FINDING GREAT BARBECUE IN UNLIKELY PLACES
Everybody knows you can get great barbecue in Memphis, Dallas, Kansas City, Tuscaloosa, or anywhere in South (or North) Carolina. But we've sought out some pretty fantastic BBQ in some fairly unlikely cities not usually associated with the barbecue belt.
In Kansas City there are over 80 barbecue restaurants, in Memphis almost 100, Dallas and Houston have them on every corner, and even tiny Lexington, North Carolina (with one bbq restaurant for every 700 people) are not unexpected placed to get world class barbecue.
However, we’ve been there, and instead wanted to share some saucy gems you might not expect to find North or West (and I mean far west) of the Mason Dixon line.
We think after eating at any of these you'll have to loosen yours, belt that is. Here’s our list of a few special bbqulinary places:
• San Francisco, CA - Memphis Minnie's Bar-B-Que Joint is tucked away on the famous “flower child” street. Their pulled pork is wonderful; often people even pass on the sauce because the meat is so moist and flavorful, as are their ribs. Like the pulled pork the brisket is very tender and loaded with flavor without going dry, again good enough that you can pass on the sauce. Portions of everything are quite generous. Parking is a problem in this part of San Francisco but be patient and the wait will be well worth it. Oh yes their Banana Puddin’ is outathisworld. (576 Haight St. near Steiner, San Francisco, 415-864-7675)
• Las Vegas, NV - Memphis Championship Barbecue has been called “the best BBQ in Las Vegas” and we won’t argue. Owner Mike Mills and his team won the World Championships at the Memphis International Cook-off three times and this expertise is reflected in superb Baby Back and St. Louis style ribs, sauce, and an incredible and delicious 16-oz. Pork steak, all treated lovingly with the “magic dust” rub they sprinkle on the food while it cooks. Their 16 varieties of sides complete an almost perfect bbq meal. Even their burgers are way above ordinary. (1401 S. Rainbow Blvd., near W. Charleston Blvd., 702-254-0520, plus 2 other locations on Warm Springs Road, and Las Vegas Blvd., right beside Nellis AFB)
• New York, NY - Dinosaur Bar-B-Que located in Harlem. This charismatic restaurant has two upstate brothers (in Syracuse, and Rochester) but holds its own and has rapidly become a haven for socialites and the late night crowd who love to get sauced. The Korean style BBQ Beef Ribs, West Texas Rib-eye (with bourbon molasses sauce), Texas Beef Brisket - Pork Rib combination, and Elgin Sausage Links are wonderful. And for heaven sakes try the Bronzed Catfish, marinated in buttermilk and Tabasco sauce, and the Drunken Shrimp Boil Platter. (646 W. 131st St. and 12th Ave., 212-694-1777)
• Orlando, FL - Bubbalous Bodacious Bar-B-Que is probably the best-known of our examples but still not in an area famous for ‘Que. Bubbalous is a crazy, fun, loud, boisterous, and happy place. It is not your quiet neighborhood eatery for sure. They feature all the “typical” bbq fare: ribs, chicken, turkey, sausage, pork or beef, but they’ll even cook up a whole hog if you wish, and their catfish is yummy. Be aware of their hot sauces, one is so fiery it’s kept behind the counter and will only be given out to adults who ask for it. Their Memphis Pulled Pork w/Slaw is as good as any I had anywhere, even in Memphis. Another plus: they are also relatively inexpensive, enough so that they’re in the Zagat’s Best Cheap Eats book. If you’re still hungry after one of their rather large platters belly up to a slice of Peanut Butter Pie and dig in. (1200 Challenger Pkwy., on the UCF Alafaya Trail, 407-423-1212, plus other locations in Winter Park, Orlando, Altamonte Springs, and Apopka)
• Portland, ME – Beal Street Barbeque & Grill cooks up the kinda barbecue you’d expect in Houston or Dallas or Kansas City, not what you’d expect in Maine. Especially their dry rub ribs which reminded me of past dinners at Corky’s or Charlie Vergo’s Rendezvous in Memphis, and are just as succulent. Their menu features Wolf’s Neck Farms beef and humanely raised pork and poultry and local seafood and produce. My wife and I happily split the $15 barbecue sampler: “All You Really Need to Know About BBQ,” a choice of pulled pork, chicken, or beef brisket; 1 1/4 smoked chicken; spicy beef sausage links; a very nice slab of grilled cornbread; and generous helpings of beans and super coleslaw. (725 Broadway, between Buttonwood and Anthoine, 207-767-0130, a second location is in Bath.)
Now again these places may not be on the exact same level as some of the legendary palaces of barbecue like Arthur Bryan’s or Smokestack in Kansas City, Jim Neeley’s or the Commissary in Memphis, Dreamland or Big Bob Gibson’s in Tuscaloosa, Sonny Bryan’s in Dallas, Goode Company or Luling City Market Bar-BQ in Houston, or even Lexington #1 in North Carolina or South Carolina’s Sweatman’s, but our “undiscovered” places serve up pretty great barbecue. You won’t go hungry and certainly these are among the top 20% of barbecue eateries in the US.
Our “undiscovered” gems may be pretenders to the thrones of the better-known “historic” barbecue Kings and Queens, but enjoying a pulled pork sandwich from Memphis Minnies Bar-B-Que Joint; cutting into a thick magic-dusted pork steak at Memphis Championship Barbecue; digging into the huge Dinosaur Bar-B-Que brisket-rib combo; passing around a platter of mouthwatering smoked turkey inside Bubbalous Bodacious Bar-B-Que, or single-handedly devouring a full slab of juicy, meaty, and tender pork ribs from Beal Street Barbeque will put any barbecue fanatic into culinary heaven.
Now, that all being said, I’m starving and I’m going out for some barbecue.
Rick Browne
Barbecue America 6 – The World Tour