"While much of Georgia runs red with ketchup, Columbus favors mustard. "It came from millworkers," surmises Clay Gullatt, owner of Mike & Ed's Barbecue. Scott Ressmeyer of Country's Barbecue says, "It goes back to the African American cooks here. All the old barbecue places used mustard."

I grew up in Columbus. There are two good reasons to use a mustard-based sauce. The first is that it has a low sugar and high vinegar content. Sugar burns when heated too long so this style sauce can be applied to the meat while being cooked. The vinegar helps to tenderize the meat, too. Also, this sauce can be "kicked up" quite a bit. Some of the hottest BBQ sauces I've ever had originated in Columbus.

Realize too, that you don't see anything but pork at the old-style BBQ shacks in Columbus. Beef and chicken are late comers. Pork really has an affinity to mustard-based sauces.

Although Mike and Ed's is a relative late-comer to the BBQ scene in Columbus, it's pretty good. My favorite is the Smoky Pig. 14th St BBQ (not on 14th St anymore) has good BBQ but they close when they sell out so I'm always missing out on a chance to eat there. We eat at Country's a lot but mainly it's convenient and open 7 days. Their food is good but it's "city-fied" stuff.

Here in Roswell, Georgia, we're fortunate to have a decent number of BBQ places. Dreamland has a location here. Ate there twice last week. Just can't get enough of their ribs.