Big Apple Barbecue Block Party 2008

[Fat Guy]

I did very well today in terms of not having a bad bite of 'cue. The only disappointment: I finally got to try one of those hush puppies and it was both raw in the center (I don't think mine came from one of the batches prepared by the esteemed Brooks Hamaker) and lacking any discernible crawfish flavor (there was supposed to be smoked crawfish in the batter, right?). It was pretty cool that they were using a Jerry-rigged electric drill to stir the batter, though. Boy, I really wanted to like these things but I guess I just got a defective specimen. I imagine the production requirements of the event were just insane.

I'm going to continue to evangelize for Blue Smoke's ribs. I again started and ended my day at Blue Smoke and I really enjoyed several things about their ribs: first, finishing them over hardwood coals (which I wish they did in the restaurant) gives them an extra bit of flavor on the exterior; second, they're not smoked to death -- they still have structure, though they be tender; and third, I like that the application of sauce is conservative -- you can really taste the meat. When they started this thing six years ago I felt that Blue Smoke was the beneficiary of barbecue affirmative action and just got an invitation because the Union Square group was the event sponsor. But today Blue Smoke totally deserves to be there. If you served these ribs at a barbecue event in barbecue country, I don't think anybody would suspect it of being Yankee barbecue.

I also thought, on the New York front, that both Dinosaur and Hill Country did us proud. Maybe I'm just a local yokel ignoramus, but I felt that in all three styles -- ribs, pulled pork and beef ribs -- the New York places were totally in the game.

Big Bob Gibson's pulled pork was delicious and so professional -- you could have grabbed any one of those little paper trays, of which they served about a villion -- and entered it in a top-tier barbecue competition. That Chris Lilly guy is amazing.

Also quite good was the chopped pork from Checkered Pig, though Ed Mitchell's product really dominated the chopped-pork category.

That's all I ate.

Did anybody else notice that it started raining at exactly 6pm?

[kathryn]

Finished uploading my shots:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathryn/sets/72157605486182960/

Still...so...full....

[docsconz]

Wow! What a weekend! I was down in the city this weekend with my son for the express purpose of hitting this event. What a blast! We only were able to attend yesterday, which was unfortunate, because we were only able to make a dent in the amazing offerings.

The standouts to me were Blue Smoke's and Mike Mill's 17th St. ribs and ed Mitchell's whole hog BBQ. I didn't have a bad bite all day. Unfortunately, by the time we made it to Big Bob Gibson's they were out.

We started the day by visiting the Union Sq. Green market, where we ran into Chef Michael Anthony at Flying Pigs Farm stand and Chef Mario Batali signing his newest book on grilling Italian style. Cool stuff for a hot day.

We made it up to the BBQ where we found lines already formed even before it opened! I took a few photos even before we got in our first line at The Pit.

Early ribs at Mr. Cecil's

...and sausages

Basting the ribs "wet" at Mike Mill's. He starts out with a dry rub then uses a wet sauce near the end of cooking.

Floyd Cardoz at the Tabla stand. We had some wonderful Indian Alphonso mango there for a buck a pop. They did not participate in the FastPass.

They lined up early at Blue Smoke.

Pulling Pork

Pulled Pork at Ubon's. Unfortunately we didn't get to taste this either. So much food. So little stomach.

Whole hog pork at Ed Mitchell's The Pit Fortunately, we did get to taste this. This was our first stop of the day.

While I preferred the ribs, this was my son's favorite of the day.

This stuff was so good, I bought their shirt.

...a little brisket

...on to Blue Smoke. I have to concur with Steven. This was some pretty damn good Q. The ribs were outstanding. My favorite bites of the day was a toss-up between the ribs here and from Mike Mills. The addition of the pickled okra may have set this over the top though.

Making hush puppies at City Grocery. Mine, unlike Steven's were cooked perfectly. This may have just been fried cornmeal, but cornmeal never had it so good.

Back to Ed Mitchell's for some cracklin'

Riblets

Lemonade by Eleven Madison Park

Seminar on the geography of Q with Peter Kaminsky, Lolis Eric Elie, Calvin Trillin and Kathleen Purvis.

An extra little treat of smoked foie gras.

Beard award winner Grant Achatz chatting with Alex Talbot at Blue Smoke.

Bringing more ribs in.

Ed Mitchell overseeing a hog for Sunday's party.

Waiting for The Pit.

Blaze of Glory

Brisket from Wilson's before the sauce.

Jeffrey Steingarten and Mike Mills

Hot times on a hot day

While the day was hot, it was a blast and well worth the trip. We finished the BBQ by going to Blue Smoke to watch the Belmont Stakes from the bar. Oh well!.

[jkarpf]

Great photos and commentary, but docsconz's second snapshot of Mr. Cecil pitmaster Jonathan Burrows does not make me smile. His booth's express line barely moved when I was on it, since only he was slicing the beef ribs and sausage.

When one of my friends was ready to buy on Ed Mitchell's line, which was twice as long as but moved three times as quickly, I had to abandon Mr. Cecil and run my FastPass to Mitchell's line.

Hill Country's beef ribs were great later, though, and served with an unadvertised bonus of great spicy sausage.

[docsconz]

While not bad, I didn't really care as much for the Hill Country ribs as some who have posted on here. The sausage was pretty good though.

A lot of the lines moved pretty slowly. I'm not sure the fastpass was a huge advantage as some of those lines were as long as the non-pass lines. The most surprising lines were those for the hush-puppies. They were pretty darn good puppies, but as Brooks said, "they're basically just fried cornmeal with spices."

[kathryn]

On Saturday, they were frying hush puppies to order and couldn't keep up with demand.

On Sunday, they appeared to be batching them, or at least making enough in advance to anticipate demand.

[Fat Guy]

Mine, unlike Steven's were cooked perfectly. This may have just been fried cornmeal, but cornmeal never had it so good.

←

Doc, were you able to discern any smoked-crawfish flavor?

[docsconz]

Finished uploading my shots:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathryn/sets/72157605486182960/

Still...so...full....

←

Very, very nice work! One of the highlights of the event for me was meeting people such as yourself!

[docsconz]

Mine, unlike Steven's were cooked perfectly. This may have just been fried cornmeal, but cornmeal never had it so good.

←

Doc, were you able to discern any smoked-crawfish flavor?

←

Not that I could specify. The flavor as a whole was great and very satisfying, but I couldn't specifically distinguish crawfish or okra amongst the spices and the sauce.

[Mayhaw Man]

Mine, unlike Steven's were cooked perfectly. This may have just been fried cornmeal, but cornmeal never had it so good.

←

Doc, were you able to discern any smoked-crawfish flavor?

←

Not that I could specify. The flavor as a whole was great and very satisfying, but I couldn't specifically distinguish crawfish or okra amongst the spices and the sauce.

←

Ok, I should leave this alone, but I can't-

There, percentage wise, was alot of both in terms of proportion, but, think about it- both were fully cooked (or smoked) when they went into the mix. So, when it gets mixed (with our highly effective redneck mixing method-a 3/4 horse drill and a drywall blade), the okra and the crawfish get mixed in pretty well. Whole tails are not a possibility (because they are cooked and delicate, they seperate some when being mixed, as does the okra) when one is cooking 500 pounds of batter at 2oz. a shot (you do the math-and we did it in 13 very, very hot hours-just three people plus Ann Cashion on Sunday afternoon as John had to leave to go to the Beard's).

Beyond that, generally, the only comments that we got back were beyond positive about the product and while Saturday was a hard day, Sunday went smoothly and people were really nice. Even Steven, though he should have said something and gotten some more-we're from the South-we're nice-we'll make it right for you if you just axe politely-was nice. Imagine that. It was good to see him, as a matter of fact, and if he was the genius eater that he purports himself to be, he would have just come back and asked me to fix it for him . But, he didn't. Sorry, Steven. Next year...

And just for the record, we were the last people serving yesterday, and served until the last person went through the line.

It was a fun festival and City Grocery will be back next year. People were really nice (excepting one woman who may have been the rudest, most unreasonable woman that I have ever had the displeasure of speaking too-but, one out of ten thousand seems pretty fair. She's a very unhappy person. I would hate to be her mailman or something) and, given that we were cooking to order right in front of the fast pass line, I got to talk to a whole bunch of folks. Next year, come give them a try for yourself.

It was great seeing so many people that I know and haven't seen for a while, and meeting new friends, as well. But, look, I'm from New Orleans and grew up in the Delta. I already know all about being really hot. I don't need to learn more. Can't you guys get the mayor or somebody to do something about the weather? Sheesh, fryers in 100 degree heat in the sun? Smokers in the 100 degree heat? All I could think of was that I wish that we still had Abita and I would just be over in the beer garden under the tent with a keg instead of 10 gallons of 325 degree peanut oil gurgling away.

[docsconz]

Mine, unlike Steven's were cooked perfectly. This may have just been fried cornmeal, but cornmeal never had it so good.

←

Doc, were you able to discern any smoked-crawfish flavor?

←

Not that I could specify. The flavor as a whole was great and very satisfying, but I couldn't specifically distinguish crawfish or okra amongst the spices and the sauce.

←

Ok, I should leave this alone, but I can't-

There, percentage wise, was alot of both in terms of proportion, but, think about it- both were fully cooked (or smoked) when they went into the mix. So, when it gets mixed (with our highly effective redneck mixing method-a 3/4 horse drill and a drywall blade), the okra and the crawfish get mixed in pretty well. Whole tails are not a possibility (because they are cooked and delicate, they seperate some when being mixed, as does the okra) when one is cooking 500 pounds of batter at 2oz. a shot (you do the math-and we did it in 13 very, very hot hours-just three people plus Ann Cashion on Sunday afternoon as John had to leave to go to the Beard's).

Beyond that, generally, the only comments that we got back were beyond positive about the product and while Saturday was a hard day, Sunday went smoothly and people were really nice. Even Steven, though he should have said something and gotten some more-we're from the South-we're nice-we'll make it right for you if you just axe politely-was nice. Imagine that. It was good to see him, as a matter of fact, and if he was the genius eater that he purports himself to be, he would have just come back and asked me to fix it for him . But, he didn't. Sorry, Steven. Next year...

And just for the record, we were the last people serving yesterday, and served until the last person went through the line.

It was a fun festival and City Grocery will be back next year. People were really nice (excepting one woman who may have been the rudest, most unreasonable woman that I have ever had the displeasure of speaking too-but, one out of ten thousand seems pretty fair. She's a very unhappy person. I would hate to be her mailman or something) and, given that we were cooking to order right in front of the fast pass line, I got to talk to a whole bunch of folks. Next year, come give them a try for yourself.

It was great seeing so many people that I know and haven't seen for a while, and meeting new friends, as well. But, look, I'm from New Orleans and grew up in the Delta. I already know all about being really hot. I don't need to learn more. Can't you guys get the mayor or somebody to do something about the weather? Sheesh, fryers in 100 degree heat in the sun? Smokers in the 100 degree heat? All I could think of was that I wish that we still had Abita and I would just be over in the beer garden under the tent with a keg instead of 10 gallons of 325 degree peanut oil gurgling away.

←

Frankly, I didn't envy you in there Brooks! It was hot enough just eating! The fact that you had only one bad bad customer with the lines that were waiting for those fried hounds in that heat speaks volumes. That it was like that in NYC speaks even louder.

While I could not specifically discern individual components, I thought the product was a great combination of ingredients that were put together under very trying conditions. Finally meeting you in person was another highlight of my weekend. It was particularly fun running into you on the subway car Saturday night!

[Mayhaw Man]

Doc,

It was a pleasure meeting you, as well. Nice boy you've got there. Chip off of the old block, by the looks of things.

The subway was pretty funny. I ran into you on one trip, Besh on another, and then Bud Trillin. Who knew you would meet so many friends on something like that. I might have to start just riding around to see who I see.

The flavors were there. They were delicate, admittedly, but, by definition, unlike okra cornbread, with the frying aspect, you are never going to have anything that is overwhelming if you want it to fry into a ball and we were having enough trouble with that on Sat, thanks to the heat and only half of a tent.

Sunday, our gameplan was much, much better, though, no matter what, we were still frying to order-but we had a new system and it was going much, much better. Our new system was developed at dinner at 11 Madison Park. This is the kind of place I like to have a meeting-though if I did all of my companies would quickly be in the red and the stockholders would sue for misappropriation of funds. It was, truly, the best meal that I have had in a very long time. I have eaten there a number of times, but not since the chef change a few years ago and every component of every meal was wonderful. The Wine Steward was a remarkable young woman and as I was with someone who is one of the most knowledgable wine folks around (Johnny Fulchino), listening to their conversation (not to mention the dusty bottle results-mmmm) was worth it. Also, whoever is doing their pastry and desserts is as good as it gets. I had samples of everything, but there was this coconut panna cotta thing that I could have taken a bath in. That dish was stunningly good.

And that place is still, in my mind, the most beautiful room in NY. I love going in there-even just for a drink (which they have absolutely no problem with, though most people don't think about it as a bar).

See you soon in New Orleans, I hope. Wear shorts. It's always that hot where I live.

[JohnnyH]

Mayhaw -- just found this comment on Eater.com; thought you'd like to see it. Link: Eater.

Edited to remove the text from the other site. Those who want to read it can visit Eater to do so.

Edited June 9, 2008 by JohnnyH (log)

[weinoo]

I don't know what the point of the above post is, but thanks for sharing...we started our 2nd day at the fest with 3 orders of those perfectly fried pups...very good indeed, and even if the taste of crawfish was less than discernible, they were still quite delish and the sauce rocked. As is said, you can please some of the people some of the time...

Great running into Kathryn, FG, and others - at Mitchell's the 2nd time, not only did I have another porky sandwich, but I was also offered a bunch of ribs to nibble on - as FG pointed out, not really smoky (I believe the cooking is done with briquettes and hardwood charcoal, not wood per se) but wonderful nonetheless - and Ed is quite the showman and a nice guy to boot.

Johnder and I were aghast as we watched Salt Lick slice their brisket - all of the good stuff (i.e. fat, crust, etc.) was being tossed into a white cambro - so I called one of the guys over and he supplemented my plate with a nice hunk of the "waste," which made the plate so much better...I really don't think any of the brisket on display here or at Wilson's is as good as Hill Country's, but I do understand how logistically challenging it must be to feed thousands of people...therefore, I tend to go with lowered expectations for the food and high expectations for a great time, which is always had. I had the brisket at Wilson's on day 1, and was mightily disappointed...no smoke ring, and not even sliced properly.

Another thing I'll agree with Shaw on (this might be a record) is Blue Smoke - I didn't eat anything of their's at the event, but we had dinner there on Friday night and it was quite good (their chicken wings are only approached by Noodle Bar's, imo). Their ribs are really great and they certainly stand up to anything being served at the BABBQ. With Blue Smoke, Hill Country, Fette Sau and a few others, a really good barbecue meal is not out of the question in New York City any more.

The Bourbon Bar at 11 Mad was also great - they had Van Winkle of all different ages available - I only tried a few sips (1 PM is a little early for me to be drinking bourbon, especially when it's 95 degrees out), but Johnder's julep was so great, and it's always fun watching the mint bouquet wilt from the alcohol.

Once again, great fun, great running into all sorts of eGers, and I hope to meet the ones I didn't see this year at next year's BABBQ.

[Dryden]

Went both days. Thought Ed Mitchell and Mike Mills were the best, as usual, and the banana pudding from Wildwood was exceptional as well. The hush puppies were quite tasty, and once they cooled off (we brought some home), could actually taste the crawfish in there. The next group would probably be Big Bob Gibson and the Checkered Pig. Wasn't impressed by Baker's, Blackjack, Ubon's or Wilson's, particularly. And then there is Mr. Cecil...

Apparently, on Saturday, they forgot to screw the leg onto one of the grills, and so they "lost a grill" early. Later, they couldn't manage to plan the order timing well, so kept running out of sausage when they had ribs and vice versa. Total time spent waiting in the fast pass lane: over 1 hour. I wish I was making that up. The quality did not even come close to making up for it.