Is There Really Any Good Barbecue Left…?

I’d like to wish all you Dad’s out there a Happy belated Father’s day.

Speaking of Father’s day, yesterday my girls and I along with my Girlfriend, Michelle, headed out for a Father’s day Lunch/Dinner thing.

We really didn’t have any plans for Fathers day because we’re leaving today for Orlando on a much needed vacation to Disney and Universal Studios.

So we’re doing a little last minute shopping– you know, picking up some odds and ends to take with us on our trip and to stock the fridge and cupboards with food for our house sitter.

So about 10 minutes into our shopping trip– the girls are hungry, and they want to eat…

So of course the great debate ensued as to where we should eat.

Now being the Barbecue Freaks we are– my girls wanted ribs.

One small problem, there are zero barbecue joints here locally where we live in Exton, PA. ( Exton is about 30 miles west of Philadelphia and 30 miles east of Lancaster.)

So, we head over to the Longhorn Steak house where both of my girls proceed to order baby back ribs. ( I couldn’t bring myself to order the ribs from this place so I stuck with a Texas onion and some chicken fingers)

(Longhorn Steakhouse!)

When the ribs arrived to the table– they both just kind of looked at me.

Clearly these were not Dad’s ribs!

The ribs had a terrible gray color and looked a little slimy. There was no sign of a smoke ring at all!

Clearly these ribs were boiled and then smothered in BBQ sauce. I mean they didn’t even take the time to fire them up over a flame before sending them out!

Now I know I cant really complain too much because this wasn’t a traditional barbecue restaurant per say–however, more and more I’ve been disappointed when I try a new Barbecue Joint.

Maybe its because we live north of the Mason Dixon line? I’m not really sure, but bad barbecue joints seems to be a prevalent theme in the various BBQ Forums I frequent.

The Mason Dixon Line is the “Symbolic” cultural divide between the northern part of the US and the southern part (Dixie)

Now I know there are some really good places out there but they seem to be few and far between. I’m talking about the places where they close for the day when the meat is sold out and refuse to sell customers their left overs.

(Down an alley, down the stairs on the west side of Memphis, Tennessee, this BBQ restaurant is renowned for their famous ribs.)

For instance, a couple of weeks ago I took the girls out to a fairly new barbecue joint here in Chester County.

It was almost closing time, say around 7:30 PM. As my girls and I ate our rather bland BBQ, I watched as a teenaged kid removed no less than 30 racks of ribs from the smoker and pile them high onto a metal tray.

I couldn’t help but ask him what he was going to do with the gigantic tray of loin back ribs?

To my dismay he explained they’ll freeze the racks of ribs and reheat them in the morning to serve to their customers.

Now I know for a fact– those ribs will lose their smoky goodness being frozen and then reheated–there’s just no way around this, so this begs my question…

Are there any really good barbecue joints left? If so, where are they? I guess more importantly, who are they?

I mean my fear is the American population is being lead astray to the taste of REAL barbecue.

Now I don’t own a restaurant, and I cant imagine how tough it is to run one, but at some point you need to stick to tradition and standards of what makes great barbecue!

After all, this is why most of you get into the BBQ restaurant business in the first place…because you want to share with others your love for low and slow smoke kissed food.

Do you think the American public’s taste buds have been polluted with mediocre “BBQ”?

(I want my baby baby back…ribs)

So what I’d like to know is this…Do you have any recommendations for top notch, back yard or competition quality BBQ in your area?

If so, I’d love to hear from you. Tell me about your favorite BBQ Joint and what makes it so good.

oh, and let me know where it’s located just in case I’m ever in your neck of the woods so I can try it out for myself.

Now I’m heading off to Orlando and I plan on trying a few BBQ Joints down there and I’ll be reporting my findings as I continue the quest for outstanding BBQ restaurants!

Now go smoke something, Bill Parlaman

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