http://www.esquire.com/the-side/best-month-ever/best-bbq-in-america
As in, joints that have been there for fifty years or more. And they're still turning out the same great food that brought people there in the first place. But feel free to debate it. (On Twitter or our Best Month Ever Facebook app, if you'd like.)
By Jim Shahin
Kansas City
Arthur Bryant's
1727 Brooklyn Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri; 816-231-1123; arthurbryantsbbq.com
EST. 1946
Step into the fluorescent light, and you walk into Kansas City barbecue history: Arthur Bryant worked for Henry Perry, who opened the city's first BBQ joint in 1908. The international destination (thanks to Calvin Trillin calling it "possibly the best restaurant in the world") hasn't changed much over the years. You still eat your hickory-and-fruitwood-smoked "burnt ends" (chunks of crisped brisket exterior), doused in a unique gritty-textured, vinegar-sour orange sauce, while sitting on red banquet chairs at a Formica-topped table. Despite its fame — visitors include Steven Spielberg, Jack Nicholson, and presidents Truman, Carter, and Reagan — some enthusiasts maintain the food is overrated. Even if that's true, you don't go to Wrigley for the baseball.
1727 Brooklyn Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri; 816-231-1123; arthurbryantsbbq.com
EST. 1946
Step into the fluorescent light, and you walk into Kansas City barbecue history: Arthur Bryant worked for Henry Perry, who opened the city's first BBQ joint in 1908. The international destination (thanks to Calvin Trillin calling it "possibly the best restaurant in the world") hasn't changed much over the years. You still eat your hickory-and-fruitwood-smoked "burnt ends" (chunks of crisped brisket exterior), doused in a unique gritty-textured, vinegar-sour orange sauce, while sitting on red banquet chairs at a Formica-topped table. Despite its fame — visitors include Steven Spielberg, Jack Nicholson, and presidents Truman, Carter, and Reagan — some enthusiasts maintain the food is overrated. Even if that's true, you don't go to Wrigley for the baseball.
Photo Credit: ctj71081/Flickr
Gates Bar-B-Q
1221 Brooklyn, Kansas City, Missouri, 816-483-3880; gatesbbq.com
EST. 1946
It's a chain. Or a chain-ette — six of them around the city. And it is pretty corporate in its feel, with its aggressively friendly counter-folk, asking "Hi, may I help you?" when you've barely stepped through the door. But cofounder George Gates also worked for KC BBQ father Henry Perry, and all six locations still slow-cook their meats on actual pits, not in ovens. The pork ribs are meaty and juicy, but the signature here is the sauce. Whether original or extra-hot, it is a velvety-smooth elixir that sinks into the meat rather than sitting on top, creating a meat-and-sauce match made in hog heaven.
1221 Brooklyn, Kansas City, Missouri, 816-483-3880; gatesbbq.com
EST. 1946
It's a chain. Or a chain-ette — six of them around the city. And it is pretty corporate in its feel, with its aggressively friendly counter-folk, asking "Hi, may I help you?" when you've barely stepped through the door. But cofounder George Gates also worked for KC BBQ father Henry Perry, and all six locations still slow-cook their meats on actual pits, not in ovens. The pork ribs are meaty and juicy, but the signature here is the sauce. Whether original or extra-hot, it is a velvety-smooth elixir that sinks into the meat rather than sitting on top, creating a meat-and-sauce match made in hog heaven.
North Carolina
Skylight Inn
4618 South Lee Street, Ayden, North Carolina; 252-746-4113; skylightinnbbq.com
EST. 1947
This is a joint with chutzpah. Founder Pete Jones, who died in 2006, erected a dome atop his tiny spot and a billboard proclaiming the town of Ayden "The Bar-B-Q Capital of the World." Pete's grandson, Samuel Jones, now runs the widely acclaimed place. He traces the family's commercial barbecue history to the early 1800s, which reflects the perfection of their eastern North Carolina style of whole-hog cookery. Hogs are halved, then splayed atop a grate over oak embers overnight. A thermometer isn't used. The crisp-skinned pig's doneness is determined solely by feel. A counter-man thwacks the meat with a cleaver, brightens it with a splash of vinegar and salt, and piles it onto a hamburger bun with coleslaw or into a paper bowl with a slice of unrisen cornbread and a side of slaw. That's it. No ribs. No brisket. No pulled pork. No need.
4618 South Lee Street, Ayden, North Carolina; 252-746-4113; skylightinnbbq.com
EST. 1947
This is a joint with chutzpah. Founder Pete Jones, who died in 2006, erected a dome atop his tiny spot and a billboard proclaiming the town of Ayden "The Bar-B-Q Capital of the World." Pete's grandson, Samuel Jones, now runs the widely acclaimed place. He traces the family's commercial barbecue history to the early 1800s, which reflects the perfection of their eastern North Carolina style of whole-hog cookery. Hogs are halved, then splayed atop a grate over oak embers overnight. A thermometer isn't used. The crisp-skinned pig's doneness is determined solely by feel. A counter-man thwacks the meat with a cleaver, brightens it with a splash of vinegar and salt, and piles it onto a hamburger bun with coleslaw or into a paper bowl with a slice of unrisen cornbread and a side of slaw. That's it. No ribs. No brisket. No pulled pork. No need.
Lexington Barbecue #1
10 Highway 29-70S, Lexington, North Carolina; 336-249-9814; no Web site
EST. 1962
You smell it before you open the door to the white barn, that aroma of wood-smoking pork shoulders. Wayne Monk opened Lexington the day before Thanksgiving in 1962, and Nathan Monk continues his grandfather's tradition. He cooks the pork shoulders for nine hours over hickory embers shoveled every 20 minutes into the bottom of two giant hand-built brick pits. Lexington #1 epitomizes western- or Piedmont-style North Carolina barbecue: pork shoulders (not hogs), a thin ketchupy vinegar sauce, and a similar ketchupy vinegar concoction (no mayonnaise) in the sandwich-topping coleslaw. The style is so iconic that in 1983, the North Carolina House of Representatives designated Lexington the "Hickory-Cooked Barbecue Capital of Piedmont, North Carolina."
10 Highway 29-70S, Lexington, North Carolina; 336-249-9814; no Web site
EST. 1962
You smell it before you open the door to the white barn, that aroma of wood-smoking pork shoulders. Wayne Monk opened Lexington the day before Thanksgiving in 1962, and Nathan Monk continues his grandfather's tradition. He cooks the pork shoulders for nine hours over hickory embers shoveled every 20 minutes into the bottom of two giant hand-built brick pits. Lexington #1 epitomizes western- or Piedmont-style North Carolina barbecue: pork shoulders (not hogs), a thin ketchupy vinegar sauce, and a similar ketchupy vinegar concoction (no mayonnaise) in the sandwich-topping coleslaw. The style is so iconic that in 1983, the North Carolina House of Representatives designated Lexington the "Hickory-Cooked Barbecue Capital of Piedmont, North Carolina."
Photo Credit: roadfood.com
South Carolina
Hite's Bar-B-Que House
240 Dreher Road, West Columbia, South Carolina; 803-794-4120; hitesbbq.com
EST. 1957
They call it a house, and so it is: just a simple white-walled bungalow. But if these walls could talk, they'd tell secrets of classic South Carolina barbecue. Mustard sauce is slathered on the whole hog while it cooks above smoldering hickory. Catch that? Mustard, hog, hickory. That is SC. As is fat back and pig feet and ham hocks and neck bones, all of which Hite's serves. Well, at the right time of year. They're on its "Seasonal Fresh Pork Menu" (November-Easter). Don't worry, you can get its hog skins any time.
240 Dreher Road, West Columbia, South Carolina; 803-794-4120; hitesbbq.com
EST. 1957
They call it a house, and so it is: just a simple white-walled bungalow. But if these walls could talk, they'd tell secrets of classic South Carolina barbecue. Mustard sauce is slathered on the whole hog while it cooks above smoldering hickory. Catch that? Mustard, hog, hickory. That is SC. As is fat back and pig feet and ham hocks and neck bones, all of which Hite's serves. Well, at the right time of year. They're on its "Seasonal Fresh Pork Menu" (November-Easter). Don't worry, you can get its hog skins any time.
Memphis
Charlie Vergos Rendezvous
52 South 2nd Street, Memphis, Tennessee; 901-523-2746; hogsfly.com
EST. 1948
It doesn't serve barbecue in the low-and-slow sense. Rather, barbecue in the ribs-grilled-over-charcoal sense. Not barbecue? Whatever. Fact is, even though it breaks with tradition — they also baste with a light vinegary bath and dust after cooking with an oregano-spiked spice mix — the Rendezvous has been synonymous with Memphis barbecue for generations. The restaurant became beloved when, after Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated, Vergos refused to leave his downtown location for the suburbs, as so many other businesses did. In fact, he invested in downtown development. Vergos died in 2010, the same year Nation's Restaurant News designated the Rendezvous one of America's 50 All-American Icons. His kids run it now and still cook the ribs over hardwoods, like their old man.
52 South 2nd Street, Memphis, Tennessee; 901-523-2746; hogsfly.com
EST. 1948
It doesn't serve barbecue in the low-and-slow sense. Rather, barbecue in the ribs-grilled-over-charcoal sense. Not barbecue? Whatever. Fact is, even though it breaks with tradition — they also baste with a light vinegary bath and dust after cooking with an oregano-spiked spice mix — the Rendezvous has been synonymous with Memphis barbecue for generations. The restaurant became beloved when, after Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated, Vergos refused to leave his downtown location for the suburbs, as so many other businesses did. In fact, he invested in downtown development. Vergos died in 2010, the same year Nation's Restaurant News designated the Rendezvous one of America's 50 All-American Icons. His kids run it now and still cook the ribs over hardwoods, like their old man.
Illinois
Lem's Bar-B-Q
311 East 75th Street, Chicago, Illinois; 773-994-2428; lemsbarbq.com
EST. 1954
Chicago is a ribs-and-hot-links town. The two preferred types of ribs are baby backs and rib tips — those fatty, gnarly, tender morsels at the end of a rack of spare ribs. Lem's is all about the tips, which it cooks in the classic Chicago way — in a tempered-glass-enclosed, steel-bottomed smoker known as an aquarium pit. Detractors say this tiny South Side institution has lost a step since two brothers opened it more than a half-century ago. But for a bite of Chicago history, it's still worth placing an order through the bulletproof glass.
311 East 75th Street, Chicago, Illinois; 773-994-2428; lemsbarbq.com
EST. 1954
Chicago is a ribs-and-hot-links town. The two preferred types of ribs are baby backs and rib tips — those fatty, gnarly, tender morsels at the end of a rack of spare ribs. Lem's is all about the tips, which it cooks in the classic Chicago way — in a tempered-glass-enclosed, steel-bottomed smoker known as an aquarium pit. Detractors say this tiny South Side institution has lost a step since two brothers opened it more than a half-century ago. But for a bite of Chicago history, it's still worth placing an order through the bulletproof glass.
Arkansas
Jones Bar-B-Q Diner
219 West Louisiana Street, Marianna, Arkansas; 501-766-2631; no Web site
EST. 1910
One of the oldest black-family-owned restaurants in the country, this two-table eatery won an American Classic award this year from the James Beard Foundation. Owner James Jones slow-smokes pork shoulders over hickory and oak embers in closed cinder-block pits for 12 hours. He squirts a bit of homemade vinegary sauce into the smoky shreds, tops it with homemade coleslaw, and serves it between slices of white sandwich bread. Don't worry about getting anything else. It's the only item on the menu.
219 West Louisiana Street, Marianna, Arkansas; 501-766-2631; no Web site
EST. 1910
One of the oldest black-family-owned restaurants in the country, this two-table eatery won an American Classic award this year from the James Beard Foundation. Owner James Jones slow-smokes pork shoulders over hickory and oak embers in closed cinder-block pits for 12 hours. He squirts a bit of homemade vinegary sauce into the smoky shreds, tops it with homemade coleslaw, and serves it between slices of white sandwich bread. Don't worry about getting anything else. It's the only item on the menu.
Photo Credit: Travis Nelson/Southernis.com
Texas
Kreuz Barbecue Market
619 N. Colorado Street, Lockhart, Texas; 512-398-2361; kreuzmarket.com
EST. 1900
Started as a meat market that sold some barbecue, Kreuz (pronounced "Krites") evolved into a barbecue joint that sells some meat. The Schmidt family bought the market from Charles Kreuz in 1948. Once famous for not offering sides, the menu has expanded to include German potato salad, sauerkraut, and beans. But it still doesn't offer sauce for its sumptuous salt-flavored brisket, oak-smoked in horizontal pits.
619 N. Colorado Street, Lockhart, Texas; 512-398-2361; kreuzmarket.com
EST. 1900
Started as a meat market that sold some barbecue, Kreuz (pronounced "Krites") evolved into a barbecue joint that sells some meat. The Schmidt family bought the market from Charles Kreuz in 1948. Once famous for not offering sides, the menu has expanded to include German potato salad, sauerkraut, and beans. But it still doesn't offer sauce for its sumptuous salt-flavored brisket, oak-smoked in horizontal pits.
Photo Credit: Paul Lowry/Flickr
Louie Mueller Barbecue
206 West Second Street, Taylor, Texas; 512-352-6206; louiemuellerbarbecue.com
EST. 1949
One bite of its succulent, black-peppery, post-oak-bark-smoked brisket or juicy, coarse-ground spicy sausage, and you understand why this movie set of a place in this movie set of a town has earned both a James Beard American Classic and a Road Food Icon award. The founder's grandson, Wayne Mueller, operates the venerable Texas institution. He smokes his meats in old, well-seasoned closed pits. This is your daddy's — and granddaddy's — barbecue. Wayne vows to keep it that way.
206 West Second Street, Taylor, Texas; 512-352-6206; louiemuellerbarbecue.com
EST. 1949
One bite of its succulent, black-peppery, post-oak-bark-smoked brisket or juicy, coarse-ground spicy sausage, and you understand why this movie set of a place in this movie set of a town has earned both a James Beard American Classic and a Road Food Icon award. The founder's grandson, Wayne Mueller, operates the venerable Texas institution. He smokes his meats in old, well-seasoned closed pits. This is your daddy's — and granddaddy's — barbecue. Wayne vows to keep it that way.
Kentucky
Moonlite Bar-B-Q
2840 West Parrish Avenue, Owensboro, Kentucky; 270-684-8143; moonlite.com
EST. 1949
With its buffet and spacious dining room, Moonlite may not conform to your idea of a barbecue joint. But you know its pedigree is true when you learn that it keeps a parking space in its lot reserved for a forklift to move cords of hickory wood to the concrete pits. The buffet is crowded with country ham, chicken, ribs, brisket, salads, vegetables, and dessert, but make a beeline for the house specialty: mutton. The rich meat is cooked for 12 hours over hickory coals, basted throughout with a lemon-vinegar-Worcestershire sauce, then served chopped or pulled. The chopped version is a heap of toothsome meat threads. The pulled version mixes a crunchy crust with soft, rich interior meat. How often are you in Owensboro? Get both.
2840 West Parrish Avenue, Owensboro, Kentucky; 270-684-8143; moonlite.com
EST. 1949
With its buffet and spacious dining room, Moonlite may not conform to your idea of a barbecue joint. But you know its pedigree is true when you learn that it keeps a parking space in its lot reserved for a forklift to move cords of hickory wood to the concrete pits. The buffet is crowded with country ham, chicken, ribs, brisket, salads, vegetables, and dessert, but make a beeline for the house specialty: mutton. The rich meat is cooked for 12 hours over hickory coals, basted throughout with a lemon-vinegar-Worcestershire sauce, then served chopped or pulled. The chopped version is a heap of toothsome meat threads. The pulled version mixes a crunchy crust with soft, rich interior meat. How often are you in Owensboro? Get both.
Photo Credit: roadfood.com
Georgia
Fresh Air Bar-B-Que
1164 Highway 42 South, Jackson, Georgia; 770-775-3182; freshairbarbecue.com
EST. 1929
Sawdust carpets the concrete floor in the weathered wood building. The tables are half-century-old two-inch pine, cut from trees in the area. Hams are the thing here, and they are cooked in pits over hickory and oak for up to 24 hours. (They used to be cooked over an open pit in the floor. Changes...) The meat is pulled, chopped, piled on a bun, and doused with a ketchup-and-vinegar sauce. Come for the sandwich. Stay for the Southern delicacy, Brunswick stew. If Fresh Air didn't exist, barbecue hounds would be forced to invent it.
1164 Highway 42 South, Jackson, Georgia; 770-775-3182; freshairbarbecue.com
EST. 1929
Sawdust carpets the concrete floor in the weathered wood building. The tables are half-century-old two-inch pine, cut from trees in the area. Hams are the thing here, and they are cooked in pits over hickory and oak for up to 24 hours. (They used to be cooked over an open pit in the floor. Changes...) The meat is pulled, chopped, piled on a bun, and doused with a ketchup-and-vinegar sauce. Come for the sandwich. Stay for the Southern delicacy, Brunswick stew. If Fresh Air didn't exist, barbecue hounds would be forced to invent it.
Alabama
Dreamland Bar-B-Que
5535 15th Avenue, East, Tuscaloosa, Alabama; 205-758-8135; dreamlandbbq.com
EST. 1958
There are eight outlets now, but the original is still the best. Just head up Jug Factory Road, pull into the dirt parking lot, pull open the door to the low-slung joint, and order a slab of the juicy pork bones cooked fast over hardwoods and bathed in Dreamland's fantastic tart and runny tomato-vinegar-based sauce. You'll know why it's called Dreamland. John "Big Daddy" Bishop opened the place the same year Paul "Bear" Bryant arrived as coach of the Crimson Tide. The coach and the ribs both became legends.
5535 15th Avenue, East, Tuscaloosa, Alabama; 205-758-8135; dreamlandbbq.com
EST. 1958
There are eight outlets now, but the original is still the best. Just head up Jug Factory Road, pull into the dirt parking lot, pull open the door to the low-slung joint, and order a slab of the juicy pork bones cooked fast over hardwoods and bathed in Dreamland's fantastic tart and runny tomato-vinegar-based sauce. You'll know why it's called Dreamland. John "Big Daddy" Bishop opened the place the same year Paul "Bear" Bryant arrived as coach of the Crimson Tide. The coach and the ribs both became legends.
Archibald's Bar-B-Q
1211 MLK Blvd, Northport, Alabama; 205-345-6861; no Web site
EST. 1962
When you utter the phrase "barbecue shack," this dirty-white cinderblock shed off a main road that fits maybe six patrons is very much like what you imagine. The sliced pork shoulder and meaty pork ribs, drizzled with Archibald's signature tangy and thin sauce, are slow-smoked over hickory, just as they were when former steel-mill worker George Archibald and his wife, Betty, a paper-mill worker, opened the place a half-century ago.
1211 MLK Blvd, Northport, Alabama; 205-345-6861; no Web site
EST. 1962
When you utter the phrase "barbecue shack," this dirty-white cinderblock shed off a main road that fits maybe six patrons is very much like what you imagine. The sliced pork shoulder and meaty pork ribs, drizzled with Archibald's signature tangy and thin sauce, are slow-smoked over hickory, just as they were when former steel-mill worker George Archibald and his wife, Betty, a paper-mill worker, opened the place a half-century ago.
Photo Credit: Southern Foodways Alliance/Flickr
Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q
1715 6th Avenue, SE, Decatur, Alabama; 256-350-6969; bigbobgibson.com
EST. 1925
Don't hold the modern, comfortable look against this place. Big Bob Gibson has serious BBQ credentials. Dry-rubbed pork shoulders sweat over hickory wood in brick pits for up to 18 hours. (A Southern Pride gas-fired smoker resides on the premises, but we’re assured that it's used for catering and infrequent overflow only.) Among its many awards, the Big Bob Gibson team, led by pitmaster and cookbook author Chris Lilly, has won three pork championships at Memphis in May, a premiere barbecue contest. You'll want to get the 3-and-a-half-hour smoked whole chicken dipped in Gibson's famous tangy white barbecue sauce, a regional specialty. Oh, and the pies are made daily from scratch.
1715 6th Avenue, SE, Decatur, Alabama; 256-350-6969; bigbobgibson.com
EST. 1925
Don't hold the modern, comfortable look against this place. Big Bob Gibson has serious BBQ credentials. Dry-rubbed pork shoulders sweat over hickory wood in brick pits for up to 18 hours. (A Southern Pride gas-fired smoker resides on the premises, but we’re assured that it's used for catering and infrequent overflow only.) Among its many awards, the Big Bob Gibson team, led by pitmaster and cookbook author Chris Lilly, has won three pork championships at Memphis in May, a premiere barbecue contest. You'll want to get the 3-and-a-half-hour smoked whole chicken dipped in Gibson's famous tangy white barbecue sauce, a regional specialty. Oh, and the pies are made daily from scratch.
Photo Credit: Southern Foodways Alliance/Flickr
http://www.esquire.com/the-side/best-month-ever/best-bbq-in-america
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