There seems to be no more love for Horn Barbecue at the Chronicle, just a few years after the paper — and multiple national publications — crowned it one of the best restaurants in the Bay Area.

The Chronicle updated its list of the best barbecue spots around the Bay on Tuesday, making space for two locations of Fikscue (the original in Alameda and the new one at the Chase Center), and two locations of Pig in a Pickle (Corte Madera and Emeryville). But conspicuously absent from the list is Horn Barbecue, chef Matt Horn's much celebrated restaurant that originated in West Oakland, but now has locations in downtown Oakland, Lafayette, and Elk Grove.

This snub comes a year after a Chronicle investigation into a series of wage-theft lawsuits at the restaurant, in which former employees were suing Horn over what they said was unfair compensation, and a couple of other pending suits against the restaurant, including one from its meat supplier in 2022.

And in 2023, Associate Critic Cesar Hernandez also wrote a fairly scathing review of Horn's offshoot venture in Old Oakland, Matty's Old Fashioned, calling the upscale diner concept excessive and "dripping with an exhausting masculine energy."

But back in 2021, former Chronicle critic Soleil Ho raved about Horn's food, and later that year he landed on Food & Wine's prestigious Best New Chefs list. Horn Barbecue remains on Michelin's Bib Gourmand list this year, something that the restaurant celebrated in an Instagram post calling it a "momentous gesture of acknowledgment."

Matty's Old Fashioned quietly closed last year, and its location on 8th Street in Old Oakland is now Horn Barbecue's only Oakland location, after Horn decided not to rebuild in West Oakland following a November 2023 fire.

The Oakland location currently has three and a half stars on Yelp and a string of recent negative reviews — several of which complain about extremely slow service, and seeing a constant stream of DoorDash delivery people going in and out.

Horn Barbecue meanwhile has been in expansion mode, opening in Lafayette last year, and in Elk Grove in April. A Fresno location is also in the works.

A new hi-fi bar and restaurant moves into the former Universal Cafe, Rose Pizzeria is opening a new cafe nearby in Berkeley, and Horn Barbecue has reopened its flagship, but in Lafayette, all in This Week in Food.

Tablehopper has the scoop on what's next for the legendary former Universal Cafe space (2814 19th Street at Bryant), and it's called Side A. The restaurant and hi-fi vinyl bar grows out of a pop-up of the same name from owners Caroline and Parker Brown, the latter of whom was the former chef de cuisine at Aphotic. Both are music lovers, and they've been dreaming for several years of opening a hi-fi bar, like those that they've experienced in cities around the world. The difference, they say, is that this one will have both great sound and great food, which don't often go together at these venues. Teaser menu items include deviled eggs with chicken skin and pickles, steak tartare with horseradish and barrel-aged soy, and Parisian gnocchi in the style of Chicago beef, with short rib and giardiniera. Side A is set to open in March or April.

The big news earlier this week was the expansion of Dogpatch’s Piccino, which is opening in the former Sessions space in the Presidio (1 Letterman Drive). Owners Margherita Sagan and Sheryl Rogat got the opportunity through some connection to Lucasfilm, and they will also be featuring produce and wine from Skywalker Ranch.

Good news for Dungeness crab lovers: The commercial crabbing season will now begin January 5, but crab boats south of the Sonoma-Mendocino county line will have to put out half the number of usual traps — so there might be some crab scarcity for a bit.

We also have news from Tablehopper about Caché, a new neighborhood bistro coming to 9th Avenue in the Sunset from Parisian chef Simon Mounier, who recently relocated to SF, and partner Florent Thomas, who met while working at the two-Michelin-star Pierre Gagnaire Restaurant in Bordeaux. They recently did a pop-up at Nightjar in Hayes Valley, and they're planning to open in the new space (the former Queens at 1235 9th Avenue) in late January, serving brunch until 2 pm, and reopening for drinks and dinner at 4 pm.

Berkeley's Rose Pizzeria, which received some national attention from the New York Times over the summer, is now expanding with a new cafe around the corner. As the Chronicle reports, Cafe Brusco will be an all-day cafe, specializing in panini, and serving wine and snacks into the evening hours, along with coffee. The owners, Gerad Gobel and Alexis Rorabaugh, say they want to create a "vibey" space for people to gather outside of the usual local coffeeshop scene.

And Oakland's Horn Barbecue just opened a new standalone location outside of Oakland, in Lafayette. The new location is the former Bo's BBQ at 3422 Mount Diablo Boulevard, and it just opened on Wednesday. This marks a renewal for chef Matt Horn, after the original West Oakland location was destroyed in a fire last November, which Horn blamed on arson. Since April 2024, Horn Barbecue has been sharing space with Horn's burger restaurant Matty's Old Fashioned, on 8th Street in Old Oakland. It's not clear if that arrangement will continue, or if all the barbecue will now be served at the Lafayette location.

Photo courtesy of Horn Barbecue

Barbecue superstar chef Matt Horn adds a fried chicken-focused addition to his emerging Oakland comfort food kingdom, with Friday’s opening of Kowbird at the former Pretty Lady diner space.

Every best-fried-chicken-sandwich list in the Bay Area will likely need to be updated effective Friday, January 14. Michelin-honored barbecue pitmaster chef Matt Horn’s celebrity has only grown since he was named to Food & Wine magazine's Best New Chefs list for 2021, and fried chicken fans have been pickling with anticipation since hearing his fried-chicken sandwich shop Kowbird was slated to graduate from pop-up to a permanent spot in a new Jack London Square food hall.

That original arrangement got stymied last year, but undaunted, Horn will be opening a brick-and-mortar version of Kowbird on Friday, according to the Chronicle, at the West Oakland location formerly occupied by Pretty Lady diner.  

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“For me, fried chicken represents soul and love,” Horn says in a release. “Growing up, it was a dish that would bring my family together. Whether after church or in the backyard with friends, it was always centered around love.”

“To open a fried chicken concept in my home of Oakland is personal to me, it bridges family, love, soul, and good food,” he adds.

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The Kowbird website does not list a menu, and in a sign of the food service times, devotes more space to the “Join our team” section than anything else. But according to their release, Kowbird’s menu will feature Matt Horn’s "signature buttermilk fried chicken in various versions, all served on a potato bun and accompanied by house-made pickles." Variations include the traditional Southern Bird; the Honey Bird, finished in a pickled mustard seed-honey sauce; the Early Bird, featuring chicken thighs, Southern-style gravy and a fried egg; and the Hot Bird, a version of a Nashville hot chicken sandwich finished and dusted with dried, fermented chilis, which Horn describes as "HOT, but not unbearable."

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There will be a vegan option in the oyster mushroom sandwich, and not surprisingly, the menu will also include Chicken & Buckwheat Waffle, a wings-and-fries plate, and a Sunday-only fried catfish sandwich.

The side dishes sound amazing too, which include fried cabbage with country bacon, a fresh chicory slaw with pumpkin seed vinaigrette and citrus, a creamy white mac and cheese dusted with crispy chicken skins, fried gizzards, and steak fries.

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To those of you obsessed with all things Horn Barbecue, Matt Horn has a Horn Barbecue cookbook coming out this spring, which is around when his burger concept Matty's Old-Fashioned is expected to open on Eighth Street in Downtown Oakland. But Kowbird arrives this weekend for Oakland fried chicken fans, and to fans who live elsewhere, Kowbird is a little less than a 15-minute walk from the West Oakland BART station.

Kowbird opens Friday, January 14, at 1733 Peralta Street in Oakland. Hours are Wednesday and Thursday 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., Friday – Sunday 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Related: Horn Barbecue and State Bird Chefs Named to Food & Wine's Prestigious Best New Chefs List [SFist]

Image: @kowbird via Instagram

Legendary Oakland BBQ stop Flint’s Barbecue may finally have its brick-and-mortar reincarnation, but there’s community pushback against the ghost kitchen facility that would house it.

There have been rumblings for a couple of years that Flint’s Barbecue, an Oakland BBQ phenom established in 1968 that spread to multiple locations until the last one closed in 2010, would be returning as a brick-and-mortar restaurant. And in a “careful what you wish for” kind of story, it seems they have found a space to operate. But as Berkeleyside reports, that space is in a ghost kitchen run by Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick, whose new billion-dollar concept CloudKitchens has quickly developed a reputation as a haven for illegal parking and allegedly poor adherence to health regulations.

The whole story smelled pretty sweet back in March, when KQED published the above story that Flint’s Barbecue would reopen at one of its old locations (3114 San Pablo Ave., one of its three original locations), in a building that had sat empty since Flint’s closed in the late 90s. Crystal Martin, granddaughter of the founding pitmaster Willie Flintroy, had been working on the revival as a series of pop-ups, which combined with a GoFundMe campaign, finally had the juice to reopen in the old spot it had occupied 25 years before.

But last week, Berkeleyside reported on the above Facebook announcement wherein Flint’s posted that “The buyer for the San Pablo location has decided not to continue with the purchase.” But they added, encouragingly, that “we have found a new location on the North Oakland/Berkeley border and signed our new lease yesterday! 🎉 We will give the exact location closer to our grand opening.”

KQED did some digging to find that this North Oakland-Berkeley border location was actually “a takeout- and delivery-only restaurant that will be part of a new CloudKitchens ghost kitchen facility located in a big warehouse at 5325 Adeline Street, at the border of North Oakland and Emeryville.” Martin told KQED that this new Flint’s would accept pick-up orders, more like this "digital food hall" in Cupertino than the app delivery-only model utilized up until now by most ghost kitchens. But that lack of a visitable kitchen presence has allowed ghost kitchens to steal other restaurants’ namesakes and identities, and operate in unregulated wild west fashion with poor sanitation and double-parking violations as a nonstop way of life.  

Those behaviors have already garnered some built-in community opposition to the facility, according to the brilliantly named Emeryville newspaper The E’ville Eye. No one’s complaining that Flint’s Barbecue may return, but community organizations Golden Gate Community Association and Oakland Neighborhoods for Equity feel the permits were approved with suspiciously little notice, and to a company with a pretty poor track record of community improvement or relations.

“CloudKitchens plans to open this July, operating 36 commercial kitchens that sell to more than a 1,000 take-out customers per day, 16-18 hours a day, 7 days a week, without off-street parking,” these organizations complain in an online petition. “The City’s Planning & Building Department swiftly approved permits for this business, owned by billionaire and former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, without public notice or consideration of its impacts on residents.”

Whether grassroots opposition and online petitions can smoke out Travis Kalanick’s expansion plans is an open question. But there are still more chances to enjoy the rebooted Flint’s Barbecue in pop-up form, at a 90s Cookout event in Oakland on July 17.

Related: Popular Barbecue Chef Matt Horn Announces Pop-Up Preview of Burger Concept 'Matty's Old-Fashioned' [SFist]

Image: Flint’s Barbecue via Facebook

Just six months after opening his highly anticipated, much-delayed West Oakland barbecue restaurant Horn Barbecue, chef Matt Horn is teasing a second restaurant concept focused on burgers.

It's called Matty's Old Fashioned, and a graphic designer has already been commissioned to do the logo and branding, which went up in a series of posts on a new Instagram account called @mattyburgers last week. The tagline: "We are not here to deliver just another burger. We are here to change the burger game."

Burger fans can get a taste for themselves on Saturday at 6 p.m. when Horn will be doing an evening pop-up preview of Matty's Old-Fashioned — but only 100 burgers will be sold, and pre-orders on Tock will be required. (The link is still TBA.)

The Chronicle confirmed that Horn hopes to open a Matty's Old-Fashioned restaurant somewhere around the Bay Area, but for now it's just going to be an occasional pop-up.

The burgers, we're told, will feature two patties with Horn’s proprietary blend of beef, along with cheese and "secret sauce."

If the burgers are anything like Horn's Texas-style brisket or other barbecue, there will be ravenous fans and lines down the block.

Pop-ups are how Horn made a name for himself and his food around the Bay for several years before debuting his brick-and-mortar spot last September (in the former Brown Sugar Kitchen space on Mandela Parkway). And in February 2020, before a pandemic and multiple inspection issues held up the opening of Horn Barbecue, Horn teased another concept in a pop-up event: KowBird, a fried-chicken sandwich restaurant. KowBird is expected to open at Oakland Assembly, a much-delayed food hall at Jack London Square, whenever that opens.

Watch Horn's Instagram, or this new one, for the pre-order link for the Matty's Old-Fashioned pop-up.

A “slab of concrete” is indefinitely delaying slabs of ribs in West Oakland, as Horn Barbecue’s smoker for their brick-and-mortar restaurant has voided their permit application.

It’s great to see food truck and pop-up chefs get recognized as the Bay Area’s up-and-coming cuisiniers, and even greater to see  them graduate to the brick-and-mortar permanent restaurants they so richly deserve. Such appeared to tastily be the case when the Chronicle's 2019 Rising Chefs list acknowledged Matt Horn of Horn Barbecue, which dovetailed nicely into the fact that the pop-up BBQ pitmaster was going to be opening a permanent spot in West Oakland’s former Brown Sugar space (which itself has moved to Uptown). Eater SF reported the opening would be delayed until April, but hey, no biggie. Such delayed openings are not unusual.

But now Eater SF reports that things have taken a turn for the worse at the 2534 Mandela Parkway location. The city of Oakland has denied the permit Horn needs for his genuine barbecue meat smoker, as the area on which it would sit is partially owned by the city.

Eater obtained an email from the Oakland’s Department of Transportation telling Horn, “I regret to inform you that after much discussion between Department of Transportation and Planning and Building Department, we cannot support consumption of the Public Right of Way for ground-level expansion of a private restaurant. The permit application will be voided.”

Horn tells Eater that the area is merely a “slab of concrete” in an “area where trash has been dumped; it’s an area where there’s graffiti. It’s not a natural area for people to walk.” Horn adds that he’s been paying rent on the space for months, plus paying fines whenever the place gets tagged, and making substantial efforts to beautify the neglected concrete slab in question.

The pit boss has his options, none of them appealing. He could smoke his meats offsite, or he could just eat his losses and find another location. But he refuses to sacrifice preparing his BBQ in a smoker. This puts the opening of a permanent Horn’s Barbecue indefinitely on hold, though Eater also tells us his fried chicken sandwich spot Kowbird will likely open at Jack London Square in August or September.

Related: Flint's BBQ Is Coming Back As A Pop-Up [SFist]

Image: David K. via Yelp

Pretty big news for downtown dining: Michael Mina's eight-year-old brasserie RN74, famous for its long and expense-account-shattering wine list, is going to be calling it quits later this year and "transitioning" into a barbecue restaurant. The Business Times has the scoop, and the place will be called International Smoke — i.e. a brick-and-mortar incarnation of the pop-up that Mina did with Mrs. Steph Curry herself, Ayesha Curry, last year in his revolving Test Kitchen space in the Marina.

The restaurant sits at the base of the sinking Millennium Tower, but that debacle does not seem to be at the heart of Mina's decision to shutter RN74. He gave a statement saying that he wants to "reinvigorate the building with new energy and excitement, especially given [International Smoke's] success at MINA Test Kitchen."

The concept is international barbecue driven by seasonal ingredients, and reportedly there will be a $45 prix-fixe, family-style menu similar to the one offered at the pop-up.

And Mina is betting big on Curry and her barbecue: this will be the second location of International Smoke, with a first already open in Honolulu, and a third set to open in Los Angeles later this year.

Mina said in an email to the Business Times, "Ayesha and I have worked on this project for quite some time and are excited to share a lighter side of barbecue, featuring global flavors and cooking techniques with signature MINA Group hospitality that you've come to know." The chef and restaurant mogul has not disclosed when the transition will be taking place, or how long the place may go dark for a renovation.

RN74, with its signature market wine list on one wall in the form of an old-fashioned train schedule ticker, has had some ups and downs over its eight years — its sinking building notwithstanding — as Michael Bauer noted in a positive update review in 2014.

And its chef, Adam Sobel, who oversaw what Bauer characterized as a rebound three years ago, already moved on to "incubate" a couple of new projects in the MINA Test Kitchen as well. It's rumored that the Mina Group's next project, in fact, is reported to be a brick-and-mortar incarnation of Sobel's Middle-Terranea pop-up that was there last year. Though there hasn't been movement on that since Eater got that scoop in early 2016, the restaurant had been slated to move into ground-floor space at Salesforce's "East" building at 350 Mission Street, down the street from their new tower.

There won't be any three hour lines, as is customary at Austin's renowned Franklin Barbecue. Instead, just expect a mad dash to click fast on tickets for pitmaster Aaron Franklin's San Francisco pop-up, the dates for which were announced today.

It's going down over the course of two nights, Saturday May 9th and Sunday May 10th, on the loading dock of Smokestack, Magnolia's Dogpatch brewery and barbecue joint.

There, Aaron and the SF-based coauthor of his book, Jordan Mackay, will be hanging out, slinging plates of barbecue (including brisket, Franklin's most sought-after item) and offering up two beers, a copy of the book, and dessert for $130 a head.

Those tickets are sure to sell out heartbreakingly fast when the go on sale this Friday on Eventbrite at 9 a.m. There's a two per person limit and they're non transferrable.

In 2009, Franklin launched his barbecue joint, which has purportedly sold out of brisket every day since and moved to a brick and mortar location in 2011. The same, surely, will be true in SF.

There's no good 'que in the Bay Area, you bemoan? Ha! We have some choice spots where you can find the best barbecue in town that will make you feel like you're back in the South, minus the fire flies, thick drawls, and not giving a damn.

HI-LO
This new-ish Mission spot (owned by the team behind Maverick and Hog & Rocks) boast excellent ribs and appropriately sloppy smoked meat and smoked beef sandwiches. Sure, it's a tad on the pricey side, but worth it for good 'cue and cloth napkins. (Also of note: Bauer gave it a meh, while Patricia Unterman gave it a rave review. You make the call.)
3416 19th Street (between San Carlos & Mission), S.F., 415-874-9921

MEMPHIS MINNIES
Still smoking after all these years, the Lower Haight BBQ mainstay has lately become known for their fantastic Tuesdays-only Saturdays-only fried chicken but their namesake Memphis-style sweet smoked pork or Texas slow-smoked beef brisket are still go-to sandwiches for homesick Southerners looking for a mesquite fix. Arm yourself with a six-pack of regional sauces and you can tweak your meat to your preferred temperature or hometown style.
576 Haight Street (at Steiner), S.F.; 415-864-7675

THE RIP WHIP
Cedar Hill has two Rib Whip trucks, which aren't bad. They don't get a ton of press (because they're in the Marina), but when you see the Rib Whip truck out and about, do give it a try.
Check their Facebook page for locations

SNEAKY'S BBQ
After departing the kitchen at Rebel, Sneaky's BBQ has returned as a weekly pop-up affair in Vinyl Wine Bar on Divisadero, where the crisp, almond-wood-smoked kurobuta pork belly that won accolades from Food & Wine and SFWeekly is now available in sandwich form as a Pork Belly BLT. For pulled pork purists, Sneaky's does a Carolina-style sandwich with a choice of mustard, vinegar or rooster sauces and homespun sides like baked beans, shells & cheese and the ubiquitous cornbread. The truly adventurous go for a BBQban — the bastard child of a Cubano and a BBQ sandwich and there's even a vegan option (it's BBQ jackfruit) so your meatless friends don't have to miss out.
Wednesdays, 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. Vinyl Wine Bar, 359 Divisadero (at Oak), S.F.; 415-621-4132

SMOKIN' WAREHOUSE
You used to have to trek to the Bayview between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. for the excellent ribs and brisket served up by this Asian-owned operation, but luckily they launched a truck and now make appearances at SoMa StrEat Food Park occasionally. They make, hands down, some of the best ribs you'll find in the city, we promise, and their corned beef sandwich isn't half bad either.
1465 Carroll (at Jennings), S.F.; 415-648-8881

SOUTHPAW BBQ
One of the better "upscale" barbecue spots in town is this unassuming spot on Mission Street that opened in 2011. Their dry-rubbed ribs are the business, and they do a fine brisket too. Their sides are possibly where they shine most, with some excellent grit cakes with ham hock and cheddar, and various California-ized items like broccolini and roasted beets. They also have a solid, whiskey-centric bar program, house-brewed beer, and some unique items like smoked pulled goat with salsa verde and fry bread; and a BBQ version of nachos dubbed Natchez, with potato chips, pulled pork, black-eyed peas, hot sauce, and pimiento bechamel.
2170 Mission (at 18th Street), S.F.; 415-934-9300

WEXLER'S
Chef Charlie Kleinman's four-year-old Financial District restaurant has never been a traditional barbecue spot by any stretch, but Kleinman is a big fan of Southern food and smokey flavors, and he does wonders with a small smoker in his tiny kitchen, creating upscale spins on barbecue dishes like pulled pork and BBQ chicken. Also, as of last year, he launched a truck called Wexler's Back, serving more traditional stuff like brisket sandwiches -- and they're good.
568 Sacramento (at Montgomery), S.F., 415-983-0102

B-SIDE BBQ
We have to give one to Oakland, folks. It would be wrong not to include them. Following on the success of Brown Sugar Kitchen, chef Tanya Holland and husband Phil Surkis opened their version of a traditional West Oakland rib joint like so many that used to exist there, way back in the day. They do traditional Carolina-style pulled pork as well as jerk-spiced baby back ribs, and Holland "Dark & Stormy" version of St. Louis ribs, which all adds up to what she called "Oakland style" BBQ. Plus there's brown sugar-rubbed brisket, and in a nod to modern-day Oakland, there's a vegetarian option of BBQ-braised tofu nuggets. And as Tasting Table and others have noted, sides like Holland's version of baked beans, using Great Northern beans, ham hocks, and burnt barbecue ends, "almost upstage the barbecue."
3303 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland

"Never has barbecue been so popular in San Francisco — and never has there been so little of it," explained Memphis Minnie's founder Bob Kantor in a recent interview with Haighteration. And he's right. What with the local food sect's sometimes refreshing, often stupid lockjaw on the latest food fad (we hear that Eastern European is the thing that should be passing through your gastrointestinal tract these days), or anything served under the warm glow of an Edison bulb for that matter, this city tends to relish eschewing food trends that really aren't trends at all. Like barbecue.

Tomorrow, September 11, Haight Street barbecue staple Memphis Minnie's celebrates 12 years making the Lower Haight a sweet and savory place where the south rises again on Tuesdays - Sundays from 11 am - 10 pm. Furthermore, they've been serving the community good grub for shockingly reasonable prices. Kantor goes on to explain, "The cost to produce all my food has tripled in the past 12 years, though my prices have not. The vendors and producers control everything, and I would hate to see it get to the point where we have independent restaurants for the wealthy and corporate chains for the rest of us."

True words, Bob — true, haunting words.

Be sure to read the interview with Kantor in its entirety. Then tomorrow, by all means, head over to Haight Street for some sticky meat and a glass of imported sake.

Memphis Minnie's: 576 Haight (between Fillmore), SF, 415-864-7675

[Haighteration]

Is your barbecue grill making you ill? Could be. Who knows. This handy chart by the FDA, CDC, Mayo Clinic, and International Food Council will tell you at what temperatures one should prepare their meats on the grill in order to prevent foodborne illness. Sure, some might disagree with the suggestions here. (We prefer our steaks barely introduced to the patio grill from the other side of the street. Rare is the only way to go.) But it's pretty good for those who don't abide by artisan law, or are unsure from where their meat came.

Here are some other less frightening suggestions for throwing your own BBQ fete this summer:

• Never use lean ground beef. Or pre-made patties.
• Do not start spraying lighter fluid after more than two cocktails -- ask a more sober friend to light the grill. We're not kidding.
• Please keep 2:1 ratio of beer to (white) wine. A lack of dry wine makes for unhappy blog editors.
• Classic barbecue sauce is only a suggestion, not a requirement.
• Please keep soft blankets at the ready. We enjoy sitting on the grass, but not on the grass. While we're at it, a colorful selection of parasols make for a lovely melanoma-free afternoon.
• Thighs and legs > breasts
• New Edition or En Vogue are ideal Pandora stations for barbecue under the sun. Dunno why. They just are.
• Clean your grill before using.
• Stop moving the meat around constantly like your dad did. Let it sit on the grill for a bit. Also, never press on your patties. The juice will run out and you will have dry burgers... and a dry frowny face.
• Got any weed?
• Screw it. Grilling, like math, is hard. Grab some ribs from Pican instead. Or, better yet, get some meat from B-Side BBQ in Oakland, care of chef Tanya Holland. She's a wizard when it comes to the art of barbecue.

Happy grilling, people!

Well, slather us in barbecue sauce and call us Baby Back, a recent poll/listicle thing by leisurely travel glossy, Travel + Leisure Magazine has determined that San Francisco's barbecue options are decidedly subpar. According to a poll of visitors, Bay Area barbecue ranks 28th out of 35 vacation-friendly cities, putting us well below pulled pork destination cities like Memphis (where Willie Brown imports his ribs from) and Kansas City. Embarrassingly, we couldn't even beat out either Portland.

Before we get our white bread all soggy over some magazine reader poll, we'd like to defend the plentiful pulled pork and brisket options around town: We've had the pleasure of licking rib sauce off our fingers at Big Nate's BBQ (we confess we haven't been since it switched over to CatHead's though), friends rave about Sneaky's on Market Street and near the SFist Western Branch Office on Divisadero Da Pitt BBQ is... well, it consistently has at least two people eating there, so it can't be all bad. (And before you start shouting "MEMPHIS MINNIES" at us please realize that, while the food is certainly tasty, most of their charm lies in the sauce selection and the 90s-holdout cartoon pig logo.)

Anyhow, the same survey placed our fair city pretty low on the list for hamburgers, which is just a flat-out lie.

Previously: Aggressive Panhandlers Blamed For San Francisco's Slipping Tourism Ranking
[Travel + Leisure]

We couldn't get though this article about today's bust of the East Bay operation Tainted Inc., which produced "marijuana-laced candies, cookies, ice cream, peanut butter, barbecue sauce, granola bars and brownies," without gagging. (We can't even re-read that sentence.) Why? Because the taste to pot is vile. We know that after time one starts to develop a taste for the drugs to which they are addicted, but we can't see that happening with the mary jane. Ever.

Pot pastry chefs of the world, please stop trying to convince us marijuana is a tasty, zany herb in any form. It is not. No, it's not. Ew. We'd rather choke on tarragon-vanilla pudding.

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week.

Bostonist plans to bring the right tunes for a July 4th backyard barbecue. Side one of the Bostonist Chock-Full-o-Freedom Summer Soundtrack comes courtesy of the Ryan Montbleau Band. Side two is a mix from Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka and former Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt. If the barbecue is really ragin', they'll bring new singles from Mitt Romney's dog called "Station Wagon From Hell" and new Celtic Ray Allen's cover of "Age Ain't Nothin' But a Number."

As neither American (they have their own birthday to worry about) nor interested in Paris Hilton in any capacity whatsoever, Torontoist freely covered what it knows best – its local beat. They compared notes on what the city's greatest albums of all time were, watched some sweet-ass rock balancing, and continued covering the sale of one of its favourite CD stores, Sam the Record Man, with a report from its merchandise auction. They freely checked out the smallest bar in town, then told their readers to go beat the shit out of a car. When emergency vehicles were ordered to "Support Our Troops," they debated the issue and watched as a street artist, Posterchild, mocked it (and then re-published his manifesto a few days later).

SFist had freedom to love covered, with coverage of the city's famous annual gay pride parade. And of course, they covered the freedom to rock, with an interview of local American air guitar champion Hot Lixx Houlihan. The commenters were free to complain about the terrible parking situation in San Francisco, in not one, not two, but three posts this week. What San Francisco's not free to do, though? Throw away garbage – the city's taken away over 300 of our city trash cans!

Overseas, Londonist was politely pretending not to be aware of Independence Day, but everyone was keeping busy with a variety of big, outdoor events, all washed out by ceaseless rain, as is traditional for all of London's "summer" shenanigans. As everyone limbered up for a slightly confused Canada Day, the whole of London was suddenly unnerved by a major bomb scare - news still coming in so watch that link. Despite the troubling situation, Londoners are still embracing their freedom and are marching and partying for London Pride, Europe's biggest gay and lesbian festival. And with the famously stoic and bravest of faces only Londoners know how to produce in troubled times, chins are up and voices are soaring for the week-long London-wide Sing London event. Let's hope the stiff upper lips are relaxed a little for the big finale next weekend.

For those who say they don't like LA, filmmaker Werner Herzog says this: "Los Angeles is raw, uncouth, and bizarre, but it's a place of substance." Therefore, LAist has been celebrating film, day by day, this past week by following the Los Angeles Film Festival. (But let's not forget about the erotic stuff, okay?) Angelenos are also savoring their last year of using cell phones while driving – was that why all those UCLA students were running around in their underwear? And with such freedom of mobility in their car culture (okay, the traffic doesn't help much), why not host an art exhibition called The Parking Lot Show?

Summer in the city has been heating up for Gothamist. The Big Apple had a forty-eight-minute blackout that freaked everyone out. Even still, there were people celebrating their freedom to camp out for iPhones, which arrived in NYC with possibly more media and spectators than people on line. A fight broke out between two cozy seafood restaurants over claims of intellectual property theft (the Caesar salad, the wainscotting, and the marble counters, for starters) and some people got upset at vehicles violating no-car rules in a Brooklyn park. Luckily, there is Matt Allen, who has been handing out free frozen treats across the country, and is now in NYC. And the Splasher, the strange figure who's been splashing street art, sent us a 16-page manifesto.

And in Philadelphia, where that whole Fourth of July thing got started, Phillyist was celebrating freedom left and right: freedom to act for twenty-four hours straight, freedom to shop and drink at the same time, freedom to make Seinfeld references and the mayor's freedom to get his iPhone on. They were happy to see their local transit corporation feels free to ask people to keep it quiet, that kittens are free from cheesesteak restaurants, and that The Nightwatchman is still all about a different kind of freedom. On a completely different note, they educated their readers about pulmonary embolism, which took the life of their beloved editor, Star "Sarcasmo" Foster, in December.

Compiled and edited by Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey.

Top image by Flickr user 37°C, via SFist. Middle image by Flickr user NYCViaRachel . Bottom image by Michael Femia at Bostonist.