Best Ribs

It no doubt sounds like gastronomic blasphemy to declare that a chain restaurant turns out superior ribs. But the barbecued ribs at J. Alexander's really are something special: big slabs of Danish baby-back ribs covered with a dark sauce that's not too tangy and not too sweet. The ribs are pork -- beef can't compete -- and they're slow-cooked to moist, falling-off-the-bone perfection. And unlike the highly variable ribs at so many barbecue joints, they're consistently good, which to our mind is an undervalued virtue when it comes to ribs. Skeptical? We took a gang of folks from the Deep South's Barbecue Belt to J. Alex's for the ribs, and they left with their bellies full and smiles on their faces.