Boyd's BBQ. It was operated by a little old man and his wife and her sister. My parents used to take us there when we were  kids and it was so good. The man passed away and his wife and her sister ran it for several years after he died, now they too have passed. They would even sold the pieces of dark, crispy skin by itself if you wanted it, I remember a lot of people wanting it. My parents still agree it was the best bbq they've ever had.
 
We have Starnes BBQ here and it's good, but I think Leigh's BBQ in Kevil is the best in this area. If it's bbq ham that is desired, Harned's Drive-In in Paducah is the best. The ham will melt in your mouth and the bbq pork isin't bad either. Their pork sandwhich comes with lettuce and tomato on it, I always tell them to leave it off mine.  

I just moved from South Carolina to New Orleans and I am having a hard time finding BBQ like home.  My favorite BBQ is Robert's Drive in.  They originally had a drive in-curb side restaurant at the corner of Remount and Rivers when I was growing up.  Now they have one near Rivers and Otranto and one on Ashley Phosphate.  I am craving their sandwiches and onion rings so much.  I cannot find southern mustard based BBQ sauce here in Louisiana so I am resorting to making my own.   I also like Melvin's and Maurice's BBQ also.  I am fixing a pork butt tomorrow, wish me luck.  If not, I will be ordering sauce this week.

I lived in Paducah (years 67-69) and going to Starnes was a real treat.  I still make a facsimile of their hot nasty sauce since they won't ship it. I never did care for their mutton however.

Western Kentucky (and Western Tennessee) are often overlooked by BBQ Hunters who tend to get focused on the major regional specialties. Other than the Mutton-lovers in Kentucky, The whole-hog cookers and other pork smokers seem to get lost in the rush to 'get the real stuff' !

Their are a number of fine Que joints in that area. I was amazed to see so many corner-stores advertising BBQ with smoke curling out of a cooker in front of the place as we drove down to Mississippi from Paducah last winter.

We hope to check out a few places on a 4 day ride down to the Shiloh Battlefield next weekend.

That is amazing because Ole Hickory Pits (commercial smokers and cookers) is only about 75 miles away in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  It is one of the best in the business and sells all over the US.
http://www.olehickorypits...ult.aspx?CategoryID=76

I recently ate at Slo and Low BBQ in Cocoa Beach, FL.  It was del-ici-ous.

I live a little over an hour from the best sliced sandwich in the world. With a share of fries, and the little pot of beans before hand, it is "victual heaven". BUT it is getting too popular and is more than a little wait at eating times, especially weekends, AND the license plates in the parking lot are more and more exotic. And I think you all are partly to blame so I am not mentioning names.
So I will give my number three favorite-Mike's in Mountain City, TN.
Sandwich with cole slaw. Take a knife and fork if you are eating in your vehicle or on the picnic table. Don't bother with fries nor beans. Unneeded calories.

God love em in Texas but ...... it's great food but it ain't barbeque!  Kansas has great ribs, ditto Memphis but when you say "QUE" you say Eastern Carolina, whole hog straight from God,  Bar....Be.....Que!!!  If EC whole hog is from God then Lexington, NC is Heaven!  The Greatest surprise of all (to me) is Lexington , TN; there are some honest- to- goodness, true blue Pit Masters of whole Hog delights that ply their art there!!  It must be the name (Lexington), huh.  Man , I love BBQ!!

BBQ in the mid to western areas of NC is excellent. But eastern BBQ is just too iffy. They will cook it in the oven or crock pot and then add mustard based vinegar sauce and call it BBQ. It can taste good but is by no stretch of the imagination BBQ.

Clark's Outpost, Tioga, Tx- Bar one!

In Macon, Ga. (and in Sanford,FL) , there used to be a place called The Pig-N-Whistle. Little Richard used to be a curb-hop there before he became famous. Their soft buns and pulled pork that was simmered with their sauce before they made the sammich was the bomb. I recently came across the sauce recipe online and made it to try with some pulled pork that I had made on my lil Brinkman smoker and the tast was the same...The flavor took me back to a time long ago... Johnny Harris' BBQ in Savannah aint too bad.

neilcody


In Macon, Ga. (and in Sanford,FL) , there used to be a place called The Pig-N-Whistle. Little Richard used to be a curb-hop there before he became famous. Their soft buns and pulled pork that was simmered with their sauce before they made the sammich was the bomb. I recently came across the sauce recipe online and made it to try with some pulled pork that I had made on my lil Brinkman smoker and the tast was the same...The flavor took me back to a time long ago... Johnny Harris' BBQ in Savannah aint too bad.

Next time you're in Sanford try Rockinribz, it's very good.

wfmitchell


BBQ in the mid to western areas of NC is excellent. But eastern BBQ is just too iffy. They will cook it in the oven or crock pot and then add mustard based vinegar sauce and call it BBQ. It can taste good but is by no stretch of the imagination BBQ.

Mustard is a South Carolina thing.  Your understanding of geography is quite bad if you think Eastern NC vinegar sauce is mustard based. 

I've never had "crock pot" bbq in Eastern NC either.  What a CROCK! 

creynolds


I just moved from South Carolina to New Orleans and I am having a hard time finding BBQ like home.  My favorite BBQ is Robert's Drive in.  They originally had a drive in-curb side restaurant at the corner of Remount and Rivers when I was growing up.  Now they have one near Rivers and Otranto and one on Ashley Phosphate.  I am craving their sandwiches and onion rings so much.  I cannot find southern mustard based BBQ sauce here in Louisiana so I am resorting to making my own.   I also like Melvin's and Maurice's BBQ also.  I am fixing a pork butt tomorrow, wish me luck.  If not, I will be ordering sauce this week.

Robert's?  Serious?  Oven cooked, non-seasoned pork smothered (most likely simmered) in mustard sauce is your favorite?  Each to his/her own.

I stand partially corrected. Mustard based is a South Carolina sauce but you can find it up and down the southeast coast.

But since I live very close to the North Carolina coast I know what I'm talking about regarding the pork that they cook in ovens and crock pots and call it pulled pork BBQ. It also happens in Virginia. Doumar's in Norfolk is a perfect example.

I was just at the Smoke Pit in Collinsville, IL about a year ago and that was very good.
I would have to say other than my own Q that was some of the best I have had in a long time.

The best I ever had was at this little place called the Big Shanty Smokehouse in Kennesaw Georgia. Portions are huge and the price is reasonable. Too bad I don't go down there too often... It's pretty far away from where I live. I'm stuck barbecuing on my own Weber Grill at home. While I do like to think of myself as a pretty good 'cuer, it's nice to be served sometimes.

     The best BBQ I have ever had was in Brunswick, Ga at a place called Gary Lee's Market.  Its about a mile and a half west off I-95 exit 29.  This place is not to be confused with the GA Pig which is east off the interstate.  Gary's is a BBQ place as well as a local meat market.  They have tables inside to sit at but many people get their BBQ to go.  The pork sandwich is served on a huge five inch bun with chopped boston butt with Gary's home-made special sauce.  It's a ketchup based sauce that is dark red and sweet.  If you don't want sauce, just say so, because they put it on while they make the sandwich (it's not mixed in with the meat like some places).  You can also get chopped pork by the pound, BBQ spare ribs by the slab or by the pound, halves of smoked chicken, and beef brisket cooked to perfection overnight as well as whole boston butts cooked the same way. Oh yeah! Gary's also has smoked BBQ wings that are great! They also make a mean sliced beef brisket sandwich for those of you who prefer beef but my favorite is still the pork sandwich with plenty of sauce!  Gary's also has homemade sides like potato salad, baked beans, and brunswick stew. The stew is excellent with plenty of meat and vegetables and goes great with the pork sandwich!  Gary Lee's Market is a must try in the Brunswick area of Georgia.

Are you related to Gary by birth or marriage?

I think he must be Gary himself.

Gary or not, it sounds good and I'd try it if I was in the neighborhood.

Best BBQ, hands down:  Wild Horse Mountain BBQ, Sallisaw, OK.  It's off a remote highway north of Sallisaw, about 5 miles south of I-40.  There's an open field just across the highway and pictures on the wall of country bands that have landed their helicopters in the field just to eat there.  If you go, get there as close to noon as possible, as they close up shop when they run out of food.  The BBQ sauce is what I compare all others to.  Chopped brisket sandwich makes my mouth water just thinking about it.  Order it extra hot, if you can stand the heat.

I'd have to disagree on Wild Horse Mountain. Their ribs are not spare ribs, St Louis or even baby back ribs.... they are loin back ribs/chops... which are more like pork chops than ribs. They must get some kinda special deal on them from nearby Mt View Meat Packing Company. I've never seen loin back ribs/chops offered as ribs in a BBQ establishment anywhere other than WHM BBQ. My wife ordered a beef sandwich. To my dis-belief it actually smelled like rancid beef fat. My wife wouldn't touch it but I'll try almost anything. It was not as bad as it smelled but I only ate about half of it and I'm usually like a garbage disposal when it comes to BBQ. I didn't really care for the sauce either. It reminded me of a 50/50 mixture of BBQ sauce and Pace Picante sauce.

If you like loin back ribs the place might be to your liking. I understand the old man that ran the place for many years passed away a few years back. Maybe it was better in the early days.

12 Bones BQ in Asheville, NC that 's only open for lunch
The Ginger Chili Ribs were outstanding!!

The best ribs (other than my grandaddy's) that I've ever had is at Shooter McGee's in Alexandria, VA, but you have to ask them not to char the meat (only downfall).  When they make it right, it's like heaven on earth.  Fall off the bone, lots of meat, and the sauce is off the chain.

Big Al's BBQ in Bull Shoals, Arkansas.

JayL

wfmitchell


BBQ in the mid to western areas of NC is excellent. But eastern BBQ is just too iffy. They will cook it in the oven or crock pot and then add mustard based vinegar sauce and call it BBQ. It can taste good but is by no stretch of the imagination BBQ.

Mustard is a South Carolina thing.  Your understanding of geography is quite bad if you think Eastern NC vinegar sauce is mustard based. 

I've never had "crock pot" bbq in Eastern NC either.  What a CROCK! 

I would say YOUR geography is quite bad. I have eaten at probably no less than a dozen BBQ places from CLT and east, and I always see mustard / vinegar based sauce.

Papa Deuce

I would say YOUR geography is quite bad. I have eaten at probably no less than a dozen BBQ places from CLT and east, and I always see mustard / vinegar based sauce.

You're conflating two different styles.  South Carolina mustard is not the same as eastern NC vinegar. 

As for poor understandings of geography, Lexington is east of Charlotte, and is the epicenter of red barbecue in NC.

Thanks Pocosin.

For the record...one more time...you will NEVER find mustard in North Carolina bbq sauce. 

(can't believe that I, North Carolina native, am arguing over North Carolina bbq sauce with a Yankee that thinks he knows more about it than a North Carolinian...lol)

JayL

a Yankee that thinks he knows more about it than a North Carolinian...

Plus ça change...

Pocosin

Papa Deuce

I would say YOUR geography is quite bad. I have eaten at probably no less than a dozen BBQ places from CLT and east, and I always see mustard / vinegar based sauce.

You're conflating two different styles.  South Carolina mustard is not the same as eastern NC vinegar. 

As for poor understandings of geography, Lexington is east of Charlotte, and is the epicenter of red barbecue in NC.

 
Perhaps you should look at a map of Lexington.  I have also been there and it is due south of Winston Salem and more to the north of Charlotte and perhaps slightly east.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Sundancer7


Perhaps you should look at a map of Lexington.  I have also been there and it is due south of Winston Salem and more to the north of Charlotte and perhaps slightly east.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

In other words, it's east of Charlotte,  just as I said. 

In any case, there's no mustard barbecue east of Charlotte.  That's the birthplace and center of gravity of Lexington style.  There's a DMZ 30 miles or so west of Raleigh where you might find either Lexington style or eastern style, and east of that, it's eastern NC vinegar and red pepper without exception.

We have recently started picking up ribs from E&L Barbeque in Jackson, MS. We get them with no sauce and put Dreamland sauce on them. They are wonderful. The ribs are big and meaty, not too fatty and done just right!

Big Mountain BBQ in Waynesville, NC.  6 different sauces offered, ribs were wonderful, and the choice of sides was truly awesome (I had the greens and the Vidalia onion casserole).  Plus, they had a kitty cat outside the back door that wanted a scritch and some petting (always a good omen).

Not to be missed!

From above, it still has to be Wilber's in Goldsboro, NC.
 
On our way back to Dallas from McLean, VA a few days ago we had a chance to enjoy Lexington #1 in Lexington, NC.  The meat was wonderful, but the Western Carolina sauce I found to be watery and bland.  I wish I had had a bottle of Scott's Sauce in the car!
 
For brisket:  Tom & Bingo's Hickory Pit BBQ in Lubbock is the best I've had so far in my five years in Texas.  In fairness, though, we have yet to travel to Hill Country where the Texas BBQ legends smoke it up.

Dixie Bones in Woodbridge, VA.
Buz and Neds in Richmond, VA
Skylight in Ayden, NC
Parkers in Wilson, NC
Lexington 1 in Lexington, NC
Georgia Pig in Brunswick, GA
Jim Neely's Interstate in Memphis
Neely's in Memphis  ( Pat and Gina of Food Network Fame, Pat is the nephew of Jim Neely )
Corky's in Memphis
Rum Boogie in Memphis
Kings Palace in Memphis
Rendevois in Memphis ( SUCKS!!!!!!)
County Line BBQ, San Antonio, TX
Oklahoma Joes in Kansas City
Arther Bryants in Kansas City
My House for Pulled Pork

I'm sure I could think of a few more, but all of these place are great except the Rendevois

Dreamland, hands down. Nothing compares.

allyk


Dreamland, hands down. Nothing compares.

Ditto on Dreamland.

I know I've said this before, but I still can taste all the barbecue I pigged out on in Kansas City....Rosedale Barbecue was a major treat...Arthur Bryants was excellent too....I even tried to get Rosedale to ship their sauce to New Jersey!!

I have a few that are about equal in quality to me....the reason for one being 'above' another is probably due to 'Where I am when I get the urge for good BBQ"

Kreuz market
Louis Muellers
Arthur Bryants
Brick Pit
Dreamland
Moonlite
McClards
Van's Pig Stand

I am sure I can add others but those are the 'Top Dogs' in my ad-lib list.

That pretty much represents the mid-West with the exception of Dreamland. What about GA, AL, SC, NC, FL? Any recommends there?

Wilson's in Tulsa. 'Nuff said.

Yeah, Dreamland is in Alabama, but so is the Brick Pit (Mobile). McClards is in Arkansas. Kreuz Market and Louis Muellers are in TEXAS. Van's Pig Stand is in Oklahoma. The Moonlite is in the Mutton-belt of Kentucky...So far none of these would be labeled "Mid-Western BBQ" !!  Now Arthur Bryants is indeed a representive of the KC/MidWest School of BBQ. Add LC's to that region, please.

Extending further  add Reo's Rib's in Portland OR, Woody's BBQ and Dan, The BBQ Man in SoCal.  I like Ezells Catfish and 'Que in Columbus, GA, but I'll skip over the Carolinas, as I really don't care much for the finely chopped pork, soaked in sauce and buried in cole-slaw that I have been served at many places in the eastern section of NC. Sweatman's is good...as is Bubba's in Savannah.  AND  finally toss in FAT MATT'S in Atlanta...great ribs and good music!

Haven't had the "best" yet. We are somewhat BBQ deprived in this neck of the woods (southwestern New York State) and I don't travel alot. Even the "Rib Fests" that come through once a year are not that great if you ask me. So I live vicariously through the RoadFood forums hoping some day...

At least you can get great pizza there!

Whole Hog Cafe Arkansas

I have to agree about the lack of mustard based sauce in NC. I eat at almost every barbecue place I see, and I have never, EVER seen any mustard based sauce in NC. NC is so sanctimonious about barbecue, they would allow it. The western part of the state tends towards pork shoulder with tomato in the sauce. The eastern part of the state is downright fanatical, eschewing anything other than whole hog with a vinegar sauce, chopped to smithereens.

Never any mustard mentioned anywhere. In SC, yes. Certain parts of the state abide by the mustard creed, but even then, not the whole state. Just certain parts.

Just sayin'...

I love Arts in Austin, but I'm going to have to say the original Dreamland in Tuscaloosa.  Married an alabama girl so we stop there on the way in and once on the way out. 

as a follow up, the best dreamland is by far the original.  The others (Birmingham, Huntsville, etc) are hit or miss.

Doc, the owner of the Dreamland franchises, lives just north of Birmingham. I met a high school classmate on a trip to Ireland and when she got home she had Doc send me a gift box. I have only been to the one in Birmingham so I have nothing to compare. It certainly was good.

I just don't know how they do it. They don't use baby back ribs and they cook them in under an hour. They break all the rules and yet they're the best.

The only Dreamland location that I've been to is the one in Mobile. Other than the sauce which I didn't care for, it was pretty good, but certainly not in the same league as their nearby competitor The Brick Pit.

The BEST?  Tough nut to crack for a 68-year-old barbecue aficionado like myself.

But, mighty good que can be had at:

• BEEF - Kreuz market  in Lockhart, Texas
• PORK - Maurice's BBQ  in Columbia, South Carolina

BUT, when it comes to a good pork finishing sauce, ditch the SC stuff and go with a good North Carolina, vinegar-based finishing sauce (a recipe on my website). 
 

Maurice's BBQ??? I have been there for their fried pork skins but I'll be honest, the pork they serve bears no resemblance to BBQ.  It is oven roasted and you can baste it with their mustard based Carolina BBQ sauce.  There is no smoking whatsoever. I can honestly say it is a nice pork sandwich but BBQ it ain't.

Since you are three months younger than I you are going to have to respect your elders on this one.

PS Where is your website? I'm always interested in a good BBQ sauce recipe.

My Own,Have not tasted any better anywhere!!