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Here's the list of the absolute best BBQ joints in the United States. As you'll probably notice, some areas of the country tend to dominate the BBQ culture, so lucky you if you happen to live in one of these areas!

 

B's Cracklin' BBQ
Savannah, GA
One bite of the pork sandwich, done in the Carolina style, and you'll be hit with the incredible flavor that happens when a fatty breed sits overnight in a smoker.

Barbeque Exchange
Gordonsville, VA
Don't make the mistake of skipping the items that aren’t classic because that would mean you’d be missing out on a BLT made with bacon that’s been spice-cured for a week, dried for a week, and then taken an overnight rest in the smoker.

Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q
Decatur, AL
Over 75 years ago, when Gibson created his sauce that so perfectly complements smoky ‘cue, he certainly wasn't planning to do the impossible: create a food so delicious that the hordes of food bloggers and ravenous restaurateurs had no need to upsell it or change it or throw it into some dish where it doesn’t belong. Maybe it's because the peppery, vinegary, mayo-based sauce so perfectly (and surprisingly) complements smoky BBQ.

Black's Barbecue
Lockhart, TX

Two items in particular stuck out, like my belly 15 minutes after we finished: the Flintstone-sized 1lb beef ribs, and the incredible, spicy hand-stuffed and -tied jalapeño cheddar sausages. The rib was moist with just enough marbling and the jalapeño cheddar sausage was honestly incredible — with pockets of that cheese bursting as you bit into them, and a linger of spice on the tongue.

Central BBQ
Memphis, TN
Two things from the menu put Central on our list: the pork plate (get it chopped, and get the extra bark) — with that 14-hour slow-smoky flavor — and the Memphis-style ribs (I like 'em dry, and was basically eating the bark off the top of the rib to get that extra flavor). Oh, and side it all with the home-cooked chips.

Cozy Corner BBQ
Memphis, TN
BBQ bologna is a bit of a Memphis tradition, and the good people of Cozy Corner insisted I try their BBQ’d bologna sandwich (along with a four-bone rib and some sliced pork, of course), and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t kind of delicious and salty and strangely addicting, especially in conjunction with the vinegar from the slaw and the tangy sauce.

Heirloom Market BBQ
Atlanta, GA
While Heirloom Market's ‘cue style is far from traditional, its gochujang-marinated rib meat and kimchee coleslaw is an incredibly natural product of a Southern spot that boasts a large Korean population who has slowly peppered the city’s suburbs with damn good Korean restaurants. The smoking process brings out the richness of the fermented chile paste in the pork, which is then chopped and loaded onto a potato bun, and then topped with that spicy slaw and just enough sesame seeds for an occasional crunch.

Hometown Bar-B-Que
Brooklyn, NY
If you're looking for the city's most authentic Texas-style brisket and beef ribs, you should go to Hometown. If you're looking for Vietnamese hot wings or a lamb belly bánh mì… you should also go to Hometown! It's pretty safe to say that Billy Durney is New York's current ‘cue king — and despite being schooled by Texas masters in the elusive alchemy of salt-and-pepper-only brisket (Hometown's legitimately rivals the top Austin joints), he didn't stop there with the menu at his roadhouse-y cavern in deep Red Hook. Much of it was influenced by Billy's youth eating from Vietnamese, Caribbean, and other international food carts

Franklin Barbecue
Austin, TX
There was a point, probably two years ago, in which Franklin became one of those one-named deities, like Prince or Messi. I will not waste your time explaining a place that consistently has four- to five-hour lines starting at dawn, that has long been considered the finest barbecue place in the world. I had the honor of going to Franklin in 2009, when the line was only somewhat annoying, and I wish, after consuming that 18-hour, peppery, moist, perfectly fatty brisket, that I was able to invest in it somehow, because even then I knew I was experiencing something unique.

Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que
Kansas City, KS
Anyway, about that barbecue: it is really, really good. I am partial to the burnt ends (as is most of the world), but they're only served on Wednesday nights (and Monday/Saturday lunch), so if you want to get them, get in there early, add a pulled pork sandwich to that order, and then head out into the Kansas night chubby and contented.

The Joint
New Orleans, LA
The Joint locally sources the sausage, the Creole version of chorizo, and, by smoking the cayenne-loaded pork, it creates a sandwich with more flavor than any pulled pork sandwich you’re used to grabbing at a ‘cue joint.

Killen's
Pearland, TX
Whenever I feel like it could benefit me, I like to point out that I was born in Houston and this is one of those occasions. But sadly, during my brief tenure there, Ronnie Killen's eponymous barbecue joint did not exist, and so I was forced to drink formula and eat teething crackers instead of one of the best beef ribs in the country, marbled with rendered fat and so big that you actually start to look like an extra from that '90s remake of Flintstones.

Kreuz Market
Lockhart, TX
The standout for us was the brisket, which was by far the best in Lockhart that day. It was moist and peppery and made you happy.

La Barbecue
Austin, TX
What I found when I dug in was one of the best briskets I’ve ever had in my life, a point I have reaffirmed the last three times I visited in the past year.

LC's Bar-B-Q
Kansas City, MO
Your mistake when you go to LC's for the first time is to think that the burnt ends sandwich is actually a sandwich. Now, I guess technically it is, because of the two pieces of bread on either side, but really it’s just all of the fantastic burnt ends piled on one piece of white bread and topped with the spot's unique sauce. Despite it not even really being a sandwich, it is one of our favorite non-sandwiches in the world.

Lem's BBQ
Chicago, IL
Chicago has had a damn fine BBQ tradition all its own for decades, largely a product of the city's starkly segregated North Side/South Side split. Lem's is the grandaddy of said tradition of pork-based delights tended to in an aquarium smoker. Scrappy, flavor-rich rib tips and spice-laden hot links are the calling card of any authentically Chicagoan barbecue outpost, but the spare ribs at Lem's are also an absolute must.

Lexington Barbecue
Lexington, NC
And at the top of that almost-overwhelmingly impressive citywide game is — who else — Lexington Barbecue, whose juicy, oak-smoked pork hits the sandwich with just the right mix of crusty, flavor-loaded browns. Go, and, while your hands are covered in vinegary sauce, tell someone why Lexington-style barbecue should be called exactly that.

Little Miss BBQ
Phoenix, AZ
But soon, thanks to their smoking techniques using AZ oak and pecan wood and the seriously moist briskets and entirely underrated beef short ribs, LMB could see itself named as an influence on other BBQ restaurants in AZ. Oh, also: the Thursday pastrami special might not count in the normal barbecue sphere, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn't order a lot of it.

Lockhart Smokehouse
Dallas, TX
Pitmaster Tim McLaughlin is his own man, and his brisket (done in the Central Texas style) stands up on its own, especially that peppery, spicy bark. Oh, and if you happen to be around on Thursdays, get the burnt ends. Now that I mention it, they’re worth actually scheduling your trip around a Thursday.

Louie Mueller Barbecue
Taylor, TX
There is no finer example of a spicy, snappy sausage than the one done in this legendary spot 40 minutes outside of Austin…but the OG has not fallen off, and is still a must-visit for the giant novelty-toy-sized beef rib, the brisket, and that sausage.

McClard's
Hot Springs, AR
I still went along for the ride to this crazy resort town out of some handsome 1950s catalog and ended up at this legendary spot, which has seen four generations of McClards and still does one off the best chopped BBQ beef dishes I’ve had thanks to a boost from that peppery, addictive sauce.

Me's BBQ
Honolulu, HI
Hawaii has its own barbecue culture worth writing about, and Me’s is the most delicious on the island. We’ve said it before and we'll say it again: get the kalbi beef BBQ plate as quickly as you can, scarf it down, and get another.

Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn
Owensboro, KY

The sheep meat gets just as deliciously juicy and tender as the more familiar ‘cue, but also has that incredibly rich, deep flavor that you ARE familiar with from lamb, which is all to say, you should be planning your trip to this mutton capital of the country immediately.

Pappy's
St. Louis, MO
Come with three friends and get the “Adam” Bomb — which includes a full slab of ribs, brisket, a pork sandwich, chicken, sides, and a hot link Frito pie.

Payne's Bar-B-Que
Memphis, TN
The chopped pork sandwich, which is one of the best things you can ever hope to eat in this country. It is neither the chewy pork itself, nor the spicy sauce, nor the famously yellow mustard slaw (essentially relish) but the combination of all three that makes it unbeatable, a sandwich Superman.

Pecan Lodge
Dallas, TX
But when I finally got the brisket, I felt changed. It had the moisture and smokiness of the stuff I’d been eating in Central Texas but the spices were slightly different, and my palate wasn’t refined enough to get more specific than that (I’d later learn that it’s because they use a more complex rub that many people would consider East Texas).

Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge
Shelby, NC
Fantastic chopped pork, which combined with BBQ slaw, is worth traveling long distances to eat.

Saw's BBQ
Birmingham, AL
Saw’s also boasts a damn delicious rack of ribs, the kind that fall off the bone when you try to pick them up and have just the right amount of flavor from the green hickory that mingles with the slightly thick, just-spicy-enough sauce.

Scott's Bar-B-Que
Hemingway, SC
You still need to get there Wed-Sat to get the chopped pork with just enough of the spicy vinegary sauce, and you need to pair that up with some pork skins

Skylight Inn BBQ
Ayden, NC
The whole-hog barbecue served at Skylight in Eastern NC gets onto your plate after 14 hours smoking on the wood, and several minutes under the cleavers in the back, plus a touch of hot sauce and vinegar. You get it either on a bun topped with coleslaw, or as a platter with pan-fried cornbread and slaw. That's it. Simple. Perfect.

Snow's BBQ
Lexington, TX
It is now a must-stop on any barbecue tour, especially to get Tootsie’s brisket, which is moist and pure and beefy, but doesn’t have that crazy bark you see at a lot of the old legends.

Wow! All of these restaurants sound amazing and we wish we could visit every single one. In fact, that's not a bad idea for our next vacation — perhaps a cross-country trip designed around the nation's best BBQ restaurants? Sign us up!

Article Source: Thrillist

Photo Source: LITTLE MISS BBQ