Allman's Pit Cooked Bar-B-Q, Route 1 in Fredericksburg

[Joe H]

My husband and I, and another couple are taking the short trip to Fredericksburg for the long weekend next week. We've heard that we can't miss Carl's for ice cream, but know little else about the dining scene.

Carl's equal (Yes, EQUAL) is Allman's BBQ on route 1 across from where the old bus terminal was. This is a 50+ year old Fredericksburg institution that for many years was considered the northern most outpost of great southern Q. The source of this was a full issue of the Sunday Post magazine devoted to local bbq about 25 years ago.

Allman's hasn't changed much since then.

When you go you want sliced (NOT minced or chopped pork Q which is a distant second to their sliced which some may called "pulled" elsewhere). This is not Carolina-their's has more in common with Northport, Alabama than, say, Lexington or Ayden. Sliced. It is fall apart tender cooked up to 13 hours in their pit outback. They also have exemplery sweet, thick bbq sauce made in house. You also want slaw: homemade, mayonnisey slaw. And you want a milkshake. They make their's the exact same way they made them when they opened in 1954, with the original Mixmaster, milk from a carton (or bottle), scooped ice cream and, if chocolate, Hershey's chocolate syrup. All of this goes into a metal canister which is placed under the prong of the Mixmaster for a minute or so of loud cranking (it's is 50 years old after all!).

Unfortunately, the original Allman's (there have been more than one overtime but this is the ONLY one you should go to) is known well locally. Just as well as Carl's in fact, with lines to get into it on the Saturday two weeks ago when we were there. This is an enormously popular place that is worth the drive to Fredericksburg even if Carl's is closed.

Here's a review from the Fredericksburg newspaper several years ago.

[tripewriter]

(NOT minced or chopped pork Q which is a distant second to their sliced which some may called "pulled" elsewhere).

Pulled hain't sliced. It's in a class all its own. Mmm, bar-b-q ...

[Joe H]

At Allman's 1/4 to 1/2" uneven thick "slices", perhaps several inches long of varying width, which are lopped off of the butt, sometimes started with a knife as opposed to slicing a uniform fairly thick piece. Allman's is a bit different from the pulled pork I've had, say, in Tennessee (Bozo's, Interstate, Roundezvous, Gridley's, etc.) but dissimilar from other Q that is often referred to as sliced. This is not the best bbq anywhere but it's real Q in a setting unlike anything that can be found in the D. C. area.