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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 Berkeleyside and The Infatuation. Updated August 2026.
Saints Smokehouse · Downtown Oakland, Oakland
Berkeleyside. Chopped-winning pitmaster Rashad Armstead's downtown Oakland smokehouse, named for his great-grandmother. Hickory-and-mesquite brisket and ribs, with a secret-recipe barbecue sauce. Lines form before the noon open and the kitchen often sells out by mid-afternoon.
Fikscue Thrive City · Mission Bay
The Infatuation (8.6). Texas-style smoked brisket and fork-tender beef cheeks crossed with Indonesian flavors (rendang, soto padang) inside Mission Bay's Thrive City food hall.