Downtown barbecue spot defines gastro’cue

Service: very casual but welcoming

Best dishes: smoked wings, pulled pork, Brunswick stew

Vegetarian selections: salads, smoked portobello sandwich

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Price range: $$

Credit cards: all major credit cards

Hours: 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays-Sundays

Children: fine

Parking: street parking

Reservations: no

Wheelchair access: yes

Smoking: no

Noise level: moderate to high

Patio: yes

Takeout: yes

Address, phone: 309 Nelson St. N.W., Atlanta. 404-228-6377.

Website: www.smokeringatlanta.com

Most foodies will agree that there are few words more irritating than “foodie.” It is a term that often incites fervent discussion and distaste from those in the food industry. Disdain for the moniker likely stems in part from its overuse and in part from the elitist and overzealous qualities assigned those labeled with it.

We foodophiles have an entire lexicon of obnoxiously overused terms and phrases — things like “farm-to-table” and “locavore.”

A few years back, the list grew with “gastropub,” a designation for pubs serving high-end food. Now that one even has its own knockoff: “gastro’cue.” It’s the same concept applied to a barbecue spot with a chef-driven menu and high-end fare made with quality ingredients. That’s how Smoke Ring, the new downtown barbecue joint by 101 Concepts, is being billed.

Run by chef Jordan Wakefield, a longtime employee of the restaurant group, and his wife, Erin, Smoke Ring is a lofty, highly styled and carefully rustic space designed to showcase a new side of barbecue.

This is a spot where you can pull up a stool to the long wraparound bar for a domestic craft beer or a creative cocktail made with WhistlePig rye whiskey or any number of brown spirits. It’s not your homey brisket barn. While you can get that paper-lined quarter sheet pan piled with some satisfying pulled pork and spare ribs, you can also fancy it up with pork belly sliders and brisket burritos. This is the place where the oft-neglected barbecue sides become the most interesting part of the meal. Welcome to gastro’cue.

Located just behind the Georgia Dome in Castleberry Hill, Smoke Ring is well positioned for a little pregame tailgating or postgame celebration. Or you could ditch the Dome droves altogether and watch the action on one of the restaurant’s large-screen TVs. Just be prepared to endure a playlist that alternates between hip-hop and Nashville’s Top 40.

Serious barbecue seekers will appreciate the heaping platters built around specialties that come out of the kitchen’s built-in smoker. The wings ($11) are its best expression, bearing the hallmark pink tinge and wood-smoked character beneath the cracklingly crisp flash-fried skin.

The pulled pork ($10), with its moist and tender shreds speckled with fat, also tops the list of the restaurant’s ‘cue. I prefer it to the brisket ($13), which is dryish with a decided chew. Same goes for the pulled chicken ($10) — great swirl of smoky sumptuousness but turns to sawdust with each grind of the teeth.

That’s where the sauces come in handy. Smoke Ring serves four kinds, all made in house. Each table holds three of those: sweet bourbon, red pepper vinegar and an Alabama-style, mayonnaise-based white sauce. The fourth, a SweetWater 420 mustard sauce with the consistency of whole-grain mustard, is served only by request.

But it’s in the sides where we see that chef’s touch befitting gastro’cue. Think about what you’ll do for some good barbecue. Whether it’s driving across state lines or waiting in endless lines, you do it for the meat, right? Accompaniments are often an afterthought. Not here.

At Smoke Ring, sides such as the spicy ears of corn brushed with chipotle mayonnaise and dusted with cotija cheese are what will endear you to the restaurant. Maybe you’ve never had ham-hock-cooked collards with a sprinkle of cinnamon that taste of fall or hearty creamed corn whose body comes from stone-ground grits. And if you haven’t had Smoke Ring’s Brunswick stew, well, that’s a shame. Granted, you’ll need knife, fork and spoon to tackle the thick wedges of pulled pork, but all will be forgiven once you dredge them in the rounded but thin, vinegary broth ($6).

Like the sides, Smoke Ring’s menu also offers a number of Southern specialties and a few experimental dishes, many with a firm foot in the battered-and-greased comfort food category. I didn’t get to the bacon-wrapped chorizo hot dog ($10) or the tempura-fried smoked ribs ($9), but their uniqueness called to me. Next time.

I did get to the smoked brisket burrito ($14), a giant rolled tortilla fat with the beef and smothered in creamy queso and smoked salsa verde. That was a much better use of the brisket, as was reheating it the next day soaked in the hot vinegar sauce.

We also picked our way through an order of fried pickles ($5), the salty batter and tart cukes a perfect match for the light chipotle ranch. They make a far superior tailgate nosh than heavily battered strips of okra ($6) and thick and greasy panko-crusted fried green tomatoes ($7).

There you have it: gastro’cue. With a focus on sourcing quality ingredients, cheffy touches and a beverage program, Smoke Ring qualifies. “Gastro’cue” may be just as annoying as “foodie,” but it’s just as accurate.