The best bacon in the U.S. is Vande Rose*

It's what's for breakfast!

Back story: many years ago I read an article about Eric Ripert in which he remarked that he considered Nueske's bacon the best available in the U.S.: it's what he used in his restaurants.

I tried it and it was pretty good.

Then I read about Vande Rose bacon and ordered some and it blew Nueske's away: way better.

So that was where things stood in BaconWorld©®™until one day I happened on an ad for Mahogany Smoked Meats while I was searching for excellent beef jerky, which it turns out has long been their specialty.

Just for lulz** I ordered a pound of their mahogany smoked bacon along with jerky.

Fantastic! The smell alone was enough to make me (you too if you'd been there) swoon.

This was the perfect bacon.

Then I moved from California to Virginia.

Fast forward 40 years and today mahogany smoked bacon suddenly appeared in my daydreamy world.

Yes!

I went to their website and they're still in business so I ordered a pound of bacon, only to be told when I clicked "Buy" that "Your order cannot be shipped to the address you provided."

Then the penny dropped: I remembered that they only shipped their bacon to California addresses because the requirements for shipping out of state were so onerous, at least at the time.

Looks like it hasn't affected their business one bit 'cause their once primitive ads and website now look slick and delicious.

*Actually it's Mahogany Smoked Bacon (see above) but since it's only available in California I defaulted to Vande Rose (pictured up top)

**This was so long ago the word lulz hadn't yet been invented