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Art’s has sat in between a Firestone and a Pep Boys on University Drive in Coral Springs since 2001, a regular lunchtime spot for mechanics and blue-collar workers from the area. But owners Artis and Marilyn Holmes have been cooking barbecue since 1993, when they first opened Art’s in Rapid City, South Dakota. Their restaurant is covered from floor to ceiling with posters of great jazz and blues musicians like Robert Johnson and B.B. King, artists whose music you’ll hear playing in the dining room as well. There’s a definitive smoky smell inside that tells you Art’s is cooking with wood, not coal. The ribs sport a slightly pink smoke ring and the sort of soft-but-firm texture that drives rib aficionados wild. The ‘cue is Southern, mostly, but Texas and Carolina influences like hot-link sausage, chopped pork, and beef brisket sneak in. The sides are stellar too, including supercreamy mac-and-cheese and collard greens with big hunks of smoky pork.
