The flashing neon lights can be seen down all of Broadway. The smell of pork entices one to enter. Jack’s Bar-B-Que is a dive BBQ restaurant in the heart of Nashville, TN.

Being a novice in the large world of barbeque, I expected to enter Jack’s and to be mesmerized by a large menu selection. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised. At Jack’s, there are only six items on the menu (including Tennessee Pork Shoulder, Texas Beef Brisket, Smoked Turkey Breast, St. Louis Pork Style Ribs, and Smoked Chicken), along with a few delectable side dishes.

For the past few days, I have had a strange craving for a pulled pork, so I went for the Tennessee Pork Shoulder sandwich. Being a New Yorker, I expected (and wanted) there to be a spicy sauce on-top, instead it was just pork, and you had the option of putting sauce on yourself.

I took a bite, and I was simply blown away. It was the most tender pork I have ever dug my teeth into. It was also very tasty (even without sauce).

Jack’s Bar-B-Que is a must-visit establishment for any barbeque enthusiast traveling through Nashville.

Jack’s Bar-B-Que
216 Broadway
Nashville, TN

Max Murphy, host and producer of Mac News Weekly, is on a 3000 mile road trip with his dad and brother, Sam. On the road he is BBQ blogging for Carnivore and making us all really hungry!

BBQ at Bluegrass in Highland Park, IL from Cali Lewis on Vimeo

When we started producing GeekBrief.TV, we were living above a store we opened for Extra Space Storage in Highland Park, IL. At the same time we opened our store, Jim Lederer and Chef Dave Teichman opened Bluegrass, a neighborhood restaurant with beyond words amazing food. Jim and Dave fed us well, served us great martinis and kind of turned us into food snobs (in a good way). Chili’s and Red Lobster is awesome until you know better. Thanks to Jim and Dave … we know better.

This morning we got a dire notice in the Inbox about a BBQ Emergency:

Bluegrass Restaurant is having a BBQ Fest to combat the constant construction on Old Deerfield Road. Chef Dave has decided to get out the BBQ and do some real smoking with his grills. We will be BBQ’ing for two weeks straight to get the word out that we are still here. If you see smoke please be aware it is only our smoker smoking the Ribs.

When we head out on the bus, we may just have to spend the first couple months driving around Texas getting sick of BBQ, if such an outcome is possible. You know BBQ is different than other kinds of dining because the indicators are nearly 180 degrees different than for any other kind of restaurant.

To start with, in what other type of dining is a decrepit looking building a good sign? They’re are some, but with BBQ is practically a given. You want a place with the character of New Orleans, a place where maintenance takes a backseat to good food and good fun.

Standing in line at the grocery store this afternoon (I was buying apples), I saw that the latest issue of Texas Monthly was promoting the “Top 50 BBQ Joints in Texas.” I bought a copy and was disappointed that it didn’t put the Top 50 in rank order, but then again, that is nearly an impossible task. I know I couldn’t do it because there is just too much nuance.

Here’s what is both notible and exciting about the Texas Monthly list: I’ve never eaten at a single one of the joints. This fact is both exciting and overwhelming.

There are lots of places to go and lots of video to shoot, which means I need some exercise.

I had an entertaining twitter exchange with a guy from Brooklyn. It started with his sincere question:

“Are Burgers not technically BBQ?”

I, understandably, thought he might be from a whole other country, but it turns out he uses the word barbecue as a verb synonymous with grill. Lots of people do it and their hearts are in the right place, but some BBQ education is in order.

BBQ is a noun referring to meat cooked slowly with indirect heat. In contrast, grill is a verb referring to a method of cooking meat quickly over direct heat. It’s easy to forgive the confusion until you’ve been baptized in the smoke of an old crusty BBQ shack with a line out the door. Once you’ve been blessed to have BBQ from any of the regions where it reigns, you start feeling the need to defend the distinction between terms.

Grilling can be done by anyone almost anywhere. The best BBQ is usually developed over several hours in an oven or pit built for the mission. The secret is always in the sauce or rub and the best places will sell the secret in a bottle, but will never tell you the specifics about ingredients and measurements. When it’s done the meat will fall apart because it’s so tender.

In the United States, BBQ has regional varieties, and I’m just beginning to learn the differences. There is Texas BBQ, Kansas City BBQ, Memphis BBQ, and Carolina BBQ at the top and other variations in places like Georgia, St. Louis, Alabama and Kentucky.

Meats used for BBQ are typically pork, beef and chicken. Sometimes, you’ll see turkey legs or lamb on a menu, but most joints build their business around a specialty of either pork or beef.

Some places favor dry rubs. Some favor a tomato-based sauce. Some sauces skew sweet and some skew sour. Connoisseurs have their favorites that they’ll fight and die to defend. That’s not me. Even though I strongly prefer vinegar-based sauces with a bit of spice, I’m willing to give your preference a try as long as you’re buying. If I’m paying, it’s going to be a vinegar-based sauce. Otherwise, we can split the bill.

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Ok, this is BIG. I’m going to call Mike Anderson’s Barbeque the best I’ve ever had in Texas or anywhere else.

It’s on Harry Hines in Dallas, Texas, just across the street from Parkland Hospital (of JFK assassination infamy).

When we walked in, the smell of smoke was pervasively wonderful. From the open door, it was the best smelling BBQ joint we’ve visited, but that didn’t mean the food would be great or even good. We stood at the menu board and let a few regulars go ahead of us in line. They were all talking about how unusual it was that there wasn’t a line out the door. That was a good sign and also an indication of fortuitous timing on our part.

The menu emphasized something called a Spudzilla, a loaded, massive baked potato topped with the eaters choice of BBQ meats. This is not something we would have chosen to order except we saw it on the plates of a couple regulars who were ahead of us in line. It looked amazing, so we each ordered one. The people behind us were newbies too and after seeing ours, they ordered the same thing.

I’m not a lover of all BBQ sauce. I’m very specific in my taste. I like the taste of vinegar instead of sweetness and Mike Anderson’s sauce, for my taste, is EXACTLY perfect. It’s my favorite of all time.

On our trip through all 50 states, we’re getting recommendations for BBQ places to try. Mike Anderson’s title as the best I’ve ever had might go to some other place along the way, but for now…we have a winner!

Mike Anderson’s Barbeque House and Catering Co.
5410 Harry Hines Blvd.
Dallas, Texas 75235
214.630.0735
mikeandersonsbbq.com

Famous Dave’s is going to deserve another review from us because Cali had already had a Sub on the road and therefore, only ordered a Margarita, and I was coming down with a fever.

I ordered sausage and something creative called Catfish fingers. I grew up in Arkansas. I’ve seen Catfish in their native state, and I can assure you they don’t, by nature HAVE fingers. That said, the catfish fingers were one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth. Perhaps it the proximity to nuclear testing facilities…I’m not sure, but we have to teach our catfish down here in Texas to grow fingers that we can chop off, bread and fry. Those things were good.

The BBQ sausage wasn’t very good to me, but again, I wasn’t feeling well. I want to give it another chance. It didn’t seem juicy enough to me.

The veggies, on the other hand, were something special indeed. The green beans were crisp and just a bit spicy. I like crisp green beans when I eat at a high end place, and I like soggy green beans when I eat southern. Having crisp, spicy green beans at a BBQ place was a nice surprise. I also had the mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. The corn was great. The potatoes were good.

Cali LOVED the cornbread. The one thing that is MOST different between us is our opinions about cornbread. I like it like my grandmother makes it. Cali likes it like her mother makes it. Her mom makes it sweet. My grandmother makes it southern. Either way it’s a butter delivery system. Dave’s cornbread is sweet, so I licked the butter off and left the bread on the plate (not really, but kind of).

Over all…I would go back just to eat some of those nuclear powered catfish fingers. When I’m there again, I want to try the ribs. Share your experience in the comments.

Famous Dave’s Barbeque
1977 North 1200 West
Layton, UT 84041