Cleveland, OHBBQ

Michael Symon's downtown smokehouse builds a self-described Cleveland-style barbecue, folding local Bertman Ball Park Mustard into its house sauce. The kitchen is known for a giant beef rib, a pound-and-a-half cut rubbed with coriander, black pepper, and mustard seed, pastrami-spiced and meant for two to share. Counter-style service on East Fourth Street keeps the focus on smoked meats.

Owner Robert Togliatti describes Woodstock's Lakewood kitchen as a mixture of Nashville and Memphis barbecue with Texas brisket thrown in, all held to a single-page menu he keeps deliberately short. A frequently cited starter is the jalapeños stuffed with smoked sausage and cheddar cream cheese and finished with bacon. The tight lineup leans on smoked meats over sprawl.

This Ohio City spot on Lorain Avenue opened in 2017 and later took on the Real Smoq'ed name. Owner Nav Singh keeps the menu, in his words, simple, fresh and to the point. A dish regulars call out is the Polish Girl, a kielbasa served over French fries and tangy slaw, which many order with pulled pork added.

The Proper Pig started as a food truck and moved into a Lakewood storefront in 2020, carrying a Texas lean into its smokehouse. The menu runs to Central Texas chopped beef brisket and hot links, with Lone Star beer to match. Regulars often start with bacon on a stick, a sweet, smoky skewer the kitchen treats as its calling card.

Lifelong friends Jack Messer and Constantine Katsaros run this Clifton Boulevard smokehouse around an all-wood-burning Oyler 700, splitting the menu between barbecue and lighter plates. Their signature is Montreal smoked meat, a peppery, dry-rubbed cousin of pastrami that takes eleven days to prepare before it reaches the counter. The wood smoker anchors the whole operation.