NYC Barbecue Restaurants -- Master List

[slkinsey]

For Rack & Soul I'd say the specialties are "pan fried chicken, beef short rib, pulled pork, baby back ribs." (They offer waffles among their many sides, but I don't get the impression that "chicken and waffles" is a particular specialty.)

[tedlor70]

Hill Country's new place on 26th place is getting rave reviews from the competition BBQ community.

http://www.hillcountryny.com/home.php

[Fat Guy]

There's a Bloomberg review (linked to from Grub Street) today of two new restaurants that serve barbecue: Johnny Utah's and Southern Hospitality. Not sure how legit they are in terms of smoker technology and such. Anybody know more?

[Nathan]

I would tend to think that Southern Hospitality is as authentic as Britney Spears' restaurant was.

Johnny Utah's features Blue Smoke alumni and appears to claim to use some sort of pit. the real attraction appears to be the mechanical bull (I need to visit it to just retain my championship from last year...)

[weinoo]

Is there any way we can define a barbecue restaurant in NYC? They seem to run the gauntlet from "southern" cuisine to places that are indeed using smokers to actually cook their food.

[Fat Guy]

The Southern Hospitality menu claims they have a "Smoke Shack" and that the pulled pork is "Smoked Slow for at least 12 hours." What that means exactly is beyond the realm of my knowledge.

http://www.southernhospitalitybbq.com/

In terms of defining a barbecue restaurant, I think there are 1- the bullseye places -- in other words the places that serve mostly barbecue and sides and do their smoking in the same kind of commercial pits that a lot of barbecue places in the barbecue belt use (needless to say nobody in New York is doing true open pit barbecue, nor are most places in barbecue country -- though some are), 2- the places that have intersection with the bullseye -- such as a place that has a smoker but only serves three barbecue items on a menu of all sorts of other stuff, and 3- the fake barbecue places where they use no smoke or they use a mild wood-chip-driven process that doesn't do a whole heck of a lot. I guess there's also 4- ethnic places that do smoking of one kind or another that you wouldn't necessarily call barbecue but that could arguably qualify under traditional definitions (pastrami, tea-smoked duck, whatever), and also 5- misnomer barbecue places that serve things like "Korean barbecue" and other grilled, griddled, rotisseried, etc., meats.

[weinoo]

In terms of defining a barbecue restaurant, I think there are 1- the bullseye places -- in other words the places that serve mostly barbecue and sides and do their smoking in the same kind of commercial pits that a lot of barbecue places in the barbecue belt use (needless to say nobody in New York is doing true open pit barbecue, nor are most places in barbecue country -- though some are), 2- the places that have intersection with the bullseye -- such as a place that has a smoker but only serves three barbecue items on a menu of all sorts of other stuff, and 3- the fake barbecue places where they use no smoke or they use a mild wood-chip-driven process that doesn't do a whole heck of a lot. I guess there's also 4- ethnic places that do smoking of one kind or another that you wouldn't necessarily call barbecue but that could arguably qualify under traditional definitions (pastrami, tea-smoked duck, whatever), and also 5- misnomer barbecue places that serve things like "Korean barbecue" and other grilled, griddled, rotisseried, etc., meats.

←

This is a great lead-in to my next question - of the places that fall into category 1 (or maybe 1 overlapped with 2), which are the ones that you and others might regularly return to?

For instance, I've been to RUB (ostensibly a #1) a couple of times, and see no reason to go back - it has never quite hit the mark for me.

Blue Smoke (1 + 2?) is a place I've also spent money at a number of times and to which I'll return - not necessarily for the barbecue, which on a good day, with the right item, is among the best in the city, imo, but because I like the bar and I like the burger, and they make some great sides.

Hill Country needs a couple of more visits so I can see if they'll develop any consistency.

Haven't been to the places in Brooklyn, so I don't know where they fit in.

Dinosaur - does anyone even talk about this place any more?

And so on...

eta: BTW, is Virgil's a 2 or a 3? Don't shoot me - sometimes, before a play or something, it's the only place I feel like going - there, or Jimmy's, which may even be more of a barbecue place then Virgil's, albeit without any food .

Edited August 15, 2007 by weinoo (log)

[Fat Guy]

of the places that fall into category 1 (or maybe 1 overlapped with 2), which are the ones that you and others might regularly return to?

←

For me, Blue Smoke, Daisy May's and Dinosaur are the principal repeaters, which is not to say they're flawless. I haven't been to all the new places yet, though.

[Nathan]

R.U.B. is my repeater. I've enjoyed Blue Smoke but not enough for me to go to Murray Hill (no, it's not formally Murray Hill...but it's certainly functionally in Murray Hill) just to eat there...and the odds of my just being in the vicinity are pretty low.

I've eaten at Hill Country once and need to repeat. Again, the location is annoying.

Edited August 15, 2007 by Nathan (log)

[Lreda]

Went to Hill Country for lunch today. The brisket was very good, had the lean instead of moist. White bread that came with it was lousy. RUB was very good last week, had the brisket there. About Hill Country, I didn't like that meal ticket and had no direction except for the bartender who had to chase me around the place to tell me where to go.

[Fat Guy]

White bread that came with it was lousy.

←

It's supposed to be!

[Lreda]

Enlighten me. Why serve crap bread?

[Fat Guy]

I don't know that it's a "why" question. It's simply the case that the best barbecue places in barbecue country serve the worst, school-cafeteria-level, squishy, preservative-filled white bread. It's as much of a part of the tradition as super-low-quality, ultra-sweet iced tea.

[wannabechef]

Some BBQ-ramblings:

I'm hoping to try Hill Country tonight.

I am a big RUB fan. A few weeks ago though I did takeout and (aside from the burnt ends) was pretty disappointed. But then again, thats to be expected many times with takeout anyway, so I haven't written them off yet. The smoked turkey was absolutely horrible though. I mean terrible. It was as if someone just took a hunk of white meat and baked it until it was so dry it was inedible. There was no hint of smokieness whatsoever.

Does anyone know what's going on with the midtown Daisy Mae carts? I haven't seen any around this summer and their website still says the list will be updated in Spring 2007.

I have to reluctantly say that I think Virgils is pretty damn good. Yeah it's touristy as hell but the last two times I went there I had a brisket sandwich which blew my mind. I don't remember if they smoke in a pit there or if it's one of those electric things. I think FG once wrote something about this, right? However they do it, I think their brisket is great. I haven't had the ribs in a while though.

Looking forward to Hill Country tonight.

~WBC

[weinoo]

Some BBQ-ramblings:

I'm hoping to try Hill Country tonight.

I am a big RUB fan. A few weeks ago though I did takeout and (aside from the burnt ends) was pretty disappointed. But then again, thats to be expected many times with takeout anyway, so I haven't written them off yet. The smoked turkey was absolutely horrible though. I mean terrible. It was as if someone just took a hunk of white meat and baked it until it was so dry it was inedible. There was no hint of smokieness whatsoever.

Does anyone know what's going on with the midtown Daisy Mae carts? I haven't seen any around this summer and their website still says the list will be updated in Spring 2007.

I have to reluctantly say that I think Virgils is pretty damn good. Yeah it's touristy as hell but the last two times I went there I had a brisket sandwich which blew my mind. I don't remember if they smoke in a pit there or if it's one of those electric things. I think FG once wrote something about this, right? However they do it, I think their brisket is great. I haven't had the ribs in a while though.

Looking forward to Hill Country tonight.

~WBC

←

Re Rub - though I didn't have the turkey, I was pretty disappointed with the 3 bbq offerings I tried on our last visit (within the past 2 months). The brisket was dry, sausage boring, and I forgot the third. Sides didn't do too much for us, either.

Interesting about Virgil's, isn't it. They do a shrimp app. (or maybe it's a main) which I find really good, and some of their bbq is actually nicely smoky, juicy and usually coming out of the smokers regularly, keeping everything nice and moist.

Maybe FG can chime in with their methodology...I would guess a combo of gas/electric and smoke.

[Fat Guy]

If I wrote something about it, I don't remember it, and I also have found that much of the time the barbecue places make false claims about their methods. For example they say they use 100% wood, but then you go look at their smokers and they have gas lines running in. Which is fine: if you use gas for heat and wood for flavor you can make good barbecue. Just don't tell me you're doing something else.

Julia Moskin in the New York Times wrote the following in 2003, which is not quite clear but here it is:

Shortcuts practiced by the others -- including Virgil's in Times Square and Tennessee Mountain in SoHo -- include parboiling meat before cooking it over charcoal or gas, supplementing wood heat with gas and, some say, the occasional drizzle of liquid smoke. These can sometimes result in passingly good barbecue, at least by New York's former standards.

[raji]

of the places that fall into category 1 (or maybe 1 overlapped with 2), which are the ones that you and others might regularly return to?

←

For me, Blue Smoke, Daisy May's and Dinosaur are the principal repeaters, which is not to say they're flawless. I haven't been to all the new places yet, though.

←

I'm right with Weinoo in that I've been disappointed multiple times by Rub, so much in fact that I will not return. In fact, I still really have yet to find out what the fuss is about - I tried their signature dishes and meh

Daisy Mae's is my only destination and repeater, meaning if I really must eat barbeque and I'm in Chelsea, I will bypass RUB and go to Daisy Mae's.

Maybe a decade ago, Tennessee Mountain was the best place in the city for ribs, better than Virgil's certainly, I wonder if it's still a repeater...

[oakapple]

RUB is my #1 go-to place for BBQ. In part, that's because it's very good. The other part is that the location is right along the path of my commute, so it's never out-of-the-way. For me, BBQ is a "when I'm in the mood" kind of food, not the kind of thing I plan long in advance. So it's nice to have a go-to place that's conveniently located, and that you can usually get into.

I've been to Dinosaur once, and while it was obviously very solid, I wasn't quite smitten enough to make that trek regularly A few weeks ago, the g/f and I tried to go back. At 9:00 p.m. on a Saturday night, they quoted something like a 75-minute wait. We weren't that desperate, so we moved on.

We did the whole rack-of-lamb at Daisy May, which was absolutely superb. But there again, it's rather a long trek.

Blue Smoke and Hill Country are on my must-try list.

Edited August 16, 2007 by oakapple (log)

[weinoo]

What we're kind of finding out is that everyone likes different barbecue, at different times, depending on where they are!

[slkinsey]

Hill Country... somehow I can't get that excited about smoked sausages. That's just my taste, but I don't think it's as difficult to master as whole cuts of meat (you can adjust the fat content and grind to keep the texture and moisture where you want it, etc.)

[Nathan]

well...the main draw of the sausages is that they're from the Kreuz Market itself. I do think the jalapeno ones are very good...but certainly cooking sausages well doesn't take much...

its the sourcing that stands out...not the cooking.

[zimonsays]

I love Rub. Just down and dirty. There Burnt Ends are the best bite of BBQ in this town. There baby backs are also great. Fat Guy,for the record they don't use gas. I asked to see there smokers and there were clearly no gas hook ups. I also looked up the manufacturer online.

[phaelon56]

parboiling meat before cooking it

Spawn of Satan - 'nuff said about that.

Maybe a decade ago, Tennessee Mountain was the best place in the city for ribs, better than Virgil's certainly, I wonder if it's still a repeater...

←

Tennessee Mountain? Maybe with a time machine you can check it out again. Someone upthread mentioned that they've been closed for awhile.

[Nathan]

the 8th annual Blues and BBQ party is this Sunday at the pier at 14th street (west side) from 2-9. Hill Country and Dinosaur are among the purveyors.

[Nathan]

Hill Country immediately stood out from the other purveyors yesterday (Brother Jimmy's and the like...I didn't see Dinosaur) as they actually brought a portable smoker. despite this obvious clue...there was no line at Hill Country...while Dallas Jones had a long line.

Hill Country was offering a massive pile of fatty brisket along with a whole Kreuz sausage for $10. a real bargain.