How much respect do you have for Texas barbecue? Hold onto it, because Arizona just complicated things.
A Phoenix smokehouse was recently named the best barbecue in the entire country, and it beat the legends in Austin and Kansas City to get there. The brisket is the reason.
It comes off the smoker after many slow hours over white oak and pecan, wearing a dark peppery crust that gives way the moment your fork arrives. You order it sliced in front of you, lean or fatty, on butcher paper like a proper meat market…