GUEST COLUMN: Want BBQ? Check out Archibald's in Alabama
Greg Brownell continues his journey finding the unique stories of America
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Stories from the Road
Follow retired sportswriter Greg Brownell as he writes about the people and places he encounters on a road trip across America.
The open pit at Archibald's BBQ
Barbecue is a big part of the food culture in Alabama
MAY 08, 2025
NORTHPORT, Alabama — The barbecue scent hits you immediately in the parking lot.
But it’s the smoke that defines the place.
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My stop today is Archibald’s BBQ, just across the river from Tuscaloosa. My companion is Tommy Dees, a sports editor for USA Today, and his presence is most helpful, since I am a Northerner who subsists on TV dinners and BLTs. Dees knows barbeque, a staple of the Alabama diet.
We are served by LaShawn Washington Humphrey, the granddaughter of George and Betty Archibald, who started the Archibald’s brand in 1962. The cook is Hurtis Bryant.
This modest building on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is the site of the original restaurant (the family also owns places in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham). The secret to success, they say, is that they haven’t changed a thing. Ribs are cooked the same way they were in 1962.
The building is more or less built around an open barbeque pit. From the outside, a Northerner might say it looks like a really fat chimney.
Wood is fed into the bottom of the structure from the back. Inside, the cook tends to the meat from a large opening.
The wood is what’s important — specifically, hickory wood. Archibald’s has stuck with an open pit through the years while some other BBQ places have switched to more modern means of cooking.
“We’ve been using hickory wood ever since we’ve been using the pit,” Bryant said. “We use the same hickory wood all the time, so that hickory flavor, that’s pretty much cured into the walls of the pit. That’s where the flavor comes from, the hickory.”
A customer can order pork, chicken and even a hot dog at Archibald’s, but ribs are their specialty and ribs make up the bulk of their business. Bread is served with most meals — they go through up to 100 loaves a day. They also have a special barbecue sauce (don’t bother asking for the recipe).
Bryant said he’ll light the fire in the pit around 8 a.m. each day (they open at 10 o’clock) and put it out around 8 p.m. The pit will hold about 30 slabs of ribs at a time.
Ribs take about an hour and 15 minutes to cook, Bryant said, so they have to anticipate peak times of the day. He’ll have the oven full on a football Saturday.
Nobody skimps on food in the barbeque business, here or anyplace else. I ordered a large plate of ribs. A large carton was request to take home the remainder.
Rolls of paper towels are available for customers, and they were needed.
The dining room at Archibald’s is small and homey. Much of their business is take-out. A photo from 1989 shows the restaurant looking much the same as it does today.
“It’s a family business,” Washington Humphrey said. “I just love what I do here.”
Barbecue is a big deal in Alabama. No one during our visit was able to explain why it’s so big in Alabama, but every eatery seems to want to let the public know it’s on their menu.
“There’s just something about the barbecue,” Bryant said. “It’s always been a thing of the south.”
As we left, Bryant was feeding more wood into the back of the pit. Fresh smoke billowed out of the top. Bryant offered some advice about searching for a barbecue restaurant: Look for the smoke.
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I love real BBQ and will be looking that smoke. Thanks 😊