FRANKLIN BARBECUE
AUSTIN, TEXAS
At this point, Aaron Franklin is so thoroughly renowned as the nation’s foremost authority on Texas-style smoked meat that diners will drive across the country to start lining up at dawn for his lunchtime-only servings of brisket, ribs and sandwiches. Our guest specialist Adrian Miller credits Franklin as “the most effective barbecue ambassador we’ve had”. Miller adds, “His restaurant is basically the main reason that people even know about American barbecue.” This pitmaster has also been validated with a James Beard Award as the best chef in the region.
GATES BBQ
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
This KC institution is another personal favourite of our guest Adrian Miller, ideal for a “broad sample” of all that is best in barbecue. The grill makes space for everything from mutton to brisket and especially for “burnt ends” – the heavily textured and flavoured trimmings from brisket that are a particular delicacy of the city and have become, according to Miller, “the sexy thing” in contemporary barbecue culture. Gates is also prized for its signature sauce, a thick and rich tomato-based concoction, heavy on the black pepper and served in variations that range from mild to extra hot.
Diners are known to drive across the country for a taste of Franklin Barbecue’s dishes
Gates BBQ is a Kansas City, Missouri institution and known for its signature sauce
HEIRLOOM MARKET BBQ
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Some say truly authentic barbecue must be 100 per cent American, but the cultural and ethnic history of this gastronomy surely allows for variety. Texan Cody Taylor and Korean Jiyeon Lee (a K-Pop star of the 1980s) have made a booming business of their fusion BBQ joint, planted between a highway and a housing block in a location that you might call cinematically ugly (it played a background role in the Spielberg movie Catch Me If You Can). The food itself blends the classic Texas style with flavour profiles of the Korean peninsula, that peculiar admixture creating now-iconic menu items like the house spicy sandwich – the meat is rubbed with gochugaru and gochujang before it’s smoked over hickory and oak.
LEM’S BAR-B-Q
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Known as much for its historic slaughterhouses as its skyscrapers, Chicago has its own barbecue culture built on castoffs from those massive meat-packing plants. The city is especially renowned for rib tips, and most locals would send the uninitiated to Lem’s for prime specimens, nicely charred and ready to dip deep into the rich red house sauce. The joint itself is a South Side institution, and warming yourself while you wait in the holding area on a brutally cold winter day is considered a Chicago custom in itself. Direct descendants of original 1950s founders Bruce and Myles Lemon keep up their recipes and techniques, including the use of an unorthodox but effective aquarium smoker.
HOMETOWN BAR-BE-QUE
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
One of the youngest entries on our list opened barely a decade ago in 2013, but pitmaster Billy Durney had been thinking about it for much longer – his own barbecue joint being a dream of his through a 20-year career in celebrity security and private protection. That job took him all over the country to try all kinds of pit-smoked meats in his downtime, so he had a pretty good idea of the flavours he was after. New York is not generally known as a barbecue town but Billy’s brisket, beef ribs and beans make for one of the greatest meal combos in the US, and therefore the world, and only the pickles are not made in-house (though they are locally sourced).
Heirloom Market BBQ in Atlanta features fusion Texas-Korean cuisine
Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que was among chef Anthony Bourdain’s favourites
JOE’S KANSAS CITY BAR-B-QUE
KANSAS CITY, KANSAS
Another classic of the KC barbecue scene, once known as Oklahoma Joe’s, it occupies a former gas station and the look of the place only enhances the deep, nostalgic sense of Americana that also arises in the smoke from the grill. The wandering chef and philosopher Anthony Bourdain once listed Joe’s among his 13 Places To Eat Before You Die, and the house special is the immortal Z-Man sandwich, a breezeblock-sized ration of slow-smoked brisket, provolone cheese and onion rings.
4 RIVERS SMOKEHOUSE
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
The origin story of this stalwart award-winner tells of John Rivers scouring the United States, and especially Texas, for the greatest possible brisket recipes and finding his wife in the process. Together, they opened this Florida joint founded on the strength of John’s own slow-smoked, 30-day aged brisket, though the sides are also spectacular. Their success has allowed them to branch out across the state and into Georgia as a family-run franchise, but the Orlando original has left a mark like a charcoal burn on the barbecue map of the nation.
SKYLIGHT INN BBQ
AYDEN, NORTH CAROLINA
Precocious young pitmaster Pete Jones opened his own roadside barbecue spot in 1947, at the tender age of 17. Over decades it became known as “Pete Jones’s BBQ”, developing such a reputation for cooking whole animals over a wood fire (with cornbread and coleslaw) as to be recognised by National Geographic and eventually by the White House – in 1982, then-President Ronald Reagan and his Vice President George HW Bush came to eat and loved their meal so much they co-wrote Pete a thank-you letter. The beloved founder passed away in 2006, but the pit is now tended by his son, nephew and grandson.
Franklin Barbecue’s founder is a true ambassador of the cuisine
4 Rivers Smokehouse offers a slow-smoked 30-day aged brisket
JONES BAR-B-Q DINER
MARIANNA, ARKANSAS
Credited as the oldest Black-owned restaurant in the United States, this essential pit stop deep in the Mississippi Delta was also one of the first true American barbecue restaurants in the early 20th century. Its beautiful shack-like structure and cinder block pit have been lovingly preserved by the Jones family and their loyal clientele, who donated whatever they could to restore the place after a serious fire in 2021. Current operator James Jones is well past retirement age but loves his job as keeper of the flame and serves every day from 7am until the food runs out.
MOO’S CRAFT BBQ
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
California isn’t barbecue country by any stretch, but LA has its own recent history of artisanal food trucks and pop-up restaurants proving such a hit as to make themselves permanent fixtures. Moo’s is a prime example of the modern-minded craft barbecue ethic that now takes up most coverage of this culture on TV shows and social media feeds. Andrew and Michelle Muñoz demonstrate real pride and joy in their Texas-style brisket and beef ribs, conjuring the taste of cowboy campfires right there in the heart of Downtown LA.
