The Best BBQ Dishes We've Seen On Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives

If there's one thing that Guy Fieri knows backward and forward, it's meat. From developing the perfect cheeseburger recipe to crafting his own line of designer barbecue sauces, Fieri is clearly a man who knows his way around a firepit — especially considering the dozens of barbecue restaurants he's eaten at over the past two decades on his hit TV show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives."

So when Fieri singles out a dish for being an exceptional example of barbecue, you know he's talking from a deep reservoir of knowledge, not to mention a very full belly. In fact, Fieri is even in the Barbecue Hall of Fame! And that begs the question: out of all those barbecue dishes he's sampled, which ones truly rise above the others according to Fieri's educated taste buds?

From brisket and burnt ends to hot links and — believe it or not — ramen, here's a look at the best barbecue dishes ever featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," straight from the source.

In 2013, Guy Fieri visited Center Point Pit Barbecue in Hendersonville, Tennessee for a Season 18 episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." There, pitmaster Robert Duke showed Fieri the secret of making the restaurant's signature Smoked Barbecue Pork.

The dish began with an entire shoulder of pork, which was then marinated and hickory smoked at 225 degrees Fahrenheit for 18 long hours. Luckily for Fieri, he didn't have to wait, as there was a fresh smoked shoulder already waiting for him to pull apart. Fieri was amazed at the depth of char on the blackened exterior and the tenderness of the meat, which literally fell apart in his hands. It was essentially a Choose Your Own Adventure, as Duke let Fieri select his own pick of meat right out of the shoulder.

"I got to tell you something," Fieri said after dipping some of the pulled pork in a dab of barbecue sauce. "The pork has been cooked down to a point that you don't see very often. ... Awesome job!"

If you're on Nevada's famous Las Vegas Strip, you might expect to eat at one of Sin City's world famous buffets. But while some of those buffets serve up excellent meals, if you're a barbecue lover you might want to go off the beaten path just a bit to find one of Guy Fieri's favorite BBQ joints anywhere: John Mull's Meats and Road Kill Grill.

First featured during Season 14 of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," John Mull's Meats and Road Kill Grill captured Fieri's heart with its unique Homemade Hot Links. Pitmaster Chuck Frommer is the grandson of John Mull himself, who opened the restaurant back in the 1940s. At John Mull's, the sausage is made completely in house, with the meat fabricated, ground down, and cased up before being cooked sizzling hot on the grill.

"When it snaps, you know it's good," Fieri said after snapping into a fresh hot link. "That snaps! The hot link is outstanding. ... I'm such a hot link fan. That has got to be one of the best. Not just on 'Triple D,' I'm talking in general. Outstanding!"

There are many places in the United States famous for a specific regional style of barbecue. But while Kansas City, Memphis, and the Carolinas might get the lion's share of the press, Guy Fieri actually found one of his favorite "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" dishes in a barbecue haven that might surprise you: Des Moines, Iowa.

That's the home of Flying Mango, which Fieri visited in 2015 during the show's 22nd season. And it wasn't just the location that was unexpected. While Fieri was impressed with pitmaster Mike Wedeking's barbecue ribs, it was Wedeking's signature smoked catfish cakes that really had Fieri buzzing. Served with collard greens and cornbread, it was a Southern delicacy like no other.

"Those are just humongous chunks of catfish," Fieri marveled. "It's delicate, it's big flavor. You couldn't make that any better. That's about as real deal as it comes. ... Well played."

Despite the name, Memphis Barbecue Co. isn't technically in Memphis at all. Instead, Guy Fieri found this roadside eatery in Horn Lake, Mississippi, just a hop, skip and a jump down I-55 from The Home of the Blues. Visiting for a Season 15 episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," Fieri was blown away by a culinary concoction like no other: a BBQ burger topped with pork rinds.

Memphis Barbecue Co. is the brainchild of renowned pitmaster and World BBQ Champion Melissa Cookston. But according to Cookston, it was her teen daughter Lauren who came up with the idea for the restaurant's signature Crunch Burger. The Crunch Burger consists of two burger patties covered in cheese and cooked up in the house barbecue sauce, then topped with melted cheese and crunchy fried pork rinds with barbecue seasoning.

The result had Fieri just about howling at the moon. "Burger is cooked perfectly, nice melt on the cheese," he said. "When you get that extra little crunch out of that chicharron. Dynamite burger. ... Cooked right, seasoned right."

Want to try some of the best barbecue chicken wings anywhere? Then you'll want to head to Des Moines, Iowa, for a taste of the smoked chicken wings at Smokey D's. That's what Guy Fieri did when he visited the restaurant in 2014 for a Season 21 episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" and discovered that Iowa is far more than just corn and pork country.

Smokey D's was co-founded in 2006 by renowned pitmaster Darren Warth, whose competitive barbecue team has won multiple national and world BBQ championships. The restaurant is known for its tasty pork dishes, but Fieri discovered firsthand that its Asian smoked chicken wings can stand up against any pig and come out on top. These bad boys aren't just smoked, they're then also fried before being treated with a delicious barbecue sauce that perfectly offsets the sweet with the spice.

That's according to Fieri himself, who chowed down on a giant basket of smoked chicken wings in a barbecue bacchanalia. "Dynamite! And I like that you cook your wings crispy," he said. "It's fantastic. Cherrywood plays in perfectly. Great spice, nice balance. Subtle, not overdone. Great job, brother. Great job!"

Vermont is known for its signature pure maple syrup, and for the array of top quality dairy products that gave birth to acclaimed ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry's. But now there's another iconic dish you can add to the list: barbecue brisket ramen.

Yes, you read that right: barbecue brisket ramen, which Guy Fieri sampled in 2020 at Bluebird Barbecue in Burlington, Vermont for a Season 31 episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." Located in a century old farmhouse on the banks of the Winooski River, Bluebird Barbecue calls this invention The Pitmaster Ramen, believing that the flavors of barbecue pair well with ramen's classic umami wallop. The meat and broth are done from scratch, with the brisket smoked for 15 hours, and a handmade chicken stock dashi simmering for 12 hours. Add in some barbecue seasoning and sauce, some top level imported Hawaiian ramen noodles, and some house pickled vegetables, and you're ready for an international flavor bomb.

"The dashi broth is spot on," Fieri gushed. "And it's actually a little more aggressive than maybe a typical dashi because you're going to drop in these big pieces of burnt end. ... Love the acid of the pickling. And a really good noodle. ... Legit, bro!"

When Guy Fieri visited Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2015 for a Season 23 episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," he was blown away by the restaurant's signature brisket. But it wasn't just any brisket — it was also a cheeseburger.

Don't worry, the folks at Fox Bros. don't actually disrespect a perfectly smoked brisket by grinding it up into burger meat. Heavens forfend. Rather, the patty on this unique creation is actually the cheese itself, as the restaurant makes a pimento cheese patty by hand before later adding in some delicious chopped smoked brisket and bacon.

As Fieri pointed out, it's technically a chopped beef sandwich. Topped with pickles, onions, and tomato, though, by any name this thing packed a mouthful of flavor. Fieri and fellow TV personality Rutledge Wood made short work of the Bacon BBQ Brisket Cheeseburger, with Fieri joking that Wood devoured it like a hungry lion eating its prey.

"It's super tender brisket," Fieri said. "When you chop that brisket up, you get a chance to incorporate that fat, so it makes it even a little bit more unctuous. ... That's full speed, man. That's all throttle, no bottle."

When Guy Fieri visited Kansas City, Missouri, in search of the city's famous barbecue, he enlisted Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid as a personal guide. And the big dog delivered a big pig, as Reid led Fieri to Pigwich for a bite of its famous Big Pig Sandwich.

It happened in 2019, fittingly as part of the kickoff to Season 31 of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." Pigwich, which is located in the City Market district of Kansas City along the banks of the Mississippi River, began in 2012 as a single room butcher shop and has slowly expanded over the years to become one of the most buzzed about eateries in the area. At the shop's Local Pig counter you can buy cuts of locally sourced meat. And in the restaurant proper, you can eat that meat all smoked and barbecued up on one of the joint's specialty sandwiches.

Reid and Fieri opted to go straight to the top of the food chain and try the Big Pig, which includes a whopping fried pork tenderloin as the centerpiece of a meal's worth of sandwich that also includes a ground smoked pork butt cheeseburger. "I love the crisp on the pork, and I'm loving the patty. Three cheeses ... blend perfect," Reid said. Fieri added, "My favorite part of the whole thing, though, is the pulled pork patty."

"I have a responsibility to bring you some of the best barbecue you've ever seen on Triple D," Guy Fieri said while introducing ZZQ Texas Craft Barbeque in Richmond, Virginia. "And after this spot, you'll say ... 'thank you.'"

So what was it about ZZQ Texas Craft Barbeque that made Fieri visit for a Season 31 episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" in 2020? Co-founded by pitmaster Chris Fultz in 2013, ZZQ Texas Craft Barbeque quickly earned a reputation that stretches as far away as Texas itself. That reputation comes in part courtesy of the restaurant's iconic Tres Hombres sandwich, which mixes pulled pork, brisket, and sausage into a heady meat mixture.

So what happened when Triple D met triple meat? After Fultz showed Fieri the ins and outs of making a Tres Hombres – which includes not just 16 to 18 hours of slow smoking the pork and brisket, but also crafting the labor intensive house sauce — Fieri bit into the massive meal with what seemed like equal parks anticipation and trepidation. "This is a monster," he announced. "Delicious brisket, love the sausage. Pulled pork's nice and tender. It's legit, it's real deal, it's great flavor. Well done, chef!"

In 2025, Guy Fieri took "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" down to Dallas, Texas, for a Season 51 episode that could only be called "Sandwich Shenanigans." And leading those shenanigans was the Texas BBQ Brisket Sandwich at one of the city's most renowned barbecue joints, Slow Bone.

Opened in 2013 by pitmaster Jeffery Hobbs, Slow Bone has become destination dining for food critics and celebrities alike, with folks like Owen Wilson and "Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michaels among its devotees. And you can add Fieri to that list as well. During his visit, Fieri was treated to a behind the scenes tutorial on how to make the restaurant's signature Texas barbecue brisket sandwich, the Texas Nail.

This monster consists of beer cheese, chilis, smoked mushroom duxelles, and caramelized onions, all singing backup to Slow Bone's smoked brisket. That brisket is cooked for four to six hours at an unusually high 325 degrees Fahrenheit, then treated to a special rub made from smoked fat trimmings. Back in the oven at a lower 165 degrees Fahrenheit temperature and it's ready for the fixings, including smoked jalapeño barbecue sauce.

"This is hillbilly beef Wellington," Fieri proclaimed after taking a chomp. "You've got the crust, you've got the duxelles, the brisket is so unbelievably tender! The creaminess of the cheese. It's so succulent, juicy, unctuous. It's a gourmet meal disguised as a brisket barbecue sandwich."

Over the past two decades of making "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," Guy Fieri has eaten a barbecued version of just about everything available to barbecue in the United States. If you can smoke it and eat it, he's sampled it. So it takes a lot for something to really stick out in Fieri's mind. Maybe at the top of that list: rib tips from The Original Tom's Barbecue and Deli in Memphis, Tennessee.

Fieri first visited Tom's Barbecue and Deli way back in 2008 for Season 3 of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." That's where the love affair began. Fieri was treated to a show when pitmaster Adam Itayem showed him how he makes the restaurant's signature rib tips, which are actually shaved from the loin that connects to the ribs. That wasn't the only unorthodox thing about them: even though the restaurant is in Memphis, they were done St. Louis-style instead.

The result spoke for itself, though. Or rather, Fieri spoke for it. At the time he said it was one of the best barbecue items he'd eaten. Fast forward more than 16 years, and Fieri returned to try them again. And according to the man himself, his opinion hadn't changed one bit. Fieri said, "I have talked about those rib tips. I have told more people about them, people that haven't even seen the show." Now that's high praise.