Dreamland ribs by Bernard.JPG
Slabs of ribs smoke in the well-seasoned pit at the original Dreamland Bar-B-Que in Tuscaloosa. (Birmingham News file/Bernard Troncale)
Two legendary Alabama barbecue joints – Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur and the original Dreamland Bar-B-Que in Tuscaloosa – have made USA Today's list of the 10 Best Southern Barbecue Spots.
The list recently appeared on the USA Today Travel website.
The 10 places are not ranked in any order, but in addition to Big Bob Gibson and Dreamland, the list also includes barbecue spots in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Here's what USA Today has to say about the two Alabama places:
Dreamland Bar-B-Que in Tuscaloosa and Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur have made USA Today's list of the 10 Best Southern Barbecue Spots. (Photos by Robin Conn and Eric Schultz)
Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q: Customers come from all over the South to pay their respects to the Alabama barbecue legend Big Bob Gibson, whose descendants now operate a handful of locations. The assortment of dry-rubbed meats come with sauce on the side, the better to showcase why the restaurant has won more than 10 World BBQ Championship titles.
(Big Bob Gibson, which recently won an unprecedented fourth grand championship at the 2014 Memphis in May World Barbecue Championship, also has a location in Monroe, N.C.)
Dreamland Bar-B-Que: One of the South's most recognizable names in barbecue first opened in Tuscaloosa in 1958, when the University of Alabama legend Paul "Bear" Bryant started coaching the football team. Today, Dreamland offers numerous regional branches, but it's the original location that remains its best-known thanks to an incredible assortment of 'Bama memorabilia. Most customers opt for a standard order of smoky pork ribs served with old-school white bread, which you'll need to sop up the restaurant's popular secret recipe sauce, and some classic banana pudding for dessert.
To see USA Today's complete list of the 10 Best Southern Barbecue Spots, go here.
To read more stories by Bob Carlton, go here.