BBQ City: Joanne Kates tastes her way through a sky-high stack of Toronto’s best brisket

1st Place: Superlative Stuff
This is the brisket of my dreams. You can taste that it was cooked over oak for eight hours. It’s super smooth, tender and moist with a crunchy crust.
The Carbon Bar, 99 Queen St. E., $23

Runner up: Ace Eats
This is not my Bubby’s brisket; it is in fact more southern U.S. than Yiddish. The meat is pulled rather than sliced, the savour a fabulous knife-edge balance of smoky, sweet, spicy, tomato and vinegar. In a sammy, it’s why buns were invented.
The Stockyards, 699 St.Clair Ave. W. ,$12

Hotted up
Another uber-brisket: Incredibly tender juicy meat with a hint of smoke and a heap of heat.
Barque, 299 Roncesvalles Ave., $16

Top tier taste
Spectacular brisket sammy: It’s spicy, a tiny bit sweet, moist, shaved thin and vaguely smoky, with enough fat to feel almost illicit. The crisp fried onions on top don’t hurt.
Electric Mud BBQ, 5 Brock Ave., $6.50

Hint of smoke
Thick, tender brisket, moist and with a soupçon of smoke.
Stack, 3265 Yonge St., $18


From left: Electric Mudd BBQ, Barque

 

Smoke stack
Brisket is dry and smoky.
Baju BBQ, 12 Clinton St., $9

Bit of a bite
Dry brisket with BBQ sauce tang.
Buster Rhino’s, 838 College St., $13

Tender n' tasty
The brisket is tender but too salty.
Smoque N’ Bones, 869 Queen St. W., $16.90

A for effort
Tough dry brisket.
AAA Bar, 138 Adelaide St. E., $15

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