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Looking for Great BBQ Joints

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sound1

sound1

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Oct 10, 2011
775
22
Northern Arizona
I'm going to be riding from AZ to Niagara Falls NY to join up with the Legacy Run, then back to Indy, the Black Hills and back home. The route takes me diagonally across the country and figure you folks know of some awesome BBQ joints along the way.

In doing these runs in the past, I have found some "hole in the wall" eateries that blow your socks off, but the only way you find them is by word of mouth from the locals.

Eating good food, raising donations for the children of our fallen hero's college tuition, whilst riding across the country....Life is good!!
 
Sound1

Sounds like a good run for a good cause. Commendable.

For recommendations, and I'm sure you'll get many, you need to be more specific about your routes and what areas you'll be travelling through. If you could post a pic of a map with your routes highlighted, that would be helpful.
 
Hey Sound,

When will you be starting and how long will this run take?

It sounds like a real Iron-Butt and I wish I could have joined you but Florida is just a tad too "off route".

Sorry to say I know of no BBQ eateries along the Northern E/W mother-road.

The Southern route is another story. Next time, Ok?

Now I'm not saying that you northern boys can't do BBQ nicely, it's just that Southern Q is really what you need and what you want.
If you were here in Central Florida I could give you a list of "Gotta-have" joints that would take you a week to go through. And I'll ride with you, starting with 4Rivers, Chef John Rivers' 4-star brick smokehouse in Winter Park. http://4rsmokehouse.com/

May the Good Lord keep your wheels on the road, the bugs out of your eyes and the bears off your ~er~ tail lights.

Tom
 
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Since I've drove from Az myself to Mo 6 or so times in the last 10 years, I assume that you'll be taking I-44 west to I-40 west all the way there. If you don't we'll go from there, but that route will take you through Albuquerque, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Joplin, Springfield, and St. Louis on  your way to New York. That's as far as I have gone in that direction, so others will have to help you farther on. On that route I've tried alot of BBQ because I grew up in KC, Mo area and love to try BBQ at any chance I can get.

In Albuquerque I'd recommend Mr. Powdrell's Barbeque House, in Armarillo - Doug Hank's BBQ, in Oklahoma City - Ray's Smokehouse BBQ, in Tulsa - Stutts House of Barbeque, in Joplin - Lumpy's BBQ, in Springfield - Hole in the Wall BBQ Resturant, and in St. Louis - Pappy's Smokehouse.

I've personally eaten at all of these places, and enjoyed them all, I'm sure that the locals that live near these locations can chime in for a better idea, but that is a start for ya...
 
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Route flexibility is the fun part about these rides. Being on two wheels, I try to avoid the interstates unless I need to boot and scoot. The Hole in the Wall sounds familiar, I think a fellow rider took me there.

I was thinking of getting off the interstate in Tucumcari and heading NE on 54 into Kansas. Who knows...Kansas City or stay on 54 and Lake of the Ozarks....Damn I'm so ready for this!!
 
If you go through KC one of my favorites when I lived there is Oklahoma Joe's.  They now have three or four locations in the KC metro area, but the original is in a gas station, I do suggest going to that one if you go.  There are many other household names that are good as well.....KC Masterpiece and Gates, to name a couple. 
 
This is not BBQ but right up there - if you are in KC go to Strouds for some fried chicken. Some of the best chicken I ever ate and the gizzard plate is amazing 

http://stroudsrestaurant.com/
 
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Thank you all for the best wishes and great suggestions, GPS and notes are being entered. Keep them coming.

About the only area I try to avoid..Illinois, especially Chicago. The law will pull over an AZ plate, just to say they did. I don't think they like our  
AR15firing.gif
laws or something.

KC sounds like I better go in hungry or hit it both ways. Hmmm

Utah may be not be out of the question. I have some buddies meeting me on the way back either in the Black Hills or somewhere in WY. They are talking about coming back through Bryce and Zion. Not too far south of you.

Love the "hole in the wall" thing. There was a place down in Phoenix, Ivra's Used Tires and BBQ. Yes it had both a tire shop and a State Fair catering wagon with a RF tank outside. The outdoor seating area was surrounded by used tire walls 15 feet high...What a hoot and such gooood food.
Tom Walker said:
Hey Sound,

When will you be starting and how long will this run take? Leaving the Beginning of next week and will take about three weeks including several days for Meetings/Convention.

It sounds like a real Iron-Butt and I wish I could have joined you but Florida is just a tad too "off route". Just a bit out of my way, but 10 folks from Florida are riding up...Join up..Tis for a good cause, Last year the riders turned in around $650,000 for the cause. More info at http://www.legion.org/riders/legacyrun

Sorry to say I know of no BBQ eateries along the Northern E/W mother-road.

The Southern route is another story. Next time, Ok?

Now I'm not saying that you northern boys can't do BBQ nicely, it's just that Southern Q is really what you need and what you want.
If you were here in Central Florida I could give you a list of "Gotta-have" joints that would take you a week to go through. And I'll ride with you, starting with 4Rivers, Chef John Rivers' 4-star brick smokehouse in Winter Park. http://4rsmokehouse.com/

May the Good Lord keep your wheels on the road, the bugs out of your eyes and the bears off your ~er~ tail lights. Thank You and you keep the shiny side up as well.

Tom
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If you happen to dive south a little bit and roll through Memphis, definitely hit Central BBQ (pulled pork, ribs, brisket, wings, sauces on tap!!), One and Only BBQ, The Commissary (in Germantown...RIBS!) and Interstate BBQ.  All of these have world class Memphis style BBQ, AND they do other styles very well. 
th_Slab_of_meat.gif
 
Sound1 said:
Utah may be not be out of the question. I have some buddies meeting me on the way back either in the Black Hills or somewhere in WY. They are talking about coming back through Bryce and Zion. Not too far south of you.

Love the "hole in the wall" thing. There was a place down in Phoenix, Ivra's Used Tires and BBQ. Yes it had both a tire shop and a State Fair catering wagon with a RF tank outside. The outdoor seating area was surrounded by used tire walls 15 feet high...What a hoot and such gooood food.
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If you met up in Wyoming and are avoiding the interstate, I imagine you'd be taking Highway 89 to cut through Utah on your way down to Zion and Bryce.  Or taking the Mirror Lake highway through the Uintas, which is an absolutely mind-blowing drive through the only mountain range in the U.S. that runs East-West.  I LOVE the Uintas.  

Anyway, if you do head down to Zion and Bryce, the chances are very high you'll drive right through Orem.  If you do let me know.  We SMF members out in the square states don't get as many opportunities to bump into each other, so that would be pretty cool.  And I'm always looking for an excuse to drag my girlfriend to 5 Star.

PM me if it pans out that way and I'll shoot you my # to see if we can make it happen.

Happy riding.
 
Scarbelly said:
This is not BBQ but right up there - if you are in KC go to Strouds for some fried chicken. Some of the best chicken I ever ate and the gizzard plate is amazing 

http://stroudsrestaurant.com/
Click to expand...
Scar, When were you in KC? Perhaps you were visiting our friends Paul and Katherine? They do have some amazing chiken there !!!
RowdyRawhide said:
If you go through KC one of my favorites when I lived there is Oklahoma Joe's.  They now have three or four locations in the KC metro area, but the original is in a gas station, I do suggest going to that one if you go.  There are many other household names that are good as well.....KC Masterpiece and Gates, to name a couple. 
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I have to second the OK Joes. Some awesome stuff there. I used to service their pumps at the original loacation. Would work my route to be there at lunch. Other good KC joints, JCs BBQ, Smokehouse BBQ, Lees Summit BBQ, Jack Stacks and Haywards. You could spend a month here and not hit them all. Oh!!!............. I forgot the most famous one of all......... Bryant's!!!!............Legendary BBQ in KC.
 
THX for all the input. I'm sooo ready for this. Leave date is just around the corner and I just received an email saying that 497+ riders are signed up for this thing, from all across the country. Even Alaska and Hawaii are represented. I'm guessing that would be somewhere around three miles of riders rolling down the road when we we roll out of NY. 
 
I remember Ivra's!  If I recall correctly, the actual name of the place was "Ivra's Say What Used Tires and BBQ". :)
 
If you want the best BBQ in the USA you have to go to Lockhart, TX for Smitty's, Blacks, Chisholm Trail and Kreuz's. And, if you are passing through Austin, you may as well stop at Franklins. You know Aaron Franklin, don't ya. He does all those videos on YouTube that teach you how to cook ribs and brisket and everything BBQ. Anywhere else and you are wasting your time.

Ed
 
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