Alabamaâs best barbecue: Reader picks

We threw down the gauntlet and named Alabama’s best barbecue this week, but this conversation ain’t over until you give your two cents on one of the most hotly contested debates in our state’s proud food history.

Barbecue is no joke in the South, and Alabama stands among the giants in smoking up the most mouth-watering pork, chicken, brisket, sauce and whatever else you want to toss on to the grill. We picked our favorites in Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile — and then narrowed down a top 10 in all of Alabama — but now it’s your turn to tell us what’s what.

We asked readers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and you showered us with even more of the best of the best in a state full of barbecue royalty. Below are AL.com readers’ picks for the elite spots in our state from north to south.

MORE: Alabama’s best barbecue: Our Top 10

Archibald’s ribs reign supreme among Alabama’s best barbecue. (Ben Flanagan / AL.com)

FAMILIAR FAVORITES

Before we delve into your slightly more obscure selections stretching the entire state, we’ll reiterate just how right we got it, with many readers echoing our own picks with the state’s cream of the crop.

Twitter user Josh Hinton agreed with AL.com’s pick for the best in all of Alabama: “Archibalds is the only answer.”

We also saw people insist “it’s tough to beat” Big Bob Gibson up in Decatur, shout out Birmingham’s Full Moon and Dreamland in Tuscaloosa (plus other locations statewide). And while it didn’t make the AL.com lists, Jim ‘N Nick’s was well-represented among reader choices.

Some readers boasted about their own BBQ acumen: “We do….nothing beats my husband’s grilling skills.” Reader Jesselamon Dueitt said, “My homemade recipe guaranteed, I’d put a million dollars on the line.”

Reader Nate Price put it simply: “All of them. It’s like pizza in NY, gumbo in New Orleans, tacos in LA, brisket in east Texas, etc. Every single little shack, truck, or hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop kitchen is THE BEST ONE.” Amen, Nate.

Some made picks per category, including John Stringer: Chicken: Johnny’s BBQ, Ribs: orig Dreamland, Sandwich: Full Moon, Pie: Bob Gibson.” James Wood did the same on Twitter: “Ribs- Cooter Browns Jacksonville. Bar B Q plate – Ron’s Goode Bar B Q Alexandria. Bar B Q Salad The Rocket Jacksonville”

Winnie Harrison Blakeman said, “I love all Alabama Bbqs even the little ones,” while Steve Gottlieb hit the nail on the head: “BBQ is like whiskey….everybody has their opinion of what tastes the best!”

MOST UNDERRATED?

One joint popped up more than all the others in the reader feedback: Mae Pop’s Barbecue in Tallassee. “There is no better brisket,” one user said, while another chimed in, “Only brisket I’ll eat. Also, best white sauce around.” Located at 3010 Notasulga Road, this Central Alabama favorite also has a food trailer (with the hours and location posted weekly on their Facebook page).

Mae Pop’s menu spans the BBQ meat gamut with whole pork butt, whole rack spare ribs, slow-smoked turkey, 100% prime beef brisket sausage and wood-fired pit chicken. But what about that brisket people keep hollerin’ about? “MOOOOOO-ve over steak!!” the website says. “If you like cow meat you will fall for this PRIME labor of BEEFY love!! Our most time consuming and labor intensive craft is here to knock your socks off! The rich, smoky, beefy goodness of MaePop’s Prime Beef Brisket will have your taste buds jumping for joy!!”

Uh, yeah, we’re next in line…

Whitts Barbecue in Decatur, Ala. — Floyd Whitt, a bricklayer who built barbecue pits, started Whitts Barbecue when he built a pit in his backyard in 1966. Whitts has locations in Decatur and Athens, as well as several in Tennessee.(John Archibald/[email protected])

NORTH ALABAMA

We saw a slew of picks for North Alabama, starting with Whitt’s Barbecue in Decatur, with Dakota Nichols tweeting that “nothing compares” to the location that opened in 1976. Several folks picked Johnny’s Bar-B-Q in Cullman. Bunyan’s Bar-B-Q in Florence — known for their hot dogs, sandwiches and cole slaw — got a handful of recs from readers.

Shoutouts came for Brook’s Barbeque in Muscle Shoals, The Bar B Que Place in Fort Payne, Puckett’s Restaurant in Cullman, Old Greenbrier Restaurant in Madison, Top Hat Barbecue in Blount Springs and Sledge’s Bar-B-Q in Florence.

More poured in for Deep South BBQ And Soul Food in Blountsville, Scruggs BBQ in Decatur, Pruett’s Bar-B-Q in Gadsden, Shine’s BBQ in Fyffe, 306 Barbecue in Athens, OK Corral Barbecue Restaurant in Muscle Shoals, Turkey’s Barbecue in Harvest and Lulu’s BBQ in Locust Fork.

And sometimes you can’t remember the name of a place even when you’ll never forget the taste, with one reader picking “a gas station on the way into Huntsville, coming from Chattanooga.” (A reader later identified the pick as Boarhog’s Barbeque)

MORE: Huntsville’s best barbecue: Our Top 5

Sam's Smokehouse — Sam’s Smokehouse in Fayette is a reader favorite in our search for Alabama’s best barbecue. (Ben Flanagan / AL.com)

CENTRAL ALABAMA

Places like Bob Sykes, Full Moon, Golden Rule, Rodney Scott’s and other Birmingham mainstays got plenty of love in the comments. Other picks in and around the Iron City, Shelby County and others included Costa’s Famous Bar-B-Que in Birmingham, Creekside BBQ in Pelham, Uncle Sam’s BBQ in Hueytown, Archie’s Bar-B-Q & Burgers in Hoover and Rusty’s BBQ in Leeds.

We had Archibald’s and Dreamland (as did many readers), but several spoke up for Sam’s Smokehouse in Fayette (where we stopped on a ribs tour years ago, and it was legit).

Up around Calhoun and Etowah Counties, we saw readers praise The Rocket in Jacksonville and Boatwright’s BBQ food truck in Oxford (”the most amazing ribs, chicken, and pulled pork!!! Awesome food!!!”).

In and around the River Region we heard about Brenda’s Bar-B-Que Pit in Montgomery, Hooks BBQ in Troy, Chris’ Bar-B-Que in Prattville, Fat Man’s Smokehouse BBQ in Montgomery (also a Fat Man’s Bar B Que in Cropwell), Good Ole Boys BBQ in Alex City and Cotton’s Alabama Barbecue in Eclectic.

Other Central Alabama favorites include Boondocks BBQ & Restaurant in Brierfield, Heards BBQ And Soul Food in Maplesville, Byron’s Smokehouse in Auburn, The Chuck House in Wadley, Lannie’s Bar-B-Q Spot in Selma and Butcher Paper BBQ in Opelika.

MORE: Birmingham’s best barbecue: Our Top 5

The Hickory Pit Too in Semmes, Ala. — The Hickory Pit Too at 8919 Moffett Road in Semmes, Ala. (Sharon Steinmann/[email protected])

SOUTH ALABAMA

Down in South Alabama, we picked Saucy Q, Rodgers and Meat Boss among our favorites (and many users agreed), but we saw an eclectic mix of restaurants buoyed by reader support, including L.A. Barbeque, which one reader called the best “with or without sauce!”

Other Lower Alabama picks include Bush’s Bar-B-Que in Luverne, Hickory Pit Too in Semmes, The Smoke Ring BBQ in Ozark, Bama Bob’s BBQ in Mobile, BBQ 65 in Greenville, Larry’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q in Enterprise and Captain Frank’s Smoke Shack in Bayou La Batre.

MORE: Mobile’s best barbecue: Our top 5