Dinosaur BBQ (NYC)

[brooklyncook]

Yes, currently we're closed for lunches until the 14th, when it'll be a full lunch & dinner opening. I'm not sure if this is just to get everyone fully trained or not.

[pete ganz]

We went last night (Saturday) at around 9:30. We were told there was a half hour wait, but got a table in 10 minutes. We got the extreme sampler plus one app. I'm not that good with food descriptions, so here's my synopsis:

Service: very attentive. The server came by to check on us at least 5 times.

Brisket: just OK, would not order again (although I forgot to order the "deckle")

Fried green tomatoes w/shrimp remoulade: nothing special, would not order again

Dinosaur Ale and Ithaca Nut Brown: both winners

Chicken: very tasty and juicy, very good (mojito sauce was good but not necessary)

Ribs: very good

BBQ Beans and coleslaw: very good

Pulled pork: excellent

Wango Tango sauce: good stuff, nice kick...but not too hot, like their other hot sauce

Cornbread: very good

Atmosphere: loud/raucous...I liked it. A waitress threw a crumpled up piece of paper at me to get my attention when we were waiting at the the bar to see if I wanted to just eat at the bar table. My kind of place.

I would go back, especially because this bill came to like $45 before tip.

[woodburner]

Meat Good.

Anyway, I'm sure Jason will come along and describe a lot of what he shot, but I'll note a few things.

The pulled pork is good, the ribs are very good, and the brisket excellent.  But the big surprise of the night?  Something we didn't even originally bother to order--the chicken.

Great chicken at a real BBQ place? "What the hell", you must be asking?

I'm serious.  They brine them and then smoke them low and slow.  Most BBQ places are either too pedestrian or too arrogant in their regionalism to bother with chicken (at least the right way), but done properly it's glorious.  Moist and pink, NO oilyness at all... zero.  Mildly smoke infused, but not intrusively.  And if you ever again visit a place where rotisserie chicken is being hawked as "BBQ chicken" after consuming this, the real thing, you may want to come up with some creative suggestions about exactly where those people can stick their rotisseries.

The ribs were a nice St. Louis cut.  They were perhaps a tiny bit more fall-off-the-boney than purists might like, but the color was perfect, the saucing appropriately moderate, and the mouthfeel nice.  Again, a slight smokeyness, but not intrusive.

The Brisket was both moist and yet also firm, topped with jalapenos and very light saucing.  The pulled pork was a bit oversauced for my taste, but then again I like mine pretty dry.

More later.  The desserts need a page or so too, as does the decor.  The men's bathroom alone could spark a nice discussion. 

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I've been to the Syracuse location on a few occasions, and I also think the food and especially the bbq chicken is termendous. Brining chicken at home in Goya Mojo Criollo can give similar moist and citrusy overtones, but much of the flavor in the chicken needs to be credited to Dino's cooking technique/equipment for sure.

Looking at the images that Jason posted of the chicken, is nirvana. Crispy bronze exterior skin, rich in smoke flavor, with a perfectly white juicy interior. Not a job to be accomplished easily by a backyard bbq guy to say the least.

A couple of items I do not see on the NY menu that Jason posted, and which the Syracuse location does serve, is the steak and Prime Rib. I wonder if these items will follow after the wood situation is resolved?

The first occasion I looked over the menu at the Syracuse location while sitting at the bar, and something that astonished me, was the absent listing of bbq sausage. I do think it would go terrific.

While doing some snooping around I did find a site of the artists that have done the inside of all three locations.

Elliott Matice

woodburner

[Rachel Perlow]

The menu that Jason scanned is the takeout menu. I noticed a few items were left off of it, such as the catfish and shrimp. Perhaps the steak and prime rib were too, but I don't recall if they were on the in-house menu or not.

[woodburner]

The menu that Jason scanned is the takeout menu. I noticed a few items were left off of it, such as the catfish and shrimp. Perhaps the steak and prime rib were too, but I don't recall if they were on the in-house menu or not.

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Thanks Rachel, I did notice the PDF file was the take-out menu, but then again I also did not notice it on the images that Jason posted of the interior restaurant hanging menu.

So we will have to see as time goes on.

The Cuban Sandwich also seems like a new addition since my last visit.

Thanks

woodburner

[juuceman]

A couple of items I do not see on the NY menu that Jason posted,  and which the Syracuse location does serve,  is the steak and Prime Rib. I wonder if these items will follow after the wood situation is resolved?

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hit it friday night with a bunch of friends.. we were eleven and managed to make it through most of the barbecue on offer.. it was crowded but there didn't appear to be much of a wait when we got there around 10:30..

i'll reiterate that the chicken is great.. the ribs were as well..

they definitely have the steak.. a bit fatty for me, definitely not the reason to go.. they might have had Prime Rib.. can't quite recall..

i'm a big fan of the Genny Cream Ale cans..

[tcavallo]

Mmmmmm.... Genny. Many fond memories of my upstate drinking days included Genny, and unfortunatley a lot of Labatt Blue. What is it with Syracusans and Labatt Blue? I would be willing to wager that it sells better than Budweiser up there.

Anyway, does anybody know of a place in NYC to buy Genny cases? My uncle may be coming down for the holidays and thats all he drinks. He'll probably bring a case of his own, but I wouldn't mind finding a supplier for old time's sake anyway.

T

[ahr]

With Dr. Atkins’s dispensation (and how could he refuse?), I snacked this past week at both Dinosaur and Pearson’s.

Those biker guys could teach many an established NY restaurateur about opening and operating a business: Dino felt like it had been up and running for years. In fact, the rightness of the place itself, the service, and the side dishes led me to believe that the ribs were exactly as management intended them to be, which to me was overly tender—just this side of falling-off-the-bone, peeling off in layers rather than chunks—and over-rubbed with black pepper to the point of obscuring any smokiness. Prices seemed upstate, including $2.00 for excellent unlimited iced tea and $1.50 for pretty decent coffee.

The ribs at Pearson’s, however, were the best I can recall having eaten in the Metro area—thick and meaty, moist and tender (but not too tender, with just the right amount of toothsome “snap”), brown without and smoke-pink within. Served unsauced, they had an austere purity, tasting of nothing but pork and smoke. Given previous Pearson’s experiences, these ribs may have been anomalous, but their quality may also have been a fortuitous benefit of competition; the restaurant was nearly empty during the peak dinner hour.

Full disclosure: In general, I prefer the Pearson’s KC cut to the St. Louis served at Dino; I enjoy gnawing on the cartilage and the extra bits of moist, fatty meat.

[brooklyncook]

Mmmmmm.... Genny.  Many fond memories of my upstate drinking days included Genny, and unfortunatley a lot of Labatt Blue.  What is it with Syracusans and Labatt Blue? I would be willing to wager that it sells better than Budweiser up there.

Anyway, does anybody know of a place in NYC to buy Genny cases? My uncle may be coming down for the holidays and thats all he drinks.  He'll probably bring a case of his own, but I wouldn't mind finding a supplier for old time's sake anyway.

T

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Hey, Rochesterians love it too. At $14.99 (more often less thanks to the sales at Wegmans) for a 12-pack, it's an inexpensive upgrade from Genny.

Personally, I could never understand the love of Genny beer. I never thought it was that good; relatively watered down in flavor.

[Daniel]

Picked up from Dinosaur last night.. Thought all of the food was good.. My favorite thing was the chicken.. One of the best bbq chickens i have ever tasted. I also had the brisket and was really amazed on how the got the brisket soo tender. Lacking in smokey flavor, but it was like butter. The place looks great, the people were really nice..

[cdh]

Went shopping at Fairway yesterday afternoon, and noticed Dinosaur's great neon over there under the underpass. Loving quality BBQ, I made my way back into the neighborhood last evening and had a seat at the bar and consumed a mighty fine pulled pork sandwich, some fine and authentic sweet tea, and a slice of sweet potato pecan pie. All quite good, and the BBQ was up there with some of the better Q joints in the Carolinas I've stopped at.

Yay for Dinosaur!

[Fat Guy]

Finally made it up to Dinosaur. The place was happening. Ed Koch was at the next table, every seat seemed to have two people in it and I couldn't hear myself think. Those who are sensitive to noise, crowding and other imperfections should steer clear. If you can handle the trauma or time your visit during off hours, however, it's well worth a pilgrimage. Dinosaur is an extremely welcome addition to the evolving New York City barbecue scene. I had the "tres hombres" platter, consisting of brisket, pulled pork and pork ribs. All were really good, tender and juicy with pronounced smoky flavor. I wouldn't attempt to generalize from such a limited sample, but stylistically I think I most enjoyed the ribs, which had a very crusty exterior yet were beautifully moist inside. The brisket had better and worse pieces (the better ones being delicious and the worse ones being too dry), and the only flaw in the pulled pork (more of a Memphis style pulled pork with a sweet sticky sauce added for service, as opposed to North Carolina style chopped pork served with just a minimalist vinegar sauce) was that there wasn't enough of it.

[Burt1961]

Uh, Owen, I think you should be able to get some decent 'que in NC regardless of whether Dinosaur opens a branch there or not, LOL.

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Not in Charlotte unless I've overlooked it in my research. The Queen City is full of chain joints like Bubba's and also has some great soul food and southern breakfast options but I have yet to hear about a really good BBQ place there.

Yes it is an option to drive two or three hours to places like Mitchell's but not as a regular excursion for lunch or dinner.

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In Charllote, the best BBQ is from a guy named Red who has a truck uptown on Wednesday and Friday for lunch next to Bank of America and works out of A Shell Station on Colony just North of 51.

Bubba's off of 77 at exit 16 isn't a chain and is really pretty good.

[verysleepy]

Finally made it up to Dinosaur. The place was happening. Ed Koch was at the next table, every seat seemed to have two people in it and I couldn't hear myself think. Those who are sensitive to noise, crowding and other imperfections should steer clear. If you can handle the trauma or time your visit during off hours, however, it's well worth a pilgrimage. Dinosaur is an extremely welcome addition to the evolving New York City barbecue scene. I had the "tres hombres" platter, consisting of brisket, pulled pork and pork ribs. All were really good, tender and juicy with pronounced smoky flavor. I wouldn't attempt to generalize from such a limited sample, but stylistically I think I most enjoyed the ribs, which had a very crusty exterior yet were beautifully moist inside. The brisket had better and worse pieces (the better ones being delicious and the worse ones being too dry), and the only flaw in the pulled pork (more of a Memphis style pulled pork with a sweet sticky sauce added for service, as opposed to North Carolina style chopped pork served with just a minimalist vinegar sauce) was that there wasn't enough of it.

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Steven... what time did you go to Dinosaur? Just curious, because we are attempting to go again on Tuesday afternoon- lunchtime.

Thanks

Nadine

[Fat Guy]

7:15pm. We were a party of 7 so we had been able to make a reservation. We were seated at 7:48. Ed Koch waited almost as long as we did.

[wannabechef]

Made it to Dino last night with a party of 4. Was shocked when we walked in the door. 8:30 on a Wed night - and we were told there was a 1.5-2 hour wait! The place was bustling. We decided to put our name down and wait by the bar area to see if a table there would open up. Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, a group got up from a bar table and we pounced. Don't really see why theres a difference of seating here. Even in that area there was wait service too. I guess its just a matter of having a chair with a back, or a stool. We didn't care in any case. We just wanted some BBQ!

We started off with an order of wings. Half garlic-chipotle (hot), half of the honey one (mild). During our wing order was the first time I got annoyed a bit by our waitress. We wanted the wango tango but she started insisting that the garlic chipotle was her favorite. This set off some ordering confusion within my party and we ended up not even getting what we originally ordered. Kind of frustrating. In any case, the wings were stellar. They were also gone in under 2 minutes. Perfectly cooked, tender, and a bit saucy - which didn't bother me. The blue cheese dip was also very good.

For the main course, my friend and I did a little splitting. We shared a 3/4 rack ribs, and the big ass (pulled) pork plate. I'm not a BBQ professional (have tried Nashville BBQ once) but according to my taste buds, both of these were incredible. I was very impressed with the pulled pork. There were some nice crunchy/chewey bits in there, and it wasn't overly sauced. The same goes for the ribs. My only criticism of the ribs would be that there possibly TOO tender, if thats possible. When I would cut one from the rack, it almost pulled all the meat off both adjoining ribs. The taste was great though. I happen to like Dino's sauce, although it is slightly sweet, and I added a little bit more to my ribs. Is this considered sacrilidge to some?

As for sides, I got the iceberg wedge and the salt potatoes. Potatoes were great, but I think they messed up the wedge. I thought it was supposed to have blue cheese dressing but it looked like they put some kind of russian dressing on. Sharing those two dishes with my friend was plenty to fill me up - and came to $16 each - which is great value IMO. There is also a pulled pork/rib combo which is $13.00 but has slightly less food. We were all stuffed by the end.

This brings us to desert, and the next service annoyance. We were simply too full for desert. When our waitress came to ask us if we were interested, we said no thanks. She then said "Are you sure?" and proceed to read them off anyway. Although hearing the deserts did make it extremely tempting, we just didn't want them. Then she practically begged us to get desert. Suggesting that we could all share one if we want. I never saw anything like it. We persisted, and she finally backed down. It was like a war of wills.

So all in all it was a great meal. I will definately return and try the brisket, and save room for desert. Oh, one other thing regarding wait times. I think that maybe they are not yet good at predicting wait times or something. About 15 minutes after we sat down (about 9pm then), the place suddenly just cleared out. Almost the whole bar area was empty and there were many empty seats in the restaurant. Thats after she told us at 8:30 that the wait could be 2 hours.

~WBC

Edited December 30, 2004 by wannabechef (log)

[wannabechef]

I wanted to post this in a seperate reply. Saw this review of Dino in the Voice.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0452/sietsema.php

Not a very glowing review:

While the pork ribs (half-rack $13.95, full rack $20.95) aped the texture of wood, they lacked smoky flavor. I watched through the kitchen window as ribs were "finished" by being brushed with barbecue sauce and reheated on a gas grill. According to the label, the sauce contains smoke flavor. I guess that finished them, all right.

I'm curious to hear some responses to this review from some of the 'cue experts here.

~WBC

[jhlurie]

Interesting review. I'd never say that Dinosaur is world class, but that review seems like a bit of a dive-bomb attack. A lot of BBQ sauces have smoke flavoring in them, but that review is construing it to be some kind of cover-up. That's just sad sad "reporting".

[Fat Guy]

I'm definitely surprised by the hostility; it seems beyond the scope of any criticism I'd have thought possible. Surely the barbecue at Dinosaur is not the greatest in the world, but it is very good.

In terms of the factual claims, is Sietsema saying that Dinosaur doesn't use wood? If I'm not mistaken, Jason posted a photograph above of the J&R smokers, standard-issue in many Southern barbecue places. These are, I believe, combination gas-wood smokers -- they derive heat from gas and smoke from wood placed into a chamber. At least, that's what I think is the case.

[Jason Perlow]

Yeah, I find Sietsema's writeup to be a bit of a unnecessary panning as well. I also don't agree with his view that the 'q lacks wood smoke taste.

[jhlurie]

In terms of the factual claims, is Sietsema saying that Dinosaur doesn't use wood? If I'm not mistaken, Jason posted a photograph above of the J&R smokers, standard-issue in many Southern barbecue places. These are, I believe, combination gas-wood smokers -- they derive heat from gas and smoke from wood placed into a chamber. At least, that's what I think is the case.

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This photo, right?

It's kind of funny that Sietsema named that review "hatchet job", because I get the impression that's his intention here. First of all, it's already dirty pool to compare it (negatively) to some of the regional BBQ greats he mentions, but he goes a step further with his "cute" little story about his poking around sniffing the air for the scent of wood splinters or ash. What is he, Sherlock Holmes?

[Jason Perlow]

I actually wish I had closer up photos of those paper instructions that are taped onto the smokers, even with the high res versions I had at home you can't really read them. When I took the photos of the smoking room they had just completed unloading all the meat for the night, and hadn't started a new batch yet, so I was unable to look inside the chambers for the wood being used, etc. However, John Stage told us he was pretty much using hickory entirely.

[jhlurie]

It's the sly implications of deliberate fraud in the review which get me. As a reviewer he's under absolutely no obligation to like the place, or the product. Even my own reactions to the place were conservative--I mean my superlative for the pulled pork, for example was that it was "good", so I'm not exactly raving. But he's talking about sneaking around sniffing the air as if there were some kind of cover-up going on, searching the neighborhood for wood delivery trucks, and coloring and over-interpreting the fact that the sauce has a fairly standard ingredient in it--smoke flavoring. If that's the case, just write a damn review that says that you think the sauce sucks. Don't invent a nefarious motive for it with no proof behind it.

[wannabechef]

And even stranger, the photo on the review itself shows a picture of the restaurant, with stacks of wood in the foreground. So in a review that seems to be complaining about the lack of wood, a photo accompanies with a pile of wood front and center. Weird.

One other question...I understand and agree with the whole idea of saying "this is good que for NYC. we should be happy to have it, etc, etc." That is totally valid and I wholeheartedly agree. But that being said, I don't think we should let them off so easily when reviewing just because it happens to be in NYC. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is there any sort of physical handicap to being located in NYC? Is there any reason why Dino, or any other BBQ place here, can't be as good as the best places throughout the South?

I love Dino and am going back asap. But I'm also a traditionalist and have faith that NYC has (or could potentially have) the best of any cusine. I've had better falafel here than anything I've had in the Middle East. Why can't I have BBQ as good as any in North Carolina? Is it just a matter of having knowledgeable people come and open places here?

[Jason Perlow]

There's plenty of wood. Sietsema clearly has not seen the whole back area of the restaurant where all the smoking takes place. I have.