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My grandpas BBQ was the BEST I ever had. Every weekend we the Grandkids & Great Grandkids and all of our parents, would go to the country to my Grandparents house.
Grandpa had this HUGE stone & brick grill in the yard. It was huge. He made his own BBQ sauce from either stag or falstaff beer. I don't know how he did it, but it was GREAT.
He would make ribs, chicken, pork steaks, hamburgers every weekend. He would always make extra so all of our parents would be able to take some home. Neighbors who lived far enough away you couldn't see their houses, would always stop by after we ate & they would give my Grandpa $$ for his BBQ. It was the best.
When you have memories of that... how can any restaurant compare...
I've noticed that depending in who you ask, there are several different definitions of what BBQ really is, usually regional. For example, it is only considered BBQ if: it's pork only, or if it is slathered in sauce, or has no sauce, or is cooked slow on in-direct heat, or hot and fast, or if it's burgers and dogs only, or any number of other possibilities.
It can be beef, or pork or even chicken, sauce or no sauce, but it has to be cooked low and slow over indirect heat. Hot and fast is grilling.
For example, Friday afternoon, hubby put 2 pork shoulders on our smoker. Smoked them all night. Then Saturday morning he put 2 racks of ribs on to smoke, and a couple of hours later he threw some sausage on. All had been coated in a dry rub and allowed to sit for a few hours before putting them on to cook. We took the pork shoulders off and pulled them. No sauce until it's served. Let the individual apply as much as they want. The ribs were basted with sauce a couple of hours before they came off the smoker, but served with additional sauce for the individual to apply if desired. Everything was wonderful but the ribs could have used a few more hours. Hubby was rushing it too much.
Burgers or steaks I cook on the gas grill is just grilled meat. Even if I put bbq sauce on the burgers, it's still grilled.
I've noticed that depending in who you ask, there are several different definitions of what BBQ really is, usually regional.
Yes, exactly.
The irony is that the term barbecue, along with all its many variants, such as Bar-B-Que and BBQ, derive from the Spanish word barbacoa, which was the name for an iron grill placed over an open wood fire and used to cook meats. So a Weber charcoal grill or an open campfire grill actually delivers the closest thing to the original practice of "Barbecue."
But the evolution of that original direct grilling method to the regional varieties of cold-smoking and hot-smoking and pork vs beef, and dry-rub vs wet mop, and sauce on the meat vs sauce on the side, and vinegar sauce vs tomato sauce vs mustard sauce vs no sauce, not to mention with cole slaw on top or without... ...it should be clear to everyone by now that BBQ means many different things to many different people.
I watched the food network channel,,,,with a special on bbq...
it does have different meanings, they did focus on two places down south with great reputations
they focused on pork shoulder butts or beef brisket- both are fatty so there in lies the flavor
now being in the north country up here, we dont have the expert bbq'ers that the south has, because most of us dont grill, slow cook/smoke year round as southern folks do..
most of us have a grill on the deck or outside, we call that grilling, tho quite a few of us have smoker, or outside "pits"
we can grill on low and slow...
I remember watching a show about indian-native american foods, and one thing they did before they had metal-pots or pans,, (up this way) was to cook seafood lobsters and clams in seaweed over a flame,(with branch runners),,essentially smoking the food,,they did this with wild game too
also,,they heated certain "cooking" rocks with fire,,,,then laid steaks right on the rocks to sear and cook, then flip it over...I thought that was clever
our family had clam or lobster bakes-growing up, we would cook the seafood, corn, potatoes and eggs all in the seaweed
,,was delicious!!
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What is your definition of barbecue?
...it should be clear to everyone by now that BBQ means many different things to many different people. 
