With the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments just around the corner, we’re joining the fun of bracket competitions with a faceoff of our own.

Last year, you helped us name the best pizza: 828 Family Pizzeria. This year, we asked you to share your favorite barbecue in Asheville. Now — thanks to you and the help of a random generator — we have the official lineupfor our bracket.

Congrats to Iron and Oak Brisket Co. for taking home the title. | Graphic by 6AM City, photo via Iron and Oak Brisket Co.

Winner

And the bracket winner is… Iron and Oak Brisket Co., voted the best barbecue in Asheville by our readers and social media followers in our AVLtoday barbecue bracket. From tender, juicy brisket to smoky pulled pork, there's no wrong answer when ordering at the Texas-style barbecue spot. Head to Riverside Rhapsody Beer Company to enjoy a plate Wednesday-Saturday before it sells out.

We want to extend a major “thank you” to all of you for participating in our bracket challenge over the past few weeks. We’ve had a blast seeing how the votes shook out, and we hope you did too.

It's time to choose between the final two. | Graphic by 6AM City

Final Round

Welcome back to our AVLtoday barbecue bracket, where we’re asking you to determine the best barbecue in Asheville.

After our second round of votes, we’re down to two “teams” left:

Iron and Oak Brisket Co. and 12 Bones Smokehouse & Brewing | The Texas-style barbecue classics are taking on low-and-slow smoked eats during this final face-off — time to decide the culinary champion.

Ready to decide who wins in our bracket? Cast your vote.

Cast your vote for the best barbecue in Asheville. | Graphic by 6AM City

Round two

Welcome back to our AVLtoday barbecue bracket, where we’re asking you to determine the best barbecue in Asheville.

After our initial round of votes, we’re down to four “teams”:

Iron and Oak Brisket Co. and Bear's Smokehouse | It's a battle of Texas-style and Kansas City-style barbecue in this match up — both serve delicious, tender brisket, but only one can take a finalist spot.
12 Bones Smokehouse & Brewing and Luella's Bar-B-Que | Both of these popular restaurants are known for tasty smoked meats + hearty sides — but do you favor 12 Bones' creative, region-straddling barbecue style or Luella's recipes for scratch-made meals handed down from Grandma Lue?

Ready to decide who moves on to the final two in our bracket? Cast your vote.

Cast a vote for your favorite local spot. | Graphic by 6AM City

Round one

Who’s in the running
Going head-to-head in the first round are:

Iron and Oak Brisket Co. and Little Pigs BBQ | The popular Texas-style barbecue spot will face off against Asheville's oldest family-owned restaurant.
Bear's Smokehouse and Doc Brown's BBQ | Kansas City and Carolina-style barbecue will go head to head in this match up.
Moe's Original BBQ and 12 Bones Smokehouse & Brewing | Moe's Alabama-style hardwood smoked meats will take on 12 Bones and its unique, saucy rib flavors.
Luella's Bar-B-Que and Big J's Bubba-Q | Luella's, famous for its smoked meats and tasty sides, will go against Big J's Bubba-Q, which may have a small storefront but packs a huge flavor punch.

How it works
Beginning today, we will host several voting rounds within our newsletters and social channels to determine Asheville’s best barbecue. Who moves on is up to you. Vote for your favorites, and the spot with more votes moves on. Simple as that. We’ll go until we have a champion, which will be announced in our Tuesday, March 26 newsletter. You will be able to voteonce per round.

How to participate
Vote for the barbecue joint you’d like to see advance to round two using this poll. You can vote for all four spots or as little as one. Once we count all the votes, we’ll share an updated bracket and new poll in an upcoming newsletter. Voting for this round is now closed.

Nominations

With the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments just around the corner, we’re joining the fun of bracket competitions with a face-off of our own with our AVLtoday barbecue bracket.

But first, we need your help nominating the spots you think should be in the bracket.

Using the nomination form below, submit the local spot that has your favorite slice of pie, and we’ll use your nominations to create a bracket and battle it out in our newsletter and on socials. Nominations are now closed.