10 Barbecue Spots That Earned Anthony Bourdain's Respect

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Anthony Bourdain didn't mince words when it came to meat. He was a die-hard carnivore who loved all things smoked, grilled, skewered, and kissed by flames. He was such a meat lover that he even stated in his book "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly:" "Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food." With that in mind, it's no surprise that he was a huge fan of barbecue joints.

Throughout his travels for television series like "A Cook's Tour," "No Reservations," and "Parts Unknown," Bourdain made a point to seek out spots that specialized in barbecue. At home in the United States, he explored what he called the "BBQ triangle" of Kansas City, Houston, and North Carolina. He also dropped by an unsuspecting barbecue spot in South Carolina that's now world-famous, would often frequent a particular Korean barbecue joint in Los Angeles, and paid homage to an Austin restaurant that absolutely blew him away with its brisket.

While Bourdain was indisputably enamored with American barbecue, his love for smoky, grilled meats also led him to many barbecue havens abroad. From Bali to Spain and Hong Kong, he sampled everything from roast suckling pig to grilled prawns. If you want to follow in Bourdain's footsteps and taste what he believed was some of the best barbecued meat on the planet, these are 10 barbecue spots he had a deep respect for.

In 2012, Anthony Bourdain visited Kansas City for an episode of "No Reservations," calling the location  "arguably the barbecue capital of the world." He noted that there were barbecue joints at pretty much every turn, but that his favorite was a spot on the Kansas state side called Oklahoma Joe's. Today, it's called Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que, but it still offers the same award-winning barbecue it did back when Bourdain visited.

The seeds for Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que were planted when Joy and Jeff Stehney attended a barbecue competition back in 1990. They decided to get in on the game and formed a team called the Slaughterhouse Five. After winning numerous competitions, the Stehney's partnered with Joe Don Davidson of Joe's Smoker Company and opened a restaurant in Oklahoma and then a second location in a gas station in Kansas City in 1996. Davidson eventually moved on from the business, but the Stehney's are still going strong with the renamed Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que.

The menu at Joe's features a variety of meats, including pulled pork, brisket, and smoked turkey. However, Bourdain said, "My opinion, you come here for the ribs and the burnt ends." The pork spare ribs come in hefty full slabs, slathered with Joe's tangy barbecue sauce. As for the burnt ends, they're crispy and caramelized on the outside and tender and juicy inside, just as brisket should be. Bourdain was suitably impressed, calling the burnt ends "impeccable."

Oklahoma Joe's

Multiple locations

Anthony Bourdain visited Indonesia twice for different television shows: once in 2006 for an episode of "No Reservations" and again in 2018 for an episode of "Parts Unknown." Each time, he sampled a wide range of Indonesian dishes, but few impressed him more than the babi guling from Warung Babi Guling Ibu Oka in Ubud, Bali. In fact, on the episode of "No Reservations," Bourdain called it the best pig he'd ever had. "Absolutely the best," he said.

Babi guling is spit-roasted pig cooked low and slow over open flames. It's traditionally prepared for special occasions like weddings and Hindu religious days. Ibu Oka was the first person to start selling it in individual portions at her restaurant back in the 1980s. Today, tourists and locals alike flock to the three Ibu Oka locations to get their fix of the succulent meat served with crispy skin, blood sausage, fried intestines, rice, and spicy vegetables.

What makes Ibu Oka's babi guling special is its preparation. The pig is stuffed with cassava leaves and a spice paste that includes shallots, ginger, chiles, and turmeric. Then the pig is mounted on the spit and turned over the flames for hours. It also constantly gets bathed in coconut water to create beautiful caramelized, crispy skin. Bourdain said, "Puerto Rico, Portugal, North Carolina ... they make a mean pig, but they just can't compete with these Indonesian herbs, spices, and peppers. They're simply magic."

Warung Babi Guling Ibu Oka

+62 851-0007-7490

Multiple locations

When Anthony Bourdain visited Austin, Texas, for an episode of "No Reservations," he centered the story largely around the SXSW Festival. While he acknowledged that the festival was a spectacle in itself, he also stated that there was another compelling reason to visit Austin. "Reason enough to slit your best friend's throat, steal a car, drive cross country, and then wait on line outside a dreary-looking shed for upwards of two hours," he said. That reason was Franklin Barbecue.

Aaron and Stacy Franklin opened Franklin Barbecue in a roadside trailer in 2009, and before they knew it, there were lines going down the street. Aaron had previously honed his skills at cooking tender, flavorful brisket at many a backyard barbecue, and people were absolutely loving it. He would go on to win a James Beard Award for Best Chef, publish several cookbooks, and contribute to Austin being named one of the best-rated barbecue cities in the U.S.

The star of Franklin's menu is by far the brisket. Bourdain told the Huffington Post it was the finest he'd ever had: "I can't imagine anyone could surpass this. It's unearthly in its moistness, in its perfect balance." He went on to say that it was "just earth-shatteringly good." You can get the brisket by the pound or in a sandwich. Other enticing menu items include pork spare ribs, pulled pork, and jalapeño cheddar sausages.

Franklin Barbecue

(512) 653-1187

900 E 11th St, Austin, TX 78702

Few people on the planet have had the opportunity to dine in as many restaurants around the world as Anthony Bourdain did. From back-alley noodle stalls to MICHELIN-starred temples, he ate just about everything, and some spots blew him away more than others. One of those was Asador Etxebarri, a quaint spot hidden away in the rolling hills of the Basque Country in Spain. In a piece Bourdain wrote for Men's Health, he listed it as one of 13 places to eat before you die.

In 1990, chef Victor Arguinzoniz opened Asador Etxebarri in a stone house that dates back to the 18th century. Instead of focusing on new-fangled food trends, he decided to concentrate on live-fire cooking. He built custom grills to sear, smoke, and slow-cook an array of ingredients such as prawns, eels, steaks, and mushrooms. The menus change often depending on what's fresh and at its prime, and even the wood used changes with the seasons.

Asador Etxebarri has earned multiple accolades over the years, including a MICHELIN star and The Best Restaurant in Europe 2025 from the World's 50 Best. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that reservations are very hard to get. However, if you book far enough in advance, you may be able to snag a table or at least get a spot on the waiting list. According to Bourdain, it's absolutely worth the wait. As he said, "Eat here, and no one is eating better."

Etxebarri

+34 946 58 30 42

San Juan Plaza, 1, 48291 Axpe, Bizkaia, Spain

The South is a region that opened Anthony Bourdain's eyes to just how diverse America's culinary landscape is. Over the years, he singled out several of his favorite Southern restaurants, from fried chicken joints to Asian eateries and whole-hog pitmasters. When it came to barbecue, one spot that thoroughly impressed him was Burns Original Barbecue, a family-run joint in Houston that he visited more than once and praised for serving some of the best East Texas barbecue around.

Burns Original Barbecue was founded by pitmaster Roy Burns in 1973. It started as just a pit and a truck, and then moved to its current location in 1988. Roy Burns has since passed on, but his grandchildren carry on his tradition of slow cooking brisket, ribs, and sausages over post oak and serving them with tasty sides like baked beans, potato salad, and mac and cheese.

Bourdain first visited the spot in 2003 for "A Cook's Tour," when it was called Burn's Bar-B-Q. He got to meet Roy Burns and sample some of his ribs, brisket, and potato salad. The spot made quite an impression on him, as he called it "one of the tastiest secrets in America." Bourdain was so impressed that he went back in 2016 for an episode of "Parts Unknown." That time around, he indulged in a variety of dishes, including the chopped barbecue beef, pork ribs, beef ribs, brisket, and what he called a "torpedo-sized baked potato."

Burns Original Barbecue

(281) 999-5559

8307 De Priest St, Houston, TX 77088

Anthony Bourdain thought Montevideo, Uruguay, was a seriously underrated destination. He first visited the country in 2008 with his brother Chris for an episode of "No Reservations." Their first stop was Estancia del Puerto in Montevideo's Mercado del Puerto. Bourdain said, "That lovely smell hits you a block away. It buckles the knees with its siren song: hardwood smoke and sizzling meats of every imaginable manifestation."

Located in the heart of the historic market, which was built in 1868, Estancia del Puerto is all about meats and seafood cooked over massive parillas (iron grills). The chefs fuel the fire with hardwood and rake the coals until they're just the right temperature to sear, smoke, and char the various meats blanketing the grates. "It's just a wonderland of stuff," Bourdain said.

Bourdain and his brother sampled a vast array of Estancia Del Puerto's offerings, including pork, steak, hunks of lamb, whole joints, sausages, sweetbread, and blood sausage that Bourdain said was some of the best he'd ever had. There were few sides to accompany the meat — just a vibrant chimichurri sauce and french fries, although Bourdain admonished his brother for ordering the fries. In his opinion, fries took away from the focus, which should be on what he called the "glorious, joyous miasma of meatness."

Estancia del Puerto

(+598) 2915 4660

Port Market, Mercado del Puerto, Rambla 25 de Agosto de 1825, 11000 Montevideo, Uruguay

South Carolina was another spot that impressed Anthony Bourdain, both for its traditional dishes and innovative chefs redefining Southern cooking. In 2015, he visited Charleston and the surrounding Lowcountry for an episode of "Parts Unknown." No trip to the South would have been complete without trying some barbecue, so he and chef Sean Brock made their way to Hemingway for what Bourdain called "some of the finest whole hog barbecue there is" at Scott's Bar-B-Que.

Rodney Scott grew up cooking whole hogs at his family restaurant, Scott's Bar-B-Que. The hogs are cooked over a mix of oak, hickory, and pecan hardwood for 12 hours, and regularly mopped with a vinegar and pepper sauce. The low and slow cooking results in tender, juicy meat that you can shred apart with just your fingers. It's a process that Bourdain deeply respected. As he said, "This ain't a craft; it's a calling."

In 2016, Scott opened his own restaurant called Rodney Scott's BBQ in Charleston. The restaurant was a huge success, and in 2018, Scott earned a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast. The original Scott's Bar-B-Que is still open, and there are also several Rodney Scott's BBQ locations in four states where you can try some of the best pulled pork sandwiches in the U.S., as well as pulled chicken, brisket, spare ribs, and some seriously good cornbread.

Scott's Bar-B-Que

(843) 558-0134

2734 Hemingway Hwy #5420, Hemingway, SC 29554

Although Anthony Bourdain was a native New Yorker who considered himself an East Coast sort of guy, Los Angeles had a particular draw for him. Several of his favorite restaurants were in L.A., and they included everything from a classic old-school steakhouse to an Italian spot, and even the In-N-Out Burger chain. He also loved Korean barbecue, and one of his favorite spots to indulge in DIY grilled meat was Park's BBQ. He told L.A. Weekly that he visited the spot every time he was in town.

There's no shortage of Korean barbecue spots in Los Angeles' Koreatown, but Park's BBQ stands out for its wide selection of top-notch meats, including USDA Prime and American Wagyu. You can opt for individual orders of various meats or go for a platter with additions like mushrooms and shrimp. If you want sides, there's a great selection of soups, rice dishes, kimchi pancakes, and noodle dishes. And, of course, every meal comes with banchan side dishes, which Bourdain called "insanely good."

Bourdain had nothing but good things to say about Park's BBQ. He told L.A. Weekly that not only did he make it a point to go there every time he came to the city, but that he also often brought chef friends there, including Eric Ripert and Nigella Lawson. "Everyone's blown away by the place," he said. "I haven't eaten better, in the States and in Korea," which may just be the ultimate compliment.

Park's BBQ

(213) 380-1717

955 S Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90006

Being the foodie haven that Hong Kong is, it's no surprise that Anthony Bourdain was like a kid in a candy store every time he visited. On an episode of "No Reservations," he said, "I've been to Hong Kong before, and for me, it's first and foremost about the wonderful ways they roast meats and birds here." Yat Lok was the restaurant he was covering during that segment, and it's clear that he was thrilled with the food.

Yat Lok first opened in 1957 and gained a solid reputation for its crispy roast goose made with a house recipe involving more than 20 steps. Today, there are two locations in Central and Kowloon where you can get crispy roast goose, barbecue pork, and soya sauce chicken. The Central location has even earned a MICHELIN star for its succulent meats.

Of course, Bourdain had to try the house specialty. He was pretty enamored with the goose, which he tried with prune sauce and a bowl of noodles in broth. However, he was even more impressed with the barbecue pork. He told his dining companion that it was so good that it didn't need sauce, rice, or really anything. He said, "For me, it's all about the incredible interplay between this amazing crispy skin and the pork, the fat. I ask you, "What is better than that?""

Yat Lok

Multiple locations

Sometimes you have to go out of your way to find really good barbecue, a fact that wasn't lost on Anthony Bourdain. That's how he ended up at Sweatman's Bar-B-Que in Holly Hill, South Carolina, for an episode of "No Reservations." There, he met Lake Erie High, the founder of the South Carolina Barbecue Association, and a man who Bourdain said was his "kindred spirit in the appreciation of all things pork related." High walked him through Sweatman's whole hog cooking process.

Founded in 1977, Sweatman's does things the old school way by making its own charcoal with oak, hickory, and pecan wood and cooking the whole hogs for 12 to 14 hours. Unlike many places that pull the meat and chop it all together, Sweatman's separates the meat into ribs, white meat, dark meat, and hash. It's served either by the plate or all-you-can-eat style with your choice of sides and mustard sauce.

As Bourdain and Lake chatted, akin to what Bourdain described as "carnivorous monomaniacal lunatics comparing our favorite pork parts like some people talked about sports," they piled their plates high with a little bit of everything. Think pulled pork, crispy skin cracklings, pork hash, and ribs. Blissfully tucking in, they both agreed that barbecue is so much more than just grilling. As Bourdain had stated earlier in the episode, "Barbecue — with its mixture of art, science, and magic — is a high calling in the South."

Sweatman's Bar-B-Que

(803) 496-1227

1427 Eutaw Rd, Holly Hill, SC 29059