We Didn't Start The Fire: RUB BBQ

Travel and Leisure magazine just came out with their list called "10 Bites of New York" and they listed our friends over at Paul Kirk's RUB BBQ. Nice job, Scott, Andrew, Paul, Celeste and the gang.

10 Bites of the Big Apple

1. Pizza at Una Pizza Napoletana (349 E. 12th St.; 212/477-9950; individual pizzas from $18.95). The choicest ingredients—naturally leavened dough, Sicilian sea salt—and just four types of pies prove that less is indeed molto.

2. Doughnuts at Doughnut Plant (379 Grand St.; 212/505-3700; $2). These are doughnuts for aesthetes: big, moist yeast-raised beauties with natural glazes—grape-fruit, apricot—that actually taste of fruit.

3 Omusubi at Oms/b (156 E. 45th St.; 212/922-9788; from $1.50 each). Don't call them poor man's sushi. These fancifully wrapped, hand-shaped Japanese rice balls—try the smoked eel or spicy tuna filling—may inspire a craze of their own.

4. Cuban sandwich at Margon (136 W. 46th St.; 212/354-5013; lunch for two $9.50). Gooey and great, with a sharp sliver of pickle, loads of lechon, salami, and ham on mojo-splashed bread—what pressed sandwiches tasted like before the panino craze.

5. Masala dosa at Saravanaas (81 Lexington Ave.; 212/679-0204; $7). The quest for the laciest, most crisp-edged lentil-and-rice crêpe folded around spiced potatoes ends here, at Manhattan's most authentic South Indian restaurant.

6. Pulled pork at R.U.B. (208 W. 23rd St.; 212/524-4300; lunch for two $14.95, including sides). Berkshire hog is slow-smoked and spoon-tender, and the burnt ends—the fatty part of the brisket—are pretty good, too. The deep-fried Oreos are impossible to resist.

7. Pho at Pho Grand (277 Grand St.; 212/ 965-5366; lunch for two $8.50). The city's most delectable Vietnamese rice noodles, in a fragrant broth with beef. Garnish at whim.

8. Lobster Roll at Pearl Oyster Bar (18 Cornelia St.; 212/691-8211; dinner for two $40). At this West Village evocation of a New England clam shack, the pearlescent crustacean nuggets piled generously into a toasted hot dog bun will have you dreaming of a summer in Maine.

9. Pretzel croissant at the City Bakery (3 W. 18th St.; 212/366-1414; $3 each). Flaky croissant pastry meets the pretzel's savory smack. An object of great veneration among food-minded New Yorkers and just one of the many reasons to love City Bakery.

10. Gelato at Laboratorio del Gelato (95 Orchard St.; 212/343-9922; from $3.25). Don't let winter's chill stand between you and the Big Apple's smoothest, most wildly flavorful ice creams, from pomegranate to chestnut-honey.