Bessinger's Takes Readers' Choice for BBQ

The smell of slow roasted pork mingles with buring oak and hickory logs at the corner of Savannah Hwy. and White Oak Drive every day as slow roasts its pork for 18 hours before serving up its classic Big Joe pulled pork sandiwches.

The iconic red barn along Highway 17 has been around since the 1960s when Thomas Bessinger opened his first restaurant, though the restaurant can trace it's lineage back to 1946 when Thomas' father, Joseph "Big Joe" Bessinger opened Eat at Joe's Restaurant in Holly Hill.

Now generations of Charlestonians have eaten Bessinger's pulled pork with its signature tangy mustard based barbecue sauce, and as the best place in town to get barbecue.

came in a close second with 34 percent of the vote, and West Ashley based food truck Hello My Name is BBQ got 13 percent of the vote for third place.