Chainsmoker BBQ in Kanata and Junior & the Kid BBQ in New Edinburgh serve brisket, ribs, chicken and more.

With summer in the rearview mirror and autumn leaves poised to drop, maybe you’ve declared an end to backyard barbecuing.

But if you’re still craving smoky, carnivorous indulgences, two recently opened restaurants — one in Kanata and the other in New Edinburgh — have you covered.

First, there’s Chainsmoker Urban BBQ Kanata, which opened in early August in a Hazeldean Road strip mall. It’s the eighth and newest location of a restaurant brand launched in the Greater Toronto Area in 2018, Since then, Chainsmoker BBQ has proliferated across southern Ontario and this spring, a location even opened in Houston, Texas.

Helping to drive the brand’s popularity is the fact that its food is halal. Given how many Ottawa restaurants see the benefits of serving food that the city’s many Muslims can eat, you could almost ask, “What took Chainsmoker so long to come to town?”

The difference between pretty good barbecue and great barbecue usually comes down to texture and juiciness. Since barbecued meats are cooked at low temperature for long periods of time, they’re hardly ever cooked to order.

Instead, those meats that you ordered were usually ready to eat whenever the barbecue joint opened. If so, it was either held at temperature until you ordered it or somehow reheated. Every barbecue eatery faces the challenge of how to prevent cooked-in-advance food from degrading over time. No wonder that the ambrosial barbecue that I’ve had — in Texas, naturally — was ordered and served as soon as such fabled joints as Franklin Barbecue and Goldee’s Barbecue opened.

At his 64-seat eatery, Chainsmoker co-owner Zohaib Hussain told me that his meats are cooked in pellet smokers. Briskets are cooked overnight, for eight hours, while other meats are cooked each morning to be ready for customers at noon. “We try not to reheat all the time,” he said, adding “if it’s sold out, we’re sold out.”

I’ve eaten twice here, once for lunch and once for dinner. Both times, we were served pretty good barbecue, although some items were better than others.

Chainsmoker has the largest menu of the three halal barbecue joints, branching out to serve burgers and fried chicken sandwiches as well as beef ribs, brisket, chicken, chicken wings and lamb shanks. As well, desserts and teas from a second halal franchise called Sweet Heart Cafe are available at the Kanata Chainsmoker location. That means you can get Kashmiri tea with your jerk chicken, which in my brave new world is just great.

Most items were solidly flavourful, thanks to bold, but approachable sauces that offered more heat and savouriness than sweetness. Best, I thought, were the lamb shanks and beef ribs. Chicken wings were heavily sauced and tasty. Chicken legs, which come in barbecue and jerk flavours were fine, but could have been juicier. Brisket, which as they say is the most difficult cut of beef to barbecue properly, was lightly peppery, lean and too dry. A bit of barbecue sauce made it better.

Of Chainsmoker’s sides, I’d single out the unfailingly crisp fries, served unadorned or with assorted toppings for praise. I also liked slaw that was heavy on the dill. Mac ‘n’ cheese was more ordinary.

A final kudo for Chainsmoker: Its portions are generous, and only a glutton won’t take home leftovers.

Junior & the Kid BBQ, Ottawa’s other new barbecue arrival this summer, opened on Beechwood Avenue in July, taking over the space that was Red Door Provisions before it moved a few blocks west. Now, a contender for the city’s best barbecue is across the street from Linden, a contender for the city’s best pizza.

For its part, Junior & the Kid also moved west. Previously, owner-pitmaster Chris “the Kid” Villeneuve, a former City of Ottawa prosecutor, did his smoking in Rockland, a good half-hour east of Ottawa. But his move to Beechwood Avenue brings his wares much closer to urban Ottawa’s barbecue fans.

Mind you, if you insist on halal barbecue, then Junior & the Kid probably isn’t for you. Yes, Villeneuve says his beef and chicken are halal. However, they are cooked in a gigantic, custom-made, 1,000-gallon offset smoker in which pork ribs and pork shoulder are also cooked. Villeneuve says that he tries to isolate his meats to certain parts of the smoker, sometimes halal meats will be cooking where pork had been.

Villeneuve, who has been barbecuing professionally since 2018, says he doesn’t do any reheating, and that he’s able to hold cooked meat at a warm, safe temperature during his service. Having visited twice in the early afternoon, I can also tell you that Junior & the Kid can run out of its most popular items.

But it’s worth visiting with your fingers crossed that you’ll be able to try Villeneuve’s burnt ends, made from the fattiest end of the brisket. Chunky and unctuous in the best possible way, and superbly sauced, Villeneuve’s burnt ends remind me why barbecue lovers have nicknamed this treat “meat candy.”

Villeneuve’s really commendable brisket is almost as good as his burnt ends. Slices that I’ve had were juicy and tender, and they didn’t need the sauce that comes with it. Pro tip: put some brisket on Villeneuve’s solid mac ‘n’ cheese for a real superb bite.

I’ve brought home excellent St. Louis-cut pork ribs from Junior & the Kid. Villeneuve says he cooks four racks of ribs to be ready for noon, and then four more to be ready for dinner customers.

Pork belly and pulled pork sandwiches also hit the spot. Jerk chicken was moist and flavourful, if not the spicy flavour bomb that I remember eating when Villeneuve served me some jerk chicken a few years ago at the Orléans Farmers Market.

Potato salad and slaw were pretty good here. Cornbread was even better. The menu lists a dessert that I’ve yet to try called “smoked chocolate bar Rice Krispie.” Given Villeneuve’s smoking prowess and other culinary skills, it’s on my must-try list.

The only complaint I can register about Junior & the Kid is that its portions are reasonable, but not huge. Then, again, barbecue in moderation is probably a good thing.

To my surprise, Villeneuve told me he hasn’t yet eaten barbecue in Texas. The only tell, I think, is that he serves brisket slices with a drizzle of sauce, rather than on the side. And yet, of Ottawa’s barbecue purveyors, he may very well come closest to offering Texas-level deliciousness.

Who knows if or when I’ll ever return to Austin? Until then, I’ll be heading to Beechwood Avenue.

451 Hazeldean Rd., Unit E-5, 613-801-6988, chainsmoker.ca

Open: Sunday to Thursday noon to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 11 p.m.

Prices: sandwiches $17.50 and $18.50, platters $65 (for two people) to $230 (for up to eight)

Access: No steps to front door

117 Beechwood Ave., 613-741-7282, juniorandthekid.com

Open: Wednesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., closed Sunday

Prices: sandwiches $18.40 to $21.50, sampler platter for one or two people $41, meat by the pound $32 to $36

Access: Steps to front door

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