So far, Alabama barbecue sucks compared to Florida's

You have to be kidding me? What kind of twisted barbeque eater is this guy? I've lived in Ft. Lauderdale for seven years and I also own a condominium in Panama City Beach (that I visit quite often) and have only found 2 semi-decent barbeque joints in the whole state, Uncle Tom's BBQ in Miami and Eric's BBQ in Pembroke Pines. Although I must admit that Angelo's in Panama City Beach has very good BBQ sauce. However, Dreamland BBQ in Tuscaloosa, Big Bob Gibson's in Decatur, and Johnny's BBQ in Cullman are light years ahead of anything in Florida. Sonny's BBQ is a chain restaurant in Florida that serves semi-palatable barbeque. I have one two miles from my house and I've been there once, and that was one too many times. Sonny's serves mass produced bland meat (do they even smoke it?), paste-like beans, and horrible barbeque sauce. What's his next claim, Floridians are more courteous than people from Alabama? Give me a break.

Make sure to pick up some bbq from Whitt's while you're in Alabama. They're located in Hartselle and Decatur, then just across the TN line in Ardmore, too.

Be warned, however, that they do not serve "sauce" bbq. They smoke their own meat each day (pork/turkey) with some type of dry rub and serve some of the best Brunswick Stew you'll find in the South.

They don't waste money on restaurants - you simply pull up to the window and order what you want (the slaw is pretty good, too). The one in Ardmore actually has room for you to park and walk inside to order, but no on-premises eating area.

All the money is spent on the product and it is ALL well worth it!

ALABAMA SUCKS.......SURE AM GLAD IM NOT FROM HERE!!!

You are a barbecue neophyte. Please retain your amateur loins in the greasy pseudo-south state of Florida and enjoy your generic Sonny's until your unpracticed palate is content. Any real southerner knows that chicken is for Yankees, beef is for Texans and pork is the choice of the pros. Yankee go home! War Eagle....

Jon (I've never heard of a Southerner who spelled his name that way; it sounds kind of effeminate to me) I was born and raised in the Deep South and have eaten more barbecue than you've ever dreamed of.

I eat pork like a hunting dog and Alabama's sucks. South Florida isn't the South, I'll grant you that, but north Florida, where I hail from, is as southern as chicken-fried dirt.

Sonny's was an example. Even though it's a chain, it's still better than what Alabama calls barbecue.

If you're used to barbecued meat soaked in sauce, then Whitt's or Big Bob's might taste bland since you've never actually tasted the meat, I'll concede that. For me, born and raised in Decatur, AL and now living in Orlando, FL, it's just the opposite. It seems that most barbecue joints down here rely too much on their sauce to flavor the meat. I have a difficult time tasting what wood was used to smoke the meat if there is a gallon of red sauce mixed in. I even went to a joint and asked for no sauce in the meat and for the sauce to be on the side so I could add it as needed. I got a very evil look when all I wanted to do was taste the seasoning of the meat, pure and simple.

My preference is Whitt's over Big Bob's mainly because the meat is a bit juicier. However, Big Bob's white barbecue sauce is the best chicken marinade and sauce that I've ever had. I brought down a few bottles of the white sauce, barbecued pork and turkey on visits back home, and a couple of recipes with me to Orlando and have since, in my two years down here, converted many neighbors and coworkers to the North Alabama style of barbecue.

I'm still on the look out for good barbecue down here. As with anyone, my measuring stick resides in Decatur with Big Bob's and Whitts because that's what I spent 24 years eating the majority of the time. I'm not so close-minded that I immediately trash another style simply because it's "different", instead I'm trying to simply enjoy good barbecue. True, some will be better than others, some not, but regardless good barbecue no matter what style will always make for a great day.

Scott (and the rest of you):

I'm on to Tim's ruse! Here's how it works - Tim trashes BBQ from, say, Alabama. This naturally offends all the righteous, BBQ lovin' folks from that neck of the woods, the more the better. Then, next time Tim's in Alabama, people are lining up to tell him about their favorite local haunts or even inviting him over to their place for some "home smoke," anything to prove to him that Bama BBQ is tops. Next thing you know, Tim's fat(ter) and happy and has had his fill of BBQ from Mobile to Decatur.

I myself have worked this scam to perfection, telling my uncle in San Antonio that Texas BBQ brisket isn't fit for a sewer rat. Next thing you know, we're in his car heading out to some hole in the wall joint to power down some beef! "Hmmm," I told him. "Tastes kind of like the roast beef in my school cafeteria." So then we'd roll to a second hole in the wall .... and so forth. Meanwhile, on the inside, I'm in smokey Seventh Heaven!

So bear with Tim ...... I suspect he's just a hungry dude on the hunt of some more meat.

Well, i know this debate is about Alabama vs. Florida. But i am here to tell y'all that the best "Q" is in North Carolina. Pork, not beef. Slow smoked all day long over hickory or mesquite, and finished off with vinegar/tomato based sauce depending upon whether you are from Eastern or Western NC. I like them both. Of course you have to have BBQ Slaw, rich and spicy, and the final touch, good hush puppies! Now thats BBQ! No offense to my Alabama and Florida Buds, NC is the best. So why dont y'all head to Lexington BBQ in Lexington NC, or Green River BBQ in Saluda (NC Mountains) or Smithfield BBQ (Smithfield NC) and see for yourself?

Tim, You gave yourself away when you said Sonny's was good BBQ. My God man, PU--LEEZ!! First of all, whoever told you BBQ House didn't eat much BBQ. Maybe you made him mad and he sent you there. BBQ House is only the best bbq on College Street. If you wanted the best in Auburn he would have sent you to Byrons. I had Sonny's in Foley and yes it's in Alabama but that not why Sonny's sux, they must spend all the profits on advertising...it sho' ain't on the cook.

31-3 florida sucks...in football as well as bbq. what an idiot. That is like saying the snow skiing is better in Iowa than Colorado.

You boys need to come back to Georgia and try

It's time youins come to Georgia and eat
some barbeque at Melear's In Fayetteville.
Same place for over 50 years, and really
great barbeque.