Someone correct me if I'm wrong (and I'm sure someone will), but to address the OP's question;

if you draw a straight line southwest from Chicago through Kansas City and project it down through Texas --

and draw a straight line from Chicago east to say, Virginia Beach, VA, keeping all of Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia south of the line ...

you'll have outlined the quadrant of the continental US that feels strongly about barbecue.

We design our smokers out here using old oil field gear custom made, 12 hours under mesquite smoke with the right smoker can be quite good .

mmmm... what I would do for a great brisket now... alas its -20 and not warming up for a week or so now <brr>

HI has some great pig... gotta love the emu...

AK also has its own variations... with lots of game like moose, caribou, buffalo & even beaver

But for the lower 48... that's a good generalization...

Mmmm, I'm thinking that might be a good vacation for me some year... Mr. Kipper is optional, although I'd guess he wouldn't miss it.

memphis bbq is better

Reportedly Owensboro, KY is the KY bbq capital, though I cannot attest to the quality or even style. I hear it is good and people in the area do seem quite serious. YMMV.

From what i've seen, i would prefer the sauceless beef BBQ over the chopped pork type BBQs full of sauce

The "which barbecue is best" question is rather like asking whether Beethoven is better than the Beatles.

A)- it's ultimately a subjective judgment and there is no "right answer".

B)- they're both (or all, in the case of barbecue) really good.

Thanks for the link! I was looking for a good bbq joint in Chicagoland. Any others that you are a fan of?

Consider yourself corrected...

Portions of California are pretty passionate about BBQ, and Santa Maria BBQ is as good as anything you get in Texas... Beef tri-tip or Top Sirloin, dry-rubbed with salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika, the outside seared over a really hot flame, than slow roasted over a smokey oak fire. No goopy sauces at all, but fresh salsa on the side. Plus you gotta have piquinto beans and hot sour dough bread or rolls with it.

I have to agree. If low heat and plenty of mesquite smoke does not make a great brisket something is wrong. Start the day before with a rub, overnight in the fridge, and fire up the smoker in the morning.

Definitely think about coming to the MCI BBQ...it's a blast! I've been to 2 out of 3 (missed the second one because we moved that weekend, but sent some friends in my place).

Oklahoma Joe's is not to be missed!

If you know about Oklahoma Joe's you are truly a Connoisseur of Que.

I've had the great fortune of living in both Kansas City and central Texas and experiencing BBQ around the country. Oklahoma Joe's is probably the best pulled pork anywhere in the world, or at least the world according to me! The very best BBQ ever IMO used to Jack's Stack in KC until I found The Salt Lick in Dripping Springs, TX. There is also a place in Austin,TX called Lambert's that is worthy of mention.

I agree with a couple of previous posters, if the meat needs sauce, it isn't smoked correctly. Save the sauce for the french fries.

How many times do I have to say this on eighty five different threads. Memphis barbeque is AWFUL. I have no idea what they do to the pork, but that take a perfectly good piece of meat and make it taste like cardboard. Then they put this awful red sauce on it. And the ribs (which are poor folks food anyway) are equally bad: dry tasteless.

There is only one kind of barbeque: Lexington (NC) barbeque. Sweet, sweet, long cooked, lovingly basted pork with a nice vinegar-based sauce (no, never tomatoes in the sauce). It is not eastern NC barbeque, nor is it western NC barbeque. With barbeque slaw and hush puppies. You need the whole plate to really savor the joy of Lexington barbeque.

And yes, there are places where people take barbeque really seriously.