If you’re a foodie who is sitting at home daydreaming about a trip that includes delicious barbecued delights, you should pick up a copy of Johnny Fugitt’s recently published book “The 100 Best Barbecue Restaurants in America.” In the 257-page paperback, the author discusses how he ate his way through 48 states to provide food lovers with a comprehensive list of the yummiest places to find the most-desired dishes.
Fugitt decided to write the book after researching top barbecue restaurants online - and finding the results disappointing. “What I found were a lot of the same top 10 lists,” he exclusively told Headlines & Global News. “I’d been to a lot of those and thought some of them were good and worth the reputation. I visited others and thought they were living off their reputation and not producing great barbecue even if they had at one point in time. I wanted to see a list from someone who had traveled extensively, visited little local mom and pop restaurants as well as some of the big, more famous ones. I was surprised that no one had done something like this and it sounded like a great adventure, so I started traveling.”
Fortunately, Fugitt was able to leave his job to pursue his interest full-time. To make sure he hit the most important barbecue destinations, between October 2013 and October 2014, he drove more than 31,000 miles in his Subaru Outback and also flew to a couple of cities, staying with friends or camping at national parks between trips.
The native Missourian then wrote the book over the course of several months. Once finished, Fugitt chose to self-publish the tome - via Amazon’s CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing - to get it out to the public as soon as possible because “every single day, the barbecue and the restaurant world changes.” In addition to selling “The 100 Best Barbecue Restaurants in America” on Amazon, some of the restaurants featured in the book sell it in their stores. “I’ve been really pleased with the response,” said Fugitt. “I’m really happy that I went [the self-publishing] route.”
Want to learn more about barbecuing and Fugitt’s journey to find the top restaurants in the United States? Read more of HNGN’s interview below.
What is the oddest thing that you tasted while traveling?
I enjoyed trying a lot of the regional specialties. In South Florida, for example, I visited a barbecue restaurant that had alligator and sides of fried plantains. I visited a restaurant in D.C. that put Old Bay seasoning on their meat, which was a nod to all the seafood that you eat in D.C. and Maryland. In California, I saw salads topped with barbecued meat. Things like that, you don’t see in places like Mississippi. It really does vary around the country. The most unusual thing, I might have to go with barbecue fish and chips, which I found at a restaurant in Pennsylvania. I do not recommend it though. This version was an interesting idea, but what I had was not worth trying.
What’s the most unusual food you have seen barbecued?
I haven’t met many things that are not better with smoke - I think it adds a great flavor to all kinds of foods. I visited Vernon’s in St. Louis and they always have smoked seasonal fruits. They had smoked strawberry, which they put on top of their sweet corn bread with some homemade whipped cream. They also put a little bit of smoked strawberry juice in too. It was delicious! The smokiness added a little bit of character to it that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. I’m willing to give just about anything a try.
What are your thoughts about putting condiments - like ketchup and mustard - on barbecued meats?
Oh, that’s a travesty! You should never do that! If you have meat that you have to put ketchup or mustard on, [whoever cooked it] really failed.
What are the latest trends in the barbecue industry?
There’s a trend of trying to make food really sweet, which I’m not a huge fan of. A lot of restaurants will just make things as sweet as possible, especially with glazes on ribs. I don’t particularly like that. I think it has a place in barbecue, but those are not necessarily my favorites. The same is true with sauces - a lot of the really popular sauces now are extremely sweet instead of spicier tomato sauces or vinegar heavy. Sweetness is kind of taking over.
For more information about Johnny Fugitt’s adventures in barbecue, visit his official blog or follow him on Faceboook or Twitter.
