Another BBQ ranking...

[OrlandNole]

This one from TripAdvisor based on user reviews.

Locations:

1. Joe's BBQ -- Blue Ridge, Georgia
2. Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que -- Kansas City, Kansas
3. Bogart's Smokehouse -- St. Louis
4. Reuben's Smokehouse -- Fort Myers, Florida
5. Andy Nelson's Southern Pit BBQ -- Cockeysville, Maryland
6. Captain's BBQ -- Palm Coast, Florida
7. HogsHead Café -- Richmond, Virginia
8. Buck's Smokehouse -- Destin, Florida
9. Franklin Barbecue -- Austin, Texas
10. Pappy's Smokehouse -- St. Louis

States:

1. Tennessee
2. Texas
3. Missouri
4. North Carolina
5. Georgia
6. Florida
7. South Carolina
8. California
9. Virginia
10. New York

 

[ericram]

Well I don't see Sonny's anywhere on the list. So the list must be incorrect.

 

[OrlandNole]

Outside of Franklin, I don't see any places from the traditional BBQ hotbeds. Really odd list.

State rankings are a little more intuitive.

 

[noleit]

My younger brother's house is real close to Captain's BBQ in Palm Coast and I've been there several times. And while it's much better then Sonny's, I'd say that it shouldn't be ranked that highly - but the ribs were very good!

 

[Fijimn]

After some serious taste testing, I have arrived at the conclusion that Killen's is better than Franklin's.

 

[Fijimn]

How is Kansas not in the top 10 states?

Because Kansas City is in Missouri....

 

[BarryB1081]

Because Kansas City is in Missouri....

Yup, there is a Kansas City in Missouri, and one in Kansas. But you're right, that's the BBQ famous one. But Kansas should still be on this list.

 

[NDallasRuss]

5. Andy Nelson's Southern Pit BBQ -- Cockeysville, Maryland

I've been to this place a few times. I'm not sure if it's one of the top 10 places in the country, but they have REALLY good pit beef. I enjoy going there.

 

[FSUTribe76]

Outside of Franklin, I don't see any places from the traditional BBQ hotbeds. Really odd list.

State rankings are a little more intuitive.

Well it's based upon Tripadvisor reviews so 1) it's got everyone's opinions including the "common folk" who wouldn't know good barbecue from bad and 2) all of the famous places are going to have lots of negative reviews when out of town tourists go to them and says "I hated this NC bbq because I'm from Texas and only like unseasoned brisket. One star."

So I trust this list.....not one iota.

There are some passable to decent places in Florida and Georgia but none that come close to even an average one in NC, SC, Memphis and Owensboro KY. Or even Birmingham really. There are some really great BBQ places in Northern Alabama.

 

[FSUTribe76]

My younger brother's house is real close to Captain's BBQ in Palm Coast and I've been there several times. And while it's much better then Sonny's, I'd say that it shouldn't be ranked that highly - but the ribs were very good!

That's what I was saying about Tripadvisor. This place is rated incredibly high because Yankees who have never had great bbq think it's good.

And it is good, just not as good as at least 30 I could rattle off.

 

[KitingHigh]

Yup, there is a Kansas City in Missouri, and one in Kansas. But you're right, that's the BBQ famous one. But Kansas should still be on this list.

Sorry, but I wouldn't put either in the top ten. KC bbq does not impress me.

 

[graytonole]

Been to Buck's several times, no way on Earth that place is top 10. It's not even Top 3 in the Panhandle.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

None of these beat Captain Buck Bogart's Smokehouse BBQ in Mount Airy, NC.

 

[seminoledq]

That's what I was saying about Tripadvisor. This place is rated incredibly high because Yankees who have never had great bbq think it's good.

And it is good, just not as good as at least 30 I could rattle off.

We want to see your 30......GO!

 

[FSUTribe76]

Sorry, but I wouldn't put either in the top ten. KC bbq does not impress me.

It's ok.

For my personal tastes it would go:

1) Western NC/Lexington ("red sauce" pulled pork with red slaw)
2) Eastern NC (vinegar only pulled pork with white slaw)
3) Birmingham/Northern Alabama (white sauce chicken)
4) Owensboro/Kentucky (mutton)
5) Rendezvous Direct Heat Style (lamb ribs)
6) Baltimore (Pit beef with "tiger sauce")
7) Santa Maria/California (tri-tip)
8) New Mexican (ribs in chili sauce)
9) South Carolina (pulled pork in mustard sauce)
10) Memphis (indirect, nonrendezvous style ribs in a semisweet sauce)
11) Virginia (pulled pork with a red sauce that adds lots of spice rack spices)
12) Washington/British Columbia (salmon slow bbqed)
13) New York City/Jewish (smoked pastrami)
14) Montreal ("smoked meat" very similar to New York pastrami but seasoned differently)
15) Florida/Fat Boys/Sonnys (sliced pork and beef, chicken and ribs with a tangy thick red sauce)
16) Kansas City (wide variety of meats with a sweet but tangy thick red sauce)
17) Texas/West Texas/Austin (brisket and sausage usually barely seasoned)
18) Georgia/Mississippi/rest of Alabama (variety of meats usually smothered in a sickeningly sweet thick red sauce)

Stylistically that's my order of preference and I LOVE BBQ so just because Kansas City is 16th doesn't mean I hate it. I've found some Kansas City style places that I like. The only style I truly and utterly hate is the typical Georgia/nonNorthern Alabama/Mississippi style that is almost always poorly seasoned and cooked meat smothered in a grossly candy sweet red sauce. Even Texas style brisket (aka boring and bland compared to California, New York pastrami, Montreal smoked meat and even Baltimore Pit Beef) is not "bad".

 

[FSUTribe76]

We want to see your 30......GO!

I'll try to put some in order. Definitely Red Bridges BBQ and Alston Bridges BBQ both in Shelby by competing brothers would be #1 and 2. After that...I'd have to think about it. Because there might be some surprises. Even though it's in LA and it's making NYC style pastrami...I might have to put Langers WAY up in my top ten. And even though in general I do not like bbq chicken and think that bbqing is a poor way of cooking chicken as it lacks the intracellular fat needed for good low and slow bbqing...I probably would have Miss Myra's from Birmingham way up there as well.

 

[NDallasRuss]

It's ok.

For my personal tastes it would go:

1) Western NC/Lexington ("red sauce" pulled pork with red slaw)
2) Eastern NC (vinegar only pulled pork with white slaw)
3) Birmingham/Northern Alabama (white sauce chicken)
4) Owensboro/Kentucky (mutton)
5) Rendezvous Direct Heat Style (lamb ribs)
6) Baltimore (Pit beef with "tiger sauce")
7) Santa Maria/California (tri-tip)
8) New Mexican (ribs in chili sauce)
9) South Carolina (pulled pork in mustard sauce)
10) Memphis (indirect, nonrendezvous style ribs in a semisweet sauce)
11) Virginia (pulled pork with a red sauce that adds lots of spice rack spices)
12) Washington/British Columbia (salmon slow bbqed)
13) New York City/Jewish (smoked pastrami)
14) Montreal ("smoked meat" very similar to New York pastrami but seasoned differently)
15) Florida/Fat Boys/Sonnys (sliced pork and beef, chicken and ribs with a tangy thick red sauce)
16) Kansas City (wide variety of meats with a sweet but tangy thick red sauce)
17) Texas/West Texas/Austin (brisket and sausage usually barely seasoned)
18) Georgia/Mississippi/rest of Alabama (variety of meats usually smothered in a sickeningly sweet thick red sauce)

Stylistically that's my order of preference and I LOVE BBQ so just because Kansas City is 16th doesn't mean I hate it. I've found some Kansas City style places that I like. The only style I truly and utterly hate is the typical Georgia/nonNorthern Alabama/Mississippi style that is almost always poorly seasoned and cooked meat smothered in a grossly candy sweet red sauce. Even Texas style brisket (aka boring and bland compared to California, New York pastrami, Montreal smoked meat and even Baltimore Pit Beef) is not "bad".

That's what's great about BBQ - my list would look completely different from yours. It's a reflection of where I was raised, what I was raised on, and what my own personal preferences have become as a result of my own experiences. As for me, I won't go through all 18, but the top would look like:

1) Texas/West Texas/Austin (brisket and sausage usually barely seasoned)
2) Kansas City (wide variety of meats with a sweet but tangy thick red sauce)
3) Memphis (indirect, nonrendezvous style ribs in a semisweet sauce)
4) Baltimore (Pit beef with "tiger sauce")
5) Rendezvous Direct Heat Style (lamb ribs)
6) Eastern NC (vinegar only pulled pork with white slaw) (Arkansas pulled pork is like this (at least what I've had) - but with white slaw and a red, vinegary sauce)
7) Virginia (pulled pork with a red sauce that adds lots of spice rack spices) (Out of necessity, this is mostly what I smoke at home)
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Being hit by a car
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1004) South Carolina (pulled pork in mustard sauce)

 

[CobNole]

So wait...Tennessee was the #1 ranked state yet not a single place in the state made the top 10 list? I've never heard of that place listed in Destin.

 

[FSUTribe76]

So wait...Tennessee was the #1 ranked state yet not a single place in the state made the top 10 list? I've never heard of that place listed in Destin.

Me either. Of course when I go to that area I'm usually "hankering" for oysters and seafood not really bbq. But I'll have to check it out.

Ever since the original owner of Champions BBQ died, there wouldn't be a bbq place in Florida I would put in my top 30. So I'm always willing to try out the new places.

 

[DFSNOLE]

Don't know the place in Destin either. Will have to try it after the summer season is over. I avoid that place June-August.

 

[FSUTribe76]

So I've thought about it and I've come up with my 50 favorite BBQ places across the country. I'm using the largest definition of barbecue rather than the narrowest. Because while some of you Texas BBQ fanatics would say that direct heat is not barbecue and therefore disqualify Rendezvous and most Maryland Pit Beef and California Tritip places, if you look at the original definition from 1756 of barbecue it would only extend to whole smoked Hog and Texas "bbq" would also be disqualified. So I'm throwing everything in together.

1) Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge - Shelby NC
2) Alston Bridges Barbecue - Shelby NC
3) Lexington Barbecue - Lexington NC
4) Langer's Delicatessen - Los Angeles CA
5) Chaps Pit Beef - Baltimore MD
6) Skylight Inn - Ayden NC
7) Charlie Vergos Rendezvous - Memphis TN (for the lamb ribs, the pork ribs which most tourists get while exceptional would be further down the list)
8) Miss Myra's Pit Bar-B-Que - Vestavia AL
9) Smoke Meat Pete - L'lle Perot QC
10) Bill Ellis Barbecue - Wilson NC (my wife's favorite)
11) Katz's Delicatessen - New York City NY
12) Schwartz's Delicatessen - Montreal QC
13) Sweatman's Bar-B-Que - Holly Hills SC
14) Pioneer Pit Beef - Catonsville MD
15) Shaw's Famous Steak House - Santa Maria CA
16) Wilber's Barbecue - Goldsboro NC
17) Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que - Kansas City, Kansas (formerly Oklahoma Joe's)
18) Johnson's Boucanerie - Lafayette LA
19) Local Food - Lahaina HI
20) Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Que - Decator AL
21) Pierce's Pitt Bar-B-Que - Williamsburg VA
22) Barbecue Center - Lexington NC
23) Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn - Owensboro KY
24) El Pinto - Albuquerque NM (more of an overall New Mexican style restaurant but their Red Chili Pepper smoked ribs are amazing)
25) Salmon-N-Bannock - Vancouver BC
26) Reuben's Deli and Steaks - Montreal QC
27 Allman's Bar-B-Cue - Fredericksburg VA
28) Gullah Grub - Saint Helena's Island SC
29) Saw's BBQ - Birmingham AL
30) Big Mike's Smokehouse - Houma LA
31) Helena's Hawaiian Food - Honolulu HI
32) Franklin Barbecue - Austin TX
33) Cozy Corner Restaurant - Memphis TN
34) Pecan Lodge - Dallas TX
35) Corkscrew BBQ - Spring TX
36) Stamey's Barbecue - Greensboro NC
37) Smoakies Bar-B-Que - Cordele GA
38) Payne's Bar-B-Que - Memphis TN
39) Scott's Bar-B-Que - Hemingway SC
40) Black's Barbecue - Lockhart TX
41) Old Hickory Bar-B-Que - Owensboro KY
42) Phil's BBQ - San Diego CA
43) The Joint - New Orleans LA
44) Kings Restaurant - Kinston NC
45) Abe's BBQ - Clarksdale MS
46) Goodman's Real Pit BBQ - Perry FL
47) Southern Soul Barbecue - Saint Simons Island GA
48) David's Brisket House - New York City, NY
49) Ted Peter's Famous Smoked Fish - St Petersburg FL
50) Leonard's Pit Barbecue - Memphis TN

 

[DFSNOLE]

I don't think I could name 50 restaurants I've been to much less my 50 favorites of one genre.

 

[FSUTribe76]

I don't think I could name 50 restaurants I've been to much less my 50 favorites of one genre.

Well as you know I don't make the restaurants the sole focus of the trip, but I always make it priority to plan out the trips. Just wait until next week when you see all of the Lobster Shacks I'll be hitting up in Maine. At the very least Estes Lobster House in Harpswell, Stewman's Lobster Pound in Bar Harbor, the Lobster Shack at Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth and probably Cook's Lobster House on Bailey Island. And in my quest for best pizza in America we're definitely hitting up Regina's in Boston and Frank Pepe's in Connecticut on the same trip. So while we'll be doing lots of other stuff (mainly sightseeing, hiking and a wedding), food is always on my planned travel priorities.

 

[FSUTribe76]

Oh and I somewhat lied about not making food the sole priority, we'll be going to Iggy's Doughboys in Rhode Island just so I can try the clear clam chowder, clamcakes, stuffies and doughboys and there's no other reason for us to go to Rhode Island other than to scratch off a state from my map.

 

[cmanole]

I don't think I could name 50 restaurants I've been to much less my 50 favorites of one genre.

Not much to choose from in the Funk. Here's my list...

Bogey's
Nick's
Tasty Freeze
Mom & Dad's
4c BBQ
Whataburger
Hart's
Crossroads
Lily's
Pizza Hut
McLain's
Beef O' Brady's
Waffle House
JB's Chinese
Larumba
KFC

 

[noleit]

Not much to choose from in the Funk. Here's my list...

Bogey's
Nick's
Tasty Freeze
Mom & Dad's
4c BBQ
Whataburger
Hart's
Crossroads
Lily's
Pizza Hut
McLain's
Beef O' Brady's
Waffle House
JB's Chinese
Larumba
KFC

KFC? If you had said pre-pepsi KFC your list would have some cred.

 

[KitingHigh]

Well as you know I don't make the restaurants the sole focus of the trip, but I always make it priority to plan out the trips. Just wait until next week when you see all of the Lobster Shacks I'll be hitting up in Maine. At the very least Estes Lobster House in Harpswell, Stewman's Lobster Pound in Bar Harbor, the Lobster Shack at Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth and probably Cook's Lobster House on Bailey Island. And in my quest for best pizza in America we're definitely hitting up Regina's in Boston and Frank Pepe's in Connecticut on the same trip. So while we'll be doing lots of other stuff (mainly sightseeing, hiking and a wedding), food is always on my planned travel priorities.

Do you keep a food log, or just remember all these places?

 

[FSUTribe76]

Do you keep a food log, or just remember all these places?

If by Food log you mean Facebook then yeah. Not of every meal I either eat or cook, just the ones I'm sharing with family and friends as great or interesting.

As far as that list I remembered most of them as I've been to all but mainly KC and Texas places in the last 3 to 4 years or so. So not exactly ancient history. I did look up the full legal names and cities on some of them as I would not remember all of the details. I could probably yank pics for 3/4s of them off my Facebook (which I would do if I ever created a truly public travel blog or sold an article to an already existing one).

 

[FSUTribe76]

The ones I've been to on the Top 50 in the 12 months are Red Bridges, Alston Bridges, Chaps (first x), Rendezvous, Miss Myra's, Bill Ellis, Pioneer Pit (first x), Pierce's, Johnson's Boucanerie (first x), El Pinto (first x), Salmon-N-Bannock (first x), Smoakies, The Joint (first x), Goodman's and Ted Peters.

I don't usually go to mediocre bbq places just to have it. Outside of the above the only BBQ I've eaten other than my own is at the Shed in Ocean Springs MS last weekend, Fat Boys in Crystal River FL, 4 Rivers in Tally, BigUns in Brooksville FL and possibly Hammaknockers in Crawfordville (might have been more than 12 months).

So I've eaten at a lot of bbq places in the last 12 months but probably not a lot of bbq total. About 2x a month or so.