'Bites:' West Kentucky Bar-B-Q, all about the mutton

— -- (Editor's note: A previous version of this article misidentified the location of Owensboro, Ky.)

The scene: Barbecue is one of the most unique and regionalized of American foods, and I have sampled many styles, from the whole-hog-with-vinegar of North Carolina to Memphis' BBQ spaghetti to burnt ends in Kansas City and the lesser-known Santa Maria BBQ of central California. But there is no hyper-regionalized style as specialized as that of Western Kentucky, mainly in its epicenter of Owensboro, where the slow-smoked meat of choice is not ribs or pulled pork or brisket, but rather mutton. Owensboro's next-best-known specialty is a hearty stew called burgoo, which contains - you guessed it - more mutton. Not only do the restaurants of Owensboro specialize in this offbeat menu item, each May the city hosts its famous International Bar-B-Q Festival, a major culinary event. The centerpiece? Mutton Glutton, a one- or two-day unlimited tasting of barbecued mutton, burgoo and other dishes.

The two most famous eateries in Owensboro are Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn and Old Hickory Bar-B-Q, each of which has both passionate fans and naysayers. So of course, I visited both. Old Hickory is an innocuous looking restaurant on a small side street near downtown that resembles a Sizzler or Cracker Barrel, except for the big pile of wood stacked outside. It has a drive-thru, carry-out section, and one medium-sized dining room, divided into two parts by a low wall, with both booths and tables. Old Hickory has a mom-and-pop ambiance, with friendly waitress service. Tables have cards of local businesses set into the varnish, while the one page laminated menu also has ads for insurance agencies, tire shops and a liquor store. In contrast, Moonlite is enormous and always bustling, located on a busy suburban road lined with strip malls and fast food, with a vast parking lot and multiple dining rooms, plus a big carry-out operation. It has an a la carte menu but its centerpiece is an enormous buffet, offered at lunch and dinner, which most visitors partake of.

Reason to visit: Something you've never tried before

The food: The story typically goes that in the early 19th century wool production in the U.S. boomed, meaning lots and lots of sheep were around, and once sheep got too old to produce good wool they were edible and plentiful. But mutton (older sheep) was tougher and harder to cook, best suited to the slow-smoked BBQ style or stewing, both of which break down connective tissue into tender meat. This explains the rise of BBQ mutton and burgoo, but does not explain why it is so limited to the Owensboro region and not found in the nation's many other sheep ranching locales (although burgoo is also found elsewhere in Kentucky). Nonetheless, mutton rules Western Kentucky Bar-B-Q (not BBQ or barbecue, always Bar-B-Q here), and there we are. Both restaurants also offer more common barbecued meats like ribs and chicken.

I love barbecue in almost all forms, do my own smoking, and have judged major BBQ competitions. I am also very fond of lamb as a meat, so I expected to love Owensboro's specialty. I did not.

Fifth-generation Old Hickory, opened in 1918, smokes its meats for a mind-boggling 20-22 hours and offers its barbecue as sandwiches, any of its meats solo, or a 3-meat sampler, plus the expected sides: potato salad, cole slaw, BBQ beans, mac & Cheese, fries and onion rings. Of course there is burgoo, a stew of mutton, potatoes, beans, corn and sometimes okra. I tried the burgoo, plus the mutton, chopped mutton, and mutton ribs, alongside BBQ beef, chopped pork and pork ribs. The burgoo was meaty and rich, tasty and worth trying, but not a standout. The chopped mutton had a strong rich taste, and was better than the bland chopped pork, but again, not worth the many hours drive to Owensboro from almost anyplace. Both chopped meats were the consistency of Sloppy Joe.

The classic sauce used here for mutton is called "dip," brown and very thin, neither like tomato-based or vinegar-based sauce, and also sort of bland. The best was the mutton ribs, which were like miniature smoked lamb chops, followed by the sliced mutton (better than the chopped), and the pork ribs, which were better than average. If I was in Owensboro again, I'd eat at Old Hickory, and have these three meats, but I wouldn't travel for them.

Moonlite was more disappointing. The buffet is tempting because it allows you to easily try the local specialties, BBQ mutton and burgoo, alongside fried chicken, country ham, pork ribs, BBQ beef, fried catfish and many sides. The sole mutton style on the buffet was sliced, but it was more like chunks, and at Moonlite the sauce served tableside is a thicker, more common Memphis-style tomato-based BBQ sauce. The mutton here was fattier and richer, more like smoked leg of lamb than the lamb-chop taste at Old Hickory. If I were only going to try the BBQ mutton, I'd do it here, as I think it was better, but nothing else was especially tempting. You get a lot of food for your money, but the burgoo was bland, the other BBQ not very good, the mashed potatoes didn't taste like real potatoes and the country ham was dry and salty.

What regulars say: "When I first moved there, my wife and I ate at Moonlite the first night. I have never seen such a big buffet and we stuffed ourselves and said 'we're never going back.' The next day we went back. You can't go wrong," recalled our cab driver in Louisville who had relocated from Owensboro.

Pilgrimage-worthy?: No, unless you are checking regional barbecue styles off your life list.

Rating: OK (Scale: Blah, OK, Mmmm, Yum!, OMG!)

Price: $ ($ cheap, $$ moderate, $$$ expensive)

Details: Old Hickory, 338 Washington Ave, Owensboro; 270-926-9000; oldhickorybbqky.com/; Moonlite, 2840 W. Parrish Ave, Owensboro; 270-684-8143

Larry Olmsted has been writing about food and travel for more than 15 years. An avid eater and cook, he has attended cooking classes in Italy, judged a BBQ contest and once dined with Julia Child. Follow him on Twitter, @TravelFoodGuy, and if there's a unique American eatery you think he should visit, send him an e-mail at travel@usatoday.com.