Backdrop: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

By Jillian D'Onfro : Photos by Alisa Dubik A mouth-watering peek into the kitchen of everyone’s favorite barbecue joint.

At 9:30 a.m., Dinosaur Bar-B-Que already bustles. Thirty or so employees dash around the kitchen. They prep food, load smokers, and ensure that the mac and cheese, coleslaw, and, of course, the sauce- slathered meat will be ready by the time the first hungry customer rolls through at 11 a.m. It's a culinary ballet.

"I just remember my first day, and going holy cow," says Mike Nugent, the current general manager of the Syracuse restaurant and a Dino employee for the past 12 years. "To see the volume of food we were making, and the number of people who were waiting—I couldn't fathom it."

Whether he spends his workday acting as smoke-master or making cornbread, Nugent loves working at the number one barbecue joint in America, according to Good Morning America viewers.

After all, Dinosaur may have graduated from cooking up 'cue in a 55-gallon drum to a much more high-tech setup, but the fervent dedication to high-quality eats has always remained the same.