6 Chain Restaurants Where the Ribs Are Actually Smoked Over Hickory Wood
Fun fact: Not everything that claims to be “hickory smoked” is actually smoked over hickory wood. While natural hickory smoke lends a bold, savory, and bacony smell and taste to meats, some people take shortcuts by using a fake liquid hickory smoke, which is more cost-effective and quicker. If you want real-deal hickory-smoked ribs, there are a handful of chains smoking them the authentic way. Here are 6 chain restaurants where the ribs are actually smoked over hickory wood.
Famous Dave’s Pit Ribs
Famous Dave’s serves competition-level smoke flavor, hand-rubbed with spices, slow-hickory-smoked in a pit, and basted in scratch-made sauces. A former pitmaster for Famous Dave’s maintains that “the ribs are smoked for approximately 3 hours with pure hickory. The rub in restaurant is primarily smoked paprika, brown sugar, salt, garlic, and a little cayenne pepper. The celery seeds are added after the rib rub and only on the top side of ribs,” the informant writes on Reddit.
Red Hot & Blue
Red Hot & Blue in Annapolis, Maryland, is an authentic smokehouse that serves up some of the most succulent and flavorful ribs you can find. They start with the “finest cuts of pork,” which are “carefully chosen to ensure a beautiful balance of meat and fat, essential for achieving that melt-in-your-mouth tenderness,” they write on the website. “But what truly sets these ribs apart is the smoking process. The ribs are slow-smoked to perfection using a blend of seasoned hickory woods. This method imparts a rich, smoky flavor and tenderizes the meat, making it fall right off the bone.”
Hickory River Smokehouse BBQ
Hickory River Smokehouse BBQ uses real hickory for its dry-rubbed ribs. “Every cut of Brisket, Baby Back Ribs, Pork Shoulder, Turkey Breast, and Half Chicken are carefully selected and Hand-Rubbed with our Signature Spice Blend. Then, we slowly smoke them over Hickory Wood in our on-site smokehouse for a Juicy, Award-Winning Smokehouse Flavor. It’s all served up with our own Special Recipe Barbecue Sauce and our Famous Sides,” they write.
City Barbeque
City Barbeque is a Midwestern chain that has expanded into Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin. It authentically smokes meats in one of three hickory burning smokers to slow cook meats, including brisket and St. Louis–cut pork ribs to “bite off the bone” perfection. “We don’t limit ourselves to any particular region or style, but instead try to showcase the breadth and depth of barbecue found across the country,” the restaurant says.
Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ
Lucille’s Smokehouse uses hickory smoke and the best seasonings and BBQ’s bold sauces to get its meats tasting delicious. The chain has three branded BBQ sauces that keep customers coming back for more: Original, Hot & Spicy, and Memphis. Lucille’s Original BBQ sauce “might be my favorite bbq sauce,” writes a Redditor. “Their Memphis style sauce was good also but very vinegar heavy which I didn’t mind.”
Jim ‘N Nick’s BBQ
Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q serves up high-quality meats and scratch-made sides for reasonable prices, using hickory smoke and slow cooking methods. For under $20, you can enjoy a plate of any meat aside from brisket, which is $21.99. The meal comes with two “trimmings” and two of the chain’s famous biscuits.