Rocklands in D.C. is quite good.

Here Here.

I would also add the many BBQ joints in Tennessee which have long forgoten the name. Although the rendevoux (sp) in Memphis has good ribs and cold beer.

Thanks, I can't wait to try it!

Until then, my vote goes to Maurice's Piggy Park for his pulled pork sandwiches. For sandwiches, nothing else I've tried can compare. I'll pass on the pamphlets, however.

Dinosaur BBQ in Syracuse NY (also in Rochester and NYC but Syracuse is home for them), their sauce is so good it is now bottled and sold nationwide. But it is even better when you are in house with the atmosphere!!!! www.dinosaurbarbque.com/

Yup, Maurice's serves up some good 'cue, but those politics! Whoa! Clearly he's only going after one segment of the Columbia-area population.

I was there during off hours (mid-afternoon), so I have no idea how representative it is, but there were several hispanic diners and the staff was 20-25% black. Read: one out of four or five.

On the subject of politics, I've glanced over his religious and state's rights pamphlets, but didn't see anything overtly directed against anyone. They were on a table near the door, but not what I would consider to be in anyone's face.

Has he said anything against anyone or are people just making assumptions?

I've got no axe to grind with Maurice Bessinger, but evidently some folks do. I'm not taking a side here (and certainly don't support what was apparently written in the Baltimore Sun), just sharing some what's been said about Maurice & his politics.

http://www.doubledarepress.com/2002/...torial-1.shtml

I don't think folks are making assumptions, though there are three sides to every story.

I know I'll be slammed for this, but frankly, I don't care.

I find it funny -- and almost bordering on odd -- that people talk about barbecue in places such as Oregon, California, Massachusetts...Yes, I'm a Texan, and I just can't fathom barbecue actually being good outside of this state (same thing with Mexican food). You'd think you could get good Mexican food in California. Have never found it (maybe I'm just used to Tex-Mex). My waiter looked at me like I had 6 heads when I asked for an order of queso. And the facsimile we received was a crying shame.

Anyway, Texas offers what I consider the only "real" barbecue, but if you want the most succulent, slap-you-in-the-face good barbecue, venture to Cooper's Barbecue in Llano.

Beef is king there (as it is everywhere in the Lone Star State). You go outside and pick your meat straight off the mesquite pit. You then go back inside; sit at picnic tables; and pick up some raw sliced onions, jalapenos and slices of Mrs. Baird's bread.

This was the exclusive purveyor of barbecue to LBJ, and he had them cater a state dinner at the White House.

Here's their website: www.coopersbbq.com

Anyway, best of luck to all in their pursuit of good eating!

Swinging doors? They're certainly worth a visit

Nah, no slam. I think you're generally right, although I have to say that it's not Texas barbecue that exclusively reigns as good barbecue. Other areas of the south have an excellent claim on it. While I have a personal preference for the inclusiveness of Texas barbecue -- beef, pork, ribs, and sausage -- (as well as a preference for mesquite), I'm not going to deny that there are some really fine things done in the Carolinas, Memphis, etc. Really good barbecue is hard to refuse. I do think it's a bit laughable when people talk about getting, say, good barbeuce in NYC. Believe me, I'm no patriotic Texan. Not in the least. But, when it comes to barbecue, I think the south in general and Texas in particular has a genuine claim. None of the places I've been in places that aren't real barbecue towns can really compete with the highest level. (I hate going to places where you can tell, for example, that they've par-boiled their ribs.) That said, however, barbecue is such a good thing that even in its mediocre forms, it tends to be pretty tasty and, thereefore, I can't really fault people for liking it just because they haven't had a chance to become enlightened to the best of the best.

Not to digress, but a quick side note: Yeah, Texas does great on Tex-Mex. There are a few places that do really fine Mexican. But authentic Mexican has taken up in a lot of places. There are great Tex-Mex places to go in California; you've just got to find them. One safe place, too, to eat Tex-Mex is Colorado. Good stuff. Another problem -- as with the barbecue -- is when a type of cooking becomes so popular that it becomes enormously commercialized. (Probably most people, when they think Tex-Mex, think Chili's; or when they think barbecue, they think Tony Roma's or, heck, even a Whopper with BBQ sauce.)

Anyway, bottom line: Get your barbecue on!

BBQed beef?

Beef is to BBQ what tofu is to ballpark hotdogs.



Dchristiva, thanks for the background. I'd been under the impression Maurice was being singled out for being insufficiently PC, not actually malicious. I'll look into it further.

Don't fool yourselves about Texas Q ...

it may be true that you can go to any old place in Texas and
get decent stuff, whereas if you try elsewhere (Massachusetts!)
your chances of passing success are way less. But the best I've
had hasn't been in Texas, not by a long shot. For example, what
I had at the "Texas-style" place in Anacortes, Washington beat
anything I've seen from Dallas to Luling (except for the chicken,
but then chicken is to bbq as diet coke is to wine).

Yes. BBQed beef briskit. It is BBQ in Texas. Although I disagree about anything being wrong with BBQ chicken. Texas BBQ isnt mainly about the sauce. It is about slow cooking on an oak wood fire. I still haven't found anything like the brisket from Black's in Lockhart, Texas.

Dixie's BBQ in Bellevue, WA...though I think most people go there for The Man than the bbq.

http://www.seattledining.com/ARCHIVE...nts/dixies.htm

I can readily believe that the best barbecue you ever had wasn't in Texas -- there are a lot of great places out there. I'm looking forward to doing a big sampling of Tennessee here over the next couple years. I just happen to have a personal preference for the Texas style because it's like a "big tent," including all the meats that are outstanding when slow-cooked in barbecue fashion (and that goes for chicken, turkey, and duck, too, darn it). But you've got to be fooling yourself if you think the best Texas-style barbecue you had was in Washington. You clearly, then, haven't made a serious effort to sample real Texas barbecue. Even in Dallas there are good options ... and I don't begrudge Dallas much at all. Still not convinced, then if you're ever in Houston, I'm happy to change your mind. That's a standing offer to any FTer.