Barbecue in Greenville

Before Greenville and before Charleston, John Lewis was one of the pitmasters who helped launch Franklin Barbecue in Austin, the place a lot of people point to when they argue about the best brisket in the country. That pedigree is why the line out front moves slow and nobody seems to mind. His Central Texas brisket is the signature, cut to order and sold by weight, and it is the plate most tables build the rest of the meal around. The board rewards a group. There is the "Hot Guts," a mostly beef house sausage with real heat, plus a second sausage packed with green chile and cheese, lightly glazed spare ribs, sliced turkey, and pulled pork for anyone who came in wanting something closer to Upstate home. The El Sancho Loco piles all three smoked meats onto one bun. Regulars learn to chase the daily specials too, including a Texas sized chicken fried steak with green chile gravy and a house cured pastrami on rye, both of which run only until they sell out. Small touches separate it from a standard plate joint. Every order comes with a trio of house sauces and a cup of pickles and onions so you can dress each bite your own way, and the sides carry their weight. The corn pudding, a cheesy Hatch chile cornbread casserole, is the one reviewers tend to name first, with cowboy pinto beans, collards, and mac and cheese close behind. The patio is dog friendly with heaters for cooler nights, there is a bar with its own short menu when the main line looks long, and the kitchen takes on catering. Reviewers are close to unanimous on the meat, and a health score up in the high 90s backs the open, watch them work kitchen. Two honest notes before you go. Service is order at the counter, so a real wait at peak hours comes with the territory. And while the smoked meats themselves are gluten free, this is not a dedicated gluten free kitchen, so anyone managing celiac should ask the counter about cross contact before ordering.

Smoky Dreams is the little red building at the corner of Woodruff Road and Highway 14, the kind of spot most of us have driven past a hundred times on a shopping run before finally pulling in. A family started it back in 2014 on a simple idea: rubs and sauces made from scratch, and meat smoked over wood every day. They have run it under the motto "where everyone is family" ever since. The heart of the menu is the smoke. Brisket, pulled pork, smoked chicken, ribs, and wings, all cooked low with their own seasoning blends until they pull apart clean. The sides are half the reason people keep coming back, from mac and cheese and potato salad to Carolina hash, a sharp vinegar slaw, and the sweet potato crunch that regulars single out by name. Soups rotate with the season, and there is creamy lemon pie and peanut butter pie waiting if you save room. The catering arm is real, not an afterthought, which is where the rest of the name earns its keep. The brisket in particular has built a following among Upstate folks who take their barbecue seriously. Ask ten regulars for their order and you'll get ten answers. Finding yours is the whole point.

Set among the shops off Orchard Park Drive, Local Cue is hard to sum up in a line, because it runs several places at once: a sports bar with wall-to-wall TVs, a real pool hall, a house-smoked barbecue kitchen, and a grown-up game room stocked with darts, shuffleboard, foosball, ping pong, indoor cornhole, retro arcade cabinets, and a few hundred board games. The kitchen holds its own. Everything runs through the smoker, and the wings have built a following that reaches past this corner of Greenville, with the brisket, the cheese tots piled with beer cheese, and the fried pickles close behind. A large gluten-free menu and a deep draft list round it out. Worth knowing before you go: Local Cue runs as two spaces, a 21-and-up sports bar and a separate all-ages family side, so it fits a late night out or dinner with the kids. More than a decade in, the thing people mention as often as the food is the service, with servers who come across as attentive and glad to be there. Portions run large and prices stay fair, and there is an event space and catering when you want to host. With this much under one roof, you will sort out your own corner of the place, and your usual order, a few trips in.