The best pulled pork sandwich in Atlanta? We found it.

Our goal was simple: Find the best pulled pork sandwich in Atlanta.

Credit: Ellen Rolfes/AJC

Credit: Ellen Rolfes/AJC

What makes a great pulled pork sandwich?

First, a great pulled pork sandwich should taste like pork first. Obvious, yes, but pulled pork is easy to overcomplicate. The smoky flavor can be too aggressive. Sauce can flatten everything into a one-note wonder. A bun can collapse under the weight of juicy meat. The best pulled pork sandwiches avoid these pitfalls by getting the fundamentals right.

It starts with pork shoulder, the cut most often used for pulled pork. It’s a muscle that works hard and is full of connective tissue, so it needs loads of cooking time. A low-and-slow technique breaks down collagen into gelatin, turning a tough cut into something tender enough to pull apart by hand. Done right, the meat should be moist without being wet, rich without being greasy and tender without collapsing into stringy mush.

Texture matters almost as much as flavor. The best pulled pork has contrast. You want soft interior meat, but you also want bark, the dark outer bits charred by fire. Bark brings chew and depth. Without it, a pulled pork sandwich can taste flat. Too much of it, and the meat can skew dry. The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle.

Seasoning matters, too. Even without sauce, pulled pork should have enough salt and spice to stand on its own. It should be kissed by smoke, not suffocated by it. The bun also has a real job to do. It should be soft enough to compress around the pork but sturdy enough to hold up under the juices. Slaw, pickles or onions can be welcome additions, but they should support the sandwich, not hijack it.

These are the elements we were looking for: smoke, tenderness, bark, seasoning and a great bun. In other words, a pulled pork sandwich that did not need sauce to make its mark.

Credit: Becky Stein

Credit: Becky Stein

The many styles of pulled pork in American barbecue

Pulled pork is one of the defining dishes of Southern barbecue, but it does not look the same everywhere, especially in Atlanta.

Credit: Ellen Rolfe

Credit: Ellen Rolfe

The contenders: AJC picks and reader nominations

To build the field, the AJC Dining team started with our personal favorites, adding a list of restaurants nominated by readers on the AJC’s Instagram. Not every reader pick could make the list of finalists — some simply were not open during weekday business hours — but they still earned a place in our list of semifinalists, as they are a big part of Atlanta’s pulled pork conversation.

The list of semifinalists included some great contenders:

Credit: Ellen Rolfes

Credit: Ellen Rolfes

How the AJC pulled off the pulled pork taste test

From the pool of semifinalists, we used reader feedback, our own editorial judgment and the logistics of a weekday office taste test to narrow the field to six finalists. To make the cut, restaurants had to be open during business hours, offer takeout or delivery and be inside the Perimeter so we could get the sandwiches to our Midtown offices in time for lunch.

The finalists were:

We ordered four pulled pork sandwiches from each restaurant, for a total of 24 sandwiches. Once they arrived, the AJC Dining team removed any identifying packaging, labeled the sandwiches for blind tasting and set them out for a panel of 12 AJC journalists.

Some tasters grew up with pulled pork as a birthright. Others came in with fewer built-in loyalties. One had never had a pulled pork sandwich. All 12 cast a vote.

Credit: Jordan Pettiford/ AJC

Credit: Jordan Pettiford/ AJC

How Atlanta’s pulled pork sandwiches stacked up

The finalists made one thing clear: Atlanta has a deeper pulled pork bench than it sometimes gets credit for.

Across the board, the sandwiches showed just how many directions pulled pork can go. Some leaned more heavily on smoke. Some brought more bark. Some delivered a softer, more tender pile of pork, while others had more chew and structure. A few were so dry, you could tell they were built with sauce as their saving grace. Others tasted complete enough on their own that the sauce seemed beside the point.

By the time the last sandwiches had been picked apart and the final votes were tallied, one restaurant had clearly pulled ahead, earning almost 60% of the 12 votes.

Credit: Jordan Pettiford

Credit: Jordan Pettiford

So, who has the best pulled pork sandwich in Atlanta?

Lewis Barbecue took the title of the AJC’s best pulled pork sandwich in Atlanta, earning seven votes from our panel of 12 tasters.

The pork was moist and tender. It had real smoke, but not the kind that bulldozes your palate. It was well-seasoned throughout, with enough bark mixed into the softer meat to keep every bite texturally interesting. Most importantly, it felt complete even without sauce.

Heirloom Market BBQ finished in second place with three votes. Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q and Wood’s Chapel BBQ each earned one vote.

Credit: Courtesy of Lewis Barbecue

Credit: Courtesy of Lewis Barbecue

What this taste test says about Atlanta barbecue

The obvious takeaway is that Lewis Barbecue won, and if you want the AJC’s pick for the best pulled pork sandwich in Atlanta, that is where to start.

But barbecue enthusiasts can also contemplate what this tasting says in broader terms about Atlanta barbecue. The ATL is a city where pulled pork can show up with North Carolina tang, Memphis swagger or a house style all its own. It is a city where old-school barbecue institutions and newer smokehouses can all make a plausible case for your lunch hour.

For one Thursday in Midtown, Lewis Barbecue made the strongest case. But if this taste test proved anything, it is that Atlanta’s pulled pork conversation is bigger than one sandwich ... and worth getting a little messy over.