Texas barbecue: You and I know it's the best. More importantly, it's a food where, if you leave the state, you'll notice other states do barbecue in strange and terrifying ways that make you feel wrong. Once I went to Oklahoma (this is how all great stories start, I know), ordered brisket and was served what amounted to wafer-thin lunch meat. Was it smoked? I don't know. I was too scared.

Dallas has been undergoing something of a barbecue revolution. Where once there was Dickey's and Sonny Bryan's, now there are independents with fancy cooking methods and no desire for a mass market. Even better, thanks to the nature of the beast, they're charging the same prices. Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, the same few barbecue restaurants have been plugging away at high-quality barbecue for decades.

See also: An Englishman In BBQ Sauce Archives