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!

New Year - New Barbecue in New York City

Things must be looking up in the economy. Seems like there's a slew of new barbecue joints opening up in New York City. I know of a few that aren't mentioned here, but according to Zagat, here's a couple that are confirmed and some to look forward to...

Danny Meyer’s Battery Park City Spots: The restaurateur behind the Union Square Hospitality Group plans to open three new restaurants at the lower tip of Manhattan. The offerings include a branch of Blue Smoke, another Shake Shack and a unnamed fine-dining restaurant (Fall; 102 N. End Ave.).

Neely’s Barbecue Parlor: This Southern-style joint from Pat and Gina Neely of The Food Network was originally scheduled for November, but now you can expect the beer, bourbon and barbecue to start rolling in March (1125 First Ave.)

And - maybe, just maybe, a barbecue joint will rise quietly in the far reaches of Brooklyn. Stranger things have been known to happen.

Photo of Pat Neely courtesy of Soul of America. Photo of Blue Smoke courtesy of ifood.tv

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 Joints: Virgil's

Virgil's Barbecue
152 W 44th St
New York, NY 10036
(212) 921-9494

Last week I mentioned that I joined Gary from PigTrip for a mini crawl through two of Manhattan's BBQ joints. We had a mission when we set out on this trip, but unfortunately we didn't meet any of our goals. But, we did get to eat some fine food.

I know I'm doing this out of order as our second stop of the day was Virgil's BBQ in Time's Square. I should really start with post about Southern Hospitality, but not today.

Virgil's may qualify as the grand daddy of real barbeque in New York City. Some people give Blue Smoke the credit for sparking the barbecue renascence in NY, but Virgil's set the fire, Blue Smoke, Daisy May's and RUB stoked it. Before Virgil's arrived decent real wood smoked barbecue was not found in Manhattan.

Back in the day, I used to frequent Virgil's frequently as I worked at MTV just up the street. Back then Virgil's was good, but very inconsistent in its quality. Some days the food would be so burnt and dry it was almost inedible, others the food was close to perfect. It was a real crap shoot. So when the new kids arrived, I stopped going to Virgil's. The new places were so much better.

In my quest for the best barbecue in New York, I would be remiss to dismiss Virgil's based on its past performance. How's it doing now was the question that Gary and I tried to answer.

But we were thwarted by our own gluttony. As I mentioned, earlier in the day we stopped into Southern Hospitality for a sampling of their food and we were feted by the ever hospitable Dr. BBQ. I'll talk about that visit in another post, but let's just say that we rolled out of Southern Hospitality with our bellies and heads full.

We arrived at Virgil's without much if any, of an appetite. But in the name of research we trudged on. We ordered the Texas Red Chili and the BBQ Chicken wings. Both were good, but neither were the best of NY. The chili had some nice flavor which was dominated by Ancho chili, a little heat, but was not smokey at all. It also contained a smattering of beans which are not included in a bowl of traditional Texas Red.

The wings were good, but as with most smoked wings, the skin was a bit rubbery. They were sauced just enough for my liking, but unfortunately I wasn't a big fan of the sauce. There is a citrus base to the sauce that becomes overwhelming if you eat more than one.

That said, the wings were intriguing. The crust was nice, the smoke level good. They were good enough to raise other questions; how's the ribs? The brisket? The grilled hot dogs? Look's like another visit is in order. Gary? You ready?

Undiscerning New Yorkers?

Here's an interesting take on New York's BBQ scene by my friend Paul Lukas a the New York Sun. I haven't been to any of the barbeque restaurants he mentions except for Blue Smoke, so I can't comment on the article. Damn, I've got to get out there!

An Undiscerning Palate

By PAUL LUKAS
August 29, 2007

It's been a little more than five years now since Blue Smoke opened, giving New Yorkers their first taste in decades of authentic pit-smoked barbecue. Since then, a seemingly endless stream of barbecue outlets has followed, including at least a dozen in the past year, and four in the past six weeks. The city's appetite for smoked meat, it would appear, is endless.

But five years of unstinting demand have not yet produced a discerning palate among the city's barbecue enthusiasts Many venues in this new wave of "'cueries" have managed to do a booming business, even if the food is mediocre at best. This category includes the popular Blue Smoke itself, where the food is wildly inconsistent. And recent visits to the city's four newest smokehouses found all of them packed , -- granted, one of them has only two tables, but still -- despite widely varying levels of quality. It's as if putting the letters "B-B-Q" in your window is enough to draw throngs, even if you're serving pizza and sushi.

So when a truly great barbecue outlet comes along, such as Hill Country (30 W. 26th St., between Broadway and Sixth Avenue, 212-255-4544), it can get lost in the shuffle. Let's be as clear as possible: This is what barbecue is supposed to be. Pitmaster Robbie Richter has produced by far the best marriage of smoke and meat to hit the city in the Blue Smoke era. In fact, his Texas-style barbecue is so good that it rivals the fare at the Lone Star State's most renowned smokehouses. If you've ever eaten down that way, you know how good the barbecue is; if you haven't, here's your chance to discover what you've been missing.

Texas barbecue isn't sauce-driven. The idea is that if you've got really good meat, plenty of smoke, and a good spice rub (in Mr. Richter's case, a fairly simple mix of salt, pepper, and cayenne), sauce just gets in the way. Most of Hill Country's offerings provide ample validation to this approach, from the spectacularly juicy brisket (available either lean or moist -- go for the latter) and the massive beef ribs to the succulent pork spareribs, the excellent boneless ribeye, and the crispy little Cornish game hens. All are infused with a smoky aura that lingers but never overpowers, along with a lip-smacking spice kick that supplies a slow, smoldering burn. It's the quintessence of classic barbecue.

The second-best entry in the latest crop of 'cueries is, surprisingly enough, Southern Hospitality (1460 Second Ave., between 76th and 77th streets, 212-249-1001), which is co-owned by that, um, renowned barbecue expert Justin Timberlake. Despite a horrible vibe (imagine a celebrity-spotting scene at TGI Friday's) and some sadly predictable moments of ineptitude ("No, you have to order both side dishes, because the computer won't let me exit the ordering screen unless I punch in two sides"), a decent percentage of the food actually acquits itself quite respectably. Memphis-style spare ribs are tender and fairly tasty, if not quite smoky enough, baby back ribs are sweet and juicy, and the macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and green beans are all perfectly adequate.

There are also some major missteps: Pulled pork is so dry as to be inedible, and the brisket is utterly bland, but with careful ordering it's possible to have a decent meal here. Still, why put up with an assaultive atmosphere just to have a merely decent meal?

The situation is reversed up at Oklahoma Smoke (231 W. 145th St., between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. boulevards, 212-862-5335), a tiny two-table storefront that recently opened in Harlem. The vibe is warm, the staff treats you like family, and co-owner Paul Packard will happily tell you how he, his dry rub recipe, and his smoker all hail from the Sooner State. Unfortunately, all this love doesn't yet come through in the food. Pork ribs and beef ribs are both far too bland. Smoked shrimp are a tasty surprise (who cooks shrimp in landlocked Oklahoma?), but the dish is overcooked, and the smoky flavor can't rescue the rubbery texture.

Oklahoma Smoke does have one magnificent saving grace, however: world-class collard greens. Unlike so many other collards around town, which have been stewed into mush, Oklahoma Smoke's version has some heft, along with a pork-infused smokiness. It's like a warm, savory salad, and it ranks among the city's top side dishes.

Unfortunately, there's not even a standout side order to recommend at Georgia's Eastside BBQ (192 Orchard St., between E. Houston and Stanton streets, 212-253-6280). The small-ish room is pleasant enough, but the food barely qualifies as barbecue. Instead of smoking the meat, owner Alan Natkiel oven-steams it over a beer bath, finishes it on the grill, and drowns it in sauce. The resulting pulled pork is so stringy and dry, and the sauce is so ketchup-driven, that the dish comes off like day-old spaghetti. Pork ribs are moister but tasteless. The best thing on the menu is fried chicken, but there's no shortage of that in this town.

Despite the food's seemingly obvious shortcomings, Georgia's Eastside had a line out the door on a recent Saturday evening, underscoring the point that, for now, New Yorkers still like the idea of barbecue more than they appreciate the nuances of the form. One hopes that will change as more people find their way to Hill Country, the first smokehouse we can truly be proud to call our own.