What do you do when you can’t find a reliable list of the best barbecue restaurants in America? You embark on a year-long trip to the lower 48 states and create your own, of course!

That’s what Johnny Fugitt did in 2013, visiting 365 barbecue joints ranging from well-known stars to unheralded roadside shacks, and compiling his own list of the top 100.

“I clicked on these lists and they were basically recycling the same mostly old historic places in Kansas City, Memphis, the Carolinas, maybe a few in Texas,” Fugitt said. “I spent a few years in Carolina and lived in Kansas City for a while and I traveled to some of those famous places that made the list and they were just not that impressive to me.”

He found that there was a big disconnect between national publications that “were written by an intern in New York who hadn’t visited any of them” and lists compiled by local or regional food writers that highlighted smaller, more local places.

“Eventually, I thought, you know what, this is a little gap in the market,” Fugitt explained. “Someone needs to really give the little mom and pop places on the side of the road Alabama, for example, a chance to compete against the big famous places in Memphis, and give a barbecue spot in, like, Oregon the chance to compete against one in North Carolina.”

An idea was born.

He started in St. Louis, where he lived, and then Kansas City, where he had spent some time, but then branched out across the rest of the country.

Fugitt turned to local food writers for recommendations in each city he visited, but also made a point to ask the locals whenever he stopped for gas, and that’s where he was able to uncover some hidden gems.

“I tried to have a general path like okay, whenever I’m going down this highway through these towns, these couple I want to try to hit, but then let’s see if we can find a couple more along the way,” Fugitt said. “That really was a big part of it — trying to get to places that don’t have any recognition, trying to uncover some of those hidden gems, and, you know, finding the places that aren’t the most marketing savvy but are just making great barbecue alongside the road kind of places as well.”

For the places he planned to visit along his route, he contacted them ahead of time to arrange tours of the kitchen, see some of the smoking process, and speak with the pitmaster. He found that this provided a better feel for the restaurant and the food than if he just randomly stopped by, ate, and left.

“I asked the person behind the counter or my waitress or whomever, what’s the best thing? And they say, ‘Well, most people get pulled pork.’ Okay, well give me that,” Fugitt said. “But if I actually asked the pitmaster, he might say, ‘You know, I’m proud of my pork, but my ribs are really what’s best’. So I didn’t feel like maybe I got the best experience whenever I didn’t have those things set up.”

Plus, as good as the food is, anyone who has recently watched Netflix’s Chef’s Table episode about Tootsie at Snow’s BBQ will agree that sometimes the people are what make a place what it is.

“Barbecue people are awesome people like they’re super into their craft. They’re very proud of it,” Fugitt said. “Also, for the most part, family people who are trying to make a living and are super ingrained in their community, and they’re doing honest work. So I really did enjoy that, especially because I traveled all around the country for a year by myself.”

Fugitt filled seven or eight notebooks full of notes throughout his trip that he then used when he compiled his list of the top 100 afterward. He turned that into a book, The 100 Best Barbecue Restaurants in America.

There were some places that pretty immediately I knew, hey, this is not going to make the cut,” Fugitt explained. “But then there were a lot where at the end, it’s like, you know, you have these that are on the bubble and it’s tough to decide who to include there at the end. So I did have to dig back into into some of the notes.”

As anyone interested in barbecue knows, critiquing it isn’t an easy task because there are different regional specialties, there are meats, sides, and atmosphere to take into consideration. How do you compare brisket at one place to pork at another equally?

“Ultimately, this actually kind of freed me up because I knew not only could I not make everyone happy, but I couldn’t make anyone happy. There’s not one person in the world who is going to agree 100% with my rankings,” Fugitt said. “If everyone went and did this road trip, visited the exact same 365, I guarantee your 100 would be different and then those rankings of that 100 would be different. Not only because we have different tastes, but because restaurants evolve, or maybe I hit some on better days than others, you know, there’s so many variables involved here too.”

That’s not to say he didn’t have a formula for his rankings.

“I do have a little bit of a rubric where I thought, you know, meat is paramount obviously. But that doesn’t mean that sides and the atmosphere and everything else don’t matter at all either,” Fugitt explained. “So I tried to weigh everything, but there are some really popular places that are popular because they have fun atmospheres and they have great sides, but they take their little bit of pulled pork and they put it on a crazy sandwich and do some fun stuff with it. And those just don’t impress me.

While he set up about two-thirds of his visits ahead of time, one place he didn’t even get a response from was Franklin’s BBQ, which ranks at the top of many barbecue lists.

“Definitely waited at Franklin. I think I remember hearing once that President Obama was like the only person who’s ever cut the line,” Fugitt said. “But to be honest, that’s part of the experience, it’s the camaraderie, it’s the anticipation of it. That helps create the experience.”

Throughout his journey, Fugitt was most impressed by Texas hill country barbecue, but also found individual restaurants he liked in random places, such as South Dakota, where he was so impressed with J.R.’s Roadhouse BBQ Pit that it not only made his top 100, but his top 25.

“There were many places in America where I asked myself, “Why am I looking for barbecue here?” Fugitt wrote in his book. “South Dakota was one of those places. J.R.’s Roadhouse BBQ Pit, however, made the many hours driving across the Dakotas worthwhile. A few of my favorite restaurants are relatively undiscovered restaurants in places like Austin or Memphis, but J.R.’s is the first to come way out of left field. It is absolutely incredible, though.”

Since returning from the trip and writing and releasing his book, Fugitt spent three years in the Middle East serving the country with the Navy Reserves. He returned to the States last year and is working on completing his MBA.

While the purpose of the road trip was to build a list of the best barbecue restaurants in America — and he did, with the most comprehensive list compiled to date — Fugitt came away from the experience with some personal growth as well.

“I had a lot of time on the road, so I enjoyed some of the solitude, I got to visit a bunch of national parks, and do things like that,” Fugitt said. “I definitely learned a lot about barbecue and the restaurant industry, but also I feel like I grew personally and had a once in a lifetime experience that I’m probably never going to have an opportunity to do anything like that again.”

To read more about Fugitt’s journey and see his full rankings, order his book, The 100 Best Barbecue Restaurants in America.

*All images provided by Johnny Fugitt