The Alabama Rib Game Is Not A Game

 
HECTOR MANUEL SANCHEZ

Earlier this summer, as I was revisiting restaurants for Southern Living's soon-to-be-released 2019 list of the Top 50 BBQ Joints in the South, my travels took me through central Alabama, a region that I like to call "Rib Country."

The rib game is strong in these parts—so strong, in fact, that it's made me reluctant to order ribs anywhere else in the South. We're not talking stubby little baby backs or neatly-trimmed St. Louis cuts. The old school Alabama joints go with big, meaty slabs of spare ribs, and they serve them in their own unique but delicious way.

At Archibald Drive Inn in Northport, just over the river from Tuscaloosa, the ribs plates are assembled upside down: a white styrofoam plate is covered with a sheet of waxed paper, then a pool of thin orange sauce, then the ribs, and finally a couple of slices of white bread fanned out over the top, as if to hide all the deliciousness from prying eyes.

Archibald's Ribs inA plate of ribs bathing in sauce at Archibald's
 

Slide the bread to the side, flip the ribs over so the meaty side is on top, and take a bite. The rich, smoky pork is as crisp as bacon on the outside and perfectly chewy underneath. Its short bath in the orange-hued sauce adds a delightful dose of vinegar and pepper. You'll gnaw every last scrap off the bones and from around the nubby cartilage on the tips.

It's a short dash from Archibald's to the original Dreamland Bar-B-Que, just south of Tuscaloosa. You get there by driving down the wonderfully-named Jug Factory Road. At Dreamland, the ribs are served right-side up with the sauce on top, but they're very similar in style to Archibald's.

Whoever coined the term "fall off the bone" to describe good ribs never visited Dreamland. These are ribs you have to chew, and chewing has never been more enjoyable. The long strips of pork have wonderfully crisp bits of char around the edges. They're enrobed in a dark yellow sauce that's sharp with mustard but still slightly sweet, with just the right level of peppery heat to leave your lips tingling.

Further east in Bessemer, the sauce at Bob Sykes Bar-B-Q is quite different—thicker and redder with more tomato and less heat—but the ribs have the same great slightly-charred flavor and chewy texture as Dreamland's and Archibald's.

How do they do it, these Alabama rib kings? You can pick up some clues while waiting to order at Bob Sykes, for their main brick pit is on full display just to the right of the counter.

Bob Sykes Bar-B-QSlabs of ribs crowd the open brick pit at Bob Sykes Bar-B-Q
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Prince Malachi is the founder of The Oracle Network and the Streetwear brand Y.A.H. Apparel

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