There's nothing like firing up the grill on Memorial Day Weekend for a little backyard barbecue — so if you're on the road this weekend, you have my sympathies. The best I can offer is a few good spots for stand-in ribs and hot links; hopefully one is near where you are.
First, two places named RUB — one in New York, one in Baltimore. The R.U.B. of the former stands for Righteous Urban Barbecue, just a few blocks from the Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan Chelsea. It serves up much more than just ribs and chicken, including smoked ham, brisket and a Kansas City favorite, burnt ends. The Baltimore RUB is a Texas-style affair, featuring note-perfect smoked turkey and beef sausage in a city not normally known for its smoked meats, and only about a mile from the Sheraton Inner Harbor.
If you're staying at the Four Points by Sheraton San Francisco Bay Bridge in Emeryville, you're not far from Everett & Jones locations in Oakland and Berkeley. Soul food complements the slow-cooked brisket, and there's live r&b and blues in the back.
In Chicago, one of the stand-out joints is Smoque on the Northwest Side; it serves up fantastic renditions of several regional barbecue styles. But much closer to the Four Points by Sheraton Chicago Downtown/Magnificent Mile is the Weber Grill, a nice sit-down place that cooks everything over charcoal on specially designed Weber kettle grills. It's the closest you'll get to that backyard cookout taste without being in an actual backyard.
