WELL worth it! They did our wedding last year, catered it was just as good also! Be aware too that supermarket chains in Western NY will sell their sauces, you should be able to pick them up at Wegmans as close as Buffalo or Niagara Falls.

A friend of mine in Brantford really reccomends "Camp 31 BBQ" in Paris, Ontario at the junction of routes 2 and 5. Have to check that out myself sometime, I think he thinks its better than the Dinosaur!

Bessinger's BBQ in Charleston, SC is wonderful. This restaurant is run by the brother and nephew of the outspoken Maurice Bessinger (whose restaurant chain is in the Columbia, SC area) but they steer away from the politics that Maurice embraces.

The restaurant is on Savannah Highway in Charleston, SC and has a sandwich shoppe on one side and a homestyle buffet (open Thurs-Sun nites and Sun lunch only) on the other side. The buffet has amazing catfish stew, fried catfish, BBQ pork, veggies, salad bar and homemade desserts.

:)
Kelley

So many wonderful suggestions! Let me add Country Tavern in East Texas to the list. Establishment has been there for over 50 years - hardly a light in the place, save a candle on each table. No menu, just two choices: ribs or brisket and that's it. Comes with potato sald, dill pickles, onions, bread (Mrs. Bairds of course), and sauce to die for. Located between Kilgore and Tyler. Next time your swinging through Texas on I-20, between Tyler and Kilgore, keep it in mind. ^

My vote:

1.Sammy's BBQ behind the Federal Reserve building in Dallas.
2.Coopers in LLano or Junction. BEst pork chop ever.
3.Rudys in SA on I-10W at Leon Springs.

I often drive to Llano from SA just to pick up the BBQ at coopers. And as another poster suggested, I have flown there with private pilots. When I was taking flying lessons, I would do my cross country's from LRD to Llano solo just to get the BBQ.

For the best BBQ, you definintely have to take the road less traveled (literally).... some of the best BBQ I've ever had came from driving down some back road in TN, AR, or KY and stopping at some shack or gas station that said "BBQ here!"

I can't tell you exact locations, names of places (yes, it was THAT far out of the way).... but if you're willing to explore Americana, you'll be rewarded.

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.

Northeast BBQ
 

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! :rolleyes: 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? :eek:

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.

Is this the best reccomendation for BBQ in the Seattle area? We are visiting the Northwest in a few weeks and might be hankering for some BBQ.

We'll also be around Vancouver, Portland, Idaho, etc.

[QUOTE=Shareholder]Forget steak and big $$$s gourmet restaurants. Let's get down to basic, American BBQ and share with us your favourite spot(s).....

There's brisket (or shoulder clods) which are barbecue, then there's other smoked and pit cooked meats (many of which may be awfully good in their own right, as in dry-smoked ribs, gumbo made with andouille sausage and smoked duck or a modestly enhanced non-French version of cassoulet which uses smoked wild goose legs instead of the traditionally preserved domestic variety).

The greatest sins against nature are committed when it comes to sauces, schismatic obscenities prepared by degenerate, deparaved inhuman barbarians, wallowing about in tomatoes and casks of corn syrup.

"Sauce" is "drippings" modestly enhanced with other liquids. Any "sauce" for beef which has been sweetened is a treasonous act against the sovereignty of the people. The principal flavors comes from the smoke and basic seasonings with which the meat had been rubbed before smoking.

It is permissible to slightly sweeten (pricipally with blackstrap, sorghum syrup or dark brown sugar) sauces for pork, be it "pulled" (usually a pretty nasty lump instead of the tender moist shreds it ought to be) shoulder or fresh ham, while pork tenderloin is best without sweetened slobber lathered upon it, and sauces for smoked venison should receive no more sweetening than that of a dollop of Madeira, sweet Vermouth or Port. Feral piglet, one of the best reasons for Christmas, is delicate, but can achieve fame with a sauce based on homemade orange marmalade, orange juice, drippings and sherry. Buffalo or beef tongues, blessings bestowed undeservingly upon mortal men, should be smoked covered with a mantle of buffalo hump or beef brisket already smoked for 8 hours or so before introducing the tongue for the last 6-8 hours shift.

If a pit reaches temperatures of more than 225F, what's in there may only marginally be called barbecue, and he who would despoil the memoriy of his grandmother's chicken by attempting to barbecue it deserves a sound thrashing, preferably with a bob wire cat. Turkey, especially wild birds, yes, but chicken......May vandals in a 1957 GMC pickup topple his tombstone and coyotes unearth his remains to squabble over.

I'll back you up on this, though my preference in Carolina BBQ. I think I've tried nearly every BBQ joint in and around Manhattan, and they all stink compared to anything I find in the Carolinas. I'm always amazed that certain things just don't translate outside of their native land. I agree that BBQ and Mexican food are two of those things.

Although the few occasions I had BBQed beef were memorably bad, I promise to give it another try next time I'm in a whole other country...err, Texas.

Used to Be a Favorite
 

It works ok, but I much prefer Rocklands now.

Then again, I'm originally from Kansas City and nothing beats Arthur Bryants.

There is the old school cafeteria mush called "barbecued beef" that has absolutely no resemblance to fine barbecue. Don't let yourself confuse brisket with this! Brisket is the king of all barbecued meats -- making it is the final exam for any serious smoker. There's nothing more difficult than churning out consistently moist, tender, tasty brisket.

I agree with the first half. However, I think chicken is a bit harder to do since good brisket has enough fat in it (and on top if it) to help keep it moist.

Pork BBQ in Georgia
 

Country's BBQ in Columbus Georgia and scattered around the state is the best. Their ribs are so tender my husband nearly ate a whole plate before he realized he'd had only bones left.

Check them out at www.countrysbbq.com They have been around since 1975 and were voted best bbq restaurant by Southern Living Magazine. My family and I ate there since the place opened.

I now live in Houston, TX and while the BBQ Brisket is okay, it can't hold a candle to the Pork BBQ of Georgia. Sorry TX but your sauce is thin, watery and puney, IMHO. I like a sauce that sticks to the meat, not runs off the sides.

To each his own, but try Country's BBQ when you are in Southwest Georgia.

Good Texas BBQ doesnt even need sauce. I cant even remember if they have it at places like Blacks or Ironworks.

@:-) go to bbq king's! -California

Thanks for the offer, gutt22 ... lived in Houston for 4 years -
seldom go back; tend to stick with Chinese food, though
(surprisingly large Asian community, and as my father was
president of the local chapter of NACA, I got great food
when with him; unfortunately, he's too old and frail to
travel much these days).

There is a hole-in-the-wall in a strip mall in Orange County, CA called Tulsa BBQ. It is the best overall package of ribs, potatoes and cherry coke I have ever had. They make their cherry coke with coke and cherry syrup, which is so much better and the potatoes are small potatoes cut into crinkled chips and fried to bubbly perfection.

Gotta go with Rendezvous in Memphis (Dry rub ribs are to die for). Corky's is good also and I have even had the ribs at Silky Sullivan's on Beale - good as well.

I spend a lot of my business time in Columbus, Ohio and find City BBQ pretty good.

Delicious :)^^

I am going to try to make them

http://www.wchstv.com/gmarecipes/drybbqrub.shtml

Good discussion of good barbecue
 

I found this five-part article worth reading. It will definitely affect my itinerary next time I go to Texas!

http://slate.msn.com/id/2118542/entry/2118537/

Interesting article. I think the other one of the two places in Lockhart that was in top 5 according to Texas Monthly is Black's Barbeque. Thats the one I have been raving about here http://www.blacksbbq.com/ But no one listens to me ;)

Sconyers in Augusta, GA is very good as well. Ole Jimmy Carter use to have them cater to the White House (one of the few smart things he did as prez.).

I liked the Flint's BBQ in Oakland, CA. I used to go there about 10 years ago and it was right across the street from Nik-Nak Liquors, so you could get your BBQ and pick up a 40 at the same time. Only problem was that the area wasn't that good, so you'd need to go somewhere else to have your BBQ and King Cobra.

Flint's, unfortunately closed down. Rumor has it that they had a roach problem, but I never saw one. I figured the two dobermans they had chained up in the back took care of any roaches that might have been there.

Everett & Jones in Berkeley is OK. Closest one to me now is the Texas Smokestack BBQ in San Jose, CA.

But nothing beats Flint's.

Yep. If you're talking Austin it is the Salt Lick.

Now, I have to admit that I am found of Carolina Style BBQ pork, having grown up in Richmond, VA. There is a restaurant there called Bill's BBQ that has one the the finest pulled pork sandwiches I have ever had.

Here's an interesting one: MY girlfriend is vegan which can cause some dining nighmaares. There is a place in Autsin called Mother's that actually serves barbequed tofu.

As an additional tip o' the cap to the Salt Lick - they even do large scale (300+ people) CATERED meals well - one of the best I've tasted, both on site and off