Best of: Eats: Barbecue

12 Bones Smokehouse

You know barbecue is good when a presidential hopeful takes a break from a whirlwind campaign to chow down on a rack of ribs. But when said hopeful actually wins the presidency, flies back to town and makes a beeline from the tarmac straight to those ribs? That, my friends, is the sign of a hog heaven. "We were surprised and excited that he came twice," says owner Sabra Kelley.
Sure, the barbecue is worthy of the leader of the free world, but let's focus on what really matters here. Xpress readers have voted 12 Bones Smokehouse the Best Barbecue in town since the restaurant opened in its modest digs down on Riverside Drive five years ago. Since then, the pork palace has opened a second location in Arden. What makes the food worthy of your accolades?
"We try to make it relatively simple but with good ingredients," says Kelley. The fact that she defines the recipe for success as "lots of butter and cream and stuff like that," means that 12 Bones has found a home in our hearts forever.

— Mackensy Lunsford