Carnivore BBQ Bethesda, Bethesda

Despite a broken back, a broken neck, and surviving day to day with a pain pump surgically implanted in his chest, Vietnam veteran Frank Jordan was determined to build his dream project. Beginning with nothing but a 250-gallon propane gas tank, Frank spent more than two years constructing his masterpiece, "Old Smoky," by hand, but due to his injuries, he was unable to see the smoker in action. Rather than let his hard work go to waste, he left his brainchild in the custody of pit master Stephen Adelson, who puts Old Smoky to work steeping brisket and pulled pork in the flavors of real hardwood for 22 hours at a time.

Originally working from the back of his '88 Chevy pickup, Stephen has since expanded into a fleet of food trucks emblazoned in the Carnivore BBQ lion. Within each one, cooks pile the smoked meats—all derived from the heirloom livestock Stephen raises on his own farm—onto Uptown Bakery buns, slathering the sandwiches with homemade North Carolina-style slaw and one of his five homemade sauces, such as organic habanero and Memphis—a sweet, tomato-based brew of more than 20 ingredients. Rather than making hungry customers roller-blade next to the truck's windows, Carnivore BBQ's trucks park at various locations around the city, selling barbecue lauded by the Washingtonian's Best Bites blog.