Alabama Barbecue Elevated from Dish to Destination {Alabama BBQ Trail App}

Alabama’s SERIOUS about its Barbecue. Check out this banner displayed by Bama in the middle of Beale Street during the 2015 Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. It says, “Welcome to Memphis: Home of the South’s Second-Best Barbecue”. Now those are fightin’ words in some circles. Trash talk. Smack mouth.

So what’s behind such a bold declaration?

Year of Alabama BBQ

According to the Alabama Tourism Association, barbecue is served in 8.27 percent of the state’s restaurants, a figure placing Alabama at the top of the list of ‘pork eateries’ per capita.  To celebrate it’s barbecue heritage and to spread the word to barbecue aficionados across the country, Alabama’s created a year-long campaign called “The Year of Alabama BBQ”. It features a website and smart-phone app, a traveling photo exhibit featuring legendary Alabama pitmasters, a documentary film that chronicles the history of Alabama barbecue, and an Alabama Barbecue Hall of Fame.

Alabama BBQ Trail App

Through the establishment of the Alabama BBQ Trail, Alabama’s elevating its ‘cue from a meal to a destination. The trail highlights the best dishes of more than 75 barbecue restaurants in 52 cities across the state. The trail smart phone app features the story behind each plate and includes an alert to notify you when you’re within 20 miles of one of your selected barbecue stops. The app is based on the book “Alabama Barbecue: Delicious Road Trips,” which was released in the fall of 2014.

Download in the App Store | Get it on Google Play

A Personal Favorite

One of my favorite barbecue joints is Big Cove Barbecue in Owens Cross Roads (Hampton Cove), Alabama.  It was voted the Best Barbecue Restaurant in Northeast Alabama in 2009.  Husband-and-wife co-owners Jennifer Taylor and James Taylor serve overflowing plates of tender pulled pork, with baked beans, potato salad and roll. Big Cove also serves ribs, chicken, Brunswick stew and sweet tea, of course.

Alabama BBQ Trail Featured Restaurants

What’s your favorite Alabama BBQ?  Is it featured on the trail?  If you’re curious, here’s a list of cities and restaurants listed as destinations on the Alabama BBQ trail.

Albertville, Wilsons’s; Anniston, Betty’s; Argo, Southland; Athens, Lawlers; Auburn, Byron’s Smokehouse, Price’s Barbecue; Bessemer, Bob Sykes BarB-Q; Billingsley, Jim’s Highway 82 BBQ; Birmingham, Full Moon Bar-B-Que, Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q, Rib-It-Up; Blount Springs, Top Hat; Calera, Fred’s Small Time, Tin Top; Clay, Barbecue Stop; Cullman, Johnny’s; Decatur, Big Bob Gibson, Smokey C’s; Dora, Leo & Susie’s Famous Green Top; Dothan, Dobb’s, Smokey Joe’s, The BBQ Shack, Tib A Dor’s Station; Elba, Ranch House; Enterprise, Big Daddy’s; Eufaula, Phil’s; Fayette, Sam’s Smokehouse; Florence, Bunyan’s, Dick Howell’s, Singleton’s, Smokin’ on the Boulevard; Foley, Down South; Gadsden, Pruett’s; Georgiana, Kendall’s; Greenville, Real Pit; Gulf Shores, Hog Wild; Hartselle, Pig Stand; Heflin, Marie’s; Hollywood, Mud Creek; Homewood, Demetri’s BBQ, Saw’s BBQ;

Huntsville, Gibson’s, Granville’s Gourmet, Little Paul’s; Irondale, Golden Rule; Leeds, Rusty’s BBQ; Leesburg, Tim’s Walk Hard; Lincoln, R&B; Madison, Chuck Wagon, The “Old” Greenbrier Restaurant; Midland City, Webb’s 231; Mobile, Cotton State, McMillan, Dick Russell’s, Saucy Q, The Brick Pit; Montgomery, Brenda’s, Sam’s; Moody, Bluegrass; Muscle Shoals, Brooks Barbecue; New Market, New Market BBQ; Northport, Archibald’s B.B.Q.; Opelika, Chuck’s; Owens Cross Roads, Big Cove; Pell City, Butts to Go; Prattville, Fat Boy’s Bar-B-Que Ranch; Selma, Hancock’s, Lannie’s; Summerdale, L.A. Barbecue; Troy, Hook’s, Bar-B-Q House; Tuscaloosa, Archibald & Woodrow’s BBQ, Moe’s Original Bar B Que, Dreamland Bar-B-Que; Vestavia Hills, Miss Myra’s Pit Bar-B-Q; Wetumpka, Champs, Smokin’s.

Yum! Get the keys, I’m hungry!