Horror of horrors - Atlanta's best "BBQ" joint serves...

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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…Texas style beef BBQ. [stirthepothal.gif]

http://www.citysbest.com/atlanta/listings/fox-bros-bar-b-q

Rejoinder cousin Fleming?

Be forwarned, I am willing to agree that they have not the slightest idea what they are talking about if you can identify their obvious ignorance about “Texas BBQ”.

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Serving Texas-style barbecue — meaning the sauce is tomato based

Do what? [swoon.gif]

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My sauce from this past Saturday was tomato (ketchup) based. I got no complaints from Mr. Bowden.

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I had faith in you. That said, how do you account for the fact that Atlantians voted Fox Brothers beef BBQ the best BBQ in Atlanta? Are the porcine places found in Atlanta that bad compared to Fox Brothers, or do Atlantians just know the best food when they taste it? [tease.gif]

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I think Atlanta’s more a melting pot that includes many non-Southerners. So may not adhere to southern BBQ is pork as much as places like North Carolina and Alabama. Some of those folks would chase you with a shotgun for suggesting beef. Of course they’d get distracted mid-chase by an argument over vinegar versus mustard versus tomato based sauce.
Oh, and on the sauce topic, I’ve actually always thought of Texas as dry rub (okay, stop before you even run with that easy set-up).

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I’m not sure what your “beef” is? [neener.gif]

FWIW, Atlanta’s BBQ tradition is a lot like the city itself- undecided about it’s own identity.

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Sauce? Shame, shame, shame, and a final tsk, tsk, tsk.

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Personally, I use no sauce on my brisket. But knowing the crowd to consist of Texans, I had to provide what I thought would be expected of me…just being a good caterer I suppose.

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Before I do, show me that’s what happened. I see nothing on the City’s Best site about voting. And if it is the result of a vote (by the 13 people who know that City’s Best exists*), where does it say they preferred Fox Bros. brisket over its pulled pork, pork ribs, wings, fried pickles (best thing on the menu), etc.?


*That would be the same 13 people who chose P.F. Chang’s as Atlanta’s best Chinese food… [pwn.gif]

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This does not compute. However, “But knowing the crowd to consist of non-Texans” does.

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Maybe I should have said Texans vs. bona fide Texans.

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Nothing further, Dr. Cole?

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Well, you have got me there. I assumed that the Atlanta Constitution, like nearly all local newspapers, put out the “best” based on surveys of their readership. If my assumption is wrong (I suspect it is not), well… If it is not based on readership surveys, I would suggest you lobby for removal of the restaurant critics. Such egregious behavior should not be tolerated.

That said, given the Atlanta Constitution and their current readership, I would agree that the readership probably does not know their…

In a similar vein, where did you come up with the “13” number? [tease.gif]

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Fixed.

Bad assumption. It’s brought to you - along with the ‘best’ of 25 other cities around the country - by your friends at AOL.

As for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, it does conduct annual reader polls on such things, through its website ‘Access Atlanta.’ But the AJC has also publishes its critics’ choices, alongside the public popularity contest results. The outcome in 2010? Fox Bros. is no. 1 in the readers’ poll (just ahead of Fat Matt’s, which cooks with gas - not a stick of wood in sight, fer chrissakes!), but doesn’t crack the top five on the critics’ list. Here: http://blogs.ajc.com/best-of-big-a/2010/09/20/best-barbecue/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fox Bros. popularity doesn’t surprise, and isn’t unwarranted. They do lots of things well (though none at the highest level), and serve large portions of tasty food at good prices in a fun atmosphere. That’s pretty much a recipe for success. But it’s not a recipe for the best BBQ in town, and it’s not the best BBQ in town.

And, though I can’t see how you read into the City’s Best piece a special love for Fox Bros. beef, I have to say: I think the pulled pork is the weak link on the Fox Bros.menu, and not up to the standards of the brisket. One man’s opinion.

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I’m not 100% certain, but I’m reasonably sure that “best Italian” in Portland was Olive Garden a few years ago. I think Cathy Whims was more than a little amused at the very idea. Just don’t hold the Tar Heel part against her. Nostrana" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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I’m just glad she found something useful to do with her degree in Latin.

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She makes a mean pizza. Maybe it helps.

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This is actually quite fascinating and points out the perils of the web.

My original post was based on, surprise, surprise, the link furnished by Fox Brothers website referring to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s (AJC) review. See the following:

http://www.foxbrosbbq.com/

which led to the folloing website:

http://blogs.ajc.com/best-of-big-a/2010/09/20/best-barbecue/

I went to the original Fox Brothers website as a result of watching “Best Food Ever” on the Green Channel where it dealt with, on this particular show, the “best of” BBQ, wherein Fox Brothers was ranked the third best BBQ joint in America (wrong, so, so, very wrong) - Texas BBQ in Atlanta. Well, the first thing that crossed my mind was a perfect opportunity to “rib” cousin Fleming, a tete-a-tete of which we have been carrying on for a while.

Following the link to the AJC (sorry for the incorrect attribute previously), I saw that according to the AJC, a Texas BBQ joint was indeed ranked the best BBQ joint in Atlanta by, I assumed (possibly incorrectly, possibly not), a poll of the folks of the readers of the AJC.

Regarding how they were ranked number one, do you really believe they were ranked based on “pulled pork, pork ribs, wings, fried pickles (best thing on the menu), etc.?” rather than their signature dish developed by two Texas boys - Texas style brisket?

Finally, once again, where did you come up with the number 13? [basic-smile.gif]

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Continuing the thread drift…

When I lived in Portland in the 70’s, Olive Garden would have been a step-up from the best Italian in town. Not really; Genoa was better, but maybe only Genoa. Thankfully for those who live there, the cuisine in Portland has dramatically improved. It really sucked then.

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Cathy, of course, was the co-owner of Genoa for a number of years. Small world.