The Best Barbecue is in Las Vegas

Memphis Barbecue is big in Las Vegas. We first tried Lucille's Smokehouse at The District in Henderson across from Green Valley Ranch Resort. The atmosphere was quaint, reminiscent of a southern grandma's dining room and porch, and the food was tasty.

Southern biscuits were delivered to our table and our beverage order was taken: Iced Tea and a Diet Coke. Too late we realized this place had real southern sweet tea. Next time we'll remember.

Our first entrée was Lucille's BBQ Combo platter. You can choose two meats and we chose the St. Louis Ribs and Tri Tip, along with french fries and baked beans as sides. The second entrée was the Smoked Barbecue Half Chicken. I was worried I was going to be served a giant bird but the portion size was just right. The meat was tender and married well with the sweet Barbecue sauce. My sides were french fries and cole slaw.

We left satisfied and entertained, not realizing this was just the beginning of Memphis Barbecue in Las Vegas.

When we saw the Memphis Championship Barbeque across the street from where we were staying, we knew we'd have to give it a try and compare it to other barbecue we've known and loved. We must say Memphis Championship Barbecue is the best we've ever had anywhere--it's even better than Bubba's Bodacious Barbecue in Orlando and we thought that was awesome. And it's even better than Texas barbecue at Armadillo Willy's on the San Francisco Peninsula, which we used to insist was the best barbecue anywhere.

The atmosphere at Championship Barbecue is fun--full of Memphis and Elvis memorabilia on the walls, including piped in music of Elvis. We were seated in a booth and our waitress promptly arrived, asking for our drink order and if we'd like to start off with some complimentary dinner rolls. We ordered real southern Sweet Tea this time and a Diet Coke. The dinner rolls with honey butter were the lightest and tastiest dinner rolls we've ever had.

We skipped the enticing appetizers and got right to the entrees. The first entrée was the Barbecue Pork Shoulder, slow-cooked for 18 to 20 hours with Grandma's baked beans and hush puppies as sides. The second entrée was a Beef Brisket Sandwich topped with slaw, barbecue sauce and Magic Dust, and a baked sweet potato and Grandma's baked beans as sides. The sweet potato was topped with butter, cinnamon and sugar and was the best I've ever had. And the hush puppies also get high marks as being the best-crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside without being greasy or mushy.

We didn't save room for dessert but we're already planning our next visit and what we plan to order: the Catfish dinner and Charbroiled Shrimp-with hush puppies, of course.