BBQ Restaurants: Fatty Cue

I finally had a chance to stop into Brooklyn's newest barbecue craze restaurant; Fatty Cue in Williamsburgh a couple of weeks back. I've been holding off writing this as I wanted to return and do a full blown review, but damn, this place is expensive! We spent about $50 (including tax and tip) on 3 items that could have passed for tapas. So rather than waiting for my wallet to fill up so that I can return, I thought I'd share some thoughts with you now.

We started with an Amuse Bouche that that chef sent out. It was smoked bay scallops with red curry, Thai basil and vermouth. Beautiful and tasty, and I wanted more, but this was barbecue?

We then had the Celery Salad (yuzu, Tianjin preserved cabbage, sesame oil - $6 for a small bowl that may have equated to 4 stalks of celery), the Heritage Pork Ribs (smoked fish/palm syrup, Indonesian long pepper - $14 for 4 of the largest, flatest and almost meatless ribs I've ever seen. I'm very surprised how meaty they look in the photograph. Trust me, they weren't.) and the Fazio Farm Red Curry Duck (sweet pickled daikon, smoked red curry - $19 for a piece of duck breast and two duck legs cut in half. I wonder what they do with the top half of the drumstick.)

The food is outstandingly flavorful. It was pretty amazing stuff. Each dish surpassed each other in flavor. The duck easily is the best duck in the city. The food is hard to pin down, but...

It's not barbecue. At least not how I know it. Barbeque is an American style of cooking tough and cheap meats over wood. Fatty Cue serves an Asian inspired menu that happens to use a smoker in some of its dishes. I can't imagine that I'll ever be jonesing for bbq and have Fatty Cue come to mind, but it certainly will when I'm flush and jonesing for some Asian food.

Enjoy the pictures. And check out Fatty Cue. It's worth the trip. You won't be transported across the Mason-Dixon, but you'll find yourself somewhere deep in Southeast Asia sucking up some great little dishes.