This Jefferson Park spot lures fans with items like a brisket burrito and pulled pork poutine, for breakfast. Other favorites include smoked salmon, rib tips, and smoked Polish sausage. Earl’s is equipped with a handy drive-thru, ideal for social distancing, and has a handful of picnic tables for outdoor dining. Sister restaurants, Ella’s BBQ in Lincoln Park and TK in Wicker Park, are also open.

The place that started Chicago’s barbecue renaissance is well-known and beloved by smoked meats enthusiasts. Smoque holds a long-standing spot on the Eater 38 thanks to its melting pot of styles. The meaty St. Louis ribs are slathered with a Memphis-style dry rub and smoked over apple and oak, while the moist and tender brisket by way of Texas is one of the finest in town. Sides are no afterthought, either, as homemade mac and cheese, brisket chili, and BBQ beans are all excellent. Staff have set up a covered and socially-distanced patio that’s also BYOB. A second restaurant, Smoque Steak, featuring, yes, smoked steaks, is scheduled to open soon.

Chef D’Andre Carter and wife Heather Bublick have brought back barbecue glory to the river. Carter, a South Side Chicago native, has shown an obsession for barbecue with Texas-style brisket, tender baby backs, and more. The operation also has a stall in the Time Out Market Chicago in Fulton Market, a food truck, and the original location in Evanston. Don’t forget about the smoked link.

South Side-style barbecue is, understandably, a rarity on the other parts of town. This Humboldt Park spot is the welcome exception to that norm, utilizing an aquarium smoker to produce tasty rib and turkey tips, links, and slabs of ribs. There’s a non-pork smoker, too, for folks with dietary restrictions.

After nine years in business, Charlie McKenna’s popular Wicker Park restaurant has made some changes. The menu has expanded to include new items like Texas brisket and pimento cheese sausage while the service is now counter. Old favorites — fried pickles, tri tips — remain, as do Lillie’s Q’s lineup of bottled sauces, which range from tangy Carolina Gold to a mayonnaise-based Alabama white barbecue sauce. McKenna relocated to a new space inside West Town brewery District Brew Yards in 2020.

County BBQ’s smoked wings are delectable. Now that that’s out of the way, we can discuss how Bonni Cameron, a former employer, took over the Little Italy operation from Chicago restaurateurs David Morton and chef Michael Kornick. Those two brought over Erick Williams, who went on to open Virtue, to develop the restaurant’s menu. Cameron has maintained County BBQ’s excellence with rib tips, those wings, and more.

Chef John Manion knows his way around a kitchen. When Wicker Park was at its apex of cool, Mas along Division Street was one of the hottest spots around. Before Fulton Market grew into a magnet for brands, La Sirena Clandestina gave Chicago a taste of Brazil. His Latin steakhouse, El Che Steakhouse & Bar, continues to reinvent itself in West Loop. Now, Manion has taken all that meaty experience and applied it to barbecue inside FitzGerald’s, one of the Chicago area’s most loved music venues. Babygold is style agnostic, plucking from a variety of regional traditions to offer top-notch baby-back ribs, brisket, and pulled pork. A giant combo platter is dubbed “Berwyn Style.” Berwyn has marketed itself as a one suburb that doesn’t feel like a suburb. But with Babygold, Chicagoans may actually have a reason to venture out. Veggie options are available.

Pitmaster Willie Wagner honed his skills on the competition circuit before opening a Wild West-themed smoked meats destination in Pilsen. His Memphis-style, dry-rubbed barbecue includes brisket, baby back and St. Louis ribs, smoked chicken, and some of the city’s finest pulled pork.

Slab is a family-owned smoke stack that serves links, rib tips, chicken, and baby-back and St. Louis-style ribs. The South Shore restaurant uses hickory in its aquarium-style smokers. Slab also makes its side dishes — fries, cole slaw, and macaroni and cheese — on site.

Chicagoans’ love of rib tips and its popularity can be traced back to this small South Side smoke shack. Lem’s has been an institution for more than 60 years, serving smoky, finger-licking tips with a tangy, vinegary sauce. There’s little else available on the menu except for some juicy hot links and fried chicken, but everyone should head to 75th Street to understand why the lines stretch out the door.

This is South Side barbecue without the aquarium. These rib tips and sausages are the star at this barbecue spot. The wings are also worthy.

Brisket and ribs are the specialties of the house at Lexington Betty Smokehouse in Pullman. Dominque Leach has raised her profile on national cooking shows, demonstrating her skills using her favored Southern Pride smoker. She continues to expand with a line of wagyu sausages and sauces.