"Live" from the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party '04

[TheBoatMan]

As we approaced from 6th ave we could see the smoke in the distance. Anyway, as already said the lines were really, really, really long. We fought the good fight and managed to try 3 different booths. Lines averaged about an hour wait for us apiece, luckily we didnt know beer was restriced to certain areas as we were drinking in line. Lines were so long and wrapped around so much, sometimes you werent sure what you were waiting in line for. Beverage lines on the other hand moved fast. We had the Mithcells, 17th street and K.C Baron. Our favorite, surprsing us, was the K.C. brisket. The brisket was fantastic, some of the best we've had. We also got lucky and saw the Mitchell crew disecting a whole hog hot off the grill. We watched from the back area and they even threw us some ribs on the house. We also caught VH1 interviewing Ed Mitchell while we were there. Anyway, good luck if you go tomorrow, the lines really took the fun out of this event for us.

K.C Brisket

Blue Smoke Ribs

Blue Smoke Mop

17th Street Ribs

Lines

The Hog

Chopped Hog

This is where they disected the hog and threw us some freebie ribs from the carcus.

VH1 interviewing Ed.

Edited June 13, 2004 by TheBoatMan (log)

[Curlz]

Don't know if this is inappropriate, but do any eG'ers have any "inside" tracks to any of the booths? These food pics are making me want to go back again tomorrow. I just can't stand to wait on those crazy lines though. To people who stayed all day today - are there any better or ideal times to show up? Was it less crowded at the end of the day, or when it first started? Just trying to come up with a good strategy! 

My apologies if I'm repeating things that have already been said, but I spent waaaaay too much time in the sun today, and I've got to get to bed. BUT...I have two words for those of you who weren't there today but who are going tomorrow: GO EARLY. Oh, and two more: COMFORTABLE SHOES!! And one last word...SUNSCREEN.

I arrived around 12:20 today, entered the park via 23rd street, and walked through and over to the block of 26th St to see what was what with no crowd interference. I bought some tickets, and waited all of about 6 minutes to get some of Gibson's pork shoulder and baked beans. Tasty and not traumatic--but more on the food itself tomorrow. I repeat, GO EARLY!!

By the time I came back to the lines with a friend around 1:15, we were in the complete chaos that you see pictured early on this thread. We thought we were in line for Mitchell's only to discover that we weren't, and around that time, the organizers finally realized that they needed to bring in some barricades. Once they did, things seemed to move a little better, but not before a lot of people gave up. I overheard a lot of ticked off folks trying to sell unused tickets. My buddy wanted to give up, but we had already waited so long, I convinced him to stick it out. In the end, it was almost an hour to get to Mitchell's--and it was quite tasty, although disappointingly, not hot (temp) pig.

More tomorrow, but in a nutshell, when you get a gorgeous day/weekend like this, it's not just word of mouth about the event that's bringing people out--I'm guessing that all of the NYC parks were mobbed today--Madison Square just had some awesome 'cue and MUSIC!!! And it was great to run in to Fat Guy...

Oh, and be sure not to miss the $1 cones/cups of frozen custard at the Shake Shack on the southern end of the park. Lovely way to end the day! ENJOY...

[wannabechef]

Alright guys - you convinced me! If I can wake up in time, I'm there at 11:45! I'll report back tomorrow. Thanks for everyone's input here.

~WBC

[Atomic Lunch]

I have never seen so many pissed off New Yorkers at one time. (and that's saying something) As I approached from the south, I almost got run over by some guy storming away, shouting over his shoulder that it was a ripoff. The mood didn't lighten as I hit 26th.

You know how when you walk through a crowd you hear snippets of a bunch of different conversations? Today it was all the same conversation: people didn't know which line led to what, people waited on line only to discover that they couldn't pay with cash, people stood for a long time in a line that wasn't moving only to discover it wasn't a line. Mostly, though, people just wanted to get into line but couldn't find the end of it.

Oddly, I saw very few people actually eating barbecue. I personally did not get any food but I did get to see the Hare Krishna parade and that has to count for something, right?

My thoughts for next year, spread the cue booths around the park so people know which lines they are in. I'm betting that will calm some of the really negative vibes I was getting from the place. And maybe some ropes and stanchions. When you do a big event in NYC, you have to plan for basic crowd control.

Maybe tomorrow I'll go early and try to get some actual food. It smelled amazing.

[nypork]

I got there at 12 on the dot,mainly because iI had to get to work by two(one of the worst thing about being a chef, all the cool food events are on the weekends when I have to work) but anyway. My girlfriend and I split up from the start, and met each other what seemed to be every 15 minutes to eat what we had. It worked quite well and by the time I left for work around 130 we had tried everything but the Blue Smoke ribs(I used to work there, so I knew what they were all about) I do believe good planning is the key,

[Fat Guy]

The way I figure it -- and waiting on line I had plenty of time to consider such weighty matters -- it would take me something like 70 hours driving over a period of a week, at a cost of $560 in gas, to get to all these different barbecue places. Now, maybe they're not the exact 6 places I'd pick, and maybe I'd hit more than 6 on a trip of that magnitude, but I've driven many, many hours out of my way in order to go to Mitchell's, and I've schlepped out to the Salt Lick, and I can tell you it's a real pain in the ass. So I've got to say that anybody who complains about waiting an hour for a taste just hasn't thought it through. Regardless of what you think about the mechanics of crowd control, fundamentally those lines were moving really fucking fast. They were serving, I am sure, in excess of 5,000 people in 6 hours at some of those booths. And every one of them that I saw did it with a smile, took the time to chat with whomever wanted to strike up a conversation, and maintained a very, very, very high standard of 'cue. It's a monumental accomplishment.

This is only the second annual BABBP and the first time this venue has been utilized. The event planners had no way of knowing how many people would come or how they would behave under various circumstances. It's not like at Disney World where you have the benefit of controlling access to your entire theme park, and of being able to evaluate audience demographics every day of the year in order to figure out how many people are going to want to see Captain Eo on February Thursdays when there's a 22% chance of rain. It's more like opening day at the original Disneyland -- you have no real idea what to expect until it happens, and you spend all day reacting. You've got 30,000 portions of barbecue to serve no matter how many people show up -- you can't just throw on an extra hog at noon because it won't be ready until midnight, you don't have it in inventory anyway, and you don't have enough people to process and serve it.

There were thousands of person-hours devoted to planning for the various crowd control contingencies. But nobody figured it would get as heavy as it did. David Swinghammer, one of Danny Meyer's partners in Blue Smoke, was on top of the situation by about 12:01, calling in more barricades, discussing whether or not they should go to a multiple-lines-per-vendor system, assigning expediters to the various booths, positioning staff at the access points to answer questions . . . if people didn't know what was going on, it's not for lack of trying to get information out there. They had massive booths with thousands of copies of clearly printed instructions. If people won't take a moment to familiarize themselves with the procedures for such a large and complex event, there's not a lot you can do about it. Even so, as the day wore on, the organizers adapted to the crowd and the venue and got the lines much more under control.

Nobody is making any money from this event, except the charities who benefit from it. Certainly Danny Meyer doesn't need any more money or any more headaches anyway. I suppose Blue Smoke gets some marketing benefit out of the event, but overall I see this event as very much a labor of love and I view it from a position of deep gratitude.

Things could have been done better. There were many meetings last night after 6pm. Maybe we'll see some improvements on Sunday. Either way, thanks to eGullet, anybody reading here should now be equipped with every conceivable bit of information regarding how to get the most out of this wonderful event. See you this afternoon.

[jeff29992001]

a correction onyour original post... the main lawn/grass museum has always been open to the publicc. opening hours mid morning, closing hours around 6-7pm i think.

As for the concession stand, I find it huge and ugly (despite making available above-par food), and upsets the general balance and aesthetic of the park. but hey, danny meyer being the chair of this (private-public) park, he can do whatever he wants.

as for the prices.. they were $5.00 last year, but now it's $6.00 this year?? i guess you have to pay to sample the best, and of course, the charity.

Edited June 13, 2004 by jeff29992001 (log)

[Fat Guy]

There's some lawn they opened up for the first time for this event. At least that's what some higher-ups in the USHG told me. Unless I misunderstood.

I would hold off on judging the Shake Shack until construction is completed -- it is still very much a construction site. There's an elaborate plan for the final appearance of the foliage on the roof and for landscaping around the structure. Nobody is more committed to the aesthetics of the park than Danny Meyer, who is after all largely responsible for the dramatic improvements that have been made to the park over the past 5 years. Although, to be clear, as far as I know USHG did not have total architectural control over the Shake Shack project -- I believe the Conservancy is in charge of building it and USHG is the operator. Danny Meyer is on the Conservancy's board of trustees but is not as far as I know the "chair of the park."

Every park should be so lucky as to have a food concession like the Shake Shack. Now if only we can get some of the pitmasters to set up with the same degree of permanence . . .

[Liz Johnson]

The way I figure it -- and waiting on line I had plenty of time to consider such weighty matters -- it would take me something like 70 hours driving over a period of a week, at a cost of $560 in gas, to get to all these different barbecue places.

Perhaps. But you'd be in your car, singing to your favorite tunes and staring out the window at the countryside. Here, you're being jostled and screamed at while standing on hot asphalt getting sunburn.

I waited in lines at 12:30, 2:30 and 4 p.m. for what I believed was Paul Kirk's, Ed Mitchell's and Salt Lick, and never did I get anywhere close to the meat.

I realize it was a perfect storm of the amazing weather, the reputations of the participants and the bigger venue, but I have never seen a more disorganized event — and I was at Woodstock '94. Even people with the 'staff' shirts didn't have a clue which line was which. People's tempers were flaring, and it was so extraordinarily unpleasant and frustrating that I finally gave up.

And I agree with whomever posted earlier: there were very few people actually eating barbecue. I was very disappointed.

[Rachel Perlow]

Yes, the lawn area seemed to be filled with people enjoying the lawn and the music. The people eating Q were all coralled on 26th St, and on the sidewalk behind the Q stands. Even after we were done with the stands and decided to walk around the park a bit, there were very few openings to get onto the lawn area. They were lined with baracades, so that I couldn't find any access.

I really think that the Q stands need to be at compass points rather than all along 26th st.

[Fat Guy]

Here, you're being jostled and screamed at while standing on hot asphalt getting sunburn.

That's just called living in New York City!

Seriously, I'm sure the event's organizers would love to hear some constructive thoughts on how to improve the situation. My own thought, which I expressed early to the managers of the event, was that there should be 3 lines at each place, defined by shitloads of rows of metal barricades, that they should start perpendicular to the booths and then curve out and away, and that they should be clearly labeled. I also think they should have roving ticket vendors, which I believe they did last year, and various ways of distracting the people on the lines (sell them ice cream, soda, whatever; give them brochures; etc.).

It is, however, a fallacy to assume any of this would alter the waiting-time equation in a particularly significant way. If the outer limit of service is X number of people per minute, then no matter what you do in terms of crowd control you will still be having people wait on line for as many minutes as it takes to work through the group. So for those who fundamentally can't stand waiting, there is no good solution. All you can do is make the wait a little more pleasant and better organized.

I'm at Starbuck's if anybody needs counseling.

[Liz Johnson]

The compass points idea is good. Separate the Q stands around the park so it's completely obvious which line is for which.

Use some of those adjustable cloth line-markers like they have in airports and make the line back and forth in front of the booths.

And yes, allow people to sip on beer or wine — or at least come around and sell them soda — while they're waiting. I'll bet there'd be a lot more patience and comaraderie.

But most important, educate the staff to tell the customers what to do and where to go. I completely understood the process, but it didn't work because nobody else did.

[wannabechef]

The way I figure it -- and waiting on line I had plenty of time to consider such weighty matters -- it would take me something like 70 hours driving over a period of a week, at a cost of $560 in gas, to get to all these different barbecue places. Now, maybe they're not the exact 6 places I'd pick, and maybe I'd hit more than 6 on a trip of that magnitude, but I've driven many, many hours out of my way in order to go to Mitchell's, and I've schlepped out to the Salt Lick, and I can tell you it's a real pain in the ass. So I've got to say that anybody who complains about waiting an hour for a taste just hasn't thought it through.

If the lines were more organized I would've had no problem waiting. Like other posters said, it wasn't clear which line was going where, etc. I wasn't ready to invest 30-60 min to wait on a line that wasn't a line at all. So it wasn't the lines that were the problem, it was really the disorganization of the lines.

I think if there were some of those line barricade type things - maybe with signs at the entrance for each line, that would've been much better. I'm off right now for try #2! Will report back...

[MisterJoe]

There's no disputing it was tough out there Saturday afternoon. Moving the food booths to the compass points, and allowing beer in the lines would have helped a lot. The one thing that would have helped the most is the establishment of clear starting points for the lines. In three and a half hours, I made it through 2 lines. For about the first 45 minutes, those of us in the nether regions of the line were constantly reassuring each other that we were indeed in a line, and that we would eventually get some barbecue. There had to be a lot of unintentional line-jumping, although I didn't see anymyself. It was just so hard to tell where the lines were, and until you got close the line moved so slow, it doesn't make sense that people weren't morphing in to the middle of the line.

The food was really good, and the people working the booths were as efficient and nice as they could be. I'm sure things will get better now that the organizers have a better sense of the crowd. It's a worthwhile event, for sure, but it's not for the faint of heart. Good luck to all the Sunday gang.

[juuceman]

ok.. it's not even 12:30 yet.. the lines are there and were there before noon.. they're moving somewhat quickly.. there are barricades set up at each stand but they hold, maybe, 50 people.. they're basically taking up space because you still have lines snaking all over the place once you're no longer corralled within them..

it was a fifteen minute wait to get ribs at memphis championship.. the thing that was holding it up was the ladling of beans.. which were the highlight today.. the ribs were fine, but a whole lot drier than yesterday and they're putting a healthy dose of sauce on them before handing them out.. i'm thinking it must just be a batch issue, seeing as how they were pretty cold as well.. mike mills on the other hand was luxuriating in the adoring attentions of the press.. three reporters were lined up the speak with him..

had some of the blue smoke spare ribs today and they blew away today's sampling of memphis championship.. meatier, better temperature and a lot moister..

enjoy.. it's going to be a long day.. the line at ed mitchell's weaves through the barricades they set up to try and control the crowds and the lines and comes about halfway down the block.. at 12:15..

Edited June 13, 2004 by juuceman (log)

[Curlz]

I'm at Starbuck's if anybody needs counseling.

Yet another line you can wait in today...! Do you have barricades set up yet?!?

[Curlz]

A slightly more detailed report from my visit yesterday:

Food:

Gibson's pork shoulder was delicious, but I would have liked a bit more sauce; there wasn't anything on the bun to make it (the roll) worth eating!

Thanks to a very friendly non-eG'er (I asked) next to us in the clump (aka line) for Mitchell's, I got to taste snoot. He was standing with us and had just tried it, and I asked "So...how's the snoot?" and he offered to share. He couldn't convince his s.o. to try it--she kept saying "I just can't--knowing what it is, I just can't" but I was more than happy to help him out. My friend wouldn't taste it either (wuss). What's the problem with these people?!? My evaluation: it's fat slices of pork. Fatty pork. Fried up like a nice big chip. With BBQ sauce on top. WHAT COULD BE BAD ABOUT THAT?!? Mitchell's, as I said last night, was tasty but cold--and that was a disappointment, esp after waiting in that line for so long.

And the frozen custard was VERY good.

People:

In general, aside from a few truly angry folks, I found the crowd pretty congenial; we were joking that we could have driven to Memphis faster than the line was moving, etc. and just generally agreeing that this event is a great idea that wasn't executed as well as it could have been. Many of us suggested what Fat Guy and others have already mentioned--put the food IN the park and space it out better. And I don't think this has been mentioned yet; who the HELL decided to put beer booths right behind some of the BBQ booths??? This made it even worse for those of us in 'line'--there were people coming in to the crowd from the beer booth, some trying to get across to friends who had 'cue on the adjacent sidewalk, others who were blatantly trying to get in to the 'line.' Bad move, folks.

Despite all of this complaining, I can still say that I'm glad I went. I had a great day in the city and managed to meet up with a few friends, but I'd have to say that I mostly just enjoyed the 'vibe' of the day--loved the music, the general attitude of the crowd, and of course, the weather couldn't have been more perfect. But in some ways, it seemed that the food itself didn't end up being the star in the way that it could/should have--that distinction (unfortunately) belonged to the crowd and lack of organization by the event planners.

[jhlurie]

Reporting live from the 3pm "cue" seminar. With an Ed Mitchell BBQ sandwich balanced on my lap, I'm trying to shift my attention to the seminar. It's tough.

[MumonA]

I'm just back from a second day of sampling. Yesterday, I arrived just before 1pm. After waiting in a disorganized line for about 30 minutes, I made my way to a serving of the Mitchell's whole hog pulled pork. The smokiness and piggy-ness of the meat were both secondary to its sweentness. This was some of the sweetest pig I've had in a long while. The underlying pepperiness worked well as a background seasoning. The shards of near-mohogany skin were wonderfully chewy and packed with flavor. I also enjoyed the intermingled small globs of fat, not piggy at all. As mentioned by others, the mixture was completely "room" temperature. I don't know how the dish is usually served, but I imagine a warm scoop of pulled and chopped pig would be even nicer. And is pulled pork always chopped so fine? I would not have minded a coarser mix. I also enjoyed the bun (potato?) and the mildly tart coleslaw. Didn't try the sauce, so I can't comment.

I had planned to hit a second stand, but the lines had grown to unwieldy proportions by that time (just past 2pm).

I returned this morning at 11:30am and queued (yes, I know, the pun) in the Memphis Championship line. As mentioned by juuceman, the ribs were on the dry side. The meat and smoke flavor were very good, but the texture and temperature of the ribs suggested that they had been off the heat for hours. My portion originally only had three ribs and one of the kind women from Murphysboro added two meaty extras, a nice bonus. The beans, as noted, were very good.

The line at Memphis Championship started moving at 11:45am, so I was able to finish the ribs at a civil pace and still get in line for KC Baron's beef brisket by 12:10pm. As Fat Guy mentioned, their setup is nice because you can see the prep process as you wait in line. Each time they trimmed the fat, I suppressed a yelp. Luckily my serving came with nice bits of fat still attached to the brisket. I have little experience with barbequed brisket, but what I tasted was very good. I thought the smokiness was more prominent compared to the above two. The fact that this serving had residual warmth, unlike the other two, also helped to bring out the flavors, I imagine. Did not try the sauce here either.

I swung by the Shake Shack, only to see a sign saying they would open at 2pm. Against my better judgment, I bought six more cue-pons to try the pig snoot from Smoki O's. When I asked them how many snouts it took to make a snoot sandwich, they laughed, but didn't have an answer. The fuscia snootology flyer also did not provide an answer. The thoroughly deep-fried snout was a disappointment for me. I guess I was expecting cracklings, only better. I can't get enough of my own fresh duck cracklings after a rendering, so I imagined that a professional version could only be better. First, the snout did not taste freshly fried. It wasn't stale by any means, but it tasted as though it had been fried more than 24 hours ago. I wouldn't be surprised if they were fried in St. Louis on Friday morning and flown in that day. Second, the snout had no discernable seasoning on its own. Given prior reports of sauce-soaked snout and seeing the oversauced messes being served in front of me, I asked for the sauce on the side. I tried the snout with and without sauce, neither really hit the spot. More a novelty than anything else. Finally, I found the texture unappealing. Maybe this is an unfair comment since I don't know the culinary limitations/possibilities of snout, but I was hoping for somthing more than overfried animal protein. The fattiness was largely rendered out of the "nose chips" I was eating, as was any unique textures (cartilage-y crunchiness maybe?) I'm not particularly glad that I tried the dish, but I suppose I can now say that I have.

I returned to the park at 2pm in the hopes of having a frozen custard or two, and sticking around for the 3pm gathering. But when I found out that no custard was to be had (broken custard freezing machine, I was told) I decided to call it a day. Looking forward to hearing the comments of others and any reports on the Big Bob Gibson, Blue Smoke, and Salt Lick offerings.

Happy Eating,

Mumon

Edited June 14, 2004 by MumonA (log)

[SethG]

Thanks to eGullet, I had a very nice time today at the Block Party.

I arrived at the south end of the park right at noon and wanted to scream as I waited ten minutes to buy cue-pons. I bought fifty.

Then I scooted over to the other side of the park and strategized. I had until 3:00-- I wanted to meet some eGulleteers, and then I needed to leave. So I decided to follow the strategy that would get me the most tastes (I wanted to try at least four of the places) in a couple hours.

Mitchell's already had a huge line at 12:10, so I started with K.C. Baron. In ten or fifteen minutes, I got the brisket. My verdict is somewhere between Mr. Cutlets' and the Perlows'-- I thought it was good, moist, tender, but it didn't rock my world. And in no way was I grossed out by the fat.

Next I took another look around and saw next to no line at the Blue Smoke hut and a shortish line at Bob Gibson's. So I hopped on Gibson's line and got my favorite dish of the day: wonderful pulled pork shoulder and some very nice beans. Soupy, with a nice pickly edge.

So it was now 1:00 and I had already visited two places. I felt like a king. Now there was no choice; I had to brave a long line. Memphis Championship or Mitchell's? The Memphis line was the lesser of the two evils, and in half an hour I got the ribs, which were a generous portion, but I thought (as some others did) they were a little dry and none too warm. But their beans were even better than the ones at Gibson's.

Now I was feeling a little full. I retreated to the park for a beer. Upon returning to the madness, I saw that the Mitchell line was longer than ever, doubling back three or four times. And I saw that the Blue Smoke station was nearly empty. So I thought screw it, I'm done. I went to Blue Smoke and had a very generous portion of spare ribs, which in my uneducated opinion were at least the equal of anything else I had today. Folks, if there's still time, don't pass up the Blue Smoke ribs. They're great.

I had eaten four portions, and bought three extras to bring home. I had four tickets left; just enough for another beer. So another beer was meant to be.

I had a nice time meeting sdome eG folks I hadn't met before, and enjoyed a good round table discussion too. I wish I could have stayed longer to talk to some of you a little more, but I had to run.

I have some pics I may post later if they aren't totally redundant.

[Fat Guy]

It was a great pleasure to see eGulleters turn out in full force at the panel discussion, and I was amazed to find another whole group of eGulleters over on the left flank of the seating area, and then another cluster next to the Shake Shack (which, sometime towards the end of the seminar, did start serving custard -- a happy taste to end my day), and finally another at the back of the audience. Certainly there were more than 50 of us in the vicinity -- I hope you'll all post a hello here.

Photos, stories, etc., to come later tonight. And then tomorrow morning we'll start hearing from those who weren't at the event -- thanks for holding on to your questions and comments during the documentary phase of this thread.

[wannabechef]

I made it back today - this time my experience was 200% better. I arrived at around 11:30 to find that the line for cuepons was already growing. I hopped on asap. They started selling tickets around 11:45, and by 11:50 I was on line at Mitchells.

Mitchells

Tasty - but I found it to be slightly overrated. I think in different situation it could've been a lot better. For one thing it was cold. I also had very few of the skin or cracklin's which is my favorite part. Also, the juice from the coleslaw intermingled with the meat, which I felt was a negative thing. It sort of made the meat "water logged" or soggy. I found the sauce to be slightly too vinegary. The coleslaw by the way, was fantastic. I enjoyed it overall but was slightly disappointed - esp after hearing all the hype. I immediately got on line next at K.C. Baron for some Brisket.

K.C. Baron

Wow - this blew me away. I didn't find it overly fatty at all. It was the best brisket I ever ate hands down. Pickles were good too. I ignored the bread though, both here and at Mitchells. Next stop - Big Bob's.

Big Bob's Shoulder

Double WOW. This was my favorite of the day. There was a lot of skin or cracklin's mixed in which was great. Sauce was great. This was the one booth where I actually ate the bread. For some reason, eating it in sandwich form added to the experiecne. This was some of the best bbq I ever ate and it will be hard to match. By this time the lines had grown pretty long. It was around 12:30 and I waited here for only about 15 min or so. Not bad. Final stop was 17th St's baby backs.

17th Street Bar & Grill

I agree with what others said. These ribs were tasty but a little dry. And very cold. I did like the sauce though. I think if these were eaten fresh and hot it would be a whole other game. Still pretty damn good though.

In order, my favorites were: Big Bob's Pork shoulder, KC's Brisket, Mitchell's whole hog and then 17th St.

After all of this, I was able to meet up with a few EG'ers down by the speaker area. Nice to meet everyone. Sorry I jetted out of there. I had to go meet some people. Hopefully I will be joining on some of the upcoming outings.

I have a few photos which I will put in the next post. Happy cue everyone!!

~WBC

aka Wayne

[Richie111]

Today was awesome. The GF and I got there at 11:45, bought some 'cue-pons', and got in a couple lines. We started with Mitchell's. I'm sorry, but the cold meat mixed with the coleslaw juices and tasted like tuna salad (pretty good tuna salad though). We then went to Salt Lick for sausage and briscuit. The briscuit was tasty though probably could have been cooked a little longer, we liked the sauce, and the sausage was great. For dessert I tried some rhubarb cobbler from the Blue Smoke dessert booth. Although it was sort of tasty, I was a liitle annoyed to have waited in line and paid $4 for 1 tablespoon of icecream, a small wafer sized piece of shortbread, and 6 pieces of small-diced rhubarb.

Because we got there so early, we didn't wait more than about six or seven minutes in any line. We didn't think the crowds were so bad. Pretty tame compared to say, a free Sting concert in Central Park.

The GF had to leave around 2:00 to study so I did the rest of the day solo. I found the Barbeculture panel fascinating. I didn't realize there was so much to be inferred about a person by the type of sauce she uses.

I met FatGuy, Pan, BondGirl, and some people who I didn't catch their eGullet names and everyone was really nice. Pleasure meeting all of you! Looking forward to future eGullet events.

-Richie

BTW: As I was walking out around 4:15 they were saying it was up to 2 hours wait for food. They weren't selling any more cue-pons because, I guess, they didn't want to be there all night. I did manage to find a couple of die-hards who took my remaining tickets off my hands, but I felt like I kind of lucked out. Next year I would probably try to get rid of my extra tickets earlier.

[slkinsey]

Interesting to see such a diversity of opinions. I thought Mitchell's Whole Hog was operating at a level head and shoulders above what anyone else there was doing. Then again, I've spent a lot of time in North Carolina over the years and I understand the style very well. It's definitately not what most NYers would expect as "barbeque." Second to Mitchell's, I thought, was the brisket from K.C. Baron. Big Bob's I liked -- and certainly it is a more familiar style to most around here -- but I thought it was nowhere near Mitchell's.

[Fat Guy]

I think, as we've discussed elsewhere with respect to pizza and many other things, there's a difference between a stylistic preference (for example preferring ribs to brisket, or wet-mopped ribs to dry-rubbed ribs) and a qualitative determination (example X of brisket is better than example Y of brisket because it conforms best to criteria A, B, and C of brisket). Even then, I think we're hearing stylistic preferences as between the Kansas City and Texas styles of brisket. Then there are all the issues of service, like the temperatures and batch variations, that inevitably arise at a 5,000-portions-per-day scale.

I do believe that within each of their stylistic categories, the pitmasters at the BABBP were all putting out strong product ranging from a very good example of its genre to a peak example of its genre.

My stylistic preferences with respect to barbecue have evolved quite a bit over the years. I used to be a total rib chauvinist. I think wet ribs and the Memphis style of pulled pork shoulder are the most intuitively lovable styles -- they hit all the highest notes of salty, sweet, and fatty. Today I am more likely to prefer whole hog and brisket, which I think are less intuitive styles -- the whole hog in particular presents a lot of different flavors and textures. I think there is great barbecue in every category, but my feeling at this point in the evolution of my barbecue education (I'm at sort of the elementary school level right now, but I've definitely moved out of the kindergarten) is that the whole hog sits at the apex of the craft. By all the standards we typically use to measure unlike cuisines -- complexity of flavor, difficulty of technical mastery, etc. -- whole hog is da bomb.