The problem is that our definition of BBQ, and what the average consumer considers BBQ, are vastly different.
While we enjoy smoked meats with the ability to stand on it's own merit, the average consumer considers good BBQ to be in the sauce.
I've been to many BBQ restaurants only to be disappointed time after time and never return due to the disappointment. I've eaten at close to 70 different BBQ Restaurants, but can count the good ones on one hand with extra digits remaining. Truly good BBQ is somewhere between rare and non-existent.
Even the rubbish served by the national or chain restaurants is deplorable at best. Soaked in sauce to mask the true flavor of the meat which is mush because it's overcooked and it lacks any type of texture. Most of the BBQ we find is a form of the Kansas City style of BBQ. The thick, sweet, and sometimes spicy, tomato & molasses based sauce. This is what most people associate with the idea of "BBQ". This is because most commercial producers have pushed this cheap sauce on consumers. Sadly, consumers who have never had anything else, associate the sauce as "BBQ" because that is what the purveyors produce. This is especially true in areas where real BBQ is scarce or non existent. Seems like it would be really tough sell real BBQ to the multitude of consumers simply because of what they have been programed to expect by the retail markets.
Sadly the only BBQ that seems worthwhile is from the guy who sets up in a parking lot, selling from their smoker, and wrapping it in butcher paper. This type of vendor seems to be the only one who appears to take pride in their cooking and their end products. But these guys are far and few in between making them almost impossible to find.
The best BBQ that one will ever find is what is cooked in their own back yard. The cook takes pride in their craft and cooks to their own taste, it really hard to top that simple concept.
