The Best BBQ Towns

HERE IN THE SOUTH, there are plenty of towns with great barbecue but only a few great barbecue towns.

- BY ROBERT MOSS

What makes the difference? Having more than one high-quality joint is just the starting point. It must also have a style all its own—one that is imitated elsewhere but never quite equaled, one that smoked-meat aficionados will drive hundreds of miles to experience. Lots of Southern municipalities may lay claim to such a title, but for our money, these three destinations stand out from the rest.

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

Throughout the North Carolina Piedmont, restaurant signs boast of serving “Lexington-style” barbecue. The term is truly a testament to the influence of a single small town on the region's long and storied culinary traditions.

This place has lost a few notable joints in the past few years (rest in peace, Smiley's Lexington BBQ and Cook's BBQ), but there's still nowhere else in the South as densely populated with establishments touting genuine wood-cooked offerings. You'll find seven of them in Lexington proper, by my last count, or roughly one for every 2,800 residents. Local diners and visiting pilgrims may argue over which has the best pork or sauce, but the differences are really quite subtle.

Clockwise from top left: A "plate" at Bar-B-Q Center with a smoked half chicken, red slaw, sweet potato fries, and green beans; Rick Monk, co-owner of Lexington Barbecue; TarHeel Q's Lexingtonstyle chopped barbecue sandwich with red slaw; Becky Simmons of TarHeel Q

Perhaps the best known takes its name from the town itself: Lexington Barbecue. Its meat is chopped fine and amply dressed in a tangy vinegar sauce dappled with red pepper flakes, making it delightfully juicy with a slight infusion of hickory smoke.