Huntsvilleâs best barbecue: Our Top 5

Fat cats don’t know much about eating on food stamps, and poor people generally haven’t experienced fine dining. But a vast majority of Huntsville’s rich, poor and those of us in-between know barbecue. Barbecue is tasty local culture most people not only covet they can afford. Decadent yet wholesome too, so devout believers and reveling bohemians alike can get down with this Southern food staple.

Because of this commonality, barbecue often isn’t just food in Huntsville it’s also memories. Pulled pork, slabs of ribs, smoked chicken slathered with North Alabama style white sauce, and even expatriate brisket — they’re tied to so many of our life moments. Family picnics and church potlucks. Gameday spreads and pool parties. Work lunches and day-after big-night-out recuperation meals. You name it.

Barbecue is also a source of in-the-know pride. Being hip to a good barbecue joint — especially those that are small, quirky and/or obscure – is as cool as knowing the best dive bars. Actually, a little cooler. Because while everyone doesn’t party, as I’ve said before, everyone eats.

There are many places in Huntsville that serve quality ‘cue. Below are AL.com’s picks for the top 5 barbecue spots in Huntsville. For the purposes of this list, we’re sticking to the Huntsville metropolitan area, Madison and Limestone counties, including Huntsville, Madison and Athens.

[Since the mighty Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, originator of North Alabama’s signature white sauce, is located in Decatur, they’re not included in this tally. But they’re a contender for our upcoming statewide rankings. Huntsville’s Gibson’s Bar-B-Q, opened by Big Bob’s daughter in 1956, has been closed since last spring due to fire damage, otherwise they’d be a contender for our Huntsville list.]

MORE: Birmingham’s best barbecue: Our Top 5

Pulled pork dinner with smoked mac & cheese and potato salad and barbecue sauce, and banana pudding from WW Brookins Smoken On The Go and Little Diner. (Matt Wake/[email protected]

5. Brookins Smoken On The Go

1108 Andrew Jackson Way, Huntsville, brookinssmokenonthego.org

Of all worthy Huntsville barbecue spots, there’s only one where you can also purchase a faux-fur jacket to go along with your pork sandwich. Brookins Smoken On The Go shares a Five Points area space with a thrift store/consignment store. Character in a barbecue restaurant can be picturesque. But it means nothing if the victuals aren’t happening. And I dig how Smoken On The Go does pig. Hickory smoked downhome bliss. Smoken is owned by the Brookins family. They’d been catering barbecue for around 10 years before they opened their restaurant in 2020. It all started with the late Walter Brookins, a retired Army sergeant.

Order this: Pulled pork dinner (enticing mix of tender meat, char and smoke-magic) with smoked mac-and-cheese (superior to your average mac) and potato salad (cookout fresh). Their banana pudding (a creamy-jungle-fruit blackout) is no joke either.

4. Ted’s Bar B Q

212 Andrew Jackson Way, tedsbar-b-q.com

Ted’s Bar B Q is clean and obvious – sure, two strikes against barbecue-coolness — but it’s also really good, so there. Opened in 2012, Ted’s is part of David Martin’s empire that also includes local taco monolith Rosie’s Cantina, Steak-Out, Walton’s Southern Table and other HSV faves. Ted’s is named for Martin’s dad Teddy Martin, who ran Muscle Shoals barbecue spots during the Polaroid-toned yesteryear. At Ted’s, blues music pipes over the dining room and images of B.B. King and Ray sound-system adorn its walls. Like Martin’s other ventures, Ted’s Bar B Q is well run, dialed into local palates and hits the value/flavor bullseye. In addition to their original Five Points location, there’s also a Ted’s in Madison.

Order this: Ted’s Sticky Ribs, St. Louis style, lean and dry rubbed and falling off the bone tender. Accented with sweet drizzle. Pro tip: Also grab some of Ted’s soft-and-zesty tamales – yep, tamales at a barbecue joint – available as an entrée or a side with one of the restaurant’s plates/combo meals.

3. Bark & Barrel BBQ

3414 Governors Drive S.W., facebook.com/barkandbarrelstovehouse

The bark in this appellation has multiple meanings. The pleasing charred part of a piece barbecue, called bark, but also a nod to Bark & Barrel’s original name, Clyde’s BBQ, which was in honor of the founders’ dog. Clyde’s BBQ was a perfect name. So perfect, in fact, that a Washington D.C. area restaurant already held nationwide trademark of the word “Clyde’s” for restaurants and bars. Alas, this Clyde’s, which started with a since-shuttered Madison, location, had to change names. Founded by Tina Ford and Stan Stinson, the clever restauranteurs also behind HSV standout Earth and Stone Wood Fired Pizza, Clyde’s BBQ is part of the diverse offering at popular “food garden” and entertainment hotspot Stovehouse.

Order this: The rugged and tender brisket, available in lean or fat-on cuts — opt for the latter for maximum awesomeness. The side-item move? House-fried pork skins, bespoke crunchy brilliance.

2. Boarhog’s Barbeque

2118 Hwy. 72 E., BoarhogsBarbeque

Now housed in a former laundromat, Boarhog’s got its start in 2015 as an embedded eatery inside a Citgo gas station. Boarhog’s was founded by married couple Roger and Becky Owens. They had a construction business but were looking for another revenue stream. Roger cut his teeth cooking in barbecue contests and helping a cousin open a restaurant. Back when he was driving a truck in construction, Roger’s CB radio handle was “Boarhog.” Sounded like a pretty good barbecue restaurant too, so they went with it. The Boarhog’s clientele skews blue-collar, enhancing its salt-of-the-earth appeal. A key difference in their food: Boarhog’s uses cherrywood to smoke their meat, instead of the Southern de-rigor, hickory.

Order this: The softball-sized large pulled pork sandwich, with vinegar slaw, pickles and mayo (mayo works better than you might think here), is a meal onto itself. Their hashbrown casserole side-item is essential too.

1. ChuckWagon BBQ

8048 Hwy. 72 W., 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, Holley opened the original Madison location in 2008. At their original location, a wood-planked shack regulars entered through the backdoor like six-gun outlaws, 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’s retaining its rustic greatness though.

Order this: The two-meat place 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 ON BARBECUE:

Huntsville barbecue options just got more interesting

The origins of Alabama-style white barbecue sauce

The story behind Huntsville’s must-do barbecue sandwich