My Morning Jacket - Holdin on to Black Metal

We Love Ramen

Created by: Hack College

Lambchop (the band) - Gone Tomorrow

If you are looking for lamb chops, or any other lamb cut for that matter, check out Border Springs Farm. Otherwise, listen to Gone Tomorrow from Lambchop's newest album titled Mr. M.

Whipped Mangalitsa Lardo

Chef Sean Brock on Charlie Rose

Click the image to view an absolutely amazing interview.

NASHVILLE BBQ: US News & World Report Names Nashville One of America's Best BBQ Cities

Nashville has been on kind of a roll of getting named to various and sundry lists and top tens. 50 Best Places to Live. Top 10 Cities for College Grads. Top 10 Cities for Single Women. Top 10 Pickup Cities. Top 10 Shopaholic Cities. And my personal favorite, Top 10 Unhappiest Cities.

Well you can add another list to the list. U.S. News & World Report has just named Nashville on its list of America's Best BBQ Cities.

And Music City has some pretty lofty company on the list - Memphis, Central Texas, Kansas City, North Carolina - all places that are considered the barbecue capitols of the world.

A couple of years ago, when we did our rundown of Nashville's barbecue joints, we set out to answer the question of whether Nashville is a great barbecue town. What's funny is that we never really explicitly answered the question. Maybe you can infer your own answer based on my reviews. By volume, I think Nashville is a major league barbecue town - there are a LOT of barbecue restaurants in this city. And like the U.S. News blurb says, there is a lot of variety. But as for quality (and more importantly - consistent quality)? I think we're a long way from the Memphises and the Kansas Citys of the world.

Nashville's current food scene is dyanamic, and I think we're in an exciting time. Things are changing and there are people who are committed to greatness and to doing things the right way. The future is bright and only getting brighter, and I think barbecue can be a part of that. But at the same time, barbecue, more than many other cuisines, is very rooted in tradition. And I'm not sure that Nashville has the foundational bedrock of tradition that many of the other great barbecue cities have on which to build.

Speaking of new places, we'll soon have reviews of some of the new barbecue restaurants that have sprung up in Music City. So stay tuned...

The Features - How It Starts