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Can anyone name all the Berkeley neighborhoods? I've only lived here forty years and still can't, but I think I've discovered one I was overlooking while digging in on sinister Southside.

My discovery is not listed anywhere as a neighborhood but is near the historic Lorin district and is part of South Berkeley. Although in the Berkeley flats, my "discovery" lacks a name.

I'm calling it south of Ashby on Shattuck or SOAS. Darn. We just missed SOUS. I'm still working on it.

I was South-of-Ashby-on-Shattuck recently to check out the smoked barbecue brisket at Smokey J's, opened for less than a month and attracting overflowing crowds from word of mouth and twenty-five ecstatic YELPs, yielding a five of five rating. 

South of Ashby on Shattuck has been a barbecue center since when I moved here in 1970, home to Flynt's which was struggling for years and finally tossed in the towel the smoker-cook used to mop his brow. Now barbecue is back on Shattuck big time. 

Call it food of the masses; call it cheap eats, but you can chow down on pork rib tips, those fatty little pleasure pastures preferred by "Q" gourmets, for less than a fiver. Did I say $5. 

You read it right. That's $3 less than the competition, according to four competing Berkeley rib houses I called. 

"Do you have rib tips? I asked, adding, "what's wrong, can't afford to serve the whole rib?" But seriously folks, they sell the rib, not the tip. I'd better stop here before I risk obscenity. 

The comparison is apples to oranges, if you accept the bungled analogy, because the others don't even sell the tips, which are preferred by Q aficionados.  

Smokey's meat comes (by Mercedes?) from Marin. And what meat! The brisket is to-die-for and--at my age-- that's no metaphor. The competition is from hunger, although Everett & Jones on San Pablo isn't chopped liver. (Oops; that one also mis-fired). 

New customers are having reverse sticker shock. "OMG it's so cheap", they tell the young owner, a former hotel chef. Regulars repeat the store mantra: "barbecue is supposed to be cheap," at every opportunity. The spirited new fans are forming a good-natured community where you are encouraged to make new friends and pitch your "paper." 

You can also pitch Smokey's owner-chef with menu ideas and share your secret Q-tips with him. A Berkeley High graduate, Joshua Kemper, 33, was a hotel-chef before flying solo. And his flight is upward bound. 

The first time I was there (I've been back three times), I spoke with a potato-salad-freak, 

who gave me the address for the best potato salad in Oakland. Everyone at Smokey J's is driven mad-hatter by the smells of Q & A (accompaniments). 

Mad hatters? What else would you expect when you're on South of Ashby on Shattuck? The four block stretch of nightclubs, an astrologist named Holly, a radical barber shop, a "wellness" spa which can only be described as weird-ass, and a slew of radical organizations, which would rather not be publicized, just works. 

The Berkeley branch of the Black Panthers had its office in this neighborhood. It's been home to radicals for years and Berkeley does love its radicals. 

Smokey J's is sure to attract new customers to the legendary Starry-Plough (the Guinness is so creamy and smooth) and it's next door to La Pena, another legend, and the whole consortium of radical storefront institutions. 

I talked to a guy who plays a different instrument every day out of his van, was invited into a charming Victorian, and visited the weird-ass spa, which isn't really weird-ass at all; that's just my favorite term for everything. How about weird-ass south-of-ashby-on Shattuck. 

WASA. By jove I've got it! 

Open less than a month, this cozy rib-shack, at 3015 Shattuck between Ashby and Emerson has netted word-of-mouth throngs, some from as far away as Martinez. Kemper has already hired two helpers. 

He was a former chef, for Meridian Hotels before pursuing his own fortunes, and seems about to acquire one, judging from the crowds. If only he'd add sherry to his outstanding secret recipe Q sauce. . . (I always take some home and add the sherry where he can't witness the violation). 

Monday the store was closed and I stood, drooling, outside the door reading the menu and listening to the roar of my growling stomach. Smokey's is closed Tuesdays as well. 

But it will; be open July 4 in honor of yet another anniversary: of the marriage of barbecue and the Fourth. 

The menu includes chicken, sausage (made in-house) and the to-die-for brisket. The brisket manages to sport a rich crust and a juicy center--all smoky (the smoker is in-store). Everything bears the imprimatur of its chef, who has developed a rich, pasty sauce that could make him that fortune. But he needs to consider the sherry. 

Here’s a picture of the store menu. 

His meat rub is top secret. I wouldn't modify that. 

Smokey's keeps Berkeley hours (11 a.m. until 9 p.m.) which keeps me waiting too long for opening. I'm really stoked on this place. It's building like Chez Panisse (when it opened), which is its exact opposite. 

According to the following Yelper: 

"Its Nice and Clean and there are four Picnic Bench's inside for Communal Dining . The Kitchen is Open to view. 

Its a family type Operation . The owner is cooking. His girlfriend is cashiering and serving . There is also an assistant cook. 

The potato salad is a must try. The potatoes are cooked at the bottom of the rotisserie. The potatoes are drizzled with rotisserie-chicken Juices. Frigging yumminess. 

The BBQ meats are all prepared fresh daily. The Smell of smoking meat permeates the air. 

The Owner even set out plates of fresh-sliced Watermelon on each table." 

Ted Friedman. What can we say of him? He coulda been a contender. His reporter's backstory with the lurid stories behind the lurid stories will be available soon. Be sure to scroll down the front page to Ted Friedman's by-line each issue.