Barbecue sandwiches without equal and a great place to hang out

The menu at Roy's BBQ, a skinny hole-in-the-wall on the Columbia City main drag, consists of a few choice sandwiches and sides. And I mean "choice": These smoky, tender, well-sauced sandwiches are among the best in town.

Nearly everyone who came into Roy's seemed to be a regular, and by the second time I went in, I felt like one, too.

Prioprietor Shane O'Neil, who owns Roy's along with John Unangst, is friendly and, like any barbecuist, delighted to talk about his product, boasting about the texture of his fish taco and the low-and-slow smoking of his meat.

Notice that neither of the current owners is named Roy. "John and I used to come in here and eat, and one day the owner decided he was selling it, so we jumped in. We weren't even thinking of buying a restaurant," said O'Neil, who honed his sandwich chops at Three Girls Bakery and the Virginia Inn.

Roy's BBQ

4903 ½ Rainier Ave. S., Seattle; 206-723-7697

Barbecue

$

Hours: 11:30 a.m.- 3 p.m. Mondays- Tuesdays, 11:30 a.m.- 7 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays.

Beer / credit cards: V, MC / no obstacles to access but very skinny space.

Rating: recommended.

This isn't quite full-service barbecue. There are no ribs or chicken, and the meat is served on a Columbia City Bakery bun. The sesame-seed buns are as special as everything else made by that bakery: They're fluffy but somehow hold up under a small mountain of meat and sauce without disintegrating.

The burger ($5) is excellent, especially with the optional grilled onions; it was marred only by slightly undercooked bacon.

There are a couple of daily soups like beef barley, chicken tortellini or tomato carrot ($4 bowl, $2.50 cup). A few bottled beers are also available (lagers $2.50, ales $3), and O'Neil says the selection will be expanding soon.

Roy's is such a great neighborhood hangout that if O'Neil and Unangst ever decide to sell, I might have to defect to the other side of the counter.

Check please:

BBQ brisket sandwich: Brisket can be tender and silky at its best, but is more often dry and ropy. Roy's does brisket right, smoking it for 12 hours over hickory and then slicing thinly across the grain. The sandwich is topped with a tomato-based barbecue sauce. The sauce is pretty ordinary; it's the meat that makes this sandwich special. Sandwiches come with a side of potato salad notable for its sunny golden color and vinegary bite.

Georgia Gold sandwich: This is the best sandwich. From bottom to top, there's a layer of coleslaw, pulled pork and a ladleful of mustard-vinegar sauce. The pork is perfectly tender and smoky, and really pulled, not chopped.

Fish taco: It's marvelously messy, made with moist smoked basa (a Southeast Asian fish in the catfish family) rolled up with coleslaw in a flour tortilla. There's an interplay between the smoked fish and slightly bitter cabbage that works especially well.

Side of beans: These baked beans were nicely cooked but low on flavor.

Lemon cake: There's nothing remarkable about this homey lemon bundt cake except the price: $1 for a thick slice.

Itemized bill, meal for two

BBQ brisket sandwich $5.85

Georgia Gold sandwich $5.60

Fish taco $3.25

Side of beans $2.00

Lemon cake $1.00

Tax $1.65

Total $19.35

Matthew Amster-Burton: mamster.reviews@gmail.com