What started out as a hassle turned into a classic respect not only for Richmond, VA, but barbecue in general. United Airlines lost my friends luggage and we were travelling with four children and our wives and were looking at a four hour drive to Duck, NC. Jon and I stayed behind to wait for our bags and had a few hours and a hunger to kill last August so our search for some Barbecue began. We spotted a smoker, in a parking lot with a tent set-up and thought this must be good, it turned out this was some of Buz and Ned’s future competition. This fine gentlemen was three hours from serving time, so he suggested Buz and Ned’s place as the best in Richmond, and winner for Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

It is tough to miss, as a huge billboard sits right over the location and it is right off the main drag. In we went and order up a couple of pulled pork sandwiches and a full slab of spare ribs. Being from Chicago and growing up on Carson’s baby back’s we were somewhat intimidated by the spare ribs, but as you can see from the photo, they are about as pretty as you will ever find. Don’t change a thing when you order the pulled pork sandwich, it is perfect, awesome slaw, a dab of hot sauce and the whole affair melts in your mouth!

There is a spot on review at www.roadfood.com about the food and the taste of the pulled pork sandwich, but the main event, the Bobby Flay smack down ribs were the highlight. Crusty, smokey and just enough caramel to make your mouth water with each bite. We ate as many as we could from this Flintstones size portion and still managed to save a couple of bones for my BBQ loving wife Gretchen. Jon and I were both very impressed with the food and the feel of the joint. Hot sauce on the table, your own personal roll of paper towels was also a nice added touch. Great flavors of sodas, beer and I highly recommend their freshly squeezed lemonade as perfect selection for cleaning the palette between bites or meats.

My friend Jon didn’t stop talking about it and although the drive to North Carolina’s outer banks took us an additional five hours, the stop at Buz and Ned’s Real Barbecue changed our lives and taste for REAL Barbecue:

The Definition of Real Barbecue

“Real Barbecue def: (U.S.D.A./FSIS) Meat products such as beef, pork or chicken cooked with wood or the hot coals there from (exclusively), for a sufficient period to assume the usual characteristics of a barbecued article which includes the formation of a brown crust on the surface and the rendering of surface fat.

The barbecued product must lose at least 30% of its precooked weight in the process”

For more photos of the Interior of Ned and Buz’s Real Barbecue, check out this awesome Flickr Photostream from Jason Perlow, the founder of eGullet, the food discussion website and culinary society. He also runs his own blog: Off the Broiler.