This might be the prettiest barbecue in the state, with its flower-filled pots on a Westchester street that slopes down to the Hudson River. The St. Louis ribs are nicely charred, the brisket smoke-ringed, and the pork sausage cross-hatched and made in-house. Vegetarian salads on display are particularly fresh and colorful, an oddity in good barbecue.

Founded in Syracuse in 1988 and still boasting upstate flourishes, John Stage's Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is one of the more established barbecues in NYC. Rather than settling on a single style, its menu evokes several different places around the country. Go for the pork ribs, baked beans, and, best of all, Syracuse salt potatoes. Located on the edge of Columbia University’s north campus, Dinosaur is a great spot for dining with kids. You will find other locations in Park Slope and upstate New York.

This Mott Haven restaurant from pitmaster Robin Hudson does a spectacular job on fundamentals, including a solid brisket sandwich and a passel of smoky pork ribs, matched with a local beer selection and a comfortable dining hall. Hell, this place might as well be in Texas. Lots of quirks keep the menu interesting, including pork belly, chorizo, pastrami, and jerk chicken.

Virgil's Real BBQ in Times Square makes real hardwood barbecue more accessible to tourists than any other place in town. It’s owned by the same hospitality company as the Italian restaurant, Carmine’s. The barbecue is surprisingly good despite the corporate feel, with decent brisket, pulled pork, and barbecue beans bobbing with little tidbits of meat. Like Carmine’s, another branch resides on the Upper West Side.

Pig Beach founders are Balthazar alum Shane McBride and Del Posto vet Matt Abdoo, and while this Queens branch lacks the estuarial views of the Gowanus original, the barbecue has gotten a shade better. Sliced thick and sold in portions as small as a quarter pound, the brisket is now one of the best on this map. Pulled lamb shoulder with yogurt sauce is a tasty outlier, and the provolone-laced sausage is the only thing that was just so-so on a recent revisit. It’s a great place for families with kids.

Hill Country turns out a faithful version of Central Texas barbecue, inspired by Kreuz Market in Lockhart. Founded by Texas native Marc Glosserman, the brisket is available fatty or lean, in addition to “clod” (beef shoulder). The small chain (there’s another location in Washington, D.C.) makes its own hot links, and they’re damn good. As at basically all great Texas barbecues, the sides are just so-so. The meat is served by the pound on butcher paper with a choice of white bread or soda crackers.

With seven branches in NYC and one in Hoboken (note the original in the East Village is closed), Mighty Quinn’s serves up what pitmaster Hugh Mangum describes as “Texalina style,” a fusion of the barbecue traditions found in Texas and the Carolinas. But what really emerges is a uniquely New York iteration: Maldon salt is sprinkled atop the meat as it’s served, and some dishes, like the smoked chicken wings, make use of a deep fryer.

This barbecue in Jersey City, a few blocks from the mouth of the Holland Tunnel, was founded in 2016 by brothers Michael and John Gondevas. In addition to great beef brisket, pork ribs, and pulled pork, find uncommon items such as brisket sausages, crusty and chewy lamb belly, and tacos filled with various forms of barbecue, squiggled with sauces. The fenced-in side yard is an added plus, about as close as the metro area ever comes to Austin.

This barbecue across the street from Jersey City’s Grove Street PATH station doubles as a beer bar, and has seats along the open front windows that offer great views. Predictably, there’s a speakeasy in the basement. Chef and pitmaster Kenny Callaghan was the original pitmaster at Blue Smoke, and his beef ribs and pulled pork appetizer show it.

While the original branch of barbecue pioneer Blue Smoke closed during the pandemic, the Battery Park City outpost motors on under chef Christine Espinal-Rosa. This branch has always been known for its ribs in the Memphis and St. Louis styles smoked over cherry wood. The Texas-style brisket sandwich is good, too, and so is the barbecued chicken, smoked and then grilled. The menu now has Arkansas cheese dip and an updated version of its fried chicken.

Early on, this longtime barbecue spot tucked in a Williamsburg alleyway established itself as a maverick operation with a broad range of barbecue options. The chalkboard menu often ran to pork belly, beef tongue, pork chops, and pig tails, in addition to the usual ribs and brisket. The quality has always been high, with a much more aggressive drink program than most barbecue spots, including shots of premium whiskies.

Brooklyn BBQ is a young establishment at Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn Heights with an eclectic assortment of meats. Sure, the fatty brisket and burnished pork ribs are top notch, but also find some really distinguished Alabama-style chicken thighs speckled with a black pepper rub, and a pork-and-cheddar cheese sausage with a snappy skin. Sides are pretty much all the usual.

When Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue burned down a few years ago, my feeling was that it was already slipping in the quality of its smoked meat. But now it’s back with a bang. The substantial, black-pepper-rubbed pork ribs are better than before, the footlong jalapeno sausage is spicy and grainy enough for anyone’s taste, and the brisket is tasty — even though it’s sliced with the grain contrary to the usual practice. The roadhouse ambiance feels just right.