Top 5 Spots for BBQ in Connecticut

Features Restaurant BBQ Best of CT Meats Comfort Food Pitmaster Homepage

Erik Ofgang February 20, 2025

I still remember a time when Connecticut was a barbecue desert. Brisket could seem like an exotic item, and getting quality smoked meats usually meant a trip to New York City or further out of state. Those dark ages have, thankfully, long since passed. Today Connecticut is home to many good and several great barbecue destinations that are drawing people from out of state. In the story below, I highlight my five favorites, two of which were also featured in Texas Monthly in a feature about the best Texas barbecue outside of Texas. But before we dig into these picks, I have two caveats. First, though I love what is happening at several barbecue popups — I’m looking at you Broken Symmetry, Rise Doughnuts and Mason Sreet BBQ — this story is focused on establishments with more regular hours. Second, though I’ve tried many barbecue places in the state, I’m always on the lookout for new destinations. So if your favorite spot isn’t here and I’ve never been or you think it’s worthy of a revisit because something improved recently, I’m all ears. Now grab some napkins because we’re getting hands-on with barbecue.

Smoking Again: Pitmaster Leland Avellino Opens Takeout-Only Avellino Family BBQ

Features Interview BBQ Pitmaster Norwalk Homepage Comfort Food Catering

Andrew Dominick April 22, 2021

Leland Avellino is a name that might be familiar to local BBQ enthusiasts. Even if you can’t recall, there’s a good chance you ate at the Stamford branch of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que at least once. Avellino, who was a partner, didn’t only open that location in 2012, he went on to become the company’s corporate executive chef before he transitioned away from that role to return to the BBQ pits in Stamford because as he puts it, “I met my wife, had two kids, and life on the road wasn’t good for that, so I came back.”

When Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Stamford decided to pull the plug in June 2020 due to COVID-19, Avellino got antsy. He wanted to feed people clamoring for his smoked meats and he needed to get back to work to feed his family.

“I was sitting home, I was bored, and I wanted to feed my people,” he says. “I bought this 500-gallon converted propane tank smoker on a whim. I looked at tanks in Texas, Kansas, I talked to pit bosses all over to find a good one. I bought this one (built in Austin) locally from a guy who was going to do something in Greenwich, and he didn’t because of COVID. I bought it without telling my wife! I pulled the trigger, and boom! Here we are!”

The “here” is in the Glenbrook section of Stamford, at 47 Larkin Street, past Lock City Brewing and Marcia Selden Catering, at ONTHEMARC Events where Avellino uses a commercial kitchen space and parks his smoker by the front door.

At Avellino Family BBQ, he’s not doing the same ‘cue he did at Dino.