Blue Smoke   (Photo: Kenneth Chen)

Barbecue Chic

Ever since Danny Meyer opened the doors at BLUE SMOKE, barbecue joints have been popping up around Manhattan like pods of cacti in the parched western desert. Mr. Meyer’s bustling establishment is still the place in Manhattan for a big-city approximation of Texas brisket or Memphis pork ribs, or a newfangled fusion confection called the BLG (bacon, lettuce, and fried green tomatoes), served at lunchtime, of course, at the bar. When I’m in Brooklyn, however, I waddle over to BISCUIT, on the upper reaches of Flatbush Avenue, where you can splatter three different varieties of vinegar-based sauces over the fine pulled-pork sandwich, or a messy confection called a Mr. Brown (composed of the browned tops of the pork shoulder). “Save the Cows . . . Eat a Pig” is the motto of this little storefront enterprise, which, when it first opened, held monthly communal Carolina-style pig pickings. These days, they’ll arrange a picking at your own home (one pig for $160 or so, depending on weight), and if you’re wise, you’ll order a batch of the excellent double-dipped fried chicken, whose exterior is the color of burnt sugar and thick enough to crack with a spoon.

A spoon is about all you need to negotiate the tasty little cupola of spare ribs served nightly at IDA MAE KITCHEN ’N LOUNGE in the garment district. Chef Kenneth Collins’s ambitious restaurant isn’t a barbecue joint at all (try his fancy version of chicken and dumplings, and the gourmet pecan torte), but it’s a curious pleasure to taste mesquite sauce made from scratch and have your ribs deboned and served on a little pile of potatoes au gratin. The proprietors of DAISY MAE’S BARBECUE USA, over on Eleventh Avenue, bring a similar classic technique to the ancient smoky art, and while they serve a decent (by Manhattan standards) pulled-pork sandwich, and Oklahoma jumbo beef short ribs as big as cricket bats, their real specialties are side dishes like mashed sweet potatoes folded with vanilla cream, little go cups of creamed corn brewed in butter and melted cheddar, and thick baked beans (with burnt ends) that taste faintly of caramel.