In Search Of - Best Barbecue Within 10 Miles of the Beltway? (Richmond: appointed, neighborhood)

[PK12]

Cant speak to how authentic it is, but Sweet Fire Donna's in the Carlyle business district of Alexandria is really good - they do a particularly good job with smoked turkey.

[kww]

went to hill country on 7th yesterday. always been happy

Home - Hill Country Washington D.C. - Hill Country Washington D.C.

[ersatz]

We all have different ideas as to what is great BBQ. BBQ is a deeply personal thing and tastes (heh) differ. I was raised on Texas-Style BBQ where I learned at my Pappy's knee that that Jalapenos are only fit to toss to babies to teeth on. After years in the Army, I learned to appreciate the milder KC-style and Southern BBQ pits. After moving to NOVA I discovered that BBQ inside the Beltway ranges from Bleecchh to Feh to Meh to Sort-Of Kind-Of Indifferently-OKish

I have been told that my "No Chains" request rubbed some people the wrong way. I have eaten at a lot of chains. I am willing to intellectually consider the possibility that somewhere somehow somewhen exists an excellent BBQ chain restaurant. Never found one, but like the winning Powerball ticket, I am willing to imagine its hypothetical existence. Here are my personal BBQ rules:

BBQ flavor should come out of a smoker - i.e. exposed to burning wood chips, not a 5-gallon plastic jug labeled "smoke flavor'.

One of the two-highest-percentage sauce ingredients should not be High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Recipes should not be limited to a formula approved by corporate committee as offending the smallest number of lowest-common-denominator customers.

BBQ should be prepared on site or at least cooked within a couple-hundred-mile radius in the last 24 hours. Meat should be cooked by someone who knows how meat is butchered and cut and can professionally adjust preparation and cooking to handle individual animal carcass characteristics. It should not be defecated by a machine factory assembly line, deep-frozen for weeks or months or years-on-end, and designed to be flash-defrosted in a microwave on a colored button setting by a bored high school kid in a part-time summer job.

Thank you everyone who offered suggestions. Some of you have provided places that we BBQ aficionados will definitely check out.

[midlifeman]

bubba's bbq on lee highway in falls church has good NC BBQ, otherwise I like Docklands

[clock245]

Hill country is the closest I've had to Texas BBQ here...the moist brisket is good!

The q company in Leesburg is not bad either

[Forehead]

I like Barbeque myself, but my guess is nothing in this area compares to states in the south. I was in Georgia a few years back for a wedding and wandered into one of the local BBQ places there...I could have died and gone to heaven after the first few bites. It was miles better than anything I have ever had in this area. I've never thought Dixie Bones or Famous Daves (popular recommendations in this area) were particularly good, and that experience sealed it.


The closest place to my house now (walkable, really) is this:


Backyard BBQ & Catering Co.


It's acceptable by the standards of the area, but not particularly great. I go there when I need a fix.

[leighland]

Originally Posted by midlifeman

bubba's bbq on lee highway in falls church has good NC BBQ, otherwise I like Docklands

Bubbas closed last year. Now there's a chiaroscuro there (not Victors, that eastbound)

I also have heard great reviews of Hill Country on 7th in dc

The only frustration I read was that customers were way too stuffed afterwards to hit the Ice Cream joint across the street

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by Forehead

I like Barbeque myself, but my guess is nothing in this area compares to states in the south. I was in Georgia a few years back for a wedding and wandered into one of the local BBQ places there...I could have died and gone to heaven after the first few bites. It was miles better than anything I have ever had in this area. I've never thought Dixie Bones or Famous Daves (popular recommendations in this area) were particularly good, and that experience sealed it.


The closest place to my house now (walkable, really) is this:


Backyard BBQ & Catering Co.


It's acceptable by the standards of the area, but not particularly great. I go there when I need a fix.

I just don't understand why we can't have something like that here. Certainly someone could move up here and do it up right!

[VRE332]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

I just don't understand why we can't have something like that here. Certainly someone could move up here and do it up right!

I think the horrible meat quality up here has a lot to do with it; I went to Dallas TX and realized this was true. Every place I went to in Dallas had great beef, buttery and smooth.

[toosie]

Originally Posted by VRE332

I never liked willard's because the meat tastes like liquid smoke, plus there are no smokers outside which means they artificially add smoke flavor.

Ugh. Totally agree. Not keen on Dixie bones, either. Neither is any kind of NC BBQ anyway. Lots of the BBQ around here is too sweet for me.

Originally Posted by kww

went to hill country on 7th yesterday. always been happy

Home - Hill Country Washington D.C. - Hill Country Washington D.C.

That's another chain and hit or miss. Especially depending on what meat you want - brisket, pulled pork, pork ribs, etc. They def can get a nice pink smoke ring in their ribs sometimes.

Of the ones listed here I'd choose rocklands for pork ribs.