Who makes the best barbecue in the Bay Area?

The Bay Area is known for many types of cuisine, from old-school Italian and on-trend Filipino to our native farm-to-table. Barbecue is not one that immediately comes to mind. But if you dig a bit deeper, you’ll find that we have some seriously good smoked meat offerings, from San Jose’s Smoking Pig BBQ and Livermore’s Sauced BBQ & Spirits to Berkeley’s KC’s Bar-B-Que and San Francisco’s 4505 Burgers & BBQ.

And you can bet that the barbecue-loving transplants from around the country have an opinion on who has the best smoker, sides and sauces. Are you a tri-tip devotee? Or are ribs your religion? Do you follow buzzy barbecue pop-ups like Oakland’s Horn BBQ? We need to hear from you.

Tell us which barbecue joint makes your favorite. Send us the name of the spot and a description of the barbecue — please include a photo of that ‘cue, too — and write a sentence or two describing why it’s your favorite.

Email your barbecue nominations to jyadegaran@bayareanewsgroup.com by August 26, then we’ll put it to a bracket-style vote to uncover the Bay Area’s best saucy meats.