Nashville named America's best city for barbecue?

I absolutely love Whitt's and Barbecutie. Not because they are the greatest but it was what I was raised on.

Bludawg said:

BOLDER DASH!! Everybody that is anybody knows that it is Lexington Texas.

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i figured it was Jonesboro, TX . . .

jacklikesbeans said:

I absolutely love Whitt's and Barbecutie. Not because they are the greatest but it was what I was raised on.

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there's certainly always a place for nostalgia on a man's palate. nothin wrong with that.

From TMBBQ

This was just posted on TMBBQ. An open letter from Carey Bringle of Peg Leg Porkers.

http://tmbbq.com/to-all-the-armchair-bbq-critics/

Here are the BBQ joint's I've tried in and around Nashville. I travel up there quite often. I have one of my work buddy's from there set-up a dinner outing at a different joint for every trip I make...we call it a "Din-surrection". Anyhoot, I put this list together as we tried out the joints and I only commented if I had an impression. This is a work in process... Also notice that the local chains Whitts and Bar-B-Cutie are not on here for a reason.

Martin's - Nolensville (Nolensville Road) - Local (ok Ribs)

Bacon and Caviar (B&C)- Nashville (Franklin Pike) - Local (The BEST Brisket in Nashville IMO!!!)

Edley's - Nashville (12th Street) - Local (ok)

Judge Bean's - Brentwood (Church St.) Local (do not wear light colored clothing and bring a wash cloth)

Jack's - Nashville Downtown (Broadway) - Local

Judges Vinegaroon - Nashville Downtown (Church Street) - Local, Texas style BBQ

Peg Leg Porker – Nashville Downtown (903 Gleaves St.- The Gulch) – Local competition team – Great ribs and pulled pork.

Fat Boyz BBQ – didn’t make it

Slick Pig - Murfreesboro, TN (E. Main St.) – Wings good, ribs so-so.

Jim 'N Nick's - Smyrna (I-24 Sam Ridley exit) - Chain

Famous Daves - Smyrna (I-24 Sam Ridley exit) - Chain

Big Bob Gibson - Decatur Alabama - Only if you have time for a road trip (approx 1 hr and 45 mins south from Nashville)

The BBQ Shop - Memphis, TN - Only if you have time for a road trip (approx 3 hrs and 30 mins West from Nashville) - The BEST glazed ribs on the planet IMO!!!

Although, I cannot say that Nashville is America's Best City for BBQ. You gotta be pretty dang good to surpass Memphis. Just my 3 cents.

HeathBarkley said:

This was just posted on TMBBQ. An open letter from Carey Bringle of Peg Leg Porkers.

http://tmbbq.com/to-all-the-armchair-bbq-critics/

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Fantastic article! There's a "Getting Snobbish About Our BBQ" sticky this'll go really nice in. Thanks for putting this up!

HeathBarkley said:

This was just posted on TMBBQ. An open letter from Carey Bringle of Peg Leg Porkers.

http://tmbbq.com/to-all-the-armchair-bbq-critics/

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I'm going to try to talk the wife into going tonight!

Great article....lets all take his approach

angryfish01 said:

I'm going to try to talk the wife into going tonight!

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Pro tip from a twice a week patron:


Appetizer: dry rub wings. White sauce on the side.

Dinner: dry rub ribs w crinkle cut fries. Peg leg porker sauce on the side.

Enjoy!

For those of us in the Nashville area, we should do a Nashville BBQ tour and report on some of the known, and not so known, joints.

We did stop at Jim 'N Nicks in Murfreesboro for a late lunch and it was pretty dang good! OK, it is urban BBQ (fancy modern decor) and it is a chain but they did pretty good IMHO.



I got the 2 meat, turkey & brisket plus mac-n-cheese and slaw, my wife got a pulled pork sandwich and onion rings. Turkey was very moist and tender, just a hint of smoke taste (for me that's a plus on bird), the brisket flat was very tender and moist (despite the crappy iPhone picture). The pulled pork was as good as it gets and the onion rings very crispy. They have a habanero sweet BBQ sauce that is really different and tasty. Portions are huge which in part offsets the pretty steep prices. No doubt in my mind that the 2-meat or 3-meat would easily feed 2 folks so that mitigates the $18 or $20 respective costs. The only other negative, everything I had was sliced pretty thin but if that's the worst thing I got to say that ain't to bad for retail BBQ. I will say the fancy urban BBQ setting was somewhat tempered by a wall of family photos showing BBQ contests, little league and school sports mixed in with some old school pics of open pit southern pig-n-chicken BBQ. All said, the 'bama boys do a pretty good job and I'll definitely go back given the option.

Gonna duplicate the post over in road trips just to close out that thread.

I'm glad the stop worked for you. Safe travels home.

dwfisk said:

We did stop at Jim 'N Nicks in Murfreesboro for a late lunch and it was pretty dang good! OK, it is urban BBQ (fancy modern decor) and it is a chain but they did pretty good IMHO.

I got the 2 meat, turkey & brisket plus mac-n-cheese and slaw, my wife got a pulled pork sandwich and onion rings. Turkey was very moist and tender, just a hint of smoke taste (for me that's a plus on bird), the brisket flat was very tender and moist (despite the crappy iPhone picture). The pulled pork was as good as it gets and the onion rings very crispy. They have a habanero sweet BBQ sauce that is really different and tasty. Portions are huge which in part offsets the pretty steep prices. No doubt in my mind that the 2-meat or 3-meat would easily feed 2 folks so that mitigates the $18 or $20 respective costs. The only other negative, everything I had was sliced pretty thin but if that's the worst thing I got to say that ain't to bad for retail BBQ. I will say the fancy urban BBQ setting was somewhat tempered by a wall of family photos showing BBQ contests, little league and school sports mixed in with some old school pics of open pit southern pig-n-chicken BBQ. All said, the 'bama boys do a pretty good job and I'll definitely go back given the option.

Gonna duplicate the post over in road trips just to close out that thread.

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Jim N' Nicks may be a chain but it's not a franchise. All outposts are owned by the same group. They are frequently being written up locally for the leading role they play in the Southern Foodways Alliance, the food education work they do with their staff and other interesting activities. They seem to be a legit group and a good citizen in the restaurant community. Nice to hear your good review.

SmokeDiddy said:

Here are the BBQ joint's I've tried in and around Nashville. I travel up there quite often. I have one of my work buddy's from there set-up a dinner outing at a different joint for every trip I make...we call it a "Din-surrection". Anyhoot, I put this list together as we tried out the joints and I only commented if I had an impression. This is a work in process... Also notice that the local chains Whitts and Bar-B-Cutie are not on here for a reason.

Martin's - Nolensville (Nolensville Road) - Local (ok Ribs)

Bacon and Caviar (B&C)- Nashville (Franklin Pike) - Local (The BEST Brisket in Nashville IMO!!!)

Edley's - Nashville (12th Street) - Local (ok)

Judge Bean's - Brentwood (Church St.) Local (do not wear light colored clothing and bring a wash cloth)

Jack's - Nashville Downtown (Broadway) - Local

Judges Vinegaroon - Nashville Downtown (Church Street) - Local, Texas style BBQ

Peg Leg Porker – Nashville Downtown (903 Gleaves St.- The Gulch) – Local competition team – Great ribs and pulled pork.

Fat Boyz BBQ – didn’t make it

Slick Pig - Murfreesboro, TN (E. Main St.) – Wings good, ribs so-so.

Jim 'N Nick's - Smyrna (I-24 Sam Ridley exit) - Chain

Famous Daves - Smyrna (I-24 Sam Ridley exit) - Chain

Big Bob Gibson - Decatur Alabama - Only if you have time for a road trip (approx 1 hr and 45 mins south from Nashville)

The BBQ Shop - Memphis, TN - Only if you have time for a road trip (approx 3 hrs and 30 mins West from Nashville) - The BEST glazed ribs on the planet IMO!!!

Although, I cannot say that Nashville is America's Best City for BBQ. You gotta be pretty dang good to surpass Memphis. Just my 3 cents.

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I can't agree on a couple points. The barbecue shop was fine as long as you stay away from that sauce. Yeaccchhshcsh! The service was weird and a little overbearing. I think they saw us scraping the sauce off everything and leaving the stuff you couldn't scrape without asking for a box, I don't know. I wish we had rather played it safe and went to Central or Tom's or Payne's or, well, some place else. The sauce was on the table so I should have known better and got the whole rack dry. It has a strange tomato soup thing to it. The dry ribs were respectable but that's as far as I can honestly go. We were warned about the "hot" sauce on the table and as a moderate chile head I was curious but it had the off taste like the bottle hadn't been cleaned in a while and the sauce had an old oil taste.

The only other contention would be lumping Jim 'N Nicks in with Famous Dave's because it's a chain, although it's a location we haven't been to and probably won't. We go to the one on Charlotte and to be honest have only eaten there early on Sunday on our way to Costco maybe six times. I was shocked at how good they were and I understand the corporate q thing, but yeah, gotta say shocked.

Ok, just one more. I am kinda on the fence on this one since your experience will depend on your server AND it's a corporate Q. The Famous Dave's in Hermitage has the best server we've probably ever had in a casual restaurant. She usually works the bar during the day when I'm dragged in there kicking and screaming for all you can eat rib tips on Thursday. They're just better pieces when she's our server and she brings the Wilber's revenge which is the best habanero bbq sauce in town. It's actually hot like you would expect. Rib tips, fries, and salad are the only thing I get here though.

Peg leg in Nashville is still on the to do list for ribs although we were at his tent at Memphis in May.

Just .02

Whitt's originated in my home town. There's a little building, drive up only, maybe 15x15 with a smoker out back as big as the building itself. Its pretty good at the source but I wouldn't call it the best. If you take the road trip from Nashville to Big Bob Gibson's in Decatur, Alabama, you'll go through Athens on I65. There's Lawler's in Athens also and a place way out in the country called Mr Crite's. I think they built another Lawler's on the interstate.

bshm said:

The only other contention would be lumping Jim 'N Nicks in with Famous Dave's because it's a chain, although it's a location we haven't been to and probably won't. We go to the one on Charlotte and to be honest have only eaten there early on Sunday on our way to Costco maybe six times. I was shocked at how good they were and I understand the corporate q thing, but yeah, gotta say shocked.

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I eat Jim n' Nicks take out regularly at an occasional Sunday night dinner and jam at a friends. It is usually very good, now and then great, and once in a while it falls short. I could same about me. :twitch: . I live near the Charlotte store and I am constantly amazed at the number of cars in their lot all day long. I don't think a restaurant could be much more successful than they are. Whitt's near us six to the nth degree and yet they are frequently voted best bbq in readers polls. Never understood that. Maybe because it's the cheapest in town.