Smoked & Spanky's

Smoked

103 2nd Ave. (6th St.)

212-388-0388

Spanky's BBQ

127 W. 43rd St. (betw. 6th Ave. & B'way)

212-302-9507

I met up with native North Carolinian Russell Flinchum, an archivist at the exclusive Century Club. We were setting out to evaluate the brand-new restaurant Smoked, which specializes in upscale BBQ cooked in an exquisitely slow style by executive chef Kenneth Collins, owner of the venerated Ida Mae.

"You know, they have machines that make hush puppies now," Russell told co-owner Michael Satsky.

"If you told my chef that, I think he would cry," replied Satsky. "He makes everything the hard way, no matter how long it takes."

The meal began with Louisiana sweet potato ravioli ($8.95 for a starter), an invention of Chef Collins' that's lightly topped with sweet herb butter. It was delicate, singular and surprising. Then I had the brown-sugar biscuit ($2.99), which made my day right on the spot, followed by the incredibly tender boneless BBQ short ribs ($17.95) served on a bed of creamed spinach.

"Oh, man!" Russell exclaimed. "This is right on the money!"

The Lone Star Chicken Wings ($7.95) had cooked for 10 hours and were beer-braised and spicy. "There's no struggle to get the meat off the bone," Russell noticed. "That's really good."

When we moved on to Spanky's, Queen Esther came along, as well as my friend LisSsa, who was sucking down the Indian Pale Ale. "This is fantastic!" she testified, and since Spanky's is connected to Heartland Brewery, there was plenty more where that came from.

"I suggest you try out the Tater Tots," our waiter Kerry suggested. "They contain mashed potatoes, cheese and finely grated onions-not like most tater tots, which are stringy."

"It goes down real smooth and swirly," said Queen Esther, sampling her first tater tot of the night. "It's a surprise! This is tater tots for grown ups."

The southern-fried dill pickle spears ($6.50), which came with a buttermilk dipping sauce, blew my mind. I like pretty much anything you can dip, especially something that's new to me, but the jalapeno poppers ($7.50), one of which I stupidly dipped in chipotle hot sauce, had me flapping my hands in front of my mouth in a signature gesture of futility.

LisSsa, who is a vegetarian but not the healthy kind, got popcorn shrimp ($7.50) cooked with Cajun spices, and found them to be the perfect compliment to her beers. The Full House is the best sampler to get: At $19.50 it comes with half a chicken, three pork ribs, sliced brisket, pulled pork and a choice of two sides.

"This chicken is juicy, it's got flavor, and the brisket is juicy too, but these collard greens!" said Esther. "I'm from the South, and I'm particular-these greens have no flavor."

I had no complaints about the coconut cream pie, cheesecake and chocolate cream pie I sampled at $4.50 a slice, though if I were a true connoisseur of southern cooking I would've given the sweet potato pie a shot.

-Jennifer Blowdryer