Road Trip-Worthy Florida BBQ Spot Named Best for Summer

Summer is the prime time to enjoy a juicy, flavorful barbecue delight, and that's especially true in Florida. Well, any season is really perfect to enjoy good barbecue, but the dish is often most associated with summer. Now, one Florida barbecue spot has been named one of the best in the country, and it's a delicious one.

The experts and barbecue lovers at Food and Wine have unveiled a roster of the best BBQ places in the country, with one for each state. "Barbecue belongs to all of us, it can crop up anywhere, and the cast of characters responsible for this is more diverse than ever," Food and Wine states in the feature, adding, "We celebrate the very best brisket and whole hog wherever we find them, but this list also has a great deal of affection for the pre-existing culture in so many of the other states."

For Florida, they picked Big Lee's BBQ, located at 2611 SW 19th Avenue Rd #100, Ocala, which is about an hour and 38 minute drive from Tampa. "Rashad and Patrice Jones were running a mighty fine barbecue trailer in Ocala back in 2014, producing the sort of brisket you drive an hour for, perhaps longer, when the Food Network came calling in the form of Guy Fieri, Patron Saint of the Mom and Pop, which made Rashad and Big Lee's BBQnationally famous," Food and Wine states of this celebrated place.

So, we all know what barbecue tastes like, but what actually is barbecue, as in, the official meaning? "Barbecue is meat cooked over live fire and smoke, low and slow," states The Low and Slow Barbecue Show, adding that one "can add sauce or not. You can chop it, pull it, slice it, or pick it."

Girls Can Grill adds that, "Barbecuing is more slow and low. It's when you're cooking at temperatures around 225 to 275 degrees." So, that's what really sets barbecue apart from other ways of enjoying cooked meat. You can actually barbecue veggies, too. I know this, because I'm a vegetarian, and barbecued veggies are simply delicious.