Since it opened in 2005, RUB, or Righteous Urban Barbeque, has smoldered its way into our hearts like few other barbeque spots have. Even more impressive is that they managed to do this at a time when competition for city’s BBQ crown has become increasingly hard-fought–with more restaurants opening in the past three years than ever before, all in response to Gotham’s recently discovered passion for more sticky, more smoky, and more authentic barbeque.

RUB’s owner Paul Kirk seems like a natural fit for the crown, so the T-shirts that dub him the ‘Kansas City Baron of barbeque’ say, at least. This doesn’t mean that everything that comes out of the kitchen tastes like it has been airlifted in from Arthur Bryant’s, perhaps Kansas City’s most famous palace of pork. Instead, many regional glosses on BBQ are represented on RUB’s extensive menu, including St. Louis style pork spare ribs, Texas dry rub, and a North Carolina-inspired pulled pork served alone or in a sandwich. In die-hard barbeque circles, Kirk is known as a pit master, which means not only that he has won a few awards for his barbeque (425, according to the menu’s immodest profile), but also that he is more than comfortable around a large, slow cooker. RUB, in a nod to authenticity, uses a full wood burning pit to cook its ribs at low temperature–usually less than 250 degrees Fahrenheit–and, while others swear by oak, alder or apple wood to fuel the pit fire, Kirk uses hickory because it imparts a more intense flavor to the meat.

Iconoclastic moves like these pay off, as our friends Spaniel and Alex found when we took them to RUB last week. Spoiled for choice, we ordered greedily: baby back ribs (pictured above), a full order of rib tips and one of the restaurant’s build-your-own barbeque meat platters. RUB is the right kind of restaurant for plate sharing, as most dishes are finger-friendly and, except for a few of the sides, perfect for picking and nibbling without having to maneuver a sample of something across the table on a fork. At the same time, and especially if you come as part of a large group, this means you have to either move quickly or protect your plate from your friends. This was just what I did with my order of rib tips (pictured left, $11.75), made up of cuts of enormously fatty and juicy ends of the pork rib. Just like all of RUB’s rib dishes, the rib tips were served open-faced on plain white bread, a traditional accompaniment and a useful tool to pick up pieces of meat and fashion them into super-unctuous miniature pork sandwiches. No exaggeration–depending on the rib, the ratio of fat to meat can approach 2:1, yet I heard no complaints as I fought off eager fingers, and in the end, these were pronounced the highlight of our meal.

Daintier, more lightly sauced, and with much less meat than other ribs, our half-slab of baby back ribs (pictured top, $13.75; $24.75 for a whole slab) gave us a different, but nearly as tasty experience. Perhaps less of a bargain than the rib tips, the baby backs take a bit longer to eat, as they require serious gnawing around the ends of the bones. Still, the lean(ish) baby back ribs are an excellent counterpoint to other, more fatty menu items; compared to the rib tips, they’re practically health food.

If it is massive quantities of meat you’re after though, forsake the baby backs for one of RUB’s barbeque meat platters ($14.75 for one meat, $4 for each additional meat). Here, the meal becomes a culinary Choose Your Own Adventure novel, with barbequed beef brisket, burnt ends, pulled chicken or pork, smoked ham or turkey, sausage or pastrami options to lead you into uncharted territories. We chose the barbequed chicken and the pulled pork, a combination that provided a welcome break from the demands of nibbling on ribs. RUB’s chicken is as tender as any we’ve tried, with sticky, bronzed skin and steam that wafts up from the dish as soon as it is cut. The pulled pork contains less vinegar than many Carolina versions and is therefore missing a tangy bite, but its powerful smokiness and depth of flavor more than make up the difference.

Our only real disappointment came with some of RUB’s side dishes, which suffered by comparison next to the celestial sides offered at some of RUB’s competitors. RUB’s cole slaw (all sides cost $3.50 f0r a small portion; $7 for a large), can be ordered with either a vinegar or a mayonnaise base; our vinegar-based side was at once watery and not tart enough–a duo of fatal slaw flaws. The baked beans revealed a happy blend of soupy and smoky flavors, and overall were very good, yet still could not hold a candle to the baked beans at Daisy May’s, with its big pieces of charred ‘cue ends mixed in among the beans. Worse, we found RUB’s ’sweet tea’ to be a misnomer: strong sweet tea should prompt a sugar-shock grimace at first sip. Semisweet is for chocolate, not Southern-style tea.

On the other hand, RUB has one thing its competition does not: deep fried Oreos ($4.75). The most artery-clogging dessert this side of a Scottish chip shop, RUB has taken a classic American treat and, yes, we’ll admit, improved it immeasurably by deep frying it in a ball of dough and dousing it with confectioner’s sugar. The deep-fried Oreo is like an all-American zeppole: part beignet, part mushy chocolate center. And at dessert, as with almost every other part of RUB’s menu, it is best not to think about cholesterol, but rather to eat and enjoy before the cookies get cold.

But are deep-fried Oreos and rib end sandwiches enough for New York to declare RUB the reigning king of barbeque? It is fair to say that the debate over the best pork in town still continues. Some partisans give points to Blue Smoke’s upscale interior and its Danny Meyer pedigree. Others view decor that is anything more than an afterthought as proof of inauthenticity, favoring bare bones, utilitarian dining rooms like those at Daisy May’s and RUB. As for us, we recognize that choosing allegiances in this fight among barbecue kings is a loser’s game–far better to attend this weekend’s fifth annual Big Apple BBQ Block Party in Madison Square Park, where one can pay homage to the entire royal family, all in one soon-to-be very messy location.

RUB (Righteous Urban Barbeque), 208 West 23rd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, 212-524-4300.