Barbecue is good for us.

6609 Shattuck Ave. (North of Alcatraz)
Berkeley, CA
(510) 595-5323

Hours: Somewhat variable, but generally lunchtime through evening.

The Nutshell

Best sauce in the Bay Area, bar none: thick, dark, sweet, and smoky. Good pork ribs and brisket.

The Place

Flint’s was closed for the first two years I lived in Oakland, but it was all the more tantalizing because it’s only a few blocks from my house. It’s not much to look at — just a bare storefront with white cinderblock walls and a white counter with a cash register and a few fliers. No tables; it’s take-out only. There’s a fridge behind the counter, usually half-full of sodas and the occasional piece of pie, and a bench of questionable structural integrity by the door that you can perch on while you wait for your order. In other words, it’s the prototypical barbecue dive joint.

Last year, after being pleasantly surprised by the lit neon “Open” sign and the smoky aroma, I wandered in, and Flint’s quickly became one of my favorite BBQ sources.

The Sauce

I have a confession: I’m a North Carolina-born vinegar sauce partisan, but the dark, smoky sauce that the folks at Flint’s heap on their meat is so delicious that I can’t pass it up. It’s thick and brown-black, like some sort of Texas crude, and just as well-guarded: you can’t buy the sauce alone, so you’ve gotta pony up for some meat if you want a fix. It seems to be a ketchup-based sauce, but that’s not what you’ll detect when you taste it — the complex flavor includes hints of chocolate and molasses. The medium sauce gives a good amount of spice that builds as you’re eating.

You’ll want every last bit of the bread in the baggie to sop up all the spicy, smoky goodness.

[Seriously, this sauce must be made with crack. I would spread it all over wet cardboard and eat every bite. -Judd]

The Meat

When I first started visiting Flint’s, the brisket (or “sliced beef” on their menu) was always my order of choice. It’s not too fatty, not too lean, not too gristly, and fairly tender, though not melt-in-your-mouth. But they often run out, in part because a pound of the stuff is a great deal — a hearty dinner for two, including double portions of the sides. One of the women behind the counter told me that they keep making more to meet demand, but demand just keeps increasing, so they are still out much of the time. Call ahead if you want to be sure they have it.

During one of the brisket shortages, fortuitously enough, Judd and I decided to try the pork ribs, which it turns out are perhaps even better-suited than the brisket for the delicious sauce. They’re not as good-quality meat as the ribs from KC’s or Great American — a bit more gristle and connective tissue — but they’re thick and well-smoked, pink-tinged with delicious chewy and crunchy bits around the edges.

Avoid the beef ribs; they’re fatty and unappealing. For that matter, avoid beef ribs in general.

The Sides

Flint’s serves just two sides: baked beans, the basic kind from a can; and a decent potato salad. The dense, chunky potato salad provides a nice, cooling antidote to the sauce as the spice builds in your mouth.

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