Barbecue in United States
The BBQ Atlas maps 665 barbecue venues across 447 cities in United States. From Modern, Kansas City, Texas, Carolina and more, it's a snapshot of how United States cooks over live fire. Browse by city below, or dive straight into the venues.
Big Lee's BBQ
Ocala, United States
Big Lee's Serious About BBQ operates out of Ocala with the kind of quiet confidence that comes from knowing what matters. The place has drawn attention from both Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives and Food & Wine's Best BBQ in America — the sort of recognition that arrives when the work speaks for itself. Open Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. No fuss, no pretense. Just barbecue done right.
Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que
Kansas City, United States
Jeff and Joy Stehney opened this in 1996 inside a working gas station at 47th and Main — it started as Oklahoma Joe's, born from their championship competition team, and people have queued past the pumps ever since. Anthony Bourdain put it on his list of places to eat before you die; the American Royal put Grand Championship trophies on the wall. Open 11 to 9 most days, 10 to 10 Friday and Saturday. Still a pit, a queue, and a former gas station.
Louie Mueller Barbecue
Taylor, United States
Louie Mueller opened his Taylor barbecue in 1949, and three generations on — Wayne Mueller runs the pits now — the soot-black dining room and the post-oak brisket, beef ribs and sausage remain the epitome of Central Texas barbecue. It was the first Texas barbecue to win a James Beard America's Classics award, and it has ranked at or near the top of every Texas Monthly list since 1973. Open Wednesday through Saturday; get there early.
Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ
Charleston, United States
Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ started on King Street in Charleston in 2017, and it made Rodney Scott a James Beard Best Chef: Southeast — the pitmaster who has spent his life keeping the whole-hog tradition alive, cooking the full animal low over coals. This is where it began.
Skylight Inn BBQ
Ayden, United States
Pete Jones built this place on a simple idea: whole hog barbecue, Eastern North Carolina style, cooked the way it's meant to be. Seventy-six years later, it's still doing exactly that — no drift, no reinvention. The James Beard Foundation noticed in 2003 and called it an American Classic. They were right. Open six days a week, ten to seven. The hog is the thing here. Everything else is just details.
Snow's BBQ
Lexington, United States
Snow's opens one morning a week — Saturday, 8 a.m. until the meat's gone — and people line up in the dark for it. The pits are tended by Tootsie Tomanetz, born in 1935 and still working them into her nineties; Kerry "Snow" Bexley opened the place with her in 2003. Texas Monthly has twice named it the best barbecue in the state, and Netflix put it on Chef's Table. Brisket, pork steak, ribs and sausage — show up early, because when it's gone, it's gone until next Saturday.
225⁰BBQ
Arlington, United States
Texas barbecue, no website, no pretense. Wednesday through Sunday — five in the evening on weekdays, midday on weekends — and the whole philosophy is simple: when it's finished. Call ahead or check Instagram before you go; they sell out early and often. On East Main in Arlington, this is the kind of place that doesn't need to explain itself.
2Fifty Texas BBQ
Riverdale Park, United States
This is the Riverdale Park home of 2Fifty, the Central Texas smokehouse Fernando González and Debby Portillo built from farmers-market roots in 2020. Everything's cooked over wood; the brisket and dino ribs are the first to go. Pre-order online if you'd rather not gamble — they're closed Tuesdays and sell out most other days.
2Fifty Texas BBQ
Washington, United States
Fernando González and Debby Portillo — Salvadoran by background, Central Texas by method — run 2Fifty as a wood-only operation, and it's regularly named among the best barbecue in the DC area. The K Street counter smokes brisket and dino ribs over oak and pairs them with sides that lean Latin American rather than the usual slaw. They sell out most days; pre-order or take your chances. Closed Tuesdays.
2M Smokehouse
San Antonio, United States
Esaul Ramos Jr. trained at la Barbecue in Austin, then came home to San Antonio's South Side and opened 2M in 2016 with his high-school friend Joe Melig. He's since been nominated for a James Beard Award twice — rare company for a place this young. The name honours their grandparents; the smoke is post oak; the brisket, sausage and ribs come off custom pits with family-style sides that carry a South Texas accent. Counter service, Thursday to Sunday, and it sells out — so come early.
603 BBQ
Concord, United States
Ben Normandeau runs a slow-smoked operation on Loudon Road in Concord that trades in brisket, ribs, burnt ends, pulled pork, and sausage — the fundamentals, done properly. Open Thursday through Sunday, noon to four, or until sold out. Order on the website. They've taken Best BBQ in NH three years straight. No pretense, no mystery — just Texas method applied with the kind of consistency that makes a place worth the drive.
A&R Bar-B-Que
Memphis, United States
This is Memphis barbecue done the slow way — ribs, pulled pork, rib tips, and catfish, cooked low and patient. A&R opened in 1983 and has stayed put, a steady presence on the boulevard where it started. Open weekdays until six, weekends until eight. No fuss, no mystery — just the work of four decades.
Arthur Bryant's
Kansas City, United States
KC institution with thick tomato-molasses sauce and sliced brisket on white bread.
B4 Barbeque
Rhome, United States
B4Barbeque cooks Texas low-and-slow out of a converted historic feed store in Rhome, north of Fort Worth. It keeps country-butcher hours — smoke a set amount, sell until it's gone (usually by mid-afternoon), then close — so ordering ahead is the smart play. Straightforward Texas barbecue, made to run out rather than sit.
B4 Barbeque
Mabank, United States
B4 Barbeque opened in 2020 in the historic Mabank Feed Store, a fitting home for a craft barbecue operation that takes its time. The pit runs low and slow; the doors open at 11 and stay that way until the meat's gone. No Instagram, no fuss — just walk up, call ahead, or order online, and get there before sellout if you want lunch. Texas Monthly named it one of the state's Top 50 barbecue joints in 2025, which is the kind of recognition a four-year-old smokehouse in a town of 3,000 doesn't take lightly. The feed store still looks like a feed store. The barbecue tastes like someone cares. That's the deal.
bain.bbq
Memphis, United States
Bain BBQ put a wood-burning pit in a Memphis house and started cooking Texas-style: brisket, ribs, pulled pork and house-made sausage, fourteen hours over pure oak. It's counter service — they smoke daily and sell out when it's gone, the brisket usually first. Texas method, Memphis address.
bain.bbq
Germantown, United States
Bain BBQ brings Texas method to a Tennessee address: brisket, ribs, pulled pork and house-made sausage, cooked over pure oak for the better part of a day. This Germantown location is counter service in a converted house, open Tuesday through Sunday until the pit's empty. Texas style, Memphis-area zip code.
Baldwin's Smokehouse BBQ
Saginaw, United States
The Baldwin family opened this Saginaw smokehouse on East Holland Road in 2019, cooking low and long and keeping the hours simple — closed Mondays, open from 11 the rest of the week. Barbecue made the way it should be, without the noise.
Bar A BBQ
Montgomery, United States
Bar A BBQ operates without fanfare on Eva Street, doing the work that earned it a place in Texas Monthly's Top 50 for 2025 and Houston Chronicle's top 100 restaurants in consecutive years. Oak smoke, patience, and the kind of craft that doesn't need to announce itself. Find them at barabbq.com or on the usual platforms if you want to know what's ready today.
Bare Bones BBQ & Jerk
Pembroke Pines, United States
Bare Bones has kept it simple since 2012: house-smoked brisket, ribs, chicken and pulled pork, plus Caribbean jerk, all made from scratch. It's mostly take-out, delivery and catering — a dine-in side is growing, but the pit is the point. Order ahead or stop by; cash or card.
Bark Barbecue
Brooklyn, United States
Bark runs Texas-style low-and-slow over white oak, then does what most smokehouses don't: sets Dominican and Caribbean plates right alongside the brisket. Quesos fritos and maduros next to the pulled pork and ribs — two traditions off one pit. This is the Water Street location; pickup orders run through the website.
Bark Barbecue
Brooklyn, United States
This Thames Street spot is Bark's Brooklyn home base, where Texas smoke meets the Dominican flavours of the kitchen behind it. Brisket and pork ribs share the board with chicharrones and longaniza — no fusion for its own sake, just white-oak barbecue and the food the pitmaster grew up on. Patient cooking; two cuisines that turn out to belong on the same plate.
Beale's Texas BBQ
Santa Ana, United States
Slowly smoked meats, done the Texas way. That's the premise, executed straightforward and without fuss on South Main Street. Order by phone or online. They know what they're here to do.
Ben's Backdraft BBQ
Waynesville, United States
Ben's Backdraft is a live-fire barbecue and catering outfit in Waynesville, going since 2021 — oak and apple wood, no gas. The dining room keeps Thursday-to-Saturday hours; the rest of the week the crew is out working events. Wood smoke, and a schedule that follows the work where it goes.