RUB (Righteous Urban Barbecue)

[verysleepy]

Last night, my boyfriend and I went over to RUB. I hate to say this- but it was a very bad experience. I love great barbeque- but most of this was, at best, "edible." I had such high hopes. I thought we were going to get a truly great bbq haven. Instead, I experienced a mediocre, at best, barbeque experience. Being a "seasoned" pro, no pun intended, I guess I expected soooooooo much from Paul Kirk.

We were able to be seated, no problem, Sunday evening about 530. The dining room is very casual, and thats ok, although, there was a sharp protubance in the wooden table where I was seated.The service seemed a bit confused, but friendly. I ordered a full rack of ribs- figuring, we would take some home. This rack was $26.95, and included NO sides. I did however, order the onion straws ala carte. My boyfriend ordered a 2 meat plate- brisket and pulled pork, with 2 sides- beans, and fries. The good news- he loved his beans and fries, and the onions were just fine. The incredibly bad news- each of the 3 barbeque items were not worthy of Paul Kirk's reputation.

The presentation of the ribs was a "bunch" of separated ribs tossed on a plate. I guess I expected a rack to be a rack. The ribs were not meaty, and they were tiny. No, I didn't order the babybacks. In addition, these ribs tasted re cooked. Sure they were smoky- but tasted like a gritty layer of spice was applied. For $26.50, I expected much more. The brisket was served in short slices, and chunks. This in no way, ever tasted like the wonderful Texas Brisket. It was chewy- sort of like a London Broil. No brisket worth it's salt, would be chewy. it should flake, and melt in your mouth. This was horrible. Unfortunately, the pulled pork was just as bad. It was just not cooked properly, not falling apart. It was chewy, and fatty. Both meats suffered from undercooking.

Needless to say, no food was taken home as leftovers. In NY now, we have Blue Smoke, Pearsons, Dinosaur, and Daisy Mae Takeout. All 4 are much superior. My own favorite is Dinosaur. Is RUB going through growing pains? Or, is this the Q that is to be presented day in and out? I guess I will continue making the trek up to Harlem to go to Dinosaur for my bbq yens. Having just gone to Angelo's in Ft. Worth last week, I had much to compare to.. including all the best in Lockhart and Taylor Texas , and Lexington, and Goldsboro, NC.

Sighs... so much disappointment!

Nadine

[Burt1961]

I had dinner at RUB on Sunday and am happy to say that the food and service were great. Having eaten there a couple of times since they have opened, I can bare witness to their steady improvement. I wanted them to be opened at least a couple of months before I commented on them. I would definitely fall into the category of a Paul Kirk fan after having met him at the BBQ Block Party, and then waiting patiently for the restaurant to open.

The place was busy, but didn't wait more than 10 minutes for a table. The front/back of the house seems to have worked their kinks out. From the time we sat down and ordered to our food being delivered was just over 10 minutes. We spent that time trying their Brooklyn Blond which I had never had before and thought was very good. We ordered a taste of the baron with Brisket, Pastrami, pulled pork, and added a 1/2 rack of loin back's and the long end of a rack of spare ribs. It was a lot of food for three people, but we wanted to taste as much as we could. For sides we ordered the baked beans and the coleslaw (vinegar base).

The pastrami was very good, almost purple in color, with a rich flavor of pepper and coriander. It was tender, but not so tender that it fell apart or lost its texture. Not chewy or rubbery at all. I liked it a lot, and its smoky flavor made it stand out from your typical hi-end deli pastrami. It was warm and moist, but without that steam-table wetness.

The brisket had a great smoke ring and a noticeably smoky flavor . It also had a great crust and rub that went great with the flavor of the meat and the smoke. The serving was a mix of flat and a little bit/bite of deckle, with the flat being thinly sliced and sufficiently tender that you could cut it with a fork. It was warm and moist and definitely not Texas style. The deckle was amazing; bite-size squares of meat and fat that were melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

I am not a burnt ends expert but these sure did taste good. When they said burnt, they really meant it. They were served lightly coated with sauce. They were both crunchy on the outside, and tender on the inside. I'd like to have they while sitting at a bar watching a ballgame and drinking a beer.

Having spent a lot of time in the Carolinas, I know my pork, and this was good pork. It was truly pulled, with no chopped pork mixed in (I still have my teeth, so the chopped pork is wasted on me). It had bits of the crust in it, which helped make the flavor and texture delicious. The vinegar sauce was flavorful, but balanced sufficiently that it didn't mask the flavor of the meat. As with the brisket and the pastrami, the pork was tender and moist.

The ribs were flat out great. I like mine with a little bit of sauce, but it certainly didn't need the sauce for moisture. Both racks were crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside., but not so tender (read - overcooked) that the meat fell off the bone. I like my ribs to have a little bit of tooth when you bite in to them and these certainly did. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the ribs were some of the best I've had.

OK - The space is a bit lacking in decor, and it can get noisy, but I'm not going to RUB for the ambiance, I'm going to RUB because the kitchen is hitting on all cylinders, and they are serving up some great barbecue, possibly as good as you would get at any of the well know BBQ joints around the country, but I don't think you should compare RUB to those restaurants the same as you wouldn't compare a place in Lockhart to one in Kansas City. RUB is making their own style of BBQ and they should be judged on their own merits. I can't wait to go back and try the duck (unfortunately when we were there they didn't have any).

[zimonsays]

Just go back from Rub witha full belly and a happy heart. This is my forth time and they have really gotten the act together.....The food was excellent!!! The Burnnt ends were some of the best Q i have ever had. both types of ribs the babys and the spares were great. The sides were also great. The baked beans are the best anywhere....Anyway i'm surprised there hasent been more said about this place on here after all the great stuff that was said about them from the big apple bbq party and all the other blog sites. Its nice to know you don't have to leave NYC to get great BBQ

[Todd36]

I've eaten their stuff three times now, including a close to $1000 catering order. I think the sausage and the brisket are their two best dishes. The ribs can be very good, but sometimes they just put too much salt on them. We had 10 racks of ribs in that catering order, and there was strong variation from rack to rack. And they were salty last time I ate there too (not as salty as the worst from the catering order). The deep fried ribs are best avoided I think, and the duck and chicken, while fine, are nothing special. Not too impressed with the pulled pork either. The sausuage and brisket are first class, and the ribs can be.

[wannabechef]

Up until recently, it seemed that most of the RUB reviews out have been overwelmingly negative. Just in the last week or 2 I've read multiple good to glowing reviews. Does this mean that RUB has passed it's opening growing pain period already?

I was waiting to try it until they got their act together - I just didn't expect it to happen so quickly - especially after reading all the negative reviews.

Is it time for me to try it out? What have they done exactly to get their house in order?

Thanks -

~WBC

[titicaca]

Up until recently, it seemed that most of the RUB reviews out have been overwelmingly negative. Just in the last week or 2 I've read multiple good to glowing reviews. Does this mean that RUB has passed it's opening growing pain period already?

I was waiting to try it until they got their act together - I just didn't expect it to happen so quickly - especially after reading all the negative reviews.

Is it time for me to try it out? What have they done exactly to get their house in order?

Thanks -

~WBC

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i think you shouldn't believe anything you read, or at least take it with a pound of salt.

[Burt1961]

Up until recently, it seemed that most of the RUB reviews out have been overwelmingly negative. Just in the last week or 2 I've read multiple good to glowing reviews. Does this mean that RUB has passed it's opening growing pain period already?

I was waiting to try it until they got their act together - I just didn't expect it to happen so quickly - especially after reading all the negative reviews.

Is it time for me to try it out? What have they done exactly to get their house in order?

Thanks -

~WBC

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i think you shouldn't believe anything you read, or at least take it with a pound of salt.

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Why the skepticism about the improvement @ RUB? Have you eaten their recently, or are you generally a pessimistic person? Clearly, The NY Press newspaper must think differently, they rated them "Best BBQ" in their Best of Summer Guide.

http://www.nypress.com/18/21/summerguide/BOS.cfm

[DutchMuse]

I ate there last night, and though the atmosphere is a bit erratic and frazzling, the food was excellent. My pulled pork was great as were the baby back ribs. Excellent bbq.

[wannabechef]

I don't believe everything I read. But when I read 20 reviews of a place by 20 different people that are all negative I think that points in a general direction. Now I've read 10 new accounts all positive which is what spurned my question. I will go there soon and find out for myself and post back my own review.

~WBC

Up until recently, it seemed that most of the RUB reviews out have been overwelmingly negative. Just in the last week or 2 I've read multiple good to glowing reviews. Does this mean that RUB has passed it's opening growing pain period already?

I was waiting to try it until they got their act together - I just didn't expect it to happen so quickly - especially after reading all the negative reviews.

Is it time for me to try it out? What have they done exactly to get their house in order?

Thanks -

~WBC

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i think you shouldn't believe anything you read, or at least take it with a pound of salt.

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[larousse]

Good bbq, I like mine a little spicier but pulled pork was excellent. Deep fried ribs also an excellent choice although I would bet the regular baby backs are better. I cant stress enough how excited I am to try the burnt ends and maybe a whole butt to boot. Beer in a plastic cup also...nice. No, I'm serious...nice.

[Jammin]

am i imagining things or did they change their potato salad? it was so memorable opening week but this afternoon it was just awful - and completely different.

[lia]

am i imagining things or did they change their potato salad?  it was so memorable opening week but this afternoon it was just awful - and completely different.

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Interesting that you say that because I had it for the first time friday afternoon, and while it was fresh and perfectly adequate, I was underwhelmed. I remember thinking, 'hm, they raved about it on EG, but eh."

LOVE those greens though. The waiter was cute and yelled at me for not finishing "your greens young lady."

[slkinsey]

Adam Platt reviews RUB in New York Magazine:

The St. Louis–style pork ribs were nicely smoked the first time I tried them, mildly sticky and caked with a nice spicy rub, and the fried ribs tasted like fried pork, which isn’t such a bad thing. The burnt ends (crisp, charred edges of beef brisket) were decent, but the brisket itself was the color of old toast and about as moist. The chicken was properly smoky but empty of chicken flavor. The sausage links were boring, the pulled pork was chunky and flat; the pastrami was good, but the other piles of smoked meat were not. . . . the schedule at RUB is clearly still in chaos. The St. Louis and baby back ribs were good the next time I tried them, but the formerly excellent burnt brisket ends were tar-colored and as hard as hockey pucks. A plate of rib tips (the fat end of the pork rib) was mostly fat and gristle. . .

Later in the recview he describes the Baron’s Down Home Pig Pick’n, which features a whole pork butt, in glowing terms. Sounds like RUB still needs some work according to this author.

It's possible, I suppose, that Paul Kirk, who has apparently never owned or managed a barbecue restaurant and who commutes from Kansas City to manage this NYC spot, is still learning how to transfer his competition-winning barbecue knowledge and technique into a restaurant setting. Cooking barbecue for a competition and a restaurant can be very different animals.

[ahr]

I’m not sure that this properly conveys the reviewer’s sense of the place. The title of the article was “Ribs That Could Stick: Kansas City barbecue guru Paul Kirk may have finally brought the real thing to New York.” His final words, presumably the thought with which he intended to leave his readers—characterized above as “glowing terms"—were the following:

After a while, I discarded the tongs and ate with my fingers. The meat tasted porky and sweet, and you could smell the hickory in the back of your nose. The Baron wasn’t in the kitchen, but his presence seemed to hover over the proceedings in a beneficent, almost saintly way. It was a miracle, after all. On this night, at least, and at long last, real barbecue had come to New York City.

[slkinsey]

Hmm. I'm not sure I agree, not that our interpretation of the author's intentions is terribly important in the grand scheme of things. Overall Platt seemed to have more bad things to say about RUB than good, and most of the good things were tempered with criticisms. Even the final paragraph which you quoted -- which strikes me as very positive -- says "on this night, at least, and at long last, real barbecue had come to New York City." (emphasis mine). This says to me: "on other nights, it wasn't so good."

I came away from this review with the sense that the author thinks RUB is running at about 60% mediocre-to-bad, 35% good-to-very-good, 5% excellent. Whether that reflects reality (or whether the author knows enough about barbecue to make these judgments) is another matter.

[ahr]

• When she was good,
  She was very good indeed,
  But when she was bad she was horrid.
  

Whatever its exact statistical decomposition or his level of expertise, Platt’s review does reflect the variability of the place—though I find that quality control has improved in the few months since it opened. What’s still striking is his conclusion that (at its best) R.U.B. is the first restaurant to deliver “real barbecue” to NYC. As always, we shall see.

[titicaca]

Platt’s review does reflect the variability of the place ... What’s still striking is his conclusion that (at its best) R.U.B. is the first restaurant to deliver “real barbecue” to NYC.

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Well, I have to agree with his conclusion. I've eatin the at RUB no less than eight times now, and have had the best brisket I've ever had, amazing ribs, and I agree that the pulled pork is out of this world. The chicken is consistently smoky, juicy and delicious all at the same time. What he also said, and I agree with him because it was clearly the case at every joint in Texas when I went to UT in Austin, is that even at established places, there is variability.

I don't think Platt's conclusion is surprising, because Paul Kirk is Godhead (anthony bourdain, i think, called him the Yoda of Barbeque, and I agree that the genuine article is available in NYC for the first time. Not that you can't get some good pulled pork from Dinosaur, or a killer burger at Blue Smoke. But for across the board Bar-B-Que RUB might be the best for a couple of hundred miles around.

They've recently added some pretty killer wings.

[weinoo]

I stopped by RUB for lunch with a friend yesterday and came away fairly blah... the best thing we had were the burnt ends, which had a great crust, good seasoning but were not smoky enough. The 1/4 rack of ribs had a nice rub and good smoke/porky flavor, but were 3 of the smallest ribs I've ever seen for $6!

The brisket really left me wondering, as this is allegedly the man's claim to fame - if that's so, then it should have some flavor, moistness and smoke to it, sir. It tasted like what you might get if you went into a deli and got a brisket sandwich.

Sides were ok - service was as to be expected.

Would like to try the whole pork shoulder with a bunch of big eaters!

[hitmanoo]

We went on Friday night and had an outstanding meal. I'll list in my order of enjoyment.

The Szechwan Smoked Duck was out of this world. Delicious tender meat with a spicy sweet bbq glaze... I could go back just for that.

Next, the burnt ends were as good a rendition as I've ever had. Crisp and sweet with such a great flavor.

The St. Louis ribs pulled off the bone nicely and had a tasty rub. They were delicious dry, and the bbq sauce on the side added a nice flavor. The bbq sauce wasn't even needed for these ribs, as they were perfect as served.

The BBQ baked beans had a smoky flavor and the chunks of pork were a great touch. I'm not a huge baked beans fan, but after this rendition, I just may become a fan.

The onion straws were quite tasty. Not as oniony as onion rings. Very thin pieces of onion perfectly fried with a hint of onion flavor.

The greens were as tasty as any I've ever tried. I had just a bite or two, and they weren't overly bitter as greens can be.

The fries were standard, but tasty. With the amount of food we ordered for 7 people, the fries were more or less of an unnecessary filler.

I'm not a huge cole slaw fan, and neither the vinegar nor the mayo renditions did anything for me. Admittedly, I'm not the best judge of slaw. I didn't try the potato salad.

If you're a fan of BBQ chicken, they made a delicious version. The meat was moist and tender--both white and dark alike. When going for BBQ, chicken is rarely my first choice, but they did a great job with the dish.

My disappointment with RUB was with the meats. The pulled pork was dry and a bit bland. The pastrami, brisket, and ham were nothing special. I'd just as soon go to a deli like Katz or 2nd Ave. The turkey was pretty tasty for bbq turkey. Like the chicken, it was moist and tasty. Again, BBQ turkey is not my first choice.

I cannot give a fair review to the sausage. We realized at the end that they had forgotton to bring us some sausage with our order. I tried a bite, but I was far too full at that point to have any chance to enjoy it. With my stomach at capacity, I tasted just a bite. It was quite flavorful with an intense fennel flavor, but I had run the course and could barely swallow a bites worth.

In all, I was more than pleased with RUB, and the restaurant exceeded my expectations. I already cannot wait to return.

[Jammin]

am i imagining things or did they change their potato salad?  it was so memorable opening week but this afternoon it was just awful - and completely different.

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Interesting that you say that because I had it for the first time friday afternoon, and while it was fresh and perfectly adequate, I was underwhelmed. I remember thinking, 'hm, they raved about it on EG, but eh."

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i asked our waiter about this last night and he confirmed they changed something in their potato salad recipe but he was equally dumbfounded as to the rationale. he also thought it was incredible a little ways back. i definitely appreciate honest waiters who are willing to steer you away from dishes that aren't worth it.

[oakapple]

I went to RUB yesterday and ordered the burnt ends ($19.95). I've never had this dish before, but it sounded so appealing that I was willing to forego the St. Louis ribs, which are my usual order at 'cue restaurants.

The burnt ends were really terrific. You get a plate full of juicy brisket squares, with perfectly charred ends and nice pink flesh with a real smoky flavor. I was not tempted to add any sauces, being content to let the intrinsically musky flavor do its own work. Side orders were the cole slaw (underwhelminig) and onion straws (addictive). To my surprise, the soda was free.

In the mid-afternoon on a Sunday, I had no trouble getting seated. I'll certainly be back to sample more of the menu.

[oakapple]

Another visit to RUB yesterday, this time for the Szechuan Smoked Duck. It's gotta be the strangest offering on the RUB menu, not at all typical for a barbecue restaurant. It's truly a hybrid dish, with the duck prepped as it would be in Chinatown, and then given the finish in Paul Kirk's smoker. The billowing layer of fat underneath the skin gives the duck a flavor explosion, while the flesh has the smokey bbq taste.

You can have a half duck at $14.75, or a full duck at $26.75. Unlike most of the other entrée dishes, it doesn't come with any sides, but the half-duck alone was sufficient for me. You have to be a bit careful, as there are a lot of bones to pick through, but the payoff is sufficient to justify the effort.

[Pan]

How would you compare his Szechuan Smoked Duck with the Smoked Tea Duck you get at Spicy & Tasty or Grand Sichuan?

[ahr]

Excellent St. Louis ribs (long end) Tuesday night. FWIW, Paul Kirk was in the house.

I find that RUB now bats a steady .667: On any given night, two of three meats will be very good-to-excellent, and one not so very good-to-excellent; similarly, a single identical item ordered on three separate days. The sides are consistently good.

This seems to be an issue both of quality control and simply what just happens to be fresh at the time of ordering.

Full disclosure: I've tried the St. Louis ribs, burnt ends, brisket, ham, sausage, chicken, and wings; and the fried onions, greens, and both kinds of cole slaw. Your mileage and other dishes may vary.

Edited to add: Oakapple, I've noticed the cost of my soft drink added into that of my main course, instead of being itemized.

Edited September 14, 2005 by ahr (log)

[oakapple]

How would you compare his Szechuan Smoked Duck with the Smoked Tea Duck you get at Spicy & Tasty or Grand Sichuan?

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Haven't tried the latter, but that looks like another culinary adventure!