So after missing
Defcon @ Peppers in order to watch the Rocket pitch against the Pirates on Saturday, I decided to take some time Sunday and hit
the Big Apple BBQ. After going last year and witnessing the masses of people waiting in line, I decided to get what’s called a “Bubba Pass” which gives you easy access to the back of the tents with shorter lines. But at 11:45 on Sunday, I got to the fast pass tent and they told us they were sold out already – in fact they had sold out on Saturday. With those plans foiled, I decided to just jump in whatever line I could find and try a little bit of everything.
Pulled Pork Shoulder & Coleslaw
Blackjack BBQ
Charleston, North Carolina
Pitmaster: Jimmy HagoodThis was the first line I jumped in and they started serving right at 12 – the pulled pork was good, but cold. The sauce on the side was too vinegary, but I liked it. Great mustard vinegar flavor.
Beef Brisket & Smoked Beans
Baker’s Ribs
Dallas, Texas
Pitmaster: Joe DuncanI must say – it was okay. I think it has great potential but it doesn’t seem that their recipe held up to either the crowds or the small travel cooking set up. But then again, I was also distracted by the sausage & brisket from Southside Market (below).
Beef Brisket & Sausage w/Pickles & Onions
Southside Market & BBQ
Elgin, Texas
Pitmaster: Bryan Bracewell
Enjoying the spicy beef sausage from Southside MarketTied for our favorite dish of the day – the sausage and brisket from Southside Market was excellent. The sausage (it’s beef) was crispy and mildly spicy – just enough heat to make you stand up and take notice, but not enough to deter you from finishing. The beef brisket was warmer and more tender then the beef brisket from Baker’s Ribs.
Beef Ribs & Black Eyed Pea Salad
Hill Country Barbeque Market
New York, NY
Pitmaster: Robbie RichterThe beef rib from Hill Country was huge and full of flavor. Typically I find beef ribs dry, but Hill Country’s beef rib was anything but dry. It was tender and savory with just the right amount of sauce. We will definitely be visiting their new NYC restaurant soon.
Baby Back Ribs & Beans
Rack & Soul
New York, NY
Pitmaster: John Wheeler
Rack & Soul Baby Back RibsThe baby back ribs from Rack & Soul were incredible. A nice crust with a sweet but not too sweet sauce. Tied as our favorite item of the day and good enough to convince us to try out the
Rack & Soul restaurant before we leave NYC.
Brunswick Stew
Proclamation Stew Crew
Lawrenceville, Virginia
Stewmaster: John ClaryI have no idea why I ordered this, but it was one of those things that I just had to try – especially after seeing the guy stir the huge pot of stew. It has chicken, lima beans and corn in it (I think). I only managed one bite and the rest was tossed in the trash. Maybe with some extra hot sauce and salt & pepper – but with all the choices, this stew was not the winner of the day.
Fried Pies (apple)
Stehling Brother’s Fried Pies
Asheville, North Carolina
Piemaster: John & Robert StehlingThese fried pies were terrific. Inside a crispy yet soft pie shell was a warm dollop of apple pie filling – all sprinkled with powdered sugar. Just the thing to hit the spot after all that meat. After the fried pies, I was pretty much down for the count. But then we wandered around the park and decided to split a “Concrete Jungle” from
the Shake Shack.
Concrete Jungle: It may not look like much but its custard stuffed with hot fudge, bananas and peanut butter. Delicious.We sat on a park bench and people watched while we finished off the Concrete Jungle. It’s a sinful treat and something we’re definitely going to miss from New York. Then, after scoring some freebies from the Cinnabon and Snapple booths, we wandered back up Madison Ave. While standing outside the Ubon’s BBQ tent, we ran into Gretchen (from Chile Pepper Magazine) & her husband. Now, talk about a small world – on Thursday, I also ran into Gretchen at the Dream Hotel during a Wall Street Journal party. Even in NYC, you can run into someone you know no matter where you go. Since Gretchen & her husband were armed with Bubba Passes, we followed them behind the scenes and since we had easy access, ate some more…
Gretchen giving the low down on Big Bob Gibson’s BBQ SaucesThe best pulled pork of the day came from
Big Bob Gibson’s and I must say, all of their BBQ sauces are quite tasty. (Big Bob’s Pulled Pork not pictured here) The difference in flavors between the White Sauce and the Red Sauce is incredible. These sauces will definitely cross my grill again some day soon. If you are still looking for a Father’s Day gift – I’d suggest you check out
Big Bob’s BBQ Gift Baskets, that way dad can try out all of Big Bob’s BBQ Sauces and find the one that’s right for him!
And then…
Smoked Foie Gras from Blue Smoke
Salt & Pepper Lamb Ribs from Blue SmokeWe sat in the
Blue Smoke tent and enjoyed some behind the scenes food courtesy of Kenny Callaghan (executive chef of Blue Smoke). The foie gras was excellent (for
foie gras) and the salt & pepper lamb ribs convinced me to try the salt & pepper beef ribs at Blue Smoke – a restaurant where I religiously stick to ordering the pulled pork. After chatting a bit and exchanging stories about Texas, I couldn’t eat another bite and had to call it a day (for sure this time). After all that meat, we called it a day and spent the rest of the day digesting.
All in all – a great afternoon in NYCWith each dish at $8 ($4 for the pie & stew) plus two drinks we spent just over $60 for a full afternoon of eating for 2 people. That may seem like a lot, but for 4 hours of food in New York it was definitely cheap and a fun NY outing. And splitting all of that food with other people definitely helps – plus you get to try more BBQ.
66 responses to “Big Apple BBQ Recap”
NICK…ya had saome real fun and them some…nice pics…why can’t we get this stuff in Florida….i’d give my right nut to chow down like that..lol
weszeb,
Its much easier to get that stuff in Florida than it is in NYC. I grew up in the panhandle and there were awesome BBQ places all over the place. There have to be some near you, even if you’re in South Florida /yankee Florida :).
I suggest doing a search at the roadfood.com forums. Roadfood.com is a great foodie site if you haven’t seen it before.
1 Pulled Pork sandwich Please……
Yummy!!!!!!
thanks LozengeFanatic…I type 1 finger, can I say LF dow the road…lol..
Road food nice site..only it will be supper by the time I fiqure where to go for lunch….JensenBeach Fl,…any suggestions????
weszeb,
I’m not familiar with that area so I can’t make recommendations. I search for BBQ in Jensen Beach, FL using Google maps and found these:
Google Maps Link
Looks like you’ve at least got several places to try. I hope this helps.
L.F. you are good going to Lefty’s for lunch
L.F. you are good going to Lefty’s for lunch……
Nick,
the Texas salt and pepper beef ribs at Blue Smoke are amazing. I’m assuming the lamb ribs were done the exact same way. I think at Blue Smoke, they smoke them for a while, and then just before serving grill them, because they have a nice crunch to them on the outside, but inside the meat is nice and juicy.
I always get the Texas style ribs and pass up the others. When we got to go to Austin, we found a couple of places serving their ribs like Blue Smoke does including Southside market.
And speaking of Texas Barbecue in NY, we got invited to go to Hill Country restaurant that was serving those amazing beef ribs at the Big Apple Barbecue and it was great. That place is going to be a big, big deal in New York. We were stuffed so we didn’t try any more meat, but the sides were excellent and deserts were really good. They are attempting to do an authentic Lockhart, TX barbecue joint in NYC and both the look and the food pull it off.
If this has your mouth watering and you are free to night, email me. We have a tip for you.
Kevin – Sending you a note right now!
Good thing I live about 5 minutes from Big Bob’s 😀 Their pulled pork is usually pretty good and my favorite thing to get there is the barbecued baked potato with the pork yumm! I haven’t actually seen the bbq’d potato much anywhere but here in AL. but they are delicious!
I’ve been making a version of Big Bob Gibson’s white BBQ sauce for years. If you have never tried it before, I suggest you do — very different but very good!. Either order it on-line, or go to food.tv.com and do a search for Big Bob Gibson. There are a couple of recipes on their site.
low and behold, a redneck making the best bbq and bbq sauce in the US. go figure. i guess us dumbies down here know what we are doing in one catagory. been to big bob’s many a times in person. great food and great folk. Nick, i’d love to see you down in God’s country at a bbq festival. your cheeks would hurt from smiling in joy so much.
yankees cant do bbq worth a squat.
Generallee….Yankees really don’t know much about BBQ…thats for friggin REDNECKS like yourself…no sugar ya got a good point..seriously.
…..now any other thing…dealing with food..yanks got ya BEAT hands down….and them some..going fishing tide change…I”LL BE BACK……
……hhahahahahahahahah
nick you me and uncle big, Owensboro, Ky next may. We’ll eat Lamb till we baaaaaaarf.
http://www.bbqfest.com/
dont forget making bourbon and whisky.
and creating God’s gift to men, the infamous southern belle debutant.
and augusta national country club
and gator wrastlin and swamp buggy’s
and the mullet.
and NASCAR
i could go on but i dont want to veare (dont know how to spell that one) from the topic
[Comment ID #99229 Quote]
generallee, you are sort of right about we Yanks not being able to do BBQ worth a squat. Beleive it or not, there are a few of us out here who own actual BBQs and smokers and know how to use them. Yanks are mostly into year-round grilling. The main reason being time. Since we Yanks are all employed, we don’t have time to spend all day BBQing the road kill we find on the walk home from the unemployment office or from the still. Plus, since we have all of our teeth, we don’t need to worry about the meat being fall apart tender. LOL.
no one is laughing out loud with you. although there are many of us laughing at you.
[Comment ID #99235 Quote]
Just jokes. Relax.
Generallee throws a hard right…he’s working the inside…Gildo with an uppercut…..ding round 1………….
Hay guys fishing s…, glad to see the blog will never change…lol.lollol
who won?
[Comment ID #99231 Quote]
Newman. Been there and you are right. Baaaaaaarf then you eat some more.GOOD STUFF
Hey Gildo, you ain’t had good BBQ until you’ve eaten it “fall apart tender” with someone else’s teeth in yer mouth! 😉
And don’t knock road kill if you’ve never had it. That’s the secret to the “fall apart tender” part. When you hit that sucker it kills it AND tenderizes it all at the same time! Less time preparin’, more time eatin’!!!!! 🙂
And as for teh unemployment, hell, how you gonna have time to do all that eatin’ if your too damn busy workin’? And the still, you gotta wash all that good BBQ down with sumthin’. And besides, when you’re unemployed, it helps to have the bevarage double as fuel fer the swamp buggy!! 🙂 😉
– Swamp Honky
[Comment ID #99236 Quote]
Tain’t funny when you’re livin’ it. 😉 JK, I’m laughing at ya too. I mean, ummmm WITH you. 😉 Hehehe!!!
ha ha,you said tain’t
still laughin at you.
[Comment ID #99234 Quote]
[Comment ID #99235 Quote]
Come on, that was damn funny !!!!!!
Toooooooo funny……morning
HAHAHAHA that WAS damn funny. What a way to start the day.
Good morning all!
Good Morning Kristi!
Hey Nick, sounds like a lot of fun. Ya just missed Southside Market’s 125th birthday party here in Elgin on June 2. Big party, free ‘que, mass media hysteria. They have been making those beef sausages for 125 years, that’s impressive!!!
Roy
[Comment ID #99304 Quote]
Good day all. Man nothing better then fresh road kill cook up in my eggs. That how you start the day.
was its heart still beating…got to be fresh now…
[Comment ID #99304 Quote]
Hey Southern Fried!!!! Hows my favorite redneck doin?
[Comment ID #99311 Quote]
Walkin’ on Sunshine! 😀
[Comment ID #99310 Quote]
Yep
you REDNECKS crack me up…….hahahahaha
bad ass redneck reporting for duty sir and mams!!
Us Yanks are out numbered this morning…check back later
there were a few battles like that in “the war” but look how y’all turned out in the end, victorious. but we want a rematch, and we want it soon.
[Comment ID #99320 Quote]
I’m here……….
Thanks (FKS)…feeling outnumbered this morning…..Here’s to Abe Lincoln…….I won’t quote history………these REDNECKS don’t have a chance in round#2…..Ding……..
haqhahahahahahahahahaahhah
i took Gildo down in round 1, but i think he is one of those west coast homo’s so that doesnt really count.
BlAHHHHHHHHA
HAHAHAHBLAH
HAHAHA…..
HAHAHAHAHAHA…………….
THATS REAL FRIGGING GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!
GENERALLEE
watch out, i may be on fire today. you have been warned….
[Comment ID #99328 Quote]
Eatin’ those bell peppers again? 😉
Red ones too!
yeah, and they home some funny name that ends in jolokia. ever heard of them?
i’LL BE PICKING THEM IN 3 WEEKS
[Comment ID #99334 Quote]
Typos?
home = have
jolokia = Joke
????? 😉
me no speaky hindu. just typed it the way it spells out on the package it came in.
[Comment ID #99328 Quote]
Yah, you’re a real flamer alright!
Jokeia?
That’s DK’s Joke of the day….your in the wrong place Gen.
[Comment ID #99339 Quote]
Seen his website yet?
[Comment ID #99340 Quote]
all we been through, you dissing on me now? 🙁
oh darn,
hey wes, DK, y’all out there?
look who came to play today. i got to find another blog. that guy is like a leech, and a STD. he just wont go away.
Nope….just funnin
Mr Pimento…
[Comment ID #99345 Quote]
whatever, mr plain rice cake.
yup…with Blair’s Jersy Death on it
Thats a ouch……….4,000,000
and ya missed me RedNeck……………
I’m lovin this one
gottaq go …..laterness
wes
you are like my boss, i call him the pigeon boss. he comes in, wrustles his featers, $hits on everything, then leaves.
HAHAHAHAHAHAH………..
Generallee that was really friggin good……
…………..yea ain’t it great!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Laterness
c u pigeon