Charleston, SCBBQ

Pitmaster Rodney Scott smokes whole hogs at his North-Central King Street pit, a style he carried from Hemingway, South Carolina. He was the first barbecue cook to win the James Beard Best Chef Southeast award, in 2018, and the MICHELIN Guide named the pit a Bib Gourmand in its inaugural 2025 American South edition. Garden and Gun points to the rib-eye sandwich and Ella's banana puddin as the orders to build a plate around, alongside the pulled pork and ribs.

Austin pitmaster John Lewis brought Central Texas barbecue to the Charleston peninsula, running custom smokers for peppery brisket sliced to order. The MICHELIN Guide named it a Bib Gourmand in its 2025 American South edition, and it sits on the Charleston City Paper Top 50. Order the brisket and the green-chile 'El Sapo' sausage, and add the corn pudding that Garden and Gun singles out on the sides.

A Charleston-born barbecue and music hangout that grew from its West Ashley original into a small group of Lowcountry rooms. The kitchen slow-smokes pork and brisket and turns out the wings that Garden and Gun calls a Saturday order. Regulars come for the pork-and-brisket tacos and the frozen 'Game Changer' cocktail alongside live bands.

A West Ashley pit that smokes over oak and pecan for whole hog, brisket and burnt ends, backed by a wall of regional Carolina sauces so you can dress the plate mustard, vinegar or tomato. The Post and Courier counted it among the Charleston pitmasters featured at the Lowcountry barbecue festival. Order the burnt ends when they last and a side of the mac and cheese.

A decades-old West Ashley institution the Post and Courier calls a staple of Charleston barbecue, built on South Carolina-style pulled pork in the golden mustard sauce the Bessinger family helped make famous. It is a Savannah Highway constant that leans traditional Midlands. Order the pulled pork with the mustard sauce and a plate of the classic Southern sides.