Best Barbecue Pork Ribs in Manhattan

Photograph: Jessica Leibowitz at Serious Eats

OK. I'll wait.

Done yet?

C'mon. Really?

OK, children settle down now. Stop the laughing. Yes - the title of this post is the "Best Barbecue Pork Ribs in Manhattan," as in New York City. Yes, we do have multiple true barbecue restaurants in Manhattan and even more in Brooklyn. And today, we'll talk about the "best" pork barbecue ribs in Manhattan. Are they the best in the nation? No one said that, so you Southerners. Relax. We're not taking the crown just yet.

James Boo, Seriouseats.com NY's budding barbecue expert invited me, my buddy Ned Berke of Sheepsheadbites.com, Edible Queens blogger and 'cue enthusiast Joe DiStefano (known in certain circles as "Joey Deckle"), barbecue ambassador Amy Mills to join the staff and judge Manhattan's best pork barbecue ribs and the results are surprising.

Here's what happened, as James tells on Serious Eats...

This tasting focused on smoked pork ribs available for dine-in or take-out in Manhattan. Choices were based on our informal poll on SENY and the Barbecue Bureau's top choices. We purchased half-racks of spare ribs to-go from each restaurant, with the exception of Rack and Soul, which only serves baby back ribs:

• Blue Smoke: Kansas City Spareribs
• Daisy May's BBQ: Kansas City Sweet and Sticky Pork Ribs
• Daisy May's BBQ: Memphis Dry Rub Pork Ribs
• Dinosaur Barbeque Harlem: St. Louis Bar-B-Que Spare Ribs
• Hill Country New York: Pork spare ribs
• Rack and Soul: BBQ: Baby Back Ribs
• RUB: St. Louis-Style Long End"

I'll pick it up from here. We were led into the Serious Eats office and spread out before us was a large conference table with 7 plates of ribs lined up on one side. The only identifiable marking was a purple post-it tag with the numbers of 1 to 7 written on them. We stood around a while discussing how the judging was to take place and finally dove in.

When we sat down I thought I recognized a couple of the ribs, but as I was eating them I honestly lost my preconceived notions. I knew RUB was there. So was Daisy May, Blue Smoke and Hill Country. I saw them on the plates lined up for tasting, but by the time a rib got to my plate I had no idea which restaurant produced it. Joey Deckle was distributing the ribs to the plate and we were all sharing ribs. Trying to figure out where 1/2 a rib came from was a useless pursuit. So my dear readers, this was true blind judging. 

I'm not going to re-write James's post about the whole experience. You should read it over on Serious Eats, but here's the winners from the panel's perspective.

1. Rack and Soul's BBQ Baby Back Ribs (7.8/10)
2. Daisy May's BBQ's Kansas City Sweet and Sticky Pork Ribs (7.3/10)
3. Daisy May's BBQ's Memphis Dry Rub Pork Ribs(6.8/10)
4. Hill Country New York's Pork Spare Ribs (6.3/10)
5. Dinosaur Barbeque Harlem's St. Louis Bar-B-Que Spare Ribs (6.1/10)
6. Blue Smoke's Kansas City Spare Ribs (5.5/10)
7. RUB's St. Louis-Style Long End (4.5/10)

Frankly, I'm a bit surprised by these results. We all discussed our winners and losers and I didn't leave thinking this was how it would play out. James still had to tally our written votes, with the exception of Rack and Soul being the hands down winner, every other position was still in flux.

My feelings -- To me, the top two were Daisy May's. My winner was the dry rub ribs, followed by Daisy's sweet and sticky ribs. This really surprised me as my last visits to Daisy May's proved so disappointing that I wrote a post pleading with Adam Perry Lang to abandon his London restaurants and take care of Daisy. Maybe he listened, but whomever is handling the cookers at Daisy May's now is doing a great job. I need to get back there and update my comments. 

My least favorite in the bunch was Blue Smoke's Kansas City Style Spare Ribs. They were completely untrimmed, fatty and tasteless. To me, it appeared that the chef  had completely given up. There were no discernible spices, nor bark or smoke on these ribs. Huge chunks of fat dominated them and easily over powered the meat. I wouldn't have been surprised to be given these ribs from some newlywed's first attempt at cooking ribs in oven.

Hill Country's ribs didn't fare much better. While these ribs were cooked well, the salt, pepper, paprika seasoning just doesn't cut it for pork. "Hammy" was the most frequently heard comment here. Stick with the beef boys. 

As for the others, well it was a mixed bag as under cooking seemed to be the most common mistake.

I can't wait to do it again!

Who Do You Trust? - AOL/City Search Names New York City's Best Barbecue

This came into my email today....

City's Best Winners - Barbecue - Restaurants and Nightlife ...
Spanky's BBQ, 6th. Pig'n Out Barbeque, 7th. Bone Lick Park, 8th. Pies-N-Thighs, 9th. Sawa BBQ, 10th. 617 9th Ave,New York ... m.aol.com/citysbest/.../citysbestResults.do?...

OK - I'm always interested in what others think about the New York BBQ scene, but looking over this little email notification, something was clearly amiss. Spanky's came in at number 6? Spanky's has been closed since early 2009 as I reported back on January 28, 2009! Sawa is also closed - and I don't think they ever were a barbecue joint. Bar BQ is also long gone as is Pig'n Out.

WTF is going on here? I've always heard that the "leaders" in the review world could be bought. Is this evidence? Why would AOL/City Search list FOUR closed restaurants as part of the top ten and leave out NYC's current leaders like RUB, Wildwood, Hill Country, The Waterfront Ale House etc? I call shenanigans!

In case you're interested, here's AOL/City Search's top 10 BBQ joints of New York City - for what it's worth. And that ain't much.

1. Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
2. Virgil's Barbecue
3. Blue Smoke
4. Bar BQ
5. Daisy May's BBQ
6. Spanky's BBQ
7. Pig'n Out Barbeque
8. Bone Lick Park
9. Pies-N-Thighs
10. Sawa BBQ

PS - That rib picture that leads this post is from the incredible RUB! You need to check them out whenever you're in Manhattan.

BBQ Events: Grill 'em All - The "Victory Lap"

RUB BBQ Presents

Grill 'Em All - The "Victory Lap"

Burgers Brought to you from the winners of the Great Food Truck Race

Saturday October 23, 2010

at RUB BBQ Restaurant

208 w. 23rd Street NY, NY 10011

1:00pm to 3:00pm

Showcasing some of what made them the best in the food truck biz:

• The Molly Hatchet - $10.00
• The Waste 'em All - $9.00
• The Behemoth - $15.00 The Blue Cheer - $9.00
• The Witte - $9.50
• The Hannah Montana - $8.00

Featuring The Pantera Combo

(Exclusively for RUB BBQ and ONLY 25 will be made)

Limited Edition - $20.95

A Blended Beef and Pulled Pork Patty with deep fried mac' & cheese, house cured bacon and Grill 'Em All garlic aioli. Comes with a Beer Milkshake

Call For Reservations

Cooking a Whole Animal

I have no problems with animals being raised and slaughtered for food. I would like to believe that every animal leads a good life and is slaughtered as humanely as possible, but I know that's not true and for this post it really doesn't matter. I'm not going to get into that here, so PETA people move on. I know that once this pig was in my hands it was treated with respect.

With all that said, I didn't expect to feel anything when I cooked this pig. In a very strange way, I feel responsible for this animal's demise. I asked for a whole pig and it was delivered. I don't believe that this pig was killed on my order, but it just as well may have been. Frankly, the thought bothers me.

Why don't I feel the same connection to the animal parts I pick up "wrapped and cut" in the supermarket of from the butcher? I've never really connected those spare ribs with an animal. I understand where they come from, but the retail meat been so sanitized that the connection back to nature has been lost.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, pigs are the third most consumed animal in the country after chicken and beef. I'm talking retail pounds of flesh consumed per capita. I have no idea how many actual chickens, cows and pigs are slaughtered each year, but in terms of actual pounds of flesh the average American consumed 51 pounds of pig meat in 2007 down from 65 pounds of swine per person in 1950. Pork was the most consumed form of animal flesh in the United States until 1965 was it was overtaken by beef.

So if pig meat is so popular why the squeamishness about cooking or eating a whole animal?

Ever since childhood we've been taught that pigs are cute. Do you remember Charlotte's Web? Babe? Gub Gub? Lester? Little Pig Robinson? And let's not forget the Queen of cuteness- Piglet? I could go on and on. We as a society have an obsession with pigs. Look around any curio shop, kitchen store or thrift shop. How many cute little piggies do you see? Hell, even in my own kitchen we have a ceramic pig dressed in a chef's coat holding a black board. How many barbeque teams feature a comical pig as their mascot or in its logo? Take a quick gander through Suicide Food and see how often a pig is used to represent a good time or a feast.

When I first saw the pig, purchased for me from the fine folks at RUB BBQ as Matt ushered me into their walk-in, it appeared to be sleeping on the shelf amongst all the other meat cuts. Even seeing her lying amongst ribs and pork butts, I didn't make the connection between the familiar cuts of meat and an actual animal. Only when Matt took the pig off the shelf and handed her to me exposing her gutted belly did it begin to register that a life had been given up. Matt and I both felt this and acknowledged it to each other.

Matt placed the pig into my outstretched arms where it hung like a sleeping child. This was getting tough. "Was this "piglet"? "I thought, "I'm going to cook "this"?" Why has this thought never bothered me before? I've cooked whole animals in the past, including pigs. I guess that since this was the first time doing it on my own, I assumed a higher level of responsibility. In other cooks I was the accomplice, here I was the protagonist. Oh, of course, I could blame Ned as this pig was for his birthday party, but once the idea of eating a whole hog was breached, I immediately offered to do the deed. Little did I know that this pig would have an effect on me.

We quickly placed the pig in a cooler, covered her with ice and put it in the trunk of my car. I sped to Brooklyn and Matt returned to the bowels of RUB where he prepared the hundreds of pounds of offerings of flesh served in the restaurant that day.

Driving to Ned's I put the thought of "a pig" out of my mind. With the animal in the trunk of my car, the sweet little pig was just "meat" again and I could focus on preparing it for the party.

She stayed "meat" until it came time to prepare her for cooking. As Kevin Lincoln and I were preparing the pig, one of Ned's female guests arrived and freaked out by the site of the pig laying on the table. With as much macho we could muster, we immediately ridiculed here for her squeamishness. But to be completely honest, Kevin and I both felt something for the animal. This was not a moment to take lightly.

I'm not going to get into the actual preparation as this post is already much too long, but in laying her out on the cooking rack, cleaning and seasoning, naming her as is tradition and placing her on the fire, this slab of meat became an animal once again. It was with some trepidation that I closed the lid for the first few hours of cooking.

Somewhere in the magic of the smoke, this pig became meat again. As the smoke worked on the pig, it also performed a sort of magic on my mind and soul. It changed my attitude towards the animal from pity to respect. When she was finally removed from the fire and I put the first strike of the knife blade into its side, this pig was meat and nothing more. But I did offer a silent prayer of thanks for its sacrifice.

So, from now on when I'm cooking a rack of ribs or a pork shoulder or any cut of meat, I'll remember that this meat is really from an animal that was slaughtered so that I could eat and offer a little prayer in thanks. I recommend you do the same.

BBQ Thoughts: Pig Roasting in the Big City

Everything is in motion. There's no turning back now. Last night Kevin Lincoln of the New York BBQ Lover's Meetup Group and Ned Berke of Sheepshead Bites and I your humble blogger drove up to Norwalk Connecticut and borrowed an Ed Wilson Ed Mitchell designed, not to be confused, as I had just done, with the esteemed Connecticut based pitmaster Ed Wilson, constructed by Wilmington Grills pig roaster from Nancee and Greg of Purple Turtle Catering Company, one of Connecticut's best catering companies and award winning barbecue chefs, in order prepare for the bacchanalian orgy of food and drink that will be served this Saturday in a private yard in Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn.

Scott Smith, pitmaster extraordinaire of New York City's premiere barbecue joint RUB has ordered the 60lb or so sacrifice of pork for me that will be roasted and smoked by us and I'll be picking it up Friday.

Now the work falls on my shoulders. How will I prepare said hog? Will it be injected? Rubbed? Cooked skin up or down? Butterflied? Stupefied? Testified? Will we be doing a pig picking where all you need is a beer in one hand and a fork in the other? Or will the pig be removed from its fiery grates and its body parts carved up into more, shall we say "acceptable" presentation serving pieces for the less squeamish?

I got some thinking to do as this will be my first pig cooking done solo. Well, not really solo as I will be turning to the ever talented Kevin Lincoln for assistance and RUB's Matt Fisher for his chefly advice and counsel.

Pray for good weather. Pray for sanity. Pray for properly cooked swine. As the bible says...

"There were burnt offerings in abundance, together with the fat of the fellowship offerings and the drink offerings that accompanied the burnt offerings. So the service of the temple of the LORD was reestablished."

Now I don't know about re-establishing the temple, but a good time is guaranteed for all.

Photo of the pig roast above courtesy of A Brooklyn Life, whom I've never met and from whom I stole this picture and whose blog I enjoy even if it is so focused on the hipster side of the borough ignoring its heart, but am inviting to this pig roast nonetheless.

PS. Do you think I got enough links into one post?

Monday Night Burgers at RUB BBQ

Today's special burger at Rub BBQ is the Pizza Burger ($7.50), a burger with meatball spices topped with pepperoni, mozzarella, and tomato sauce. It will be available for dinner starting at 6 p.m. 208 West 23rd Street, New York NY 10011; 212-524-4300

Now I haven't talked about the burgers at RUB before because, frankly I didn't want you to know. Scottie, the pitmaster at RUB, only offers burgers on Monday night and he's got a small griddle in the kitchen. There are limits my man. Ya see, in addition to cooking each burger to order, Scott grinds up a special mix of beef to produce these tasty marvels, and once that meat is gone, so are the burgers. He can only produce so many.

Scottie offers a different burger each week. He's mastering the burger game just as he's mastered the pitmaster's art. I hope he's not getting any ideas.

But I'm not going to be there tonight, so I thought I'd share. Just don't be there next week.

Master Hamburger Seminar at RUB BBQ

There's still a few spots left - Care to join me in what looks to be one of the premier seminars in NYC?

From A Hamburger Today...
Master Hamburger Seminar at RUB BBQ - Tuesday, February 9

Tuesday, February 9, RUB BBQ will hold a Master Hamburger Seminar hosted by James Beard Award-winning burger expert Josh Ozersky, author of The Hamburger: A History.

The seminar will include a regional burger tasting—featuring a Mississippi Meatball burger, a North Jersey-style onion slider, and a Wisconsin-style butter burger—and "delve into the tastes of different beef blends, look at cooking methods, and offer tales and insights on the advanced frontier of hamburger experimentation." Beer is included in the ticket price.

Master Hamburger Seminar at RUB BBQ

Tuesday, February 9, 6 p.m.
$30/person
208 West 23rd Street, New York NY 10011 (b/n 7th and 8th; map)
RSVPs are required: 212-524-4300; rubburger@yahoo.com

Photo of RUB courtesy of PigTrip.

Wordless Wednesday - The Holding Pit at RUB

BBQ Eats: RUB Barbecue

I recently stopped into RUB at 208 West 23rd Street(between 7th & 8th Avenues) New York, NY 10011, for a snack. I was joined on this visit by the ever affable Gary, from PigTrip and we had checked out Wildwood earlier in the day. I've been to RUB many times and I was in the mood to try something new.

So this visit's treats started with the barbecue chicken empanadas. This entirely in-house creation is a traditional empanada dough stuffed with barbecue chicken, chipotles and potatoes. The empanda was pretty good, but a little bland and dry. It's savior was the chipotle dipping sauce. It boosted the heat and added just the right amount of moisture.


Up next was 1/4lb of sliced brisket. As always RUB's brisket delivers. Smokey, flavorful and tender. RUB has the lowest price in town for brisket by the pound and un-like some other places, they don't nickel and dime you over the weight. It amazes me how uniformly sliced their brisket is. Every slice is just about the same thickness every time I visit. This time though, whomever was slicing didn't make it all the way through. Every slice was held together as a little block with just one corner connecting. However, it didn't stop my enjoyment; we ate it all.


And to finish off this little snack, some burnt ends. (A little snack he says? Empandas, brisket and burnt ends? Damn.) I have to admit, burnt ends are not my favorite form of barbecue. Many cooks feel that they're the ultimate test of the pitmaster's skill set, but to me they're usually just over smoked and fatty chunks of burnt brisket.

RUB's burnt ends were moist, a bit chewy, and smoked just right. RUB's burnt ends seem to have a much higher ratio of meat to fat than other places in town, which I like. I'd prefer some more sauce caramelized on them during cooking, but for it to be also wet and sticky when served, but that's just me. Most folks I know prefer the sauce on the side.

So to end this little post about a quick little visit for some snacks, I have to make a confession here; RUB is my favorite barbeque joint in the city. RUB is by far the most consistent and best of the top barbecue restaurants in the city. Andrew, Scottie, Celeste and Matt have got it down! You know what you're getting when you sit down at RUB. And what you're getting is "choice" as my grandmother used to say.

A big thank you to Gary from Pig Trip for the photographs. I think you may be seeing them soon on his site as well. You can check out Gary's reviews from his past visits to RUB here.

Dinner at RUB: We're Done

Let's finish up our dinner at RUB. There's "Q"ing to do!

Deep Fried Oreos - nothing like the greasy state fair staple. At RUB they rock.
The recipe for this is available in Paul Kirk and Ardie Davis' new book; America's Best BBQ.
It's right there on page 177!

Next up was Bacon Chocolate Chip cookies. These were interesting and the bacon provides a saltiness to counteract the sweetness of the chocolate, but if I didn't know there was bacon in them I would never have guessed it.

After dinner Celeste gave tours of the kitchen. Here some folks check out the action.

Take a look at the inside of the holding pit. Meat is cooked in one of the 3 other J&R Pits and transferred to another J&R Pit for holding before it is sliced and served to the guests. One thing I learned during this tour is that everything at RUB is sliced, pulled or chopped to order. There's no pre-portioned baggies of pulled pork or chicken. That's a lot of chopping!

And I leave you with a picture of the point, or deckle or the fatty upper muscle of the brisket. This sumptuous meat will be cubed, re-seasoned and re-smoked to become burnt ends.

Dinner at RUB; Part 2

Let's talk about dinner. I think we had everything on the menu except for the duck.

The Pickled Pig made the trip with us to visit RUB

In-house Pastrami, in-house Sausage and Pulled Pork.

The sausage is very similar to Kreuz, but better. The pastrami could give Katz a run for its money and the pulled pork was simply fantastic.

Turkey, Brisket and Ham.

I love ham anytime and this didn't disappoint. The turkey was moist and flavorful and a vast improvement from the last time I had it. It has inspired me. I'm smoking a turkey this weekend. And what can I say about the brisket? As I've said a few times in the blog, brisket is not my favorite meat. A long time friend and former chef once told me that if you don't like something, you've never had it cooked properly. Well, I like brisket now.

Ribs - Sorry but I don't have any pictures of the chicken.

What can I say about the ribs - perfect as presented. No sauce. Moist, tender and flavorful. As Eric Johnson from Mr. Bobo’s Traveling BBQ All Stars says,"These ribs would take any competition."

Sides: Collard Greens, Cornbread, Onion Strings fried in lard, Potato Salad and Baked Beans.

The onion strings are fried in lard and totally addictive. Sweet, salty and crispy; how can you go wrong? I didn't get any cornbread, but my wife and a long time friend raved about how it was more cake like than the traditional gritty bread. Celeste, manager and hostess for the evening, told us that she sometimes uses it for French Toast. The potato salad was one of the best I've had in a restaurant. I even liked the collard greens.

I tell you folks, you gotta get to RUB soon. Everything was so good.

Dinner at RUB

Another great meet up with the New York BBQ Lovers Meetup Group at RUB. Great bunch of people. Great fun and fantastic food. If you're looking to learn about NY BBQ, join us.

Owner Andrew Fischel and Pitmaster Scott address the group explaining what we're going to be eating and how it's prepared. It was a great start to the night.

I can't tell you how good this meal was. Andrew, Scott, Matt, Celeste, Molly and all the rest of the staff outdid themselves the other night. You have to get to RUB. Trust me.

Let's start with the appetizers..

Frito Pie or WhiteTrash Nachos


Burnt Ends - By FAR the best in the city

And some chicken wings. A great start to an auspicious meal.

Photos used in this post are used by permission of Kevin Lincoln, founder NY BBQ Lovers Meetup Group

Dinner at RUB

OK, boys and girls, tonight we feast! MY wife and I are heading into Manhattan to meet up with members of the NY BBQ Lover's Meetup Group for a night of bacchanalian revelry at RUB BBQ!

Look at this menu which will be shared family style...

Appetizers:

• BBQ Chicken Wings
• Bacon Chunks; house cured and triple smoked Berkshire black pork belly bacon
• Frito Pie
• Burnt Ends

Dinner:

• The Taste Of The Baron; tasting of beef, pork, ham, pastrami, turkey, chicken, sausage and topped with racks of ribs.
• Onion Strings
• Beans
• Greens
• Potato Salad
• Corn Bread

Desserts:

• Deep Fried Oreos
• Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Photgraph of RUB courtesy of Pigtrip. Used with permission.

The RUB Rapid Fire Challenge

A couple of days before the event, our sponsor RUB BBQ with Pat LaFrieda Meats put together a new challenge for the teams; The Rub Rapid Fire Challenge. At the last turn in for Grilin' On The Bay, the chef's choice category, the cooks were given a mystery protein to cook and submit to a new team of judges.

It was indeed a challenge as our cooks were presented with an untrimmed prime hangar steak for the protein and judged by Andrew Fischel, Scott Smith, both of RUB BBQ, Nick Solares of Serious Eats and Gary Goldblatt of Pigtrip.

The Rub Rapid Fire Challenge Top 10 Results:
10. Josh Ozersky
9. Ma's Cue Crew
8. Smoke On The Water
7. Eat A Donut
6. Ribs Within
5. Purple Turtle Caterers
4. Wildwood BBQ
3. Porkaholics
2. Smoke In Da Eye
1. iQue

Grillin' On The Bay

Grillin' On The Bay and The Brooklyn Chili Smack Down

Sponsored by RUB BBQ and Butternuts Beer and Ale with

The RUB Rapid Fire Challenge
Sponsored by Pat LeFrieda Meat and RUB BBQ

Saturday, April 4th, 20009
Corner of East 18th Street and Ave Z Brooklyn, NY
11:00 AM to 4:30 PM

Free Admission. $10 for all the chili you can eat.
BBQ, Beer and other food items for sale.

It's an incredible line up of cooks this year.

• Smoke In Da Eye - Defending Champion!
• Purple Turtle Caterers - Returning Champions from the first Grillin' On The Bay.
• Beer Belly Porkers
• iQue featuring Andy O. C. Husbands of the award winning Tremont647
• Ribs Within
• King's County BBQ Truck
• Josh Ozersky of the Feedbag formerly of Grub Street with Shane McBride of Craft Steak
  
• Wildwood BBQ featuring Big Lou Elrose with Robbie Richter, former Pitmaster of Hill Country
  
• Moose's Mayhem
• Atom's Ribs featuring Matt Fisher, former Pitmaster of Wildwood BBQ NYC
• Team Agave
• Ma's Cue Crew
• Transformer BBQ
• Smoke On The Water
• Porkaholics
• Rb's BBQ
• Pearl Lee Q's
• Eat A Donut

And some wild entertainment from Cirque Du Soleil. I don't know what they've got planned, but I'm sure it will be fun. The New England Barbecue Society is sanctioning this event.

Additional sponsors include Grill Charms, The Waterfront Ale House, Andrews McMeel Publishing and Carrie Bachman Public Relations

This going to be a great day. I hope to see all of you there.

Grillin' On The Bay and The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown

It's back and better than ever!

Grillin' On The Bay 2009

To benefit St. Mark School Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
Sanctioned by The New England Barbeque Society
Sponsored by RUB BBQ and Butternuts Beer and Ale
Saturday April 4, 2009

Corner of East 18th Street and Avenue Z, Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn
Four Grilling Categories: Chicken Breast, Fish, Pork and Chef's Choice
$75 to $125 to Enter - Cash and Fabulous Prizes
and
The Brooklyn Chili Smack Down
People's Choice Chili Contest
Any type of Chili you want to make.
You call it Chili - WE call it Chili

Free to Enter
$100 to the winner!
$10 All the Chili you can eat - Till it runs out!

For more information: Web: GOTB Email BrooklynQ or call 917-763-5062
This contest is not affiliated with the Kansas City Barbeque Society or any Chili Contest Sanctioning body.

The Baron is Making News

Seems like Paul Kirk, aka the Baron of Barbeque is a busy guy. Today in my email I received two messages about Paul's activities. The first is a brief blurb from the Austin Statesman mentioning that Paul is in Austin for the National Barbecue Association's annual convention.

The other, copied below is a review from Las Vegas City Life of Paul and Andrew Fischel's new Las Vegas outpost of their RUB BBQ restaurant. Enjoy.

Oh, by the way, that's me, Paul Kirk and The Hampton Smoker in the picture from when we brought Paul and his School of Pitmasters to New York.

We knead meat
Sauce is rendered superfluous thanks to Rub's tasty dry-cooked BBQ

PHOTO BY TODD LUSSIER Meat. Need we say more?

Advertisement

by AL MANCINI

AS I'VE MENTIONED IN THE PAST, I didn't grow up on barbecue. For me, the term referred to grilling burgers and hot dogs in the backyard on holidays. It wasn't until my early 30s that I learned to really appreciate meats cooked for countless hours in smokers. And it wasn't until last year that I experienced my first barbecue competition, in Vancouver of all places, where people from around the U.S. and Canada pitted their top-secret recipes against each other. Fortunately for those who are still in the dark when it comes to real barbecue, Rub BBQ recently opened its doors at the Rio.

Rub is brought to us by Paul Kirk, also known as The Kansas City Baron of Barbecue. Kirk is a certified master barbecue judge, a member of the Kansas City Barbecue Society Board of Directors and was inducted into the KCBS Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2005, he brought his barbecue to New York City with the original Rub Barbecue, and the place very quickly became both an overwhelming success and a celebrity hotspot. Given Las Vegas' hunger for restaurants that have been successful in other cities, it was only a matter of time until we got one here.

The local restaurant is a rather unassuming place on the mezzanine level of the Rio. A large glass window on one walls allows you to gaze in on the massive smokers (which honestly aren't terribly interesting), and many of the seats have a view of The Rio's Masquerade Show In The Sky (which is probably extremely cool for tourists, but can be a bit annoying after you've seen those dancing girls chained to their floats a few dozen times). While the service is great, the place has a casual vibe, with waitresses wearing cut-off denim shorts, and food served in cardboard baskets.

All of that is just fine. Barbecue isn't about fancy restaurants. It's all about the meat, and Rubs delivers some of the best I've ever had.

There's a huge variety available here, including pulled pork, smoked ham, pulled chicken, barbecued chicken, smoked turkey, beef brisket, pastrami, three types of sausage, a whole pig butt, the fatty brisket points known as burnt ends, pork spare ribs and baby backs. They're smoked for as long as 18 hours in a blend of hickory, oak and apple smoke. You can order them in a wide variety of platters ($16.75 and up) and sandwiches ($13.75 and up), with ribs available in half or full racks ($16.75-$26.75).

They also offer appetizers like fried dill pickles ($7.25), fried green tomatoes ($8.75), BBQ bacon chunks ($9.75) and BBQ chili ($8.75). If you want a salad, you have four choices ($3.95-$13.75), although two of them are packed with meat. And sides include greens, cornbread and garlic mashed potatoes (all $3.75 for small, $7 for large).

My wife and I were simultaneously disgusted and intrigued by a listing in the appetizer section called BBQ Frito pie ($11.75). So we decided we had to try it. It was a bowl of Fritos topped with chili, cheese, onions and jalapenos. In all honesty, it was a pretty decent take on nachos -- although Doritos might worked better as an alternative corn chip. The best part about the sloppy appetizer was the barbecue chili topping it gave as our first taste of Rub's perfectly smoked meat.

For our dinner, we ordered up a massive sampler platter called The Baron ($49.75). It could easily have fed four people, but its combination of beef, chicken, pork, ham, pastrami, turkey, sausage, ribs and two side dishes gave us our best chance to try as many meats as possible. Since this was true barbecue, they'd all been cooked dry, without sauce. And on meat this flavorful, you certainly don't need it.

We liked every single thing on the plate. In my opinion, the hand-down favorite was the pastrami, which was the leanest and tastiest I've ever had (I can't wait to try it on one of their BBQ Reuben Crusher sandwiches). My wife loved it as well, but liked the brisket even better. Other standouts included the pulled pork and the incredibly moist turkey.

While all of the meats were excellent, the sides were simply average. The macaroni and cheese and cornbread were on par with the stuff you'd get in a grocery story. I also found all three of their barbecue sauces rather bland, but as I said earlier, they were fairly superfluous.

Those are minor complaints, however, with barbecue this good. Whether you're a barbecue neophytes or someone who grew up behind a smoker, you owe yourself a visit to Rub.

BBQ Events: RUB BBQ Opens in Vegas!

Congratulations to Paul Kirk and Andrew Fischel of RUB on the opening of Vegas's newest and best barbecue restaurant... RUB!

RUB BBQ Debuts Best Butt in Town At First West Coast Location Today

Restaurant opens today inside the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino®

LAS VEGAS (Dec. 27, 2007) – Las Vegas heats up on this winter day with the debut of New York City’s highly-acclaimed RUB BBQ with its new location inside the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino®. This will be the restaurant’s second location and only venue outside of the New York original.

The 9,000-square-foot RUB BBQ at the Rio features championship-level barbecue created by Paul Kirk, aka The Kansas City Baron of Barbecue and The Ambassador of Barbecue. With frequent appearances by Kirk himself, the restaurant will be home to resident “pitmaster” Chef Skip Steele. Steele joins the RUB team from St. Louis where he spent years perfecting his barbecue craft.

RUB BBQ will quickly become Las Vegas’ hottest destination for great barbeque and live entertainment. The restaurant features a stage for local as well as well-known artists to perform offering patrons a truly spiced up evening out.

The original RUB BBQ in New York opened to much praise and immediate popularity in 2005 and has remained ahead of the growing trend in barbecue restaurants grilling up in major cities across the country. Celebrity frequenters include Chris Rock, Tyra Banks, Dave Chapelle, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martha Stewart.

“We’re excited to introduce the RUB BBQ concept to Las Vegas and to the West Coast,” said Andrew Fischel, owner and creator of RUB BBQ. “With the sheer amount of visitors that Las Vegas sees every day, combined with the lack of traditional barbecue on or near The Strip, the Rio was clearly the perfect home for us.”

The menu at RUB BBQ will satisfy any level of a barbecue connoisseur’s taste buds, with standard dishes such as Barbequed Ribs cut St. Louis-style, Barbequed Sausage and Pastrami prepared the old-fashioned way, slow-cooked over wood in pits for 14 hours. Specialty menu items include Burnt Ends, smoked twice until crispy and lightly sauced and a The Taste of the Baron that includes a tasting of beef, pork, ham, pastrami, turkey, chicken, sausage and is topped off with a quarter rack of ribs. All selections are prepared fresh daily so once they’re gone, they’re gone.

RUB BBQ was designed by Nevada-based Cypress Architecture and Design. The 230-seat restaurant, which includes a 30-seat bar area, will be a modern take on the industrial loft look allowing guests to enjoy their barbecue favorites (as well as some mouth-watering RUB originals) in an open, high-energy atmosphere. Wall accents of deep, fiery reds will contrast with the weathered metals and will be set near aged brick and warm rustic wood floors and ceiling beams. Combined these elements will create a sophisticated, yet relaxed environment to experience a taste of Americana.

Located on the second level of the Masquerade Village inside the Rio, RUB BBQ will feature live bands on the weekends, from a variety of musical genres.

Rub BBQ is open for dinner from 4 p.m. – 11 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; open for lunch and dinner beginning at 11 a.m. Wednesday – Sunday.

About RUB BBQ/Chef Paul Kirk
The original RUB BBQ opened in New York in 2005 by Andrew Fischel, an ex-student and now partner of Executive Chef Paul Kirk. Chef Paul is recognized as one of the most accomplished barbecue chefs and pitmasters in the world. He is the recipient of 425 cooking awards, including champion of the American Royal Open (the largest barbecue competition in the world) and seven World Barbecue Championships. In 1990, Chef Paul was inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame and has been named numerous times to the Julia Child BBQ Team of Ten. In addition to his competitions and prestigious awards, Chef Paul conducts The Baron’s School of Pitmasters, a truly international school, which has held classes across the United States, Ireland, Canada, South Korea and Switzerland.

About Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino®
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino is a Harrah’s Entertainment resort. The Rio offers guests a unique all- suite hotel experience. Complete with 2,563 all-suite hotel rooms, the property overlooks the famous Las Vegas Strip, one block west on Flamingo Road. The Rio is the home of Vegas’ most popular free show – Masquerade Show in the Sky performing nightly. A sand beach surrounds the edge of the Rio’s tropical lagoon, complete with waterfalls, four nautical-shaped swimming pools, and five Jacuzzi-style spas. The Rio boasts 16 dining outlets, three lounges, two performance theatres (Penn & Teller Theater and the Chippendales Theater), Spa/Health Club/Steam Room/Beauty Salon, 23 retail outlets, five swimming pools, nine luxury Palazzo Suites and three nightclubs.

Restaurant Review: RUB BBQ

The other night me and old friend, Peter Vermaelen, and corporate chef Mark Slutsky, both of McCain Foods, went to R U B for part of our grazing through New York City's downtown barbecue triangle.



What's the downtown barbecue triangle? Well, it's the triangle formed by RUB, Hill Country NY and Blue Smoke. All three are within walking distance and make a great BBQ crawl. (More on that later!) And yes, there are other BBQ triangles in NYC.

We were in an eating frenzy that night and at RUB we decided to focus on the ribs, pastrami, bacon and the duck. Pastrami, bacon and duck in a barbecue restaurant? Only in New York kids, only in New York. But they are unique to RUB and no visit would be complete with out tasting them.

We started with the bacon; BBQ Bacon Chunks house cured and triple smoked Berkshire black pork belly bacon (nitrate free) This is always one of my favorite appetizers at RUB. This night it was served cooked to the point where it resembled cracklings. Melt in your mouth cracklings!

For the ribs, there was much discussion on what type to get. RUB offers beef ribs, but we were here for the pork. From the menu here are your choices, Pork Spare Ribs St. Louis Style the barbeque standard, whole slab; Short End last 7 ribs off the slab-the tender end; Long End the first 6 ribs off the slab-meatier; Rib Tip these are the meaty upper part of the rib, lightly sauced; Baby Back/Loin Back Ribs small tender ribs off the pork loin. the whole tender slab.

It turns out that Mark isn't a fan of baby back ribs, but Scottie convinced him to try them, so we ordered it all. And I'm glad we did. All of the ribs were nothing short of outstanding; easily and by far the best ribs I've ever had at RUB and in the top 10 of all bbq ribs I've ever had. Be warned, the ribs arrive without sauce, but there are multiple sauces on the table for you to customize your rib experience. IMHO, they didn't need the sauce, but it's there if you want it.

Next up was the duck. I was really looking forward to this as every other time I've been in the restaurant, the duck was already sold out. Duck is one of my favorite foods and RUB's duck didn't disappoint. It was spicy, sweet, moist tender and flavorful. It was the best restaurant duck I've ever had. My only complaint is that I wanted more of the glaze. In the legs however, I found the perfect marriage of duck meat and glaze. I suggested to Scottie that they offer duck legs as an appetizer. I hope he takes me up on the idea.

The pastrami is made in-house and according to Scottie, the pit master at RUB, it is more "traditional and authentic than any other found in NYC." And it's pretty damn good. Are you listening Katz?

We didn't have any side dishes, appetizers or vegetables. We didn't take any pictures. We weren't looking to review this restaurant only to feast upon the meat. And feast we did. And you should too.

We finished the meal with deep fried Oreos. All in all a great and memorable meal.