Here's a fun article from Calvin Trillin about an upset in the 2008 barbecue rankings that placed the best to the east of Austin:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/24/081124fa_fact_...

How weird that this comment could have been downmodded.

"the best barbeque in the country is just 20 minutes south of Austin"

Which is? If I am ever in Austin, I'd like to look it up.

Pretty much any place in Lockhart, though Smitty's and Black's are the two most famous.

I went out of my way last time to find well-recommended, off-the-beaten-track BBQ in Memphis (we did a road trip from Chicago to Austin this summer), and was disappointed. Slate had the same experience.

I thought Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous was in Memphis :-)

Memphis is a third-tier barbeque city, and Rendezvous is a tourist trap.