Category Archives: BBQ

Home Team BBQ

Our third BBQ stop in Charleston was Home Team BBQ, just around the corner from Lewis BBQ

Everyone I spoke to about BBQ in Charleston mentioned this place for their dry rub wings, so we saved some room after Lewis and gave them a shot.

The wings were indeed excellent, and far superior to Rodney Scott’s wings. The dry rub had a bit of spice and a bit of sweet. Very nice. We also tried the smoked meatloaf that was on special. It was okay, but not worth getting again in my opinion.

The best sauce was probably the mustard or the HT hot on the far left (not including the Alabama white, which was great on the wings).

HOME TEAM BBQ
126 Williman St
Charleston, SC 29403

Lewis BBQ

Lewis BBQ is a fine example of Texas style ‘que nestled in the heart of whole hog heaven in Charleston.

Here, we tried the brisket, the pork spare ribs, the hot guts and chili cheddar sausages, and come green chili corn pudding.

The brisket was the best here. Smokey, flavorful, juicy and tender.

The links were nice, but they had a bit too thick of a casing around them. Too chewy.

The corn pudding was interesting and unique. I liked it.

From what I tried in Charleston for BBQ, this was the best spot.

LEWIS BBQ
464 N Nassau St
Charleston, SC 29403

Rodney Scott’s BBQ

Our first BBQ stop in Charleston was local legend Rodney Scott’s BBQ. Rodney is known as a master of whole hog Carolina style BBQ.

We tried the pulled pork, pork shoulder, pimento and cheese links, smoked wings, coleslaw, collard greens and banana pudding.

My favorite items were the links and the pudding, but I’m a sucker for links.

Between the two pork items, the shoulder took the W.

The wings were great, but we later had some better wings elsewhere, so it’s tough to rant and rave about these ones. The Alabama white sauce was excellent though.

I could pass on both the slaw and collards.

Both my wife and I preferred “Kathy’s Sauce” from all the available bottles.

That about does it! Some good Que!

RODNEY SCOTT’S BBQ
1011 King St
Charleston, SC 29403

Hill Country BBQ

It’s been a while since I went to Hill Country BBQ, home of my favorite BBQ links in NYC. They’re having a killer Superbowl menu this year, and to get all of this it’ll only cost you $65.

The “pre-game” consists of mini jalapeno cheese corn bread, as well as “Texas Trash” snack mix.

The kick off to the first quarter will feature chili nachos.

In the second quarter, you’ve got these amazing smoked wings with their house made ranch.

During half time and the third quarter, you’ll stuff your face with a platter featuring all of Hill Country’s BBQ meats (brisket, ribs, pulled pork, links, and smoked turkey).

That even comes with collared greens, mac & cheese, baked beans, and of course some white bread (Texas style).

For the fourth quarter, DESSERT! Banana pudding and mini pies.

I really hope you all can get there for this. They’ll also have their regular menu available if you need more food!

But if you can get there before this coming Sunday, you’ll also be able to get their Smoke Stack sandwich, in celebration of MEAT WEEK! This is basically a sandwich that features all of their BBQ!

HILL COUNTRY BBQ MARKET
30 W 26th St
New York, NY 10010

Brad’s Burgers & BBQ

It’s been a while since I’ve been out to eat at a place I haven’t yet tried, and that means it’s been a while since I’ve posted a review. Well, here is my latest and greatest.

Brad’s Burgers and BBQ is a small spot on the Upper West Side that slings burgers and BBQ, as you might have guessed from the name. I tried a few of the BBQ-sided items on my visit last week.

Their brisket platter is different from what you normally expect from a BBQ joint. Here, the brisket is shredded instead of sliced, and it’s already hit with some vinegar-based BBQ sauce.  I guess you can call it “pulled beef.”

Despite being a fan of the more traditional sliced style, this was fine. The meat was cooked nicely, and it had nice flavor to it. The cole slaw was good (I usually don’t like coleslaw much), and the waffle fries were perfectly crisped.

The corn bread was standard issue, but we also tried the Mexican corn on the side. This just needed a hit of some salt and pepper to make it pop. Perhaps a little jalapeño heat would have helped too.

The pulled pork sandwich was hearty. It comes dressed with sliced pickles, tangy sauce and coleslaw.

The star of the meal, however, was the fried chicken sandwich. This was marketed as spicy, but it didn’t bring much heat. However, it did bring some great flavor and textures. Happy to report they use thigh meat for this baby. This comes with shredded lettuce, tomato, pickles, sautéed onion and special sauce.

We also tried their coconut cake, which was almost like a cross between cake and a cookie in terms of density and flavor. The cream cheese frosting was nice.

This place is no Hometown, Fette Sau or Pig Beach, but it should get the job done if you’re in need of a fix and don’t feel like traveling all the way to Brooklyn for some ‘cue.

BRAD’S BURGERS & BBQ
522 A Columbus Ave
New York, NY 10024

Kimchi Smoke

I’ve been eating Chef Cho’s Kimchi Smoke BBQ for several years at the NYCWFF and various other food events around the city, but I finally made it out to his brick and mortar location in Westwood, New Jersey.

Here’s what I had:

Korean Corn Dog: This was tasty. Cheese interspersed with hot dog, deep fried on a stick and served with a remoulade and a gochujang style ketchup.

The Legendary Chonut: The newest iteration of his famous BBQ sandwich on a donut called “Version 2.1” comes with brisket, cheese, and a bit of kimchi. I really liked this, despite not loving the first version of this about four years back. This is well balanced between heat, sweet, fat and acid.

The Old Dirty Bird: This fried chicken and spicy Korean style slaw sandwich was perfect! I could eat this every day.

General Cho’s Chicken: These fried chicken fingers are coated with his rib sauce, which has a spicy gochujang kick to it.

For the real deal pit BBQ, we had a heap of brisket, pork shoulder, XXX bacon (smoked and deep fried), and two kinds of ribs (the gochujang sauced ribs, and a Texas style dry rub). All of it was delicious. We did some Korean slaw and smoked kimchi on the side to cut the fat.

Here’s a closer look at all of that meat.

I think the XXX bacon was my favorite of the meats:

Then we finished with banana pudding, which had Nilla wafers and chunks of banana in it. AWESOME!

I highly recommend this place. Everything was incredible, and that chicken sandwich is easily in my top dishes of 2019. Possibly the bacon as well.

KIMCHI SMOKE
301 Center Ave
Westwood, NJ 07675

Holy Ground

Holy Ground is a new sacred place for me. I like to call it Tribeca’s answer to the West Village’s 4 Charles. Only here, along with a sexy set-up, you get a bit more space and a hell of a lot more smoke.

Now, don’t get all excited; you can’t smoke here. I’m talking about smoked meats. I struggled with how to categorize this joint, but I ultimately decided to call it BBQ rather than a steakhouse or traditional restaurant, because several of the meat proteins are focused on smoking and/or slow and low roasting. Even their grilled steaks are slow roasted first, to allow flavors to penetrate deep into that tender, pink flesh.

You step into this meat sanctuary on the northwest corner of Reade Street, just east of West Broadway. That’s a mouthful, but read it carefully again and let it sink in. The door is pretty nondescript, but you’ll know you’re in the right place when you see this:

A hostess will lead you through a dimly lit, winding corridor and down a set of narrow, carpeted stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs is a landing with a small but really fucking awesome bar parlor.

From there you can take in the vibe of this place, which is 100% my speed. It’s old tile. It’s dark wood. It’s deep reds. A speakeasy.

A few “rooms” are tucked away in nooks and crannies, up two steps here, around the wall there. Here’s the best seat in the house (when you look up):

Here is booth where we sat:

The four of us did some serious fucking damage. Let me get into it.

The cocktail menu is nice, but I had just tried a couple of cocktails (and a burger) earlier that evening at Manhatta, so I went with my usual: a gin martini. They are a bit on the small side, in those dainty, round, old fashioned martini glasses.

On a second trip, we tried both the red head and the odeon. Both were great. The odeon, on the right, is slammable!

The food menu is pretty meat-forward, but they do have some star quality fish and veggie items, which I will get into shortly.

We started with three apps and an entree to begin. I will tell you up front that we ordered nearly half of the menu, and nothing was bad. But the first thing to come out were these tremendous head-on, grilled red prawns.

They were damn delicious; one of my favorite dishes of the night. The heads hold a lot of juice, so when you pop them off, you may want some bread nearby if you aren’t going to slurp it all directly down your gullet like I did.

Next up was a plate of wings. These are smoked and char grilled, so they carry a fuckton of flavor. A great starter or bar snack.

We also grabbed the radicchio salad, which was one of my favorite items of the night. No shit. These veggies were perfect. I managed to get a shot before it was all gone, but my pic doesn’t do the dish justice. I will be returning soon to get it again.

The return shot:

We shared the beef rib as an appetizer. This is an impressive dish.

You’ll notice that sauce and color across several of the BBQ style dishes here. It has a mustard base with a little smokey and hot kick to it. Absolutely delicious. It’s like a cross of Carolina and Cajun style sauces. Very unique, like nothing I’ve ever tasted before.

The beef itself is slow smoked; tender, but still texturally intact. It isn’t some sloppy, soft, boiled, braised bullshit. This is the real deal. 9/10. And we learned that all the meats they use come from Dartagnan foods, which is a very high end purveyor of top notch proteins and gourmet ingredients.

On a second trip, my wife and I had the pork belly appetizer.

This is easily one of the best dishes I’ve had all year. The crackling is crisp, and that fermented chili sauce is killer. They only have a few of these per night, so go early if you want to try it. It is incredible!

Round two was the big show. This is where we crushed it. We couldn’t really narrow down our selections, so we just ordered everything – even the fish. We each had a different favorite too, which was pretty cool, and usually means that everything is great.

First, the wagyu brisket. This is the half-pound portion size for $21.

Again slow roasted and smoked, topped with that same delicious sauce. This is by far the best brisket I’ve ever eaten. 10/10

Next up, the Kurobuta pork shoulder. This is the individual portion size for $32.

This was so juicy. Extremely tender, and again that sauce really pushed it along into greatness. 8/10.

You may be thinking, “Well, shit, why don’t they come up with some more variety in the sauces on these things?”

My answer is this: most people aren’t ordering every major protein on the menu when they come here. Most likely just one person at the table is getting a dish that has the sauce on it. And most BBQ joints have the same sauce on the table for you to slather onto your meat anyway. No one is complaining there about variety, are they? I say it’s fine. The sauce is delicious, and it works with those three BBQ dishes (pork shoulder, beef brisket, beef rib).

Our next protein was the king’s cut prime rib with smoked herb jus.

This baby was cooked dead on to medium rare even though it was smoked for hours first. That is a feat in itself, but it still managed to stay juicy and tender. Bravo. 9/10.

Take a look at how thick it is too, and the size of the cap. This easily feeds two people who have normal appetites, possibly three.

Last but not least in the world of meat was the grilled wagyu rib eye. This “Thousand Dollar Steak,” as it’s called on the menu, is 30-days dry aged and served with a demi-glaze and onion puree.

It, too, is smoked before being grilled. This went a little over, but it was no matter because it was still incredibly tender and flavorful. The sauce reminded me of a really concentrated onion gravy like mom used to make. It had a spectacular cap too. 8/10.

But wait… there’s more! Whole branzino.

This was char-grilled to perfection and served with a nice bright tartar sauce and lemon. One of my buddies said it was just like his mom used to make, and he loved it. This was one of my favorites of the night as well.

On a second trip, I tried both the ribs and the chicken. Both were served in a different sauce than the beef items above. They were different from one another, but both were on the sweeter side. I generally dislike sweet in my entrees, but this was mild and just right, not over the top. The chicken had an almost maple flavor to it.

The half order of ribs is enough for one. There were eight good-sized ribs on the plate.

For sides, we tried the broccoli, collared greens and mac and cheese.

The mac was the most superior of the three for me, and it was wildly tasty when we dragged those thick rigatoni pasta tubes through that delicious BBQ sauce.

I’m not sure how we managed, but we tried a few desserts as well.

This was a strawberry shortcake, and it was served uniquely in a glass, almost upside down, if you will, with the graham cracker crumble as a topping rather than a crust.

A classic ice cream sundae in a mug. Vanilla and chocolate ice cream, toffee sauce, vanilla crumbs and whipped cream.

This is the Black & Blonde:

The base is a bed of toasted meringue, and on top are some toasted hazelnuts, a white chocolate bar and salted caramel.

This is one of my new favorite places to eat. Not only is the environment great, but the food and service are top notch as well. This place is going to start getting packed out, so make your reservations ASAP. I’m going back again very soon, and again and again as often as I can.

UPDATE: BURGER

This burger is pretty damn tasty!

Dry aged patty, aged white cheddar, special sauce and pickles on a toasted English muffin. Comes with awesomely crisp herb fries. During happy hour on weekdays from 5-7pm you can get the burger, fries and a beer for $20. Great deal!

HOLY GROUND
112 Reade St
New York, NY 10013

Fette Sau

I finally made it back here after years of cravings. The first time I came was well before I started writing about food, so I was long overdue. On this trip, I made sure to get a little bit of everything. This platter ran me $143 (a bit pricey):

So lets start clockwise from the top right on this next pic:

Pulled Pork: This was fantastic. One of my favorites of the platter. There was a good crusty bark on the meat, and the flavor was juicy without being sauced. Some of the best pulled pork I’ve had.

Hot Links: This was my favorite of the meal. For some reason I gravitate towards hot links and sausage at BBQ joints. No idea why. They are always just really satisfying.

Brisket: A bit dry, but still very flavorful. I would skip this unless you are an absolute brisket fiend. I find Jewish style brisket like pastrami, or even Irish style corned beef, to be more flavorful and juicy than the often dry brisket we see at NYC BBQ joints.

Sirloin: This was overpriced at $38pp but it was a nice new take on BBQ cuts. The cook temp was perfect.

Half Sour Pickles: A great way to cut the fat. These were nice.

German Potato Salad: This was a great side too. A little vinegar to cut that richness of the meat goes a long way.

Baked Beans: These were excellent, as they were packed with bits of bacon and burnt ends. If beans are your thing, this is the way to go here.

Bacon Burnt Ends: This was delicious. Last time I came here they were all out, so I was itching to try these. Essentially it is like sticky, savory and sweet chunks of bacon or pork belly, rendered out nicely without drying or burning. Not too distinguishable from some bacon products you can make at home in a pan though. Good to try once.

Pork Ribs: These were just okay. The one I had contained too much fat. Not a bad thing, but I was hoping for more meat on the bone. Essentially it was a big bone with a little bit of muscle and a lot of fat. Flavor was okay. I’ve had better.

Definitely looking forward to a return trip here where I can focus on my favorite items of the day, like the pulled pork and the links.

FETTE SAU
354 Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Pig Beach

I finally made it out to Pig Beach. I came for a press event for a pit master’s cookbook, but I was able to try some really nice stuff.

First, the cookbook author, Jess Pryles, cooked up some tri-tip with her black spice rub on it. Delicious.

These slices were turned into tacos.

There was also a nice roasted whole hog for pulled pork sandwiches.

And of course, the amazing Pig Beach burgers.

This place is a blast. If you haven’t been here yet, go while the weather is nice so you can really enjoy the outdoor areas.

PIG BEACH
480 Union St
Brooklyn, NY 11231

Jax BBQ

My wife and I popped into Jax BBQ on a Saturday afternoon just before they closed the kitchen at 4pm for a one hour break between lunch and dinner service (the bar stays open though).

We started with a beer and one of their frozen margaritas.

Speaking of drinks, they have a great every day happy hour from 3pm-6pm, where both the beer and margaritas are just $5.

We started with gator and crawfish fritters. Both were great.

The Memphis style ribs were excellent. We started with a few.

But then we ordered a lot more because they were so good.

Not a lot of people know that ribs aren’t supposed to “fall off the bone.” They’re supposed to have a bite. When you chomp on a rib, your teeth should make a mark. Like this:

We also tried a burger. This was overcooked, but the caramelized onions, truffle ketchup and cheddar cheese definitely added that juiciness back in, no problem. Just make sure you order medium rare.

We finished off with a slice of Mississippi mud pie for dessert. This was like a super soft brownie cake. Awesome.

JAX BBQ
496 9th Ave
New York, NY 10018