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.

Top BBQ Cities

Travel + Leisure just released its listings of the top barbecue cities in America. Now the top three are right there, Memphis, Kansas City and Austin, though one could argue their positions. The other 32 cities are a bit of a mystery. Why are they here and how were they chosen? There is no way in hell that Las Vegas has better BBQ than NYC.

1. Memphis
2. Kansas City
3. Austin
4. Nashville
5. Houston
6. Savannah
7. San Antonio
8. Charleston
9. Dallas/Fort Worth
10. Atlanta
11. Honolulu
12. Denver
13. New Orleans
14. Phoenix/Scottsdale
15. Salt Lake City
16. Chicago
17. San Juan, P.R.
18. Providence
19. San Diego
20. Orlando
21. Portland, OR
22. Minneapolis/St. Paul
23. Baltimore
24. Santa Fe
25. Anchorage
26. Miami
27. San Francisco
28. Washington, D.C.
29. Los Angeles
30. Las Vegas
31. New York City
32. Seattle
33. Portland, ME
34. Philadelphia
35. Boston

New York City's Best Barbeque. Says You!

City's Best has just launched a new poll to find New York City's best barbecue restaurant. Here's the list of nominations in no particular order. You can vote for you favorite by clicking on the restaurant name. Be sure to check out my thoughts about each establishment. Of course your thoughts may vary.

• Three Brother's Butchers (My review is here)
• Plataforma (Brazilian BBQ? What are they doing on this list?)
• Virgil's Barbecue (My last visit is here)
• Blue Smoke (By this time you should know the drill)
• Daisy May's BBQ (Here)
• Pies and Thighs (Sorry, I haven't been here yet.)
• Dinosaur BBQ (My visit)
• Brother Jimmy's (My last visit)
• Bone Lick Park (My take)
• Hill Country BBQ (Not a full review - but some comments.)

I'm really disappointed with this list. Where's RUB? Where's Wildwood? Rack and Soul? The hipster darling Fette Sau? The Smoke Joint? Where's another media darling Fatty Cue?

I wonder if this is a real poll or just an advertorial. You know - an advertisement that is disguised as an actual article. Hey, it happens.

Best BBQ in New York City?

The Zagat survey is out for 2011 and as usual it has some surprising conclusions. Brooklyn's restaurants have stepped up in a big way, but none so surprising, is that Fette Sau has been crowned the best barbecue in NYC. I am shocked. It's been awhile since I've been out to Fette Sau, but to me, it barely squeaked in to the top ten. Looks like a road trip is due.

Some other interesting items from this year's Zagat...

• The Health Department’s new letter-grading system is popular, with 83% of our surveyors approving of it. (New York recently switched to a letter graded system for the cleanliness of restaurants instead of the old numbers based ratings)
• 42% of surveyors think that the government should require restaurants to reduce the amount of salt in their dishes, but 49% oppose a tax on sugary drinks. (the Bloomberg administration has toyed with requiring restaurants to lower the amount of salt in their food and the Governor's office floated a tax on sugary drinks this year.)
• 81% of surveyors feel it’s acceptable to take pictures of their food, but 64% say it’s “rude and inappropriate” to text, e-mail, tweet or talk on a mobile phone at a restaurant. (FANTASTIC NEWS! I always feel uncomfortable taking pictures of food in restaurants. Now I know it's OK and I'm not bothering the other diners. Whew!)
• Surveyors rated overall hospitality in the dining scene a 17, up from 15 during pre-recession times.
• The average cost of a meal in New York is $41.76, a marginal decrease from $41.81 last year. That’s the first decrease since the post–September 11 slump in 2002. (I don't see this at all. Maybe food costs are down in the upper echelon, but in the restaurants I visit prices have been creeping up steadily.)

Photograph of a Fette Sau platter courtesy of Pig Trip - Your guide to BBQ joints in Boston New York and everywhere in between. Not used with permission but I hope Pig Trip won't mind.