Hunting for the Best Barbecue in the Bay Area

Growing up mostly bicoastal, between the suburbs of Lost Angeles and New York City, I credit my birth in Oklahoma and initial six years in Kansas City, Missouri, as what sparked in me an affinity for barbecue. When I eat a quality piece of fatty, char-rich meat, I want to shed a tear.

And while I haven’t lived in the Deep South, I’ve traveled it extensively, studying its food and music over the past 15 years. That includes numerous road trips across Texas, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Georgia, digging into the best barbecue along the way. …