Omaha BBQ Review - The Best BBQ in Omaha @ GFC

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Omaha BBQ Review - The Best BBQ in Omaha
posted by snekse

When Erik Totten of Food & Spirits Magazine asked GFC to be part of a review to find Omaha's best barbecue, my answer took about 3/10th of a second to spit out. I must have been tired. As he told me more of the details, the more I salivated at the opportunity. A real competition amongst the local barbecue joints in an attempt to crown a winner - brilliant. Why in Kamapua'a's name has no one done this before?

Now a BBQ shoot out that pits barbecue pit against barbecue pit is one thing. The ensuing meat orgy that awaited us is quite another. Ribs, brisket, pulled pork, sides - from each of the ten participating restaurants...

I'll let you read all of the gory details and find out who the winners are for yourself. I will say, however, that I was a little disappointed in the lack of really good barbecue to be found. Only two restaurants achieved what I consider truly respectable scores. Congrats to those places (see the winners).

Food & Spirits Magazine: Volume 1, Issue 3
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RELATED LINKS:
Food & Spirits Magazine: Volume 1, Issue 1
Food & Spirits Magazine: Volume 1, Issue 2
PHOTOS: Food and Spirits Magazine: Omaha BBQ Ribs Shootout
Greater Omaha Barbecue Society

Thanks to the following restaurants for participating in this challenge: Bones, Brew and BBQ, Big Horn Mountain Barbecue, Doc and Eddie’s BBQ, Famous Dave’s, Hartland Bar-b-que, Harkert’s BBQ, Jim’s Rib Haven, McKenna’s Blues, Booze & BBQ, Red Zone BBQ, and Skeets Ribs and Chicken.

Labels: BBQ, RESTAURANT REVIEW, RESTAURANTS

5 Comments:

Here are our top finishers and their scores for ribs.
1. Hartland - 9.3
2. Jim’s Rib Haven - 7.4
3. Skeets - 6.4
3. McKenna’s - 6.4
4. Harkert’s - 6
4. Famous Dave’s - 6

By snekse, at Thursday, May 15, 2008 12:43:00 PM
I completely agree with Hartland being the best in the city. The pulled pork and ribs there are fantastic. You bring up a very good point, Omaha BBQ is sad overall. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE add steakhouses to that list. However, I'm more accustomed to the fine dinning steakhouses found on the Coasts. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...

By Anonymous, at Monday, May 19, 2008 12:58:00 AM
You should have tried Billy Mac's BBQ...you missed out on what really is the BEST BBQ in town! A little more research would have led you to the best!

By Anonymous, at Thursday, June 12, 2008 7:18:00 PM
Boyd and Charlie's out in Elkhorn is the best around!

By Anonymous, at Tuesday, June 17, 2008 9:01:00 PM
Great comments everyone and I just wanted to add a few things so everyone would know how we selected the restaurants we reviewed (I'm the publisher and owner of Food & Spirits Magazine).

We basically contacted (or tried to contact) nearly every BBQ place in town. Some we couldn't get a hold of and some that we did get a hold of weren't interested in taking part in the review. With a limited amount of time and resources to put it together, it ended up just being the restaurants we were able to reach who thought it sounded like something they wanted to do.

One thing I did learn in doing a BBQ review is that there is a lot of room to improve and include more people and restaurants. In the next nine months I will be working to try and make our BBQ review a certifiable event that will include more restaurants and possibly be open to the public. We'll see how it develops but either way, I plan on doing a BBQ review once a year so we will certainly make an effort to cover everyone.

By Erik, at Thursday, June 19, 2008 9:22:00 AM