Stickey's BBQ (Teaneck) CLOSED

[Jason Perlow]

I'll elaborate on these photos later -- for now you can savor them.

Stickey's was EXTREMELY busy today during lunch and had very long wait times on the orders because they received about a 4-1 ratio of takeout to eat-in orders on their first day, which totally overwhelmed the kitchen and they weren't prepared for it.

I expect the service issues to resolve themselves over the next couple of weeks, but I think any super-critical analysis of the restaurant is totally premature and screw-ups have to be expected en masse the first week if not all thru the first month of operation.

Chicken and some Brisket (or they might be beef ribs)

Ribs

Ribs...

Chicken and Beef Ribs

Pulled Pork Texas "Pile High"

Brisket Texas "Pile High"

Pulled Pork "Pile High" closeup

Brisket "Pile High" closeup

Texas Chili

BBQ Baked Beans

Texas Style Fries

Cornbread

Deep-Fried 1/4lb Snickers Bar

Closeup of Snickers Bar

Slaw

Rice and Black Beans

Mac 'n Cheese (If you go out to eat with Rachel, make sure you order your own and keep it out of arms reach, otherwise it will walk away if you turn your head away even for a minute!)

Mo Jo Sauce (this is a tangier BBQ sauce that is somewhat spicier and has chunks of various things mixed in with it)

Cornell Sauce, which can be had over Chicken. Its a vinagrette based sauce with olive oil, although its heavier on the olive oil and doesnt really taste like a Italian salad dressing.

Happy Patrons

[Mayhaw Man]

Looks good!(especially for a bunch of Yankees )

How was the slaw? Jon didn't mention it ( I don't think anyway, I looked twice).

[woodburner]

I'd never wait two hours for that shit.

Four hours yes, but not two.

Nice images Jason.

Belly bombs.

woodburner

[Jason Perlow]

Looks good!(especially for a bunch of Yankees )

How was the slaw? Jon didn't mention it ( I don't think anyway, I looked twice).

Excellent slaw.

[Jason Perlow]

Anybody notice the brand of cooker? (Jason)

It has the appearance of a Southern Pride unit, that also seems to be powered by gas.

Not that there is a problem with gas, I'm just inquisitive.

Looks like some decent pork in those pictures.

woodburner

Its not a Southern Pride -- its some sort of custom made rig by some company out in California.

[woodburner]

Thanks for that.

Never heard of any custom bbq cooker builders from CA.

Once again, nice images and good eats for sure.

woodburner

[mnebergall]

Having grown up in Kansas City, I still do not understand the association of slaw with bbq?

[Rachel Perlow]

With the exception of some minor issues with a couple of the sides, mostly outlined by Jon, above, the food at Stickey's was kickass. And, despite being warned there was going to be a wait, it was frustrating to not be served lunch for about an hour after we ordered it. The wait was worth it, but it's too bad they couldn't give themselves a less stressful day (like a Tuesday rather than Saturday) for an opening day.

PS -- not all the food pictured above was ordered by us. Jason spent his wait by the pass taking pictures of other people's food!

Also, here's something we didn't notice about their menu (linked above in first post of the thread) until we were ordering... there's no greens offered as a side! I'm sorry, but aren't greens like required? Especially when the baked beans are mashed, you need something green to clear your palate.

Those sure were some gooood sandwiches.

One more thing in case any of you BBQ lovers have an SO not quite so into the meat thing, they do offer salads, and you can even top it with a tuna steak if said herbivore makes the fishy exception.

[BarbaraNJ]

Hello All

Thanks for the warm welcome on my last post; got a bad cold just around that time and was not able to respond quickly.

Now that I'm better (and can taste food again), this review has my interest.

Often find myself in the area, and may attempt take-out, but I have a question.

The menu does not indicate alcohol; do you think it would be OK to bring in beer?? Can't think of a more appropriate beverage with BBQ, but don't want to get the owners either upset or in trouble.

Should I just call the establishment ??

[EDS33]

I ate at Stick's Sunday evening. The idea of a solid Q joint in Teaneck is a great one. Granted it was early, but Stickey's has a long way to go. They were out of every meat except pulled pork. This didn't realy bother me because it was their first weekend and I'm willing to cut them some slack. The pulled pork I had was cold and the BBQ sauce (GET IT ON THE SIDE) completely overpowers the meat, which had no discernible smoke flavor at all. The macaroni and cheese also wasn't hot and it was overly dry. The corn bread was ok. It seems like the kitchen lacks trained chefs because the food was just plain bad and someone should be making sure the food is hot.

I'm willing to go back after a month or so and try the ribs.

If you have a BBQ craving, try Finks or take the ride to Montclair's Indigo Smoke, where the food is excellent and actually cheaper than Stickey.s

[Wanimoon]

I was here on opening day (actually I'm in the picture on page 1 with my husband, our backs are to you...striped shirt right in front). Anyway, I wasn't too impressed with the place. The food did take a ridiculous amount of time and was slightly undercooked. I just got the distinct feeling that they weren't prepared well. The servers didn't seem to be properly trained on the menu items, which didn't sit well with me since I had a lot of questions. She had to check with the kitchen for almost eveything I asked her. We are definitely going to go back, but probaly not for a month or so. Maybe by then they'll be more prepared and have their s%it together.

[Rosie]

Wanimoon--Welcome to eGullet. Be sure to give us reports on other places that you dine at.

[phaelon56]

Pulled Pork Texas "Pile High"

When did Texas co-opt what I've always known to be a Pork Carolina or a Carolina Pork Sandwich?

[Jason Perlow]

Dude, thats a brisket pile high. The pulled pork is the one before it.

[shugga]

We went for dinner last night. The service was good. The waitress kept apologizing for the wait, but it wasn't long. The place was sure hoppin!

I enjoyed my ribs. Hubby said Fink's chicken was better. Coleslaw was good. The rice and beens could have used a shot of hot sauce, and I missed greens being on the menu.

They need less ice and more liquid in the drinks though. Ask for your beverage with no ice or BYO. Everyone was very helpful. IThink it will do very well.

Has anyone ever been to the place called the Barbeque Pit just north of Foster Village in Bergenfield?

[Rachel Perlow]

re: Barbecue Pit -- We've gotten food from them a while back. It is Filipino and has ribs, fried fish, meat on sticks. I think the food was OK, but didn't draw us back as regulars.

re: Sticky's drinks -- I didn't notice too much ice in my drink (usually iced tea), but there are free refills and they seem really on the ball about refilling, so too much ice isn't a problem in my book.

[Andy Lynes]

I just finished my lunch about 20 minutes ago and my mouth is watering reading this thread. Jason, you've got to take me to this place next time I'm over.

[tkrongold]

Hi. We tried to go to Stickey's last night. Got there late (around 9:00pm), but they are open until 11pm. The place looked very disorganized. Several tables looked like they had not been bussed in any recent time (dirty dishes piled up). They were doing a very busy takeout business. We were told someone would seat us. After standing there for about 10 minutes, we left. One of the cooks was sweeping the floor & several servers were running around looking very harried.

We were disappointed, but we figure we'll give it a try on a non-Saturday. Hopefully the food is better than the organization.

[Cornellrob]

Sounds like this place still has a while to go....

Went there on what turned out to be their opening day. I, like a good number of others, was turned away - due to them not having any food!!! They basically couldn't make virtually every dish! Pretty crazy. Hafta kick those smokers into high gear...

They did give me a 10% discount coupon for my next visit though... That was pretty nice of them.

[Cornellrob]

I managed to get to Stickey’s tonight, finally, with two friends. Food was reasonably decent, although I must admit that I wasn’t overly impressed. If I do go back, I will probably try some different items on the menu.

I got the pulled pork sandwich, slaw on the side. I thought the meat was only slightly smoky in flavor, and was really quite dry. The pork had a grayish color, rather than the more pinkish color that I am use to. You can see the pictures above I guess, which is more or less the same sandwich that I received. My only main gripe, aside from the lack of smokiness and the dryness of the meat, was that there seemed to be a huge amount of sauce pooled on the top of the meat, and not really distributed throughout. That’s great I guess if you like the sauce, but you will be required to mix that in yourself.

As a comparison, I usually find that Fink’s pulled pork has a intense smoked flavor, and proper amount of sauce thoroughly mixed in (but not too much sauce!).

I also tried some of my friend’s pork ribs. These had a good smoky flavor, but were so dry that they required a substantial amount of gnawing to get off the bone. I’m no rib expert, but I think they may have been a little too dry, even for Stickey’s style of ribs. The ribs we received did not really look like those pictured above in terms of juiciness.

For side dishes we had collard greens, baked beans, and mac & cheese. My personal preference was for the mac & cheese, which is what I would call a “dry” variety. Not wet and cheesy, like you sometimes find, and since I don’t really care for that preparation, I did enjoy Stickey’s mac & cheese. The collard greens were okay, but for me, the benchmark is Indigo Smoke, which I think makes fantastic collard greens – smokey, with that great ham flavor, not overly bitter, juicy, and soft, but not too mushy.

Best part of the meal by far was the dessert – deep fried oreos. Everyone at my table agreed this was the highlight of the meal. Something about the batter in combination with those oreos – kind of like the flavor of a great funnel cake, mixed in with the savory creaminess of a melted oreo. The fact that the dessert was comped to us by the owner made it all the more better!! But truly, I would go back just for that dessert.

We found the service to be quite pleasant and reasonably efficient. Aside from waiting an inordinate amount of time for the waitress to take our order, everything from that point forward moved along smoothly. Towards the end, the owner stopped by and asked us what desserts we’d like. We ordered the deep fried snickers bar and he told us that if he were choosing, he’d pick the oreos. He said that he’d just throw an order of those in on the house – and I’m really glad he did.

In summary, I thought the food was just okay, but the overall experience was good enough that I would give this place another shot, at least for the oreos. I hope that the next time we go the meat is a little moister and more flavorful. Perhaps I’ll get the chicken, that looked pretty good…

[Jason Perlow]

With the closing of Finks' restaurant operations imminent, we went to Stickey's for dinner with our in-laws last week, in order to see if they had ironed out their service and food quality consistency issues. We hadn't been there in about 3 months.

Thankfully, it appears that things have normalized and the quality is now back up to spec. Between the 4 of us, we ordered a rack of ribs, a rack of beef ribs, a half an order of "brisket" (which is actually roast beef thats been smoked, it isn't plate brisket) and a half an order of pulled chicken along with 4 sides. Total Damage, $40. and it was a LOT of food. By far this is the best deal in the place.

Service issues are no longer a consideration -- the place is now doing 'Normal' weekday and weekend business and they appear to have the takeout situation under control. No long waits for food.

Larry has stabilized his supplier issues and is now getting in the really good meaty ribs that he likes, and he's doing a really good job of cooking them. These have just the right degree of chewyness but are also easy to eat right of the bone. He also now has the big beef ribs in -- I like these, and they are very beefy tasting, but I wouldnt eat a whole order of them myself because they are very fatty compared to the pork ones, so you might want to share a small order with someone if you want to try them.

Pulled chicken is very good, as is his "Brisket". However, I think we should abandon all notions of calling this brisket and calling it what it really is, which is BBQ Roast Beef. Now that I've actually had real Texas and Kansas City brisket and I know exactly what cut of meat it comes from now, I feel like an ass for even calling this stuff brisket previously. HOWEVER, As BBQ roast beef goes, its very good, and if you put a couple of slices on the supplied white bread it makes a very good sandwich.

[Rachel Perlow]

Actually, I remember that previously their brisket was brisket as opposed to the roast beef we had last week. We don't know if they've permanently changed that item or if it was a substitution or something. We'll have to figure that out next time we go. I would recommend, however, that if you are ordering the pulled meats to ask for the sauce on the side, otherwise it is over-sauced (get the Mojo sauce).

[emilymarie]

Visited Stickey's on Friday night. After reading the posts and looking at the scrumptuous pictures, I had to go.

I am no barbecue expert in terms of regional styles, etc., but love the food. So here goes: The place was considerably less crowded than I imagine it was when it first opened. In fact, at around 7:30 on a Friday night it was all but empty. About half way thru our meal, however, a large group of 20 or so bikers (as in, those who ride Harley's, wear leather, and don long hair) came in with a cooler full of beer. They were a fun crowd and kept most of the wait staff busy.

I ordered the mini combo, which allows you to choose half of 2 meats and 2 large sides (for $19.95). Granted, I was eating for one, but I wanted to try as much as I could. I decided on pulled pork and beef ribs. The pulled pork was better than the beef rib--subtly smokey, a bit pink around the edges, and tasty when matched with the somewhat tangy yet sugary barbecue sauce. Next time, I will go for the pulled pork pile high with cole slaw on top.

The beef rib (the order came with 1 rib) looked like a one-sided rib--a large bone about 7 inches long and 1.5 inches wide was covered on one side only with about 2 inches high of beef. It was good--charred with a rich, beefy flavor. Also, subtly smokey. I've never seen a rib with meat on just one side. Nor have I seen a rib that large before (my bbq naivete showing thru...). What they called a bbq brisk sandwich had an almost grassy flavor and tasted as if it had been grilled. Was not as juicy as the pork or beef.

We got baked beans and mac and cheese. To back up other posters' comments, the mac and cheese was of the drier variety, but was good with chewy noodles and enough cheese flavor to do the trick. Just a sprinkle of salt made it to my taste. The baked beans were good but not phenomenal (Btw, the best baked beans I've ever had were stewed with bacon and pineapple--and from St. Louis). There were ordinary but did the job.

The fried oreos were so good--and yet I am embarassed to have enjoyed them so much. My sister and I sat there saying "Mmmm?", kind of surprised that we liked this cookie-donut-funnel cake concoction so much. They just melted in my mouth.

I will definitely go back to taste more of the menu--esp. the wings and the pork ribs. Would love to see hush puppies on the menu--they are a favorite of mine with barbecue.

[ghostrider]

(Btw, the best baked beans I've ever had were stewed with bacon and pineapple--and from St. Louis).

Where was that? Still planning a StL trip sometime this year.

Reminds me of a dish we used to make in my starving post-college pre-employment NYC phase - hot dogs, pineapple & baked beams. Cheap & satisfying.

[emilymarie]

haha, ghostrider! there's a small barbecue shack (and I mean shack) in the Loop section of the city near Washington University. On the north side of Delmar Boulevard, right near the strip of stores that houses Blockbuster, there is an open air market where you'll find Mama's Coal Pot (open Thurs-Sunday). I enjoyed the rib tips--charred, chewy, marbled with fat, and smothered with a barbecue sauce that is sweet and sour with a bit of heat that hits you at the end. The aforementioned beans are the best of his sides, in my opinion. The owner, Michael King, is quite the gregarious fellow, though when I went, it looked like King needed to give his smoker a bit of scrub down. But that may be sacrilege...

If you go, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the food.