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Jan 31, 2024

Alabama’s best barbecue: Our Top 10

The mixed plate at Archibald's Bar-B-Q in Northport comes with ribs, chopped or

The mixed plate at Archibald's Bar-B-Q in Northport comes with ribs, chopped or sliced pork, white bread and a serving of Archibad's famous barbecue sauce.(Bob Carlton/[email protected])

And we thought narrowing down our favorite barbecue places in Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile to just five in each city was a challenge.

Now, we have to come up with our top 10 favorites across the entire state of Alabama. And then rank them, from 10 to 1.

The good news is, we did not have any trouble coming up with 10 deserving barbecue joints. The bad news is, we had to leave some equally deserving places off the list.

Our top 10 list, which is based on decades of experience eating barbecue all over Alabama, includes some hall-of-famers that have been around for a half-century or more, as well as a few newcomers who are fast rising through the ranks of Alabama barbecue all-stars.

READ MORE: Birmingham's best barbecue: Our Top 5

Huntsville's best barbecue: Our Top 5

Mobile's best barbecue: Our Top 5

Jamie Lee Mitchell left Boston and moved back to his tiny hometown of Gainesville in Sumter County to open the Alabama Rib Shack in May 2021. (Bob Carlton/[email protected])

9316 State St. in Gainesville. www.facebook.com/alabamaribshack/.

The story behind this hidden gem in rural Sumter County in Alabama's beautiful, bountiful Black Belt is just as good as the white oak-and-pecan-smoked meats that pitmaster Jamie Lee Mitchell serves his appreciative guests. Mitchell grew up around here, and after working as a barber in Boston for nearly 30 years, he came back to his tiny hometown of Gainseville in the summer of 2020 and started building the sturdy, handsome A-frame log cabin that would house his dream restaurant. It opened two years ago. Along with Texas, St. Louis and baby back ribs, the Alabama Rib Shack menu features pulled pork, smoked sausage, smoked chicken, jerk chicken, rib tips and pig tails, along with such sides as baked beans, candied yams, potato salad, collards, coleslaw, and mac and cheese.

Order this: The pulled pork and ribs combo comes with a half-pound of pork and three ribs of your choice (Texas, St. Louis or baby back), along with two sides and cornbread.

MORE: A slice of barbecue heaven in Alabama's Black Belt

The menu at Bow & Arrow in Auburn features brisket, pork, sausage, turkey and ribs, along with a variety of sides.(Photo by Stephen DeVries; used with permission)

1977 East Samford Ave. in Auburn. bowandarrowbbq.com.

Texas meets Alabama at Auburn chef and "Iron Chef Showdown" winner David Bancroft's Bow & Arrow, a Texas-style smokehouse that is inspired, in part, by Bancroft's childhood growing up in the Lone Star State but also heavily influenced by his visits to his grandparents’ farm in South Alabama. Brisket is what Bancroft does best, but the Bow & Arrow menu also features pulled pork, smoked turkey, St. Louis-style ribs and jalapeno-cheddar sausage, along with such sides as hashbrown casserole, brisket beans and sweet corn rice. In addition to the regular menu items, Bancroft is constantly coming up with such inspired concepts as beer-battered-brisket-burnt-end corndogs and house-smoked venison sausage kolaches. We’re pretty sure you won't find those at any other barbecue restaurant in Alabama.

Order this: To sample a little bit of everything, get the three-meat combo and choose from brisket, turkey, pork or sausage, along with two sides.

MORE: Texas-style smokehouse is inspired by chef David Bancroft's childhood in the Lone Star State

Saucy Q Bar B Q began at the flea market on Airport Road in Mobile before moving into this big, bustling location on Government Street.(Photo by Art Meripol, from the book "Alabama Barbecue: Delicious Road Trips")

1111 Government St. in Mobile. thesaucyqbarbque.com.

It's fair to say this is an institution. Elbert Wingfield and various family members have been serving up ribs and tasty sides since 1989, when they started in the parking lot of Mobile's flea market. Saucy Q has changed locations several times over the years, growing considerably along the way. Back in 2015, Wingfield's son Jarrett Wingfield told AL.com that the restaurant made and served 20 pounds of banana pudding every day. The ribs were included in a ranking of 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die. They say their recipe is "smoke, fire and love." How can you go wrong? – Lawrence Specker

Order this: Saucy Q is known for its ribs, and you definitely should start there. But come back for the pulled pork sandwich.

MORE: Saucy Q's banana pudding was a fitting end to a great meal

Mike Holley, a Texas native and retired oil worker, opened his original ChuckWagon BBQ in Madison in 2008. (Matt Wake/[email protected])

8048 Highway 72 West in Madison. thechuckwagonbbq.com

If the Marlboro Man smoked meat instead of cigs, he’d be Mike Holley. Founder of ChuckWagon BBQ, Holley, a cowboy-hatted Pecos, Texas, native and retired oil worker, opened the original Madison location in 2008. At their original location, a wood-planked shack, regulars entered through the back door like six-gun outlaws, and the décor featured lassos, wagon-wheels and slogans like "PLEASE KEEP ALL WEAPONS HOLSTERED UNLESS NEED ARISES. IN SUCH CASE JUDICIOUS MARKSMANSHIP IS APPRECIATED." There, Holley frequently worked the line, slicing up pork, brisket and chicken to order, with a big-ass knife. A few years ago, ChuckWagon relocated to a newer, sleeker space. The food is retaining its rustic greatness, though. -- Matt Wake

Order this: The two-meat plate is a cowpoke's delight. You’ve got to do the simmered brisket and, depending if you’re feeling die-with-your-boots-on or not, either the ribs or smoked chicken.

MORE: ChuckWagon BBQ earns every inch of this Madison joint's big reputation

The legendary pulled pork sandwich at Lannie's Bar-B-Q Spot in Selma is served on slices of white bread, doused with a fiery, house-made sauce and topped with a crispy fried pork skin.(Photo by Art Meripol, from the book "Alabama Barbecue: Delicious Road Trips")

2115 Minter Ave. in Selma. www.facebook.com/p/Lannies-Bar-B-Q-Spot.

The roots of the family tree run deep at Lannie's Bar-B-Q Spot, where, in 1944, the late Lannie and Will Travis started cooking hogs in a cinderblock pit next to their house in Selma's Tuxedo Park neighborhood. As word of their smoked pork got around, they eventually added a storefront with a pick-up window. Business boomed, and Lannie's continued to grow. Three subsequent generations -- from their children to their grandchildren and their great-grandkids -- have continued to stoke the fire since. Floyd Hatcher, one of the grandchildren, is the guardian of Lannie's secret sauce recipe. "It's written down and locked up," Floyd told AL.com in 2018. "I’ve been married for 40 years, and my wife doesn't even know it." (Please note: Lannie's Bar-B-Q Spot closed for renovations on June 2, but it is scheduled to reopen on Sept. 1. A second location, Lannie's Bar-B-Q #2, is open on 205 Medical Center Parkway in Selma.)

Order this: Regulars know to ask for the pulled-pork sandwich, which is soaked in a fiery house-made sauce, topped with a bark of crispy pork skin and served on slices of white bread. It may be the best barbecue sandwich you’ll ever put in your mouth, but trust us, you’ll need to use a fork.

MORE: Preserving a family barbecue tradition at Lannie's Bar-B-Q Spot in Selma

Ain't nothing like 'em nowhere: A plate of hickory-fired ribs slathered in sauce at Dreamland Bar-B-Que in Tuscaloosa.(Ben Flanagan/[email protected])

5535 15th Ave. East in Tuscaloosa. Go to dreamlandbbq.com for additional locations.

For many of us, a trip to the original Dreamland Bar-B-Que in Tuscaloosa's Jerusalem Heights neighborhood is as much about the nostalgia as it is about those hickory-fired ribs served with that peppery sauce. Dreamland founder and Alabama barbecue legend John "Big Daddy" Bishop opened his rib shack in 1958, and we’re lucky enough to remember when he would sit in that big chair at the back of the restaurant, smoking his pipe while keeping an eye on the slabs of ribs that cooked hot and fast over the glowing hickory coals. His chair sits empty now, but, thankfully, a new generation of pitmasters still does ribs the same way Mr. Bishop did all those years ago -- and that sauce still causes us to break a sweat. As they like to say at Dreamland, "Ain't nothing like ‘em nowhere."

Order this: Ribs + white bread + sauce. What else could you possibly need?

MORE: A brief history of Dreamland Bar-B-Que

A pulled pork sandwich with a rib and a side of collard greens is the perfect lunch at SAW's BBQ in Homewood.(Bob Carlton/[email protected])

1008 Oxmoor Road in Homewood. Go to sawsbbq.com for additional locations.

Since the late Mike Wilson opened the original SAW's BBQ in Homewood's Edgewood neighborhood in 2009, SAW's has added five more locations around Birmingham -- plus a food truck -- and each has its own personality and menu. (You’ll find the famous pork ‘n’ greens, for instance, at SAW's Soul Kitchen in Avondale, but not in Homewood; Homewood serves ribs, but Avondale doesn't.) While we are partial to the smoked chicken with white sauce at the Homewood SAW's, both the pulled pork and the ribs, which are served with a Carolina-style, vinegar-based sauce, are reliably spot-on. Wilson -- whose "Sorry A** Wilson" nickname was the inspiration for the SAW's acronym -- died unexpectedly in 2020, but his longtime friend and business partner, Brandon Cain, has honored him well.

Order this: The SAW's Sampler comes with two ribs, pulled pork and a smoked quarter-chicken, white bread and the choice of two sides.

MORE: A few things to know about SAW's BBQ

The smoked turkey sandwich with chow-chow and coleslaw at Full Moon Bar-B-Que is so good it might make you forget you aren't eating pork. (Photo courtesy of Full Moon Bar-B-Que; used with permission)

525 25th St. South in Birmingham. Go to fullmoonbbq.com for additional locations.

Full Moon Bar-B-Que is one of those rare barbecue gems that does just about everything exceptionally well, and it does so with remarkable consistency -- not just the hickory-smoked ribs and the sliced pork sandwiches, but also the zesty marinated coleslaw and the smoky baked beans, the luscious carrot cake and those famous Half Moon Cookies. Brothers Joe and David Maluff have grown the Full Moon brand to include 17 locations across Alabama and into Mississippi since they bought the business in 1997, but it all began in a cozy, concrete-block building that former football coach Pat James and his wife, Eloise, opened on Birmingham's Southside in 1986. The Jameses nicknamed their place "The Best Little Pork House in Alabama," and it was no idle boast. It was then, and still is now, our go-to spot for real-deal Birmingham barbecue.

Order this: The smoked turkey sandwich smothered with barbecue sauce and topped with chow-chow and some of that coleslaw is so good it will make you forget you’re not eating pork.

MORE: 5 things to know about Full Moon Bar-B-Que

Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q pitmaster Chris Lilly dunks a smoked chicken in a pot of Alabama white sauce. Meg McKinney

1715 Sixth Ave. SE and 2520 Danville Road SW in Decatur. bigbobgibson.com

Mention Alabama white sauce, and the name that immediately comes to mind is "Big Bob" Gibson, the towering railroad man who invented the peppery, vinegar-and-mayonnaise-based sauce back in the 1920s, when he started smoking whole chickens and pork shoulders in a pit that he dug in his backyard. So, yeah, Decatur's Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q is a sacred place among barbecue aficionados, and nearly a century after Big Bob lit the fire, his grandson, Don McLemore, and McLemore's son-in-law, Chris Lilly, and now, Lilly's sons, Jacob and Andrew, are the third-, fourth- and fifth generation keepers of the flame. Chris Lilly, who is widely regarded as one of the top pitmasters in America and loves sharing his knowledge of and passion for all things barbecue, has led the Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q crew to a record five grand championship titles at the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, the Super Bowl of barbecue.

Order this: When you’re at the birthplace of Alabama white sauce, you get the pit-smoked chicken, which is cooked to a golden brown for precisely three-and-a-half hours and then dunked into a big pot of the legendary sauce before serving.

MORE: The origins of Alabama-style white barbecue sauce

The late George and Betty Archibald opened Archibald's Bar-B-Q in their Northport neighborhood in 1962.(Bob Carlton/[email protected])

1211 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Northport. archibaldbbq.com.

Archibald's, as we have said before, is the hallowed ground of holy smoke, the Wrigley Field of rib joints, and a pilgrimage to this modest, soot-scorched, cinderblock shrine should be a must on any barbecue lover's bucket list. During basketball season, we make that trip at least a half-dozen times or so for our pre-game meals. Archibald's is revered for its ribs, which are grilled over a bed of hot hickory coals in a well-seasoned brick pit that's right behind the front counter, so guests get a front-row seat to watch the Archibald's pitmasters in action. In recent years, they’ve added a screened porch to accommodate the overflow crowd (a good thing) and expanded the menu to include hot wings (highly recommended) and even fried catfish. Otherwise, not a lot has changed since the late George and Betty Archibald opened the place behind their home in Northport in 1962. Woodrow Washington III, their grandson, continues their legacy with the help of his siblings Lashawn, Reginald and Dalvin. (Washington also opened a second location, Archibald & Woodrow's BBQ, on Greensboro Avenue in Tuscaloosa in 2002.)

Order this: To get the true experience, we recommend the mixed plate, which comes with four or five big and meaty ribs, an ample serving of sliced pork, several slices of white bread and a small Styrofoam cup of Archibald's atomic-orange barbecue sauce. For the full effect, wash it all down with an ice-cold Grapico.

MORE: A quick history of Archibald's Bar-B-Q

More on Alabama barbecue:

The Alabama Barbecue Bucket List

Making a forgotten Alabama barbecue joint relevant again

Singing the praises of a North Alabama BBQ staple

Preserving a legacy at this roadside Alabama BBQ destination

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