WhiteTrash BBQ -- Real Pit Barbecue from New York City.
This is the story of a fire obsessed guy, living in Brooklyn, with a dream of producing award winning, competition busting, real Barbeque. Come live the dream as I compete around the country in the KCBS Championship Barbecue circuit.
Hey folks. It's been a long time since I've been here.In the words of the immortal, indomitable Dolly...
I went away from my the lights of 14th Street
And into my personal haze
But now that I'm back in the lights of 14th Street
Tomorrow will be brighter than the good old days
Well, I don't know about the lights of 14th Street, but I do know about the lights of a barbecue fire. I've been away, but the flames are slowly drawing me back. I'm not there yet, at least not in a way I can share with all of you, but I haven't been too far removed from the food world. I'm always out there.
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...
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.
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.
Justin Timberlake and restaurant partners Trace Ayala and Eytan Sugarman will open the second outpost of their Memphis-style barbecue joint, Southern Hospitality, at Ninth Avenue and 45th Street in Hell's Kitchen. The two-level eatery and lounge will be twice the size of the original on Second Avenue at 76th. Investors in the new location include MTV founding father Bob Pittman and OneRepublic lead singer Ryan Tedder. Online oenophile Gary Vaynerchuk will preside over the wine list.
My friend Adam Perry Lang has been playing with Jamie Oliver in merry ol' England as of late and the fruit of their labor is about to be revealed. Meet Barbecoa!
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.
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.
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.
It's just a video about a BBQ joint in Brooklyn called Uncle Jimmy's. Review to come, but I need a return visit before posting. Enjoy. BBQ doesn't have to make sense.
So, what's the story behind Hill Country Chicken? Well, I got my first taste at about 8:30 pm on Friday night. What you're looking at are four pieces of fried chicken; a breast and thigh cooked Hill Country Classic style (skin on, breaded and seasoned with Hill Country Chicken Shake)and a leg and a thigh Mamma El Style (skinless, cracker crumb crust and seasoned with a special family recipe,) Picnic Stix (celery and carrot sticks,) Fire-n-Ice Pickles and Pimento Cheese. I also purchased a Mint Tea for me and a Creme Brulee for the wife at home.
So how's the food? I received four perfectly cooked, and I mean PERFECTLY cooked pieces of some of the most tender and juicy fried chicken I've ever had. Flavor wise, however, it was a mixed bag. The Hill Country Classic Chicken tasted as if it were rolled in Shake and Bake and then coated with another thick layer of salt. The Mamma El style - here they have something. A little sweet, a little salty, it's a perfectly balanced very tasty soft cracker coating. Beautiful. The Fire-n-Ice Pickles were sweet and spicy and a good complement to the chicken. The Pimento Cheese was a sweet, creamy orange cheese with just enough punch from the pimentos to make it interesting. Do yourself a favor and let it sit awhile before you eat it as the flavors improve as the cheese warms.
The mint tea was self-served warm with a barely noticeable hint of mint and the Creme Brulee, bruleed to order, was creamy smooth and delicious with a solid sugar crust.
Now how much does all this cost you ask? Well, frankly a lot more than I expected. A single chicken breast: $5.50, a thigh: $3,50, a leg: $2.25 and a wing (which I didn't get - they were out) is $1.75. The Picnic Stix are only $2.00 but is a complete rip off as I received one celery stalk cut into four pieces and 2 small sticks of carrot. The Pimento Cheese was an additional $1.00 with the purchase of the Stix and easily worth the cost. And finally, the Fire-n-Ice pickles were only 50 cents, but frankly I think they should have been included gratis with the meal.
The large mint tea was $2.50 and the "3 inch pie cup" Creme Brulee was $3.00.
What's the place look like? Think 50's retro dinner. Hill Country Chicken could be right at home on the set of The Andy Griffith Show. There are a couple of problems with the layout. The drinks are dispensed from a nook located off to the side. It's a small counter behind the condiment stand and really much to small to service the restaurant efficiently. The other issue I have is that the counters that line the windows are much too high for the chairs. Not a big deal, but eating at the counter was not very comfortable.
So will I be back? Probably. Hill Country Chicken has something great in Mamma El's bird and the sides I had were all very good, but the prices ($27 for 8 pieces of chicken with four biscuits, c'mon) will make me reconsider.
I've been to the restaurant twice, but didn't see any pizza tossing at either visit. Am I missing something? I didn't really care about the show - how is the food?
On my first visit a couple of months ago, a companion and I entered just as Del Corso was closing for the night. They graciously opened up the back dining room and served us a great pizza. Allthou the dough can use some salt, I was intrigued and pleased enough by the tastes to plan a repeat visit.
My wife, daughter and I went there on a recent Saturday night for dinner. We didn't have pizza, as my daughter had pizza for lunch that day, but choose to focus on the main menu by sharing the various appetizers.
We had the Fritto Misto, lightly fried calamari and baby shrimp, which was outstandingly light and grease free allowing the flavor of the fish to shine. This was served with an very garlicky tomato dipping sauce. Lovely.
Then we had the Meatball Al Sugo which was an incredible dish of flavorful lightly seasoned meatballs of multiple sizes in a completely different tomato sauce with large pieces of fresh basil. I don't usually like restaurant meatballs. I find them to be completely under seasoned and tough. Here, they were just like mama used to make except there was no consistency to size. Some meatballs were the size of golf balls, others like dimes.
Next up was an eggplant dish of which I can't remember the name, it's not on the internet menu but is on the regular menu at the restaurant, that consisted of layered slices of un-breaded and un-fried eggplant, tomato sauce and store made mozzarella. I'd love to describe the taste of this dish, but we inhaled it. It was that good.
This was followed by one of the specials of the day - a handmade gnocchi with arugula and an Italian "meat sauce". This was simply outstanding. Tender gnocchi, fall apart meat and mushrooms in a wine enriched gravy. It was rich, thick and surprising light. This needs to be on the menu every night.
The plates went back to the kitchen looking as if we licked them clean.
We finished the meal with a dessert of fresh zeppolies topped with warm nutella and powered sugar. Need I say more?
While the food was outstanding, the front of the house service was a bit lacking. We arrived around 8:30 on Saturday night and the back dining room was almost empty with only two tables occupied. A cute Russian hostess greeted us and told us to sit anywhere. We chose a table in the back which was set with four plates but no silverware.
As we settled in a waiter, who had an accent I couldn't place, came and filled our water glasses and dropped off the menus. I asked if there were any specials and he said, "He's going to tell you," pointing to a man in a stained t-shirt and jeans drinking wine and laughing with a group of friends at the next table.
A few minutes later the man came over and leaned on the wall next us and began to rattle off the specials. He didn't introduce himself or explain why he was telling us the specials instead of the waiter. He returned to the table where he was sitting while we made our choices.
As we were deciding, a basket of warm bread was dropped on the table with a bowl of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping. In a few minutes, the man returned and took our food order.
The food came very quickly, but I was disappointed to see that none of the dishes included any serving utensils as we made it clear to the man that we sharing every dish. We also had to request our own forks and knifes as none were delivered with the food.
Later while we were eating the hostess asked if everything was alright, I didn't understand her and she was clearly annoyed that I asked her to repeat herself. I then asked for some grated cheese and she returned with a large bowl of cheese, clearly too large for a single person, again without any sort of serving utensil.
At one point in the meal the hostess, the waiter and the until now unseen bus boy came and asked if everything was OK, all within 10 seconds of each other. While I'm glad to see the staff looking out for us, the timing of this made the service appear clumsy and untrained.
As the plates were taken away, the man, who by now I recognized as the chef from his appearance on the video above, came and asked if we enjoyed the food. We told him we did and I asked about the meat in the gnocchi dish. When he revealed it was oxtail my wife was stunned that she loved it. I have eaten oxtail since I was a child, but it was one of those foods, like liver, kidney, tripe, etc that my wife would never try due to some squeamishness on her part. The chef laughed and said that was why he described the dish as having an Italian "meat" sauce. Too many folks are oxtail phobic until they try it.
Pizzeria del Corso easily has some of the best Italian food I've had in a long long time, but it needs to step up on the little things to become great. The front of the house service needs to pay attention to the details that could make Pizzeria del Corso a dining destination. On the tables were small votive candles, which remained unlit, as did the candle in the men's room. There is a tile missing on the men's room floor that was missing on my last visit over a month ago. The chef, needs to introduce himself to the customers and needs either a chefs coat or an apron. The stained t-shirt just doesn't cut it.
And finally, if Nino Coniglio's claim to fame is being a triathlon-winning member of the U.S. Pizza Team, he needs to be attracting customers with his acrobatic dough spinning! Don't loose the focus on the food, but put on the show! An empty dining room on Saturday night is not a good sign.
Even with these growing pains I'll be back and I'm recommending this place to my friends and to all of you here on the blog, because after all, you are all my friends!
A big thanks to Ned Berke over at Sheepshead Bites for the video.
Just found out on Eater yesterday that the famed Mo Gridders BBQ Trailer is for sale. Sadly - it's more than the trailer - it's the entire business. Mo Gridders for $90K.
Mo's wasn't the best BBQ in the city, only because I thought it needed more spice, but damn, it was easily in the top 10. It's probably in the top 10 in the state or tri-state region.
I'm so very disaapointed to hear about this. I wonder if I can raise $90K quickly. C'mon Power Ball!
If you're interested, the entire ad can be found here at Backpage.com
This has to be a record - a second post on a second day? This must mean summer is just around the corner with all the barbecue news popping up.
Tune in Tonight at 10pm on the Food Network to see Duke's chef, Michael "Sheffy" Siry, compete on the Food Network's Chopped!
Chopped at 10pm EDT on the Food Network! Or Stop by Duke's at 560 Third Ave (37th St)to Party with Sheffy! Complimentary Cookies and Cupcakes during the show!
Michael is a good guy and a veteran of Grillin' On The Bay. Be sure to tune into watch. I wonder what he's going to do without his smoker.
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.
So, March Madness is continuing here at WhiteTrash BBQ, but strangely the barbecue is still more than a little lacking. As is the picture taking for that matter. The weather right now is outstanding so one obstacle is removed, but NYC's only barbeque contest, Grillin' On The Bay is taking over all my free time.
Here's the run down on the meals since we last left off...
Hill Country you may be asking? That's not a name that appears too often in the WhiteTrash BBQ Blog. Well, I had a meeting with Yelp! on Thursday night and it turns out that Yelp! is 2 blocks from Hill Country.
It's been a long time since I've been to Hill Country, and frankly, I've always been disappointed. Everything was always OK, but better meals for less money were within walking distance. However tonight, I was willing to give them another try. Boy was I surprised. The brisket was outstanding; moist, tender and very flavorful. I must say, if they continue in this fashion, Hill Country will have redeemed itself.
The sausage link was good, as all the Kreuz sausage is, but I think it's not the same recipe as what you get in Texas. I could be wrong, but I remember the meat in the sausage being a much courser grind and much more greasy when I was in Lockhart.
The baked beans with burnt ends tasted more like chili and was watery like a chili soup. And it burned the roof of my mouth! Pass on this one. March 5, I spent the day in the depths of the NYC and Long Island mass transit systems, traveling deep into the Bronx in the morning and then returning to Penn Station and hopping on the Long Island Railroad for a trip way out on Long Island in the evening. Dinner that night was a Big Mac and Sweet Tea from McDonald's. I warned you that not every meal was going to be interesting or even good! March 6, A couple of portions from a 6' ft Italian Hero, Macaroni Salad, Potato Salad and some Caesar Salad at my one of my closest and oldest friend's son's Eagle Court of Honor ceremony and celebration. Dinner was topped by some Bread Pudding from the Entenmann's Family Bakery in East Meadow, Long Island. No, there's no relation. But it was some outstanding bread pudding! March 7, Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloin, Twice Baked Potatoes filled with Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese and steamed Broccoli. The tenderloin was rubbed with Harley's Texas Style Bar-B-Que All Purpose Seasoning and planned for the grill, but the day filled up with too many repairs and renovations around the house.
My house was built in 1924 and any attempt at repairs always take 5 or 6 times longer than you would expect. The simplest projects turn into day long productions. In one room, on one of the outlets, someone long ago had installed an extender turning the two port outlet into four. When I removed it, the outlet itself fell into pieces, requiring a trip to the local hardware store. Of course modern outlets don't easily adapt into 90 year old junction boxes with asbestos wrapped wiring, so it was quite the adventure.
So the tenderloin cooked in the oven whilst the wife whipped up the twice baked potatoes. Overall this was a very satisfying meal. March 8, Johnsonville's Beer Brats, Velveeta Macaroni and Cheese, Canned Beets. Another meal designed for the grill and a quick weeknight dinner but alas the house stepped in again.
My kitchen table collapsed when I put a bottle of soda on it, so repairs were carried out tonight after spending two hours standing on line at the Cablevision office to replace the cable box that fried when the power was restored on Sunday. Why an outlet in the basement in the rear of the house is on the same circuit as an outlet in the front of the house on the first floor I'll never understand.
Again, this was a very enjoyable meal. The real surprise was how well the beets complimented the flavor of the brats and macaroni. Try it for yourself some time.
So the madness continues. There's no plans for tomorrow's meal as the wife has school, my vegetarian son is working, my daughter has an SAT class and I'm left to my own devices.
Long time readers of this blog will know that every March I challenge myself to eat something different for dinner every night during the month of March. Not all meals will be homemade. Not all meals will be fancy. Not all meals will be barbecue. The challenge is to make each meal unique.
And just for kicks, this year I challenged myself to photograph each meal this month. Well, so far that hasn't happened. But I have eaten three different dinners each night this month. Photos will come. I promise.
March 1 - Grilled Italian sausages with oven roasted potatoes and green beans. Nothing fancy here. Just a quick home made dinner.
March 2 - Scheuan Beef from Ming's Place on Avenue U, Brooklyn. Ming's used to be really great when it opened in the 80's. Like most Chinese places it went down hill for while, and now it's on an upswing again. Recently they've gone "old school" with a take out menu heavy on the combo plates, Soup, egg roll, main dish, rice, fortune cookies, noodles, and an orange, all for under $10. The food is good again. I just wish they'd update their interior. It's still done in 1980's mauve.
March 3 - Crab cake sandwich, fries and coleslaw from Randazzo's Clam Bar, Sheepshead Bay. This was a real disappointment. The waitress said that the crab cakes were the best thing on the menu, home made and filled with crab meat. Well, there was crab meat somewhere in the bread cubes, but man, these sandwiches tasted like they were forty years old. Never in my life have I had such "fishy" tasting crab. City's Best claims that Randazzo's had the best seafood in NY for 2008. What were they thinking? And, for the neighborhood, this place is expensive! Next time, it's back to Jordan's Lobster Dock.
Purim is about to arrive and to all my Jewish readers, let me be the first to wish you all a very Happy Purim.
"What's Purim?" you may ask, as I did one day when my son came home from his allegedary non-sectarian but run out of the local synagouge day care, with Purim masks, hamentaschen and asked when we'd be reading the Megillah.
Well, I'm not going to give you the whole run down on Purim, as I'm no expert, but Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates G-d working through Esther by tricking Haman into not wiping out the Jews who were living in Persia. As you can imagine, not being wiped out is certainly cause for a Jewish celebration and celebrate they do!
According to Judiaism 101: "Jews are commanded to eat, drink and be merry. According to the Talmud, a person is required to drink until he cannot tell the difference between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai," though opinions differ as to exactly how drunk that is."
"In addition, Jews are commanded to send out gifts of food or drink, and to make gifts to charity. The sending of gifts of food and drink is referred to as shalach manos (lit. sending out portions). Among Ashkenazic Jews, a common treat at this time of year is hamentaschen (lit. Haman's pockets). These triangular fruit-filled cookies are supposed to represent Haman's three-cornered hat."
"It is customary to hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim, to perform plays and parodies, and to hold beauty contests. I have heard that the usual prohibitions against cross-dressing are lifted during this holiday, but I am not certain about that. Americans sometimes refer to Purim as the Jewish Mardi Gras."
Now that's a holiday I can get behind! And so can the folks over at the only true BBQ Joint in the tri-state area that I know of that is also Kosher; Smokey Joe's. Check out his specials here.
I'm a bit surprised. I think I'm on all the mailing lists for the NYC BBQ restaurants and only Duke's sent me an ad about their Superbowl Specials. I don't usually list restaurant specials, I leave that up to Pigtrip, but since Duke's was the only one who cared, here's their ad.
So, you missed the opportunity to have Robbie Richter, pitmaster extraordinaire at Zak Pelaccio's (will it ever open?) Fatty Cue cater your Superbowl party but you're still craving the ribs? Well, high tail your butt over to Fatty Crab on the upper west side. Eats.com spills the beans on this rare chance to sample the Cue!
Fatty Crab UWS: Fans of the Zak Pelaccio's Malaysian joint can get a taste of his much-anticipated Fatty 'Cue on Super Bowl Sunday, when the UWS spot offers dishes, like smoked pork ribs, from the soon-to-open Brooklyn restaurant
Fatty Crab - Upper West Side 2170 Broadway, New York City NY 10024 TEL: 212-496-2722 Photograph of Robbie Richter and Zak Pelaccio courtesy of Josh Ozersky.
Consider this a challenge: for every pound of meat you buy, this Flatiron barbecue joint will spot you a beer. After this ode to your machismo, we know you'll be ready and thankful for Hill Country's next offer, which is obviously champagne-
411:
Hill Country, 30 W. 26th St (near 6th Ave), 212-255-4544
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...
City's Best has just launched a new poll to find 
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