You know what. I am going to defend this!

I lived in San Diego for six years before moving to Charlotte. After moving here I was engaged with a client in Alabama where I ate a lot of fantastic BBQ. Fast forward to two weeks ago I was visiting San Diego, and you know what was 2nd on my list after In-N-Out burger.....Phil's. It's really good!! Now, I won't take it over The Rib Joint in Dana Point but that's not in San Diego so it's staying on the sidelines for now. Phil's makes great ribs in a killer sauce with really really great fries! I'm ride-or-die (as the kids say) for Phil's!

BBQ
 

I was going to name this thread "good bbq" but of course no one wants bad bbq. My reason for starting this thread is, I just finished watching Chefs Table BBQ on netflix and have spent the past 2 days drooling. I want good BBQ.

Where do you go for good bbq? Have you been to any of the legendary pits? Have you met legendary pitmasters? Is it worth travelling just to eat this BBQ?

Yes it’s worth traveling from uk to USA for bbq. Thankfully every usa state has bbq that’s from another usa region. It’s like eating Indian food in London. Every restaurant CAN offer Indian food from the owner’s home region. Or Chinese or most cuisines. I just don’t think there’s American bbq in Europe.
that said, I’ve had brasilian steakhouse cuisine in China.

FlyerTalkers did or still fly to MEM for the bbq restaurant at the Memphis airport.

Salt Lick Cellars in AUS is supposedly good too, but I flew through too early in the morning last time to actually order anything and see for myself.

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I am lucky to live in a place with so many different types of BBQ. Most of these are within 5 miles of my house. Slick Pig is about 20 minutes away.

My favorites in Nashville:

Ribs? Martin's BBQ or Corky's
Pulled Pork? Edleys BBQ
Memphis style BBQ? Central BBQ
Pulled Chicken with a white sauce? Central BBQ
Smoked Thighs? Smokin' Thighs
Glazed smoked Wings? Slick Pig (Murfreesboro)
Korean BBQ? Seoul Gardens
Mexican BBQ? Las Cazuelas
Texas style? Hogwoods

FlyerTalkers have had several get togethers over amazing bbq. One is coming up in May:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/comm...y-5th-7th.html

We've also met in Austin several times, going to Franklins and to Lockwood where there are several reknown bbq places.

Many upon many BBQ cuisines and foods.

Is grilling considered BBQ? How do you classify, for instance, Korean BBQ? Or yakitori or kushiyaki or robatayaki or yakiniku? Or satay or kebabs? Or churrasco or asado? Or tandoori?

Is American BBQ principally cooking via smoking? Or is indirect cooking with charcoal ok?

There's a whole bunch of spit/rotisserie meat cooking methods such as doner kebab or al pastor or gyros or shawarma - are those BBQ?

If you spit roast whole hogs (lechon asado) or chickens (rotisserie) is that considered BBQ?

Finally, is kalua pork / luau pig from an imu BBQ?

Again, many upon many ways to BBQ worldwide.

David

My wife and really miss the BBQ in Lockhart. We would drive there from Austin when we lived there. We would go to Black’s. That was really great BBQ. There are some good places in Austin, and the above mentioned Salt Lick which may have been near San Marcos, forget exactly where, but none like Black’s to my palate and ambiance meter.

it’s whatever you want it to be. I would say traditionalist would refer to BBQ as smoked meats. Grilled meats would be a cookout. You would grill them on a barbecue.

In Mexican spanish, a bbq would be barbacoa while grilled meats would be parrilla.

I would call a kebab a grilled meat.

As a kid, my neighbors behind us would roast a pig in the backyard in a caja china covered with banana leaves and Cuban marinade. I never thought of it as BBQ, but I suppose you could call it Cuban BBQ. I’ll still eat it.

In the South, BBQ usually refers to smoked meats.

I used to fly through AUS regularly and my gate was usually right near Salt Lick. I would advise against it unless it's your only opportunity to have BBQ in Austin. Several people have told me the actual restaurant is much better, but I was generally disappointed with their airport BBQ. I usually flew through in the morning as well, they had a promising breakfast menu with eggs and meats.

-J.

Nice to see this thread with a bump ;)

Ugh... that is my question for today. Do I drive out to the haloed grounds of BBQ in Lockhart, or just stop somewhere closer like New Braunfels. Both have a Blacks (but only one is truly the original) ;)

Joys of being in SAT for a couple days- seems there are some new places in AUS, but not going up there this time.

Drove through the parking lot of Smoke Shack yesterday. No parking and I think they were about to close... still could have done 1/2 lb of brisket; moist :D (No, I haven't been)

A lot of changes in the rankings:

https://www.texasmonthly.com/interac...p-50-bbq-2021/

I do still consider Aaron to be King of Brisket.

Grilling and barbecue are very different, although I've certainly used indirect heat to slow-cook something on a grill, sort of barbecue-esque in an amateur way.

People can get really gatekeepy about regional styles of barbecue but I guess if lots of people accept those as barbecue, then so be it.

Professionals would use a dedicated smoker but for backyard cooking, sure...that's a very common thing that people do. I have a small smoker box I can put into the coals if I want to add a little flavor. It won't get you to the podium at the American Royal but it is still pretty tasty.

In the Midwest USA, where barbecue has such a strong definition on its own, we'd refer to all of those things specifically and separately. We wouldn't generally call them BBQ. But if they're referred to that way in their home regions, that's cool...

The various regions of the world may all have different definitions of barbecue, but we'll all take a shift manning the gate for one thing: HOTDOGS ARE NOT BBQ.

Well, I lived there in the 1980s so the choices were rather more limited. But hopefully, the drive from Austin to Lockhart in the spring when there are waves of bluebonnets along the road hasn't changed.

I had the pleasure of wandering around Lockhart for an afternoon about a decade ago. If you've never been, go....you won't be disappointed.