Unrated: This is a restaurant we want to re-visit before rating, or it’s a coffee shop, bar, or dessert shop. We only rate spots where you can eat a full meal.

Cafecito-rubbed meat and guava barbecue sauce are becoming the pillars of Miami-style barbecue. And while Smoke & Dough’s menu includes those building blocks, the West Kendall restaurant takes the concept of Miami barbecue further than anyone else. Smoke & Dough combines the best of Miami’s familiar Latin American staples with American barbecue. There’s brisket with Mexican mole, Puerto Rican mofongo topped with smoked duck, and tequeños filled with pastrami. It’s familiar but different—experimental but rigorously tested. Smoke & Dough’s interpretation of Miami-style barbecue is so dialed in, they’re setting the pace for everyone else joining the scene. 

Apocalypse BBQ is like Smoke & Dough’s chaotic younger sibling. Both spots love to rub cafecito on things before shoving it into a smoker. Both also Miamify their sauces—Apocalypse’s oro negro sauce has a faint whisper of a sugar from the colada. Food aside, there is no denying that Apocalypse is the most Miami of all the barbecue spots in spirit. It feels like a Kendall house party. Back when it was operating out of a golf shack, they’d give free beers to people in line, until someone had one too many (how Miami) and they had to stop. The line may be a tad more sober these days, but the energy inside is still operating at a Miami volume. Servers call you bro and talk about the mojo mustard with the same enthusiasm as a Disney World employee talks about Mickey Mouse. 

Out of all the players in the Miami-style barbecue universe, Slab Daddy’s approach is the most understated (sort of). There’s nothing subtle about the graffiti puns surrounding the Allapattah food truck. The nuance is on the menu. They’re cooking a unique mashup of Carolina-style barbecue with Latin American nods that lean into Miami’s growing Nicaraguan diaspora. You can order a side of rice and beans with your brisket, and their slaw tastes like ensalada de repollo (because it’s inspired by one). Queso frito and flour tortillas are also frequent guests on Slab Daddy’s meat platters. They’re essentially operating from a parking lot, but the folks who work here will make even the most inhospitable day in summer feel like a chill getty with friends. If you understood that sentence, you’re going to appreciate this place.