🍖Pit to Plate: Inside Cocoa Village’s Smoke-Filled BBQ Favorite

When I pulled up to Crydermans BBQ, people were already there as the doors opened.The restaurant has been a Cocoa Village favorite since 2017, and locals regularly call it the best barbecue in town.It serves Texas-style barbecue, in which brisket is the star and simple seasoning takes the place of heavy sauce. Southern-style barbecue leans toward pork and a heavy hand with the sauce. Here, the smoke and the meat do the talking.With no sauce to hide behind, the meat has to be great. Owner Chris Cryderman told me the beef is all prime and part of an all-natural program, sourced from one ranch. The pork is Cheshire, a heritage breed he distinguishes from commodity pork.He said the marbling is the key.“The marbling inside the meat is an insurance policy...because at the end of the day, flavor is subjective, right?” he said. “You might like their sauce better than their sauce. You might not like garlic, whatever, but texture and mouthfeel, that’s the most important thing.”That quality comes