The guys working at a computer store in Fort Collins’ old town strip insisted Moe’s ranks up near the top when it came to dining.

Yeah, that one Italian place everyone raves about is “pretty good.” But Moe’s--part of a chain heavy in southeastern flavor--would be pretty hard to beat.

While many Americans profess a love for Italian cooking, almost all of us perk up at the  mention of barbecue. Throw in the drifting aroma of slow cooked meat, the cheap backyard table service, the umber hues, the rich and tangy memories...

Like any proper barbecue roadhouse, Moe’s is a no-frills joint. You approach them to place an order, you fill up your own plastic cup and buss your own table afterward.

Perfect, at least around the edges. Barbecue differs from almost any other type of restaurant in one regard, though: food matters much more than atmosphere.

Moe’s pulled pork shows of the chain’s Alabama-Georgia pedigree. The sauce tipped between sweet and sharp, with a neat, slightly piquant background note--just the stuff you’d find along the backroads beyond Atlanta, Birmingham or even Charlotte, for that matter.

Use it freely, though--their pork tends to be a bit dry.

Small slabs of fried catfish make up for their lack of size with explosive flavor. Salt and pepper, with a little herbal lilt, launch from a gentle, almost malty batter, carrying enough force to contend with the restaurant’s equally bold tartar sauce. Yet the billowy farm-raised fish still manages to hold its own.

On a return trip it will be difficult to choose between catfish and brisket. But I’ll know to avoid the ribs, which amount merely to a sheen of ruddy meat cured with just enough seasoning to...well, they bore an uncanny resemblance to spare ribs doled out by Chineses buffets.

Moe’s surrounds all this with Southern flair: coleslaw, potato salad, sweet tea, greens--even a pickled egg, if you wish.

The egg is unique, drenched in sweetened vinegar for more like grandma’s than an old tavern. It’s not from a public jar, not the sort of thing that would cause hair to grow from your ears (if you’ve been in enough old southern taverns, you know what I’m talking about).

If there’s one sore point--apart from the ribs--it would be with Moe’s cornbread, a seared, overtly sweet, mushy cake prepared with little authenticity.

Maybe if they called it dry spoonbread...