Here's the truth: Until a decade ago, New York wasn't much of a barbecue town. There were chainlets and upscale theme spots, and one or two serious restaurants that stood out from the crowd, but there was no real barbecue culture. There was wood smoke, but there was no soul. Anyone who has visited the major meat-smoking regions of Tennessee, Kansas City, the Carolinas, and Central Texas will tell you that barbecue restaurants are social and communal in ways that few other culinary establishments are. Of course, the barbecue experience is ostensibly about eating smoked meat. But it also has deeper cultural implications — both because its origins lie in the celebratory feast, and because the food reflects the place where it's served.
Like the very act of cooking meat with wood smoke, establishing a profound barbecue culture takes time. And while there have been barbecue restaurants in one form or another in NYC for decades, they tended towards pan-regional affairs offering a mishmash of barbecue styles. The restaurants that dominated the scene in the early 21st century — Virgil’s, Blue Smoke, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Daisy May’s USA — offered such menus. But in the mid-to-late aughts, the city saw a new crop of restaurants focusing on specific regional styles, such as Central Texas (Hill Country) or Kansas City (R.U.B.). Other new 'cue restaurants adhered to specific culinary conceits, like Fatty Cue, which focused on Asian-influenced barbecue, and Wildwood, which claimed to be the first barbecue restaurant to sell "all natural meats" exclusively.
The epicenter of barbecue has shifted from Manhattan and is now firmly in Brooklyn.
Clearly there is currency for authentic wood-smoked barbecue in NYC, but Manhattan real estate prices and environmental regulations make life difficult for restaurants that want to cook with live fire. This serves to stymie innovation, as investors will invariably opt for an established model over something revolutionary but unproven. And it makes it difficult for a distinct style to emerge. It is thus not surprising that the epicenter of barbecue has shifted from Manhattan and is now firmly in Brooklyn, with its cheaper real estate and less stringent regulations, as well as an increasingly receptive marketplace. Most new barbecue restaurants in Manhattan tend to be spinoffs of previously succesful establishments.
Hometown Bar-B-Que
But out in Brooklyn, visible through the throng of pit smoke emanating from the borough, we begin to see a distinct form taking hold, the rudiments of a barbecue culture all its own. This form is not so much a specific method of cooking — although we are talking exclusively about wood-fired, slow-smoked meats — or a devotion to a particular regional style, although there is certainly that too.
Brooklyn barbecue displays a particular aesthetic in terms of interior design — stripped down, industrial spaces that often contain distressed wood, wrought iron, and Edison bulbs. Where meat is concerned, Brooklyn barbecue tends toward dense, dark rubs and heavy smoke penetration, along with cuts that are fatty and flavorful. High quality, often rare and heritage breed meat is another defining trait of this new school barbecue.
In many ways Brooklyn barbecue is part of a larger cultural movement.
Thematically, at least, the emerging Brooklyn style owes a debt to Texas with its by-the-pound ordering model and propensity for butcher paper, as well as to Kansas City for its agnosticism in meat and cut selection. Brooklyn barbecue also dovetails with numerous other contemporary subcultural tropes both specific to food (sustainability, craft beer, and spirits) and aesthetics (tattooing, American roots music, graffiti, et al). In many ways, Brooklyn barbecue is part of a larger cultural movement.
Fette Sau]
The template for this type of restaurant was struck by Fette Sau almost a decade ago, and in the last five or so years, Kings County has become ground zero for barbecue in NYC. We have seen numerous barbecue joints open in recent years like Hometown Bar-B-Que, Fletcher’s Brooklyn Barbecue, Beast of Bourbon, Mable’s Smokehouse, and Pig Beach. Even big time Manhattan players Hill Country and Dinosaur opened up outposts in Brooklyn over the last few years.
But putting these two restaurant groups aside, Brooklyn barbecue has another defining feature: It is largely run by individuals, and in many cases novices, rather than corporations or seasoned professionals. In fact, NYC barbecue in general has followed an inverse trajectory to that of barbecue in much of the rest of country by initially hinging on large, ambitious establishments and then proliferating amongst individual entrepreneurs and enthusiasts.
The trend of replicating different regional styles persists with restaurants like BrisketTown (Central Texas) and Arrogant Swine (North and South Carolina). Even here we find innovation: Tyson Ho at Arrogant Swine has created a form of Western North Carolina-style chopped pork shoulder that rivals Kansas City burnt ends (which use beef) in eliciting flavor. And if Ho’s contribution is pushing boundaries, other innovations happening in Brooklyn pits could be genre-defining. Take Bill Durney’s ribs at Hometown. He offers them both with a sweet and tangy Korean sticky sauce, or a fiery Jamaican jerk rub, drawing on the melting pot of cuisines in NYC and imbuing his barbecue with the local flavor.
Pig Beach, Fletcher's char sui pork, Hometown jerk ribs.
Elsewhere in NYC, you'll find Hugh Mangum smoking sous-vide pork cheeks at Mighty Quinn's, Matt Fisher serving char siu pork at Fletcher's, and Nester Laracuente slicing up barbecued pork belly at Beast of Bourbon. It is perhaps no coincidence that many of the players have fine dining backgrounds. The chefs manning the smokers at Pig Beach are Balthazar's Shane McBride and Del Posto veteran Matt Abadoo. Mangum and Ho also spent time in the kitchens of upscale restaurants before firing up the smokers.
It is thus fair to conclude that the state of American wood-smoked barbecue in NYC is healthy, vibrant, and growing exponentially. This growth is well illustrated by the fact that when the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party started back in 2002, the number of visiting barbecue establishments dwarfed the number of restaurants cooking with wood in the entire city. This is no longer the case: There are well over 25 restaurants smoking meat with wood in NYC these days, and more are on the way.
Part and parcel with the barbecue boom is a growing sense of community within the restaurants, as customers become regulars and they develop bonds and build friendships and memories within the smoky confines of NYC’s barbecue joints. This, as much or maybe even more than the technique of smoking meat, is what defines barbecue culture.
It seems unlikely that the market can sustain the rapid rate of growth of the last half decade, and certainly there have been some casualties — R.U.B., Wildwood, Bone Lick Park, Neely’s, and The Shed have all shuttered in the last few years, the latter two establishments in the last few months. But conversely we have new joints opening with some frequency, and the likes of Dinosaur, Hill Country, Mighty Quinn’s, and Blue Smoke branching out and becoming barbecue mini-chains. There is also continued innovation and adaptation, and not just in the new school joints. Blue Smoke, for example, which under Kenny Callaghan had a seemingly immutable menu, has now been radically transformed under chef Jean Paul Bourgeois. And even Hill Country recently added pulled pork to the menu, something that was anathema to its doctrinaire homage to Texas barbecue when it first opened. But it makes sense, according to owner Marc Glosserman, as many places in Texas now offer the dish.
There's clearly a robust and growing market for real, wood-smoked barbecue in New York City, and that demand is at last moving us toward a defined style of our own. Someday, this city may take its place in the pantheon of barbecue greatness. How do we get there? Keep on smoking.
Nick Solares is the restaurant editor of Eater New York.
Hometown BBQ: Assembling the Ultimate Meat Platter
Let's get one thing out of the way: blue laws are an archaic bit of legislation biased toward protecting the interests and morals of one religion in the United States, and it would be fine and dandy if we woke up tomorrow and they were gone forever. That being said, pardon me if I can't get my hackles up over a lone state legislator standing in the way of a bill to make it legal for bars and restaurants to serve booze before noon, especially since the Post is incorrectly pitching his fight as "the only thing standing between thirsty New Yorkers and a Sunday morning bloody Mary." If Buffalo Assemblyman Robin Schimminger somehow keeps this bill from becoming a law, rest assured you'll still be able to get a Sunday brunch drink when you actually need it: post-noon. [ more › ]
@baisley... is this the same guys from the FB NYC office?
[Photo by Steven]
The shop that specializes in liquid nitrogen ice cream is now in soft-open mode at 27 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... the space was previously the longtime home of the Sock Man.
And the folks of the popular -321 Ice Cream Shop in Brooklyn have let it be known that there are NOT affiliated with Lab 321...
@ALL OF YOU PEOPLE>>> i had a chocolate pistachio croissant this weekend in montreal and it was what i imagine finding religion would be like (totally life changing).
You should all go forth and find the good word of chocolate pistachio croissant so your taste buds may thank you for eternity.
Thanks to lazy people across Britain, Tesco is getting rid of the croissant’s iconic crescent shape because British consumers are sick of having a pastry that they can’t easily spread jam on. According to the Evening Standard, the change is happening as…
As thousands were evacuated across multiple counties in Texas due to horrible flooding, one man and his family are living high and dry thanks to something he bought on the internet.
During the last ice age, Sweden was covered by a blanket of ice. When the land thawed, myriad streams, rivers, and lakes were left behind. In this image submitted by Your Shot member Tobias Hägg, a tiny island, seen from above, sits in one of Sweden’s nearly 100,000 lakes. “This little island connected to a small boathouse makes me dream about my own home in the future,” Hägg writes.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now >>
From his vantage point at the Taj Lands End Hotel in Mumbai, India, Your Shot member Fanil Rajgor made this photo of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, an eight-lane, state-of-the-art cable-stayed bridge that hugs the Mumbai coastline. “The window and the contrast lighting add a beautiful texture to this image,” he writes.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now >>
Under a starry night sky in Zimanga Private Game Reserve in South Africa, a group of buffalo finds a cool drink. Your Shot photographer Alison Langevad was one of the first visitors for an overnight hide in the reserve, allowing her to capture this long exposure of “the perfect African moment.”
This photograph was submitted to the 2016 Travel Photographer of the Year contest.
Haleakalā is a massive dormant shield volcano on the Hawaiian island Maui, and Your Shot photographer RJ Bridges caught it at the perfect time. “Typically, the crater valley offers no greenery,” Bridges writes. “But because Maui received an unusual amount of rainfall during spring and summer months, it brought this new color of vegetation to the scenery.”
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now >>
Kangaroo loves pig, Alec Baldwin in shorts, ban dating, orange seagull, RIP Mr. Hockey, and more midday links. Don't forget to follow Gothamist on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat, and like us on Facebook. You can also get the top stories mailed to you—sign up here. [ more › ]
After Governors Ball officials cancelled Day 3 of the outdoor festival yesterday due to the weather, several of the acts looked to play shows elsewhere. Headliner Kanye West announced a 2 a.m. show at Webster Hall.
The Daily Newsreports that it took two more hours after the show was canceled to clear the street. Police said one person was arrested for disorderly conduct.
Shares in DONG Energy jumped more than 10 percent on Thursday after the Danish utility and wind farm developer pulled off Europe’s biggest stock market flotation this year.
Analysts said the strong debut, coupled with a move by shareholders in E.ON to back the German utility’s retreat from fossil fuel, showed investors were growing in confidence about the future for renewable energy as technologies improve and governments commit to curbing carbon emissions.
“It is our clear impression the green transition has a pretty strong momentum,” DONG Chief Executive Henrik Poulsen told Reuters. “Our vision is that green energy will be cheaper than conventional energy. It can happen within a decade.”
DONG, which has built more than a quarter of the world’s offshore wind farms, sold shares in its initial public offering (IPO) at 235 Danish crowns apiece, in the top half of its original 200-255 crowns guidance range and valuing the business at 98 billion crowns ($15 billion).
At 7.40 a.m. ET, the stock was trading at 261 crowns, defying a 1 percent drop in Europe’s blue-chip stock index.
Analysts said strong demand could also be a sign of renewed risk appetite among investors as they seek to boost returns amid negative interest rates in much of Europe, including Denmark.
Investor confidence was hit earlier this year by China’s slowing economic growth, with worldwide share issues slumping to a seven-year low in the first quarter.
DONG’s flotation raised a gross 17 billion crowns for the Danish state and a consortium of investors led by Goldman Sachs.
The valuation means Goldman has doubled an 8 billion crown investment made just two and a half years ago, fuelling criticism in Denmark that the previous government sold an 18 percent stake to the Goldman consortium too cheaply.
SUBSIDIES
DONG’s listing gives investors the chance to buy into the fast-growing offshore wind sector. The firm has major projects in Britain and Germany, including the 1.2 gigawatt Hornsea 1 which will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm, and recently opened offices in the United States and Taiwan.
However, offshore wind power remains one of the most expensive sources of renewable energy and some analysts are concerned about the sector’s reliance on government subsidies.
DONG derived 62 percent of its revenue on operational offshore wind farms last year from subsidies and other financial support, such as Green Certificates in Britain.
The cost of producing wind power offshore is about twice as expensive as solar energy.
“Solar power is by far the biggest challenge to the wind industry because it’s cheaper, easier to handle, and has lower maintenance costs,” said Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank.
He said 260 crowns was a “fair value” for DONG’s shares.
“But if they don’t manage to get costs per unit down for offshore wind power, then in the long run this won’t be a very attractive story,” he added.
IMPROVING TECHNOLOGY
DONG did not issue new shares, while the government and Goldman consortium sold a combined 17.4 percent stake. The state will retain a holding of just over 50 percent, while the Goldman group will have a stake of 13.4 percent after the flotation.
Gross proceeds could rise to 19.7 billion crowns if the sellers exercise a so-called overallotment option to offload further stock.
DONG has made a net loss for each of the last four years, mainly due to impairment charges on its oil business, but expects to make a profit this year as its wind power business increases and the technology improves.
DONG said more than 36,000 new investors had been allocated shares in the flotation. Private Danish investors were assigned about 10 percent of the 72.8 million shares sold, with the rest bought by Danish and international institutional investors.
JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Nordea were global coordinators for the listing. Citigroup, Danske Bank, UBS, RBC, Rabobank and ABG Sundal Collier and Lazard were also involved.
A camera trap caught this ocelot on a nighttime prowl. Ocelots weigh up to 33 pounds; their diet includes rodents, lizards, sloths—and, according to an indigenous hunter and farmer who lives in the Peruvian national park where this photo was taken, his chickens.
It's 9 a.m. on a sunny weekday, and you've decided to ride Citi Bike to work. Sounds like a good plan! Everything's going swimmingly at first: there are plenty of bikes to choose from near your apartment in, say, Williamsburg, and you encounter only the usual number of scofflaw drivers and bike lane blockers as you make your way into Manhattan. But when you get to your office—let's say that's in the Financial District—you find that nearly every nearby docking station is full. Now you're late, and grumpy, and Citi Bike really doesn't seem like much of a convenience anymore. [ more › ]
It's the afternoon rush hour in Union Square and you need to meet friends at Oasis in Williamsburg. In simpler times you'd take the L, but this is the summer of 2019, the summer of the L-Pocalypse. Do you hop on a bike? Hail an Uber? Or take your chances with the train? Yesterday Transportation Alternatives pit these commutes against each other in a race to simulate the impending Canarsie Line shutdown, and the results are familiar to anyone who regularly experiences the joy of riding a bike in New York City: cycling rules. [ more › ]
Although it doesn't officially open until Monday, Martin Puryear's monumental sculpture "Big Bling" is now on view on the main lawn of Madison Square Park. This is Puryear's largest ever temporary outdoor work, standing forty feet high from its plank-wood and chain-link-fence base to the gold-leafed shackle at the top. [ more › ]
In Cambodia’s Angkor Thom, a Buddhist monk looks upon Bayon Temple—and possibly considers its secrets. “Here’s a photo of my new friend, named Annmon,” writes photographer Andy To. “I can’t put into words how amazing his insight on life was. By the end of our conversation, I noticed my face starting to hurt because of how much I was smiling.”
Gulls soaring over the beach in Alibag, India, cast precise shadows over the sand and water, seeming to double their number. Visitors to the coastal town in India’s Maharashtra region often go seeking relaxation on the beautiful beaches for which Alibag is known.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now >>
Over the years, the various Madison Square Gardens built in New York have hosted just about every sport: football, boxing, track, hockey, basketball, even swimming.
But who knew the Garden has once been converted into an enormous floor-spanning bowling alley—with pin boys perched at the end of each lane and wooden desks set up where judges sat and did the scoring?
The National Bowling Association came to town to hold its championship, transforming the place into a “bowlers’ paradise” with 24 lanes spanning the entire amphitheater—and $50,000 in prize money.
New York City baseball stadiums don't get the kind of wackadoodle concession items as other arenas, like the Burgerizza in Atlanta or even this insane crap you can get at MetLife in New Jersey. But what our MLB teams lack in culinary creativity, they make up with in inventive food vessels. Case in point: the Grub Tub. I haven't been this excited to watch turncoat Jacoby Ellsbury weakly ground out with runners in scoring position since the Nacho Helmet. [ more › ]
you guys OK over there? dont want you to get injured in the fighting
New Jersey's a fascinating place, full of fascinating people who argue over fascinating things. The latest state debate? What the processed, pork-based breakfast meat popular on egg sandwiches should be called: Taylor ham or pork roll. [ more › ]
Good morning, fair readers, are you feeling particularly sweaty today? Did you wake up to find a giant, warm orb had overtaken the sky outside your window? That orb is the sun, and that sweat is from warmth, which is a thing you feel when the sun comes near you. Over the last week or so New York's transformed into a Seattle of the East, and all that grey and rain has not done much to stop me from repeat-watching Now, Voyager with a fistful of Twizzlers. But today is beautiful, and for that we must be grateful. We must also skip work and spend today playing outside, because there's no telling how much more of this beautiful weather we'll have left before Battery Park City washes away. [ more › ]
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Let's get one thing out of the way: blue laws are an archaic bit of legislation biased toward protecting the interests and morals of one religion in the United States, and it would be fine and dandy if we woke up tomorrow and they were gone forever. That being said, pardon me if I can't get my hackles up over a lone state legislator standing in the way of a bill to make it legal for bars and restaurants to serve booze before noon, especially since the Post is incorrectly pitching his fight as "the only thing standing between thirsty New Yorkers and a Sunday morning bloody Mary." If Buffalo Assemblyman Robin Schimminger somehow keeps this bill from becoming a law, rest assured you'll still be able to get a Sunday brunch drink when you actually need it: post-noon. [ more › ]
The historic Serbian Orthodox church that was gutted by a massive fire in May will be demolished. [ more › ]
The U.S. Men's National Soccer Team advanced to the quarterfinals of the Copa America Centenario with a gritty 1-0 victory over Paraguay at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday. [ more › ]
Kangaroo loves pig, Alec Baldwin in shorts, ban dating, orange seagull, RIP Mr. Hockey, and more midday links. Don't forget to follow Gothamist on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat, and like us on Facebook. You can also get the top stories mailed to you—sign up here. [ more › ]
It's 9 a.m. on a sunny weekday, and you've decided to ride Citi Bike to work. Sounds like a good plan! Everything's going swimmingly at first: there are plenty of bikes to choose from near your apartment in, say, Williamsburg, and you encounter only the usual number of scofflaw drivers and bike lane blockers as you make your way into Manhattan. But when you get to your office—let's say that's in the Financial District—you find that nearly every nearby docking station is full. Now you're late, and grumpy, and Citi Bike really doesn't seem like much of a convenience anymore. [ more › ]
It's the afternoon rush hour in Union Square and you need to meet friends at Oasis in Williamsburg. In simpler times you'd take the L, but this is the summer of 2019, the summer of the L-Pocalypse. Do you hop on a bike? Hail an Uber? Or take your chances with the train? Yesterday Transportation Alternatives pit these commutes against each other in a race to simulate the impending Canarsie Line shutdown, and the results are familiar to anyone who regularly experiences the joy of riding a bike in New York City: cycling rules. [ more › ]
Although it doesn't officially open until Monday, Martin Puryear's monumental sculpture "Big Bling" is now on view on the main lawn of Madison Square Park. This is Puryear's largest ever temporary outdoor work, standing forty feet high from its plank-wood and chain-link-fence base to the gold-leafed shackle at the top. [ more › ]
It happened in 1909, when the Stanford White–designed arena was located on Madison Avenue and 26th Street.
New York City baseball stadiums don't get the kind of wackadoodle concession items as other arenas, like the Burgerizza in Atlanta or even this insane crap you can get at MetLife in New Jersey. But what our MLB teams lack in culinary creativity, they make up with in inventive food vessels. Case in point: the Grub Tub. I haven't been this excited to watch turncoat Jacoby Ellsbury weakly ground out with runners in scoring position since the Nacho Helmet. [ more › ]
New Jersey's a fascinating place, full of fascinating people who argue over fascinating things. The latest state debate? What the processed, pork-based breakfast meat popular on egg sandwiches should be called: Taylor ham or pork roll. [ more › ]
Good morning, fair readers, are you feeling particularly sweaty today? Did you wake up to find a giant, warm orb had overtaken the sky outside your window? That orb is the sun, and that sweat is from warmth, which is a thing you feel when the sun comes near you. Over the last week or so New York's transformed into a Seattle of the East, and all that grey and rain has not done much to stop me from repeat-watching Now, Voyager with a fistful of Twizzlers. But today is beautiful, and for that we must be grateful. We must also skip work and spend today playing outside, because there's no telling how much more of this beautiful weather we'll have left before Battery Park City washes away. [ more › ]