🔒 Insiders Only: Local joints to celebrate National BBQ Day

First, we want to say hello to our vegan and vegetarian friends. We love you all but this one’s not for you.

It’s National BBQ Day and while Kansas City, Texas and the Carolinas like to think they’ve cornered the market on smoked meats, Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia have some fine establishments that can hold their own.

To help you celebrate this fine day in America, we wanted to share with you some of our favorite local joints for pulled pork, brisket and those fall-off-the-bone ribs.

🍖 CUSTOMER APPROVED -- Jacksonville’s best barbecue: The Bearded Pig | JAXBEST: All the best of the River City

🍖 Katie Gardner: I love Mojo’s! Richard and I had lunch when I interviewed and I’ve been back multiple times! Amazing BBQ sandwich, but it’s the Brunswick Stew, sweet tea and bourbon selection that is really impressive! I love it!

🍖 Bruce Hamilton: Love me some 4Rivers Smokehouse barbecue. They actually catered a pre-wedding event for my son Greg and his wife, Shea. Ribs, brisket, chicken or burnt ends…you can’t go wrong. Great selection of sauces too! And the sides, whoa baby!

🍖 Jen Waugh: While I stick to my pescatarian lifestyle, IF my husband and kids are absolutely dead set on eating BBQ, because I’m the best wife and mother in the world 😉, and I let them drag me along just to feel included, ABBQ is the favorite. As in (Atlantic Beach) BBQ. While I shy away from red meat, ABBQ makes a mean mac-n-cheese which adds 20 pounds just looking at it!

🍖 Richard Nunn: I am an equal opportunity rib destroyer...Mojo’s - all locations...Burnt Ends...4Rivers...and absolutely worth the drive, Woodpeckers!

🍖 Melanie Lawson: I’ll have to go with 4Rivers….the brisket is off the chain. I also love their sides. Da Bomb!

🍖 Jamal St. Cyr: An easy answer for me: Bearded Pig. It is one of the 1st restaurants I went to when I moved to Jacksonville. It also helps that is so close to Channel 4 studios =) I love their Rib Tenders and Burnt Ends. I think I just got hungry just thinking about them. 😋

🍖 Justin Barney: Yes, I love some Jenkins. I loved Cottens as a kid. Bearded Pig is close and it’s tasty. But the absolute best BBQ I’ve had in town is Woodpecker’s, a relatively hidden gem in the Orangedale area in St. Johns County. It’s not far from where my parents live, so I’ve had it hundreds of times. I usually shake up my order, but the brisket is my go-to order. If I’m not feeling the beef, it’s the datil sausage or the regular sausage. The best side to go with either of those is the Datil corn. Good flavor and a bit of heat. Hungry now just thinking about it.

Do you have a local favorite BBQ joint that wasn’t mentioned? Let us know in the comments below or you can email us at Insider@wjxt.com. You can always nominate a local BBQ restaurant or any other local business with the JaxBest link in this article above.

I was born and raised on the Westside of town so I’m a big fan of Treemendous BBQ on Herlong Road (best ribs in town, IMO) and Gators BBQ on Beaver Street.

Hope everyone celebrates accordingly!