# Favorite BBQ joints, any style, any place **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-bbq-joints-any-style-any-place/469258 "2008-10-23T21:49:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Influential\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Influential\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Influential_Panda)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-bbq-joints-any-style-any-place/469258/61 "2008-10-26T23:14:21Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > [Dreamland Bar-B-Que](http://www.dreamlandbbq.com/default.aspx?id=2)in Birmingham Alabama, although they have several locations. Simple, basic, ribs, chicken, pulled pork. The sauce is the best. They’re pretty good, and the ambiance is untouchable. The restaurant itself–the original in Tuscaloosa off of Pig Shit Dirt Road is limited to the basics: ribs, white bread, sweet tea, and pudding. May the gods have mercy on your soul should you EVER attempt to order a soda. But I’ll never really understand the fawning over their ribs. The sauce is pretty good, but it’s truly nothing as spectacularly mind-bending as ESPN makes it out to be every time they come to town. Truth be told, you can get better in town. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Mood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@Blue\_Mood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Mood)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-bbq-joints-any-style-any-place/469258/62 "2008-10-26T23:29:56Z")
[David’s Real Pit BBQ](http://www.davidsbbq.com/) in Gainesville, Florida. The meat is tender, the sauce is a great blend of spicy/sweet/vinegar, the BBQ beans are fantastic, and the onion rings are the best I’ve ever had. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-bbq-joints-any-style-any-place/469258/63 "2008-10-26T23:45:17Z")
> [@Influential\_Panda](#): > > They’re pretty good, and the ambiance is untouchable. The restaurant itself–the original in Tuscaloosa off of Pig Shit Dirt Road is limited to the basics: ribs, white bread, sweet tea, and pudding. May the gods have mercy on your soul should you EVER attempt to order a soda. > > But I’ll never really understand the fawning over their ribs. The sauce is pretty good, but it’s truly nothing as spectacularly mind-bending as ESPN makes it out to be every time they come to town. Truth be told, you can get better in town. Yeah, Dreamland is _massively_ over-hyped. I wouldn’t even call it mediocre. > [@Juliana](#): > > Thank you both for the Rib Shack reference. We’re spending a week in Atlanta next month, and we were looking for a good BBQ place. Do yourself a favor and try Fox Brothers, Maddy’s and/or Rolling Bones. Fatt Matt’s is OK, but like Dreamland, a bit over-hyped. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-bbq-joints-any-style-any-place/469258/64 "2008-10-26T23:57:52Z")
There was a Curly’s Barbecue in Little Rock that went out of business. They had a sweet tomato sauce, fried pickles and an onion loaf. This was an entire onion sliced and breaded with a flour batter rather than corn meal. The best onion rings I’ve ever had. Was this a franchise? Has anyone else seen them? Thanks, CP ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-bbq-joints-any-style-any-place/469258/65 "2008-10-27T01:31:31Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > [Old Hickory](http://local.yahoo.com/info-15373981-old-hickory-pit-barbq-owensboro) back home. The flat-out best 'cue I have ever put in my mouth. Hell, some of the flat-out best food I’ve ever put in my mouth (and you can tell by looking at me that a lot of food goes into this mouth.) Barbecue is in the Western Kentucky style, dry and smokey with a vinegar-based sauce. Their best meat is the mutton, but then mutton is the best barbecue meat anyway, so it’s not really a fair comparison. > > Moonlite is the place in town that gets all the press and out of town attention, but if you come to town please don’t waste your time. Pop on across town and you’ll get much better food, cooked in a MUCH cleaner kitchen, at a lower price. That’s what I came here to say. Being away from WK (even not very far away in another part of the state…) means no mutton, which makes me sad. But I heard that Prince Charles is leading an effort to promote eating mutton, so maybe it will make a comeback. Mmmm. Mutton. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-bbq-joints-any-style-any-place/469258/66 "2008-10-27T03:27:11Z")
**NicePete** , if you’re in or around Lexington, you should check out Billy’s in the Chevy Chase part of town. They do real barbecue there. Not as good as Old Hickory, but better than Moonlite. They only do the mutton chopped, though. But hey, I’ll take mutton any way I can get it. And they have _the_ best fries. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-bbq-joints-any-style-any-place/469258/67 "2008-10-27T14:30:46Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Do yourself a favor and try Fox Brothers, Maddy’s and/or Rolling Bones. Fatt Matt’s is OK, but like Dreamland, a bit over-hyped. We were looking at Maddy’s menu. Looks good. And it’s not far from where we’ll be staying. Matt’s only drawback is that it’s not that close to a MARTA stop. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-bbq-joints-any-style-any-place/469258/68 "2008-10-27T14:46:44Z")
I don’t mean to disparage Fat Matt’s at all. I like it, and it has a cool dive-y atmosphere. Just don’t go there expecting the best barbecue ever. Its renown derives as much from longevity as from quality. (Again, not to say that the food’s not good.) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-bbq-joints-any-style-any-place/469258/69 "2008-10-27T14:55:20Z")
(Missed edit window:) Also, Fox Brothers is a pretty easy walk from the Inman Park MARTA station. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-bbq-joints-any-style-any-place/469258/70 "2008-10-27T15:54:51Z")
[Big Daddy’s BBQ](http://www.bigdaddysbbq.net/about.html) in Des Moines is one of the best. It is a tiny little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in a seddier part of town but if you go in there during a weekday lunch you will find most of the cities movers and shakers in there eating. Best BBQ I have ever had is from there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-bbq-joints-any-style-any-place/469258.md?page=3)