Allman’s Bar-B-Q, Fredericksburg, Virginia

Stop the presses! Big News! Well, some of it’s news. The Washington Post noticed Allman’s in their annual Top Ten list a couple of days ago, but the Post missed the really big story. (I’m saving the best news for last.)

As you can tell, I’m excited! First, Allman’s is back — and about to get better! Allman’s Bar-B-Q has been a community institution in Fredericksburg for years. A while back, they switched from all-wood cooking to what I call a “set and forget” system, and the barbecue went North from there. No more. Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by Matt Deaton.

Matt has quite the pedigree. He worked at the Skylight Inn and was the general manager at the original Sam Jones BBQ. Matt bought Allman’s, brought in a wood-burner, and Allman’s is again serving True ‘Cue.

Joe Haynes alerted me to the change at Allman’s, and we met there for lunch last weekend. Earlier, Joe had alerted me to Northern Neck BBQ, so when he speaks, I listen. Joe is the author of Virginia Barbecue: A History, and the guru of traditional — I should say, historical — Virginia barbecue. He’s working to revive what his research (of records going back to the 15th century) demonstrates is THE world’s original barbecue, Virginia whole hog. Joe also is reverse-engineering original sauces and dishes.

Joe is a fascinating guy, but let’s get to the food. I ordered a pork plate, chopped with greens and slaw and, as you can see, Matt added some pulled pork. (My first stop had been the cooker out back, where Matt was working.)

And Joe got a pork sandwich with slaw.

That’s some sandwich!

The pork was very good, especially the chopped pork. Both were tender, moist, and lovingly graced with smoke. Friends, this is good barbecue. I’m glad that I talked with Matt before I went in, because I wouldn’t have had much chance to talk otherwise. Matt never leaves the cooking for long, even when the mercury falls below freezing. He cooks with care and close attention, and you can taste that attention and skill in every bite of the meat.

I also enjoyed the slaw, which was crisp and nicely dressed. (Joe brought his own re-engineered slaw sauce, which was very tasty.) And the barbecue sauce was good. Actually, I got a bit befuddled tasting the Allman’s sauce and Joe’s three re-creations. I lost track of which was which, but all were good, and I’m learning to love the Southside Virginia style of sauce.

The greens. The greens were delicious, with a distinctive flavor. They included bits of tomato(!), some onion, and lots of brisket and pork bits, also something else that Matt Deaton isn’t giving away. These greens were, as I say, really, really good, and the greens came with excellent pot likker, so good that I drank it out of that bowl right in front of everyone, in the absence of cornbread. Joe tells me that Allman’s has a pot likker sauce that he puts on grits. Wow!

Allman’s is a small place, in a building built in 1949. I, too, was built in 1949, but it is holding up better than I. Allman’s has a great traditional barbecue place atmosphere, and prompt but relaxed, friendly service. You should hustle down to Fredericksburg or just pull into town when, as usually is the case, traffic on I-95 has come to a standstill.

All that is great, but here’s the promised big news that the Post missed. Matt Deaton has two more cookers coming, both of which will be genuine pits, bottom-fed by wood coals shoveled underneath. You may not appreciate how much better pits are than smokers for cooking pork. With direct heat, the fat from the pig drips down onto carefully moderated coals and generates an additional layer and flavor of smoke that perfumes the meat. And it creates a much better bark, or crust. But that’s not all.

On those pits Chef Deaton will cook (drum roll) whole hogs. He’ll cook them just as at the Skylight Inn, Ramey’s, and other great traditional barbecue places, yielding delicious meat and lovely crisp pork skin — which is to pork rinds as Hyperion is to a Satyr. And he’ll be able to cook shoulders over direct heat as well, the way they do at Red Bridges and the Dixie Pig.

It is not too much to say that the pits will transform the barbecue scene in the Mid-Atlantic. As you can tell, I’m excited, and plan to head back to Fredericksburg, traffic be damned , as soon as the first pig goes on the pit! You should, too.

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