I went back to Allman’s at 1299 Emancipation Highway (US 1) in Fredericksburg with an eye to updating my list of the Ten Best barbecue places in Virginia.
Allman’s made that list easily, and you can read a lot of background here, including a discussion of sauces, etc. Briefly, Allman’s is a long-time landmark that had sunk into the mediocracy of gas-assisted cooking until rescued by Matt Deaton. After working at the Skylight Inn and Sam Jones, Deaton returned to Fredericksburg, started cooking exclusively with wood, and is gearing up to cook whole hogs over direct heat.
There’s a lot of history in Allman’s, with old photographs and the original wall menu with the prices mercifully covered.
Since I had more meals to eat, I limited myself to a pork sandwich ($6.75!) with slaw on the side.
Ah, that wood-cooked pork aroma!
Superb. That’s fine-chopped pork with a sweet kiss of wood smoke and rich pork flavor. I had it without sauce because it was just so good.
Allman’s will remain in the Ten Best list, no question. It’s well worth a drive, and that’s saying a lot considering the horrible traffic on I-95 around Fredericksburg. Hop in your car and go!
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I think I wanted to stop there the last time we passed through Fredericksburg, but it was on a day of the week that they aren’t open. Hopefully I’ll get another shot.
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And you can swing by Carl’s for some frozen custard
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In the 1980s I was a traveling salesman living in Northern Virginia but making frequent trips to Richmond and Norfolk. Allman’s was one of the few BBQ restaurants around so I was a frequent customer. Bill’s in Richmond, Doumar’s in Norfolk and Pierce’s were about the only “fast food” options. There were a couple of sit down restaurants, Cedar Post in Stafford and Sam Legards in Reston, but they were not convenient for travelers.
In those days Allman’s had an excellent recipe but by today’s Tru-Cue standards it probably wouldn’t be considered BBQ. I never actually figured out how they cooked it but it wasn’t over wood smoke. In 2005-2007 my daughter went to Mary Washington, literally right across US 1, so we were occasional customers but they had opened a satellite location and product quality suffered. I heard about the guy from Skyline and Sam Jones’s (big fan) so I was excited about the new pit master. We did try the new edition and it was excellent but very different from the old Allman’s. The fries and milk shakes were the same but not the pork itself.
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Thanks! I guess I had jumped to conclusions — or listened to someone else who did. I’m glad to have the real story.
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