What's New

Any place calling itself "Alabama BBQ" is bound to offer a new take on a familiar cuisine, and Alabama BBQ Company (4311 Harford Road, 410-254-1440, alabamabbqcompany.com) doesn't disappoint. You'll find the usual assortment of pulled pork, pulled chicken, brisket, and ribs, all smoked with a mixture of various fruitwoods and hickory. While they're all excellent on their own or with the standard tomato-based barbecue sauces (called "crimson" here), it's owner James Belle's experiments with fruit-based sauces and the traditional white sauce common to his native Alabama that are a revelation. The raspberry, blueberry, peach, and apple sauces sound sweet and sticky on their own, but with the meat's strong smoky flavor, they really work. What we're really looking forward to, though, is going back for some of the "seasonal" offerings like smoked duck, smoked wings, "Million Dollar" beef tenderloin, and smoked crab cakes.