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NYC Barbecue Restaurants -- Master List


Fat Guy

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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.

I went there once, not long before it closed. I ordered and enjoyed the beef ribs, but most 'cue reviewers pooh-poohed the place.
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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.

I went there once, not long before it closed. I ordered and enjoyed the beef ribs, but most 'cue reviewers pooh-poohed the place.

I thought it was dreadful the last time I was there, which was not long before they closed. The ribs were poorly trimmed and poorly cooked and the sauce had a realy nasty bitter flavor.

I'll say one thing about cooking sausages-- because of the temperatures at which barbecue tends to be cooked, the casings will usually become tough or rubbery which makes it tough to bite through cleanly. Also, ensuring that there is enough meat (instead of fat) in the mix to avoid a collapsed, wrinkled sausage. Cooking them in a smoker is way different than grilling or other methods. Not saying it is high art or anything, but there are some possible complications.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Got a heads up on a forthcoming barbecue place from a publicist today. This is supposed to be a December opening:

WILDWOOD BARBECUE

225 Park Avenue South @18 Street, NYC 212- 533-2500

Coming this fall compliments of Steve Hanson, BR Guest Restaurants and designed by David Rockwell is Wildwood Barbecue, an all-American barbecue restaurant (and when we say all American we mean from every corner of the United States.)  If the fragrance of wild woods burning, ribs, briskets poultry and fish smoking, doesn't get you going then may be the idea of a barbecue restaurant for people with elegance will.  Wildwood doesn't skimp on flavor or style.  Rockwell Group is bringing an urban perspective to the classic barbeque joint to create a space that is clean and polished, yet comfortable and fun.  To that end, the firm is transforming traditional design elements associated with BBQ restaurants by incorporating industrial materials in a contemporary and sophisticated way.  The open airy space will feature a dramatic 100-foot-long bar and seating for 200. Besides lots of beers and mixologist created cocktails; Wildwood features a fun BBQ friendly wine list; and portions that won't kill or ruin your date (or day for that matter)!  This is a full on, no holds barred American Barbecue restaurant that speaks to people who like restaurants as much as they like barbecue.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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...when we say all American we mean from every corner of the United States...

If there is one thing that I think drags down the overall quality of NYC barbecue (which, it must be said, has made huge strides in the past few years) it's that so many of the places seem to be trying to be all things to all people, and produce radically different styles of barbecue. It's not the case, as some people think, that Texas open pit barbecue joints cook only beef, and so on. But it is the case that they don't make Eastern Carolina style whole hog. Similarly, barbecue joints in Eastern Carolina may be cooking brisket, but they aren't making mesquite smoked Texas-style brisket. What we see in the City is that even the best multi-style barbecue places really only excel in one style, and their other offerings tend to be substantially less successful. Similarly, the best places that have opened in the past few years seem to be geared towards making one style of barbecue, or rather have one approach to making barbecue. Hill Country is an excellent example of this approach... note that they do not offer pulled pork.

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