Carlile's Barbecue

Carlile's is most noteworthy for a distinct style of barbecue in comparison to other Birmingham-area joints. Many places favor a pulled, or coarsely chopped, cut of pork shoulder, with a ketchup-based sauce spiced with Mediterranean-like herbs and seasonings. Not so at Carlile's--they prefer to let the meat to do the talking. So much so, in fact, that meat drippings are the prime ingredient in their unique sauce, a concoction of probably mustard, a touch of tomato, but a whole lot of carbon. Specks of outside meat are preserved in all their goodness in the sauce, and it is something that does not in the slightest serve to cover up the meat--it truly compliments it, amplifying the already smoky, firm (crunchy in some places) pieces of porcine goodness.