Food Network named this barbecue joint Alabama’s best
Opinions about barbecue in Alabama can be nearly as strong as college football takes are here.
So if a national media outlet’s going to declare the state’s best barbecue, it’s likely to cause eyerolls and social-media food-fights even if the pick’s legit.
And it’s hard to argue with Food Network naming Decatur’s Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q as the Alabama entry in “50 States of Barbecue,” the network’s list of “the best barbecue joints in every U.S. state.”
Food Network’s Sara Ventiera writes, “Pork is king in Southeastern barbecue — but not in Alabama. The state is best known for its smoked chicken with white sauce. Created by Bob Gibson in 1925, the tangy mix of mayo, vinegar and spices has become a regional icon, found at barbecue joints throughout the northern part of the state.”
She also lauds Big Bob’s “award-winning pulled pork, ribs and beef brisket, a veritable smorgasbord of luscious smoked meat.”
Big Bob Gibson’s has plenty of prior bona fides. They’ve earned no fewer than “15 World BBQ Championships (pork, brisket, ribs, chicken) and five Memphis in May World BBQ Grand Championships,” according to the restaurant’s website.
A 2017 AL.com feature described the restaurant’s humble origins: “A 6-foot-4, 300-pound railway worker, “Big” Bob Gibson began cooking in the backyard of his two-story Danville Road home in the mid ‘20s, before he ever thought of opening a restaurant. It was just a weekend thing, for friends and family. Big Bob cooked whole chickens and whole pork shoulders in his hand-dug pit and served them from an oak-plank table nailed to a sycamore tree.”
Last year, Food Network selected Big Bob Gibson’s barbecue chicken with white sauce as number four in their “top five barbecue dishes in the country list.”
In 2017, Chris Lilly, executive chef and vice-president of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q gave AL.com the backstory to Gibson’s famous white sauce, which has inspired copycats in Alabama and beyond. “His [Big Bob Gibson’s] chickens sometimes stayed on his pit for three hours,” Lilly said. “When you’re pulling a pit of chickens you’ve got to have some way to keep those chickens moist. Keep them from drying out. And I think that’s where the mayonnaise came from. The fat in the mayonnaise basically used as a buffer against the chicken drying out once it came off the pit.”
Other regional barbecue standouts according Food Network’s Ventiera, who’s also written for Food & Wine, NPR and Village Voice, include: Atlanta’s Das BBQ (“pulled pork, ribs and pork sausage, best served with their mustard-based peach barbecue sauce”); Ocean Springs, Mississippi’s The Shed (“best known for their ribs and smoked chicken ‘wangs,’ but the brisket and pulled pork are regular hits, as well”); and West Tennessee’s Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint (“the Redneck Tacos are a favorite”).
Food Network’s “50 States of Barbecue” list doesn’t include the methodology for how they determined their list. Or who all contributed/voted to the list. Or how many total restaurants were considered or if the writer/staff actually tried every single restaurant that made their list.
Obviously, these sorts of lists are subjective. They can start some fun discussions, as long as people don’t take them too seriously and real research went into creating the content.
Whether or not you agree with a list, including methodology adds credence and clarity. For example, Rolling Stone’s recent 200 Greatest Singers of All Time list has been controversial at best. But to RS’ credit they clearly outlined the parameters for their singers list and who all voted/contributed to those rankings.
AL.com reached out to Food Network for details on the methodology of their “50 States of Barbecue” list. As of publishing of this post, we’ve yet to receive a response.
Other perennial Alabama barbecue faves include: Archibald’s BBQ in Northport; Saw’s BBQ in Homewood; Dreamland Bar-B-Que in Tuscaloosa; and Meat Boss in Mobile.
As far as Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q goes, when Gibson opened his first restaurant in Decatur in 1925, the white sauce was there from day one. Big Bob moved locations frequently in the early years, in and just outside of Decatur, the white sauce always in tow, before establishing more permanent roots on Decatur’s 6th Avenue in 1952.
Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q’s current locations include 1715 6th Ave. S.E. and 2520 Danville Road S.W., the latter just a couple miles away from the backyard where Big Bob’s barbecue was born.
Today, visitors from other countries make it a point to visit Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q as part of their Southern barbecue pilgrimages. Big Bob Gibson’s also ships bottles of white sauce overseas, including all across Europe.
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