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Start a Top 5 for BBQEditor’s picks
Press picks, until locals rank their own Top 5s. Sourced from the local food press. As seen in San Diego Magazine, KPBS, and San Diego Reader. Updated August 2026.
Grand Ole BBQ Y Asado · North Park
Brisket with a thick peppery bark served with house chimichurri, at night until it sells out.
Coop’s West Texas BBQ & Catering · Lemon Grove
A cash-only Lemon Grove smokehouse from pitmaster Bradrick "Coop" Cooper, open weekends only, for melt-in-your-mouth brisket and Texas sausage.
Cali BBQ · Spring Valley
Wood-fired brisket and pork ribs from a smoker lit before dawn; a Spring Valley institution.
Bowlegged B.B.Q · Chollas View
A backyard-cookout BBQ joint on Market Street with tender pork ribs, dirty rice and cornbread.