The Ultimate Barbecue Guide

Hit the Ferry Building early on Tuesday or Saturday and you'll find a one-stop shop for your organic meat, artisanal cheese, fresh-baked bread, locally produced veggie fixings, sustainable snacks and more eco-conscious goodies than you could possibly dream up.

Don't skimp on the main event--get the best of the best meats, including your ground beef, sausage and chicken-breast basics, at this gourmet butcher.

The next best thing to having a lettuce-and-tomato garden in your own backyard is living near this sweet little produce market in the Castro, where produce (and flowers--a nice decorative touch or host gift) are not only impeccably fresh but also reasonably priced.

Prepared pasta salads, gigantic pickles, bagged snack foods and pretty much any other last-minute side dishes you could need can be found at this old-fashioned Italian deli and market.

A San Francisco barbecue wouldn't be complete without some delicious, freshly baked sourdough rolls to top with your saucy, smoky grilled meats.

One of the city's most loved local businesses, this Cole Valley hardware store has exceptionally knowledgeable staff that'll give as much attention to your $20 mini kettle grill purchase as they will to a $1000 Weber Summit Gold gas-grilling wonder.

This Brisbane shop is one of the few places in Northern California where you can get the international holy grail of outdoor grills: The Fuego 01, a streamlined, stainless steel beauty that received the Gold IDEA award for industrial-design excellence from "Business Week" in 2007.

This national chain of all things barbecue, from charcoal and gas grills to fryers, smokers and accessories, has several Bay Area locations outside the city.

Not yet ready to commit to a future as a grilling guru? Try your hand helming a rented BBQ from this party-supply rental outfit that can set you up with a standard but entirely acceptable grill for about $50/day.

This family-owned variety and hardware store has a great selection of Webers and other outdoor grilling necessities.

Designated picnic areas with built-in BBQ setups make it easy to fuel up on grilled grub before hitting the archery fields, museums and paddle-boat ponds in this sprawling urban oasis.

Tucked away at the base of the Marin Headlands on the southwest side of the Golden Gate Bridge lies this tiny hidden beach with views of the bridge and city skyline--and several BBQ pits to boot.

This small, secluded beach oasis--and the only one in San Francisco that's safe for swimming--is also an ideal barbecue site with its several built-in grills and picnic tables.

Too tired to fire up your own grill? Get to this Mission biker-bar staple early on warm nights, when they host an eclectic (to say the least) crowd for backyard barbecues.

Go for an upscale cookout at this fancy-pants addition to the Kuleto empire, where the expansive patio with magnified Bay Bridge views has a huge outdoor BBQ pit worth bragging about.