Many US McD's sell them too ;)

SW,

"NYC BBQ"---that's what they call an oxymoron, right?? ;)

There are Flint's still open somewhere in the SF Bay Area. I've tried Dreamland in Tuscaloosa, Everett & Jones in Oakland, and Big Nate's (Thurmond) in San Francisco.
JMHO: Barney's Hick'ry Pit in Concord CA is better. Lots of smoked MEATY ribs. Their French Dip is the best I've ever had. Great sauce (not a fan of sweet sauce - I like it smoky)

Dreamland's "atmosphere" was much better than Barney's, which is strip mall basic. But for ribs, mm...good.

Ok, I'm drooling now; time for a fix.

You know it! :D

Seriously though, there is good to great BBQ in the North and West but it is not always easy to find. The best BBQ is in the South though, hands down and I don't have a preference between pork & brisket.

^ ^ ^ ^ I'm with you!

Dinosaur is opening a new place in NYC. Going to open by Fairway (supermarket) off the West Side Highway, around 125th street.

The Q here is fine for New Yorkers like me that need a fix. :o
But since I've tasted real Q ...
I'll have to do a search for the old thread about that place in Van Nuys CA.

I have an upcoming trip.

Have to agree with this one. Of course don't forget the outlet in Mobile. They have some of best BBQ around and you can order from them and get fresh ribs delivered in a day. :)

County Line in Austin (2 locations to serve you)
JC's Ribs in San Jose, CA
Couple of great ones in Oakland, CA but wouldn't send anyone there......

Dinosaur is absolutely the best!!!

The one in ROC is better than SYR. Get a seat by the window and enjoy the view of the river.

The pulled port BBQ is some of the best I ever had.

The SYR location is not quite as good as ROC. SYR is more for the serious biker crowd.

On weekends the ROC location has live music and has over 40 beers on tap.

Some places already mentioned that deserve repeating. For those of you in the WAS area, Captial Q near the MCI center/Chinatown in DC is pretty good. Saltlick in Austin has some great brisket and flavorful sauces, too. In fact, it's worth routing through Austin just to get some of it from their airport store.

And now to start some fights... ;)

The KC style BBQ brisket at Arthur Bryant's just wasn't up to the top-end Texas brisket I've had. It was a little on the dry side. The ribs, however, were great. North Carolina BBQ? Vinegar and pork? Thank you for playing, please try again.

County Line is really good. Doing beef ribs that tender -- well, it's a terrific feat. I wish they had a better sauce, though. It's lacking a bit, to my taste. But, oh, the potato salad based on sour cream instead of mayo -- brilliant.

Can "real" barbeque be found in Manhattan? I think I read someplace that the City Council banned restaurants in Manhattan from building their own barbeque pits because of the "health issues related to smoke". But they are allowed in Queens. I just watched the Travel Channel's episode about where to find the best bbq in the US. One thing I learned is that real bbq is slowly cooked in a pit for hours and hours. Faster cooking they refer to as "grilling". So can Dinosaur or even Virgil's be considered authentic barbeque?

This East Bay boy is having a hard time undestanding this comment. Flints in Oakland is absolutely worth the trip. Why on earth would you not send someone to Oakland? Home of the Oakland Raiders and their fans. Great people and great town. Oh wait, I think I see the issue. Sort of a Brie and Chardonnay thing maybe? ;) Go for the BBQ, enjoy it, and leave any other the territorial prejudices at home.

Mike

Two schools of thought
 

Actually, there are some places that have started using high heat as the way to do their barbecue. For example, a couple of the legendary places in Texas (the one in Lockhart, darnit, whose name escapes me at the moment) smokes their brisket at 500 degrees for only four or five hours. They say there's no discernable drop-off in quality. I, however, tend not to agree. When barbecuing, you've really got to go for a lower temperature, otherwise you run a strong risk of drying out the meat and not allowing the connective tissue to break down and the fat to dissolve.

I always get a great chuckle when talking about "authentic" BBQ in NYC. I've never seen it. The places I've tried -- and are recommended by friends as "so great!" -- just don't cut it. And so many of the places that are around the country are chains, and they don't do it for me. The quality level isn't maintained in the same way. So in this one case, I'm willing to defer to the South and say, go to it, fellers, this is what you're best at. And they're mighty good at it.

But, yes, in the purest sense, grilling is high heat. Barbecuing is low heat. There are some notable exceptions to the rule, but why mess with what works so well? Keep your fire at 250 degrees, use a water pan to collect drippings and keep the air moist, and forget gas in any form. It's got to be charcoal.

My question for other folks is, what wood do you prefer as your source of smoke? I appreciate hickory a lot, but I have to say, I really like the sweetness that comes from mesquite the best.

Real BARBECUE is BARBECUED, not SMOKED!!
 

Here on the west coast, the California central coast features real barbecue, not that overcooked, smoked, soggy, drippy stuff you southerners, Texans, whatevers, call "barbecue." When the ad says "You need no teeth to eat our beef," I take off running.

It's called "barbecue" because it's BARBECUED.

So try any of the great places in Santa Maria, Santa Ynez, San Luis Obispo, and up and down the coast. My favorite is Mo's in SLO (http://www.mosbbq.com/) or just walk the weekly farmers market (Thursday night in SLO), and sample them all.