Memorial Day weekend is the ideal time to prove to your friends who hail from south of the Mason-Dixon line (and never tire of telling you how crummy New York barbecue is) that this city can throw down. A huge number of new barbecue places have recently opened, with more on the way, and they span the regional gamut from Texas brisket (just a salt-and-pepper rub — no sauce!) to sticky Kansas City-style ribs (with a molasses- and tomato-based sauce). Read on for a regional guide to NYC’s best new ’cue.
Celebrate summer with dry-rubbed Texas brisket at SmokeLine on the High Line. (Tamara Beckwith)
At Tres Carnes, Sasha Shor serves up Texasstyle brisket in Mexican-style tacos. (Brian Zak)
Myron Mixon is bringing Carolina ’cue to the East Village. (Natalia Weedy)
New York meets North Carolina at Mighty Quinn’s, which smokes ribs, brisket and vinegary pulled pork. (Brian Zak)
Blue Smoke’s Memphis baby-back ribs deliver meaty goodness. (Tamara Beckwith)
This lamb shank, like all the meats at Fletcher’s, is hormone- and antibiotic-free. (Brian Zak)
The comfortable tavern-style setting at Strand Smokehouse in Astoria is perfect for grabbing a pint of craft beer and chowing down on burnt ends, house pickles, jalapeño slaw and corn bread. (Christian Johnston)
You’ll find hot links from the Okies at Mable’s. (Brian Zak)
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que of Syracuse is branching out to Brooklyn with a soon-toopen Park Slope outpost. (Brian Zak)
RIGHT ON ‘CUE
Some barbecue lovers might sneer at the idea of rhubarb kimchee served with their brisket, but at Fatty ’Cue, which just reopened its original Brooklyn location after an extended hiatus, the meat is as perfectly smoked as anything you’re likely to find in the South. “We take more from the Texas style of barbecue than any other,” says chef Anthony Masters. “A good portion of what we smoke is [made with] a dry rub. It’s pretty much the [form of barbecue] I’m most comfortable with. I don’t like sauces.” 91 S. Sixth St., Williamsburg; 718-599- 3090, and 50 Carmine St.; 212-929-5050
Specialty: Their juicy brisket ($23) served with bao (steamed Chinese buns), plus even more oddball items such as lamb ribs served with a fermented tofu yogurt ($14). And during the summer, Fatty ’Cue puts on backyard pig roasts every Sunday.
BRISKET WITH A VIEW
After a trip to Austin, Texas, where he first tasted real-deal brisket, Dan Delaney, the meat-head behind Williamsburg’s BrisketTown, brought home a smoker and set out to make the best darn Texas-style brisket ever created by a non-Texan. Last month, he expanded to the High Line with the debut of SmokeLine, a stand where you can take in a view of the Hudson, and Delaney’s acclaimed beef. True to the Texas ethos, it’s sauceless and features a simple salt-and-pepper rub. 359 Bedford Ave., Williamsburg; 718-701-8909, and on the High Line at 15th Street.
Specialty: Brisket ($25 per pound) is the star of the show at both BrisketTown (obviously) and new spinoff SmokeLine (where sandwiches range from $8 to $10), but the pork ribs ($19 per pound), banana cream pie ($4, available as a special) and side dishes — collard greens ($4), Texas-style beans ($5), available only at the original — also do the Lone Star State justice.
PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES
At Tres Carnes, a modestsize taqueria that opened on Sixth Avenue earlier this year, you won’t find the gloppy cheese quesadillas, hard-shell taco dishes and other bastardizations of Mexican cuisine common to typical Tex-Mex joints. “We’re calling it ‘Texas-smoked Mexican,’ ” says Sasha Shor, the executive chef, who, alongside pitmaster Mike Rodriguez, smokes the eatery’s meats Texas-style with a traditional rub before packing it into soft-shell tacos and burritos. 688 Sixth Ave.; 212-989-8737
Specialty: Brisket burritos and soft tacos ($9.50) made with a secret-recipe rub of 11 different spices — but no sugar, staying true to Texas — are the eatery’s signature.
MIXON IT UP
Competitive barbecue champ Myron Mixon may hail from Georgia, but he says he cooks like a Tar Heel. “I was born and raised on the Carolina-style,” says Mixon. To wit, the meats at his massive 10,000-square-foot new restaurant, Pride and Joy, opening next week in the East Village will pack the sour kick North Carolina’s ’cue is known for. Expect sauces heavy on “vinegar, cayenne red pepper and salt,” says Mixon. 24 First Ave. (opening in June)
Specialty: Mixon has won numerous awards for his porcine work, so anything pork, from ribs to shoulder, is a a good bet. His less traditional menu options — like a mac and cheese mixed with deboned baby-back ribs or a brisket and pork hash — could also be winners.
MIGHTY MAKES RIGHTY
Love can be a great motivator. In the case of Hugh Mangum, whose people hail from West Columbia, Texas (near Houston), this extends to his willingness to master a non-Texas style of barbecue. When he met his future wife, who hails from Charlotte, NC, “I had never smoked pork butts,” Mangum says. “But I had to learn to impress her family.” We’re mighty glad he did. The pulled pork at Mighty Quinn’s, which started as a stall at Smorgasburg and opened a brickand- mortar spot in the East Village in December, might be the best in the city. 103 Second Ave.; 212-677-3733
Specialty: Don’t miss the perfectly salty, tender spare ribs ($23 per rack) and sweet, barely vinegary pulled pork ($7.50 per serving), not to mention side dishes like baked beans, which are as much Texas as anything else.
GRAND OLE GRILLING
For more than 10 years, Danny Meyer’s Blue Smoke has brought his fine-dining quality to down-home barbecue, and his smoky empire continues to expand with a third location opening this week at JFK. Chef Kenny Callaghan slings Memphis baby backs and sweet Kansas City-style spareribs with equal aplomb. For his baby backs, Callaghan uses a 17-spice blend that sits on the ribs for a day. He then smokes them over apple or cherry wood for seven hours before brushing them with a savory sauce at the very end. “That allows the sauce to bake in, but not caramelize,” he explains. JFK Terminal 4, opening in early June; currently at 116 E. 27th St., 212-447-7733, and 255 Vesey St., 212- 889-2005.
Specialty: Memphis baby-back ribs ($16 per half-rack) more savory than sweet are meaty and fall-off-the-bone tender.
KINGS COUNTY ‘CUE
“We’re not trying to replicate what they do in Texas or Memphis,” says Bill Fletcher, owner of Fletcher’s in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, which opened in November. “This is about the food culture of Brooklyn.” While three giant smokers turn out barbecue classics such as St. Louis-style ribs and Texas brisket, Fletcher’s gives the smoked meat a global spin with char siu (pork steak) with Asian-style sauces and stuffed poblano peppers. The meats are procured from hormone- and antibiotic-free farms, which should help many a Brooklynite swallow more easily. 433 Third Ave., Gowanus; 347-763-2680
Specialty: The ribs ($12 for a quarter rack) are expertly made, as is the char siu, but our favorite is the barbecued lamb ($7 per quarterpound), a rotating special inspired by Kentucky’s smoked mutton.
GOING GREEK
Astoria’s Strand Smokehouse, which opened in November, brings a Queens flair to its meats. “What we’re trying to do is a little more trendy, food-wise” than simply regional barbecue, says chef and pitmaster John Zervoulakos, who was born and raised in Queens. Think smoked lamb, duck pastrami and even beef cheeks. The result is a solid neighborhood spot with craft beers on tap, 40 kinds of whiskey and a stage for country and bluegrass bands. 25-27 Broadway, Astoria; 718-440-3231
Specialty: The menu changes based on what’s available at the local butcher shop (meats are priced by the half-pound, generally about $10), but lamb is a regular special. And don’t miss homemade peach, blueberry and lemon meringue pies ($6) if they’re on the menu.
SMOKIN’ OKIES
Never heard of Oklahoma-style barbecue? Jeff Lutonsky, a native Okie, and his wife Meghan Love (she’s from Kentucky) want to change that. The couple’s 2½-year-old Mable’s Smokehouse and Banquet Hall in Williamsburg relies exclusively on recipes from Lutonsky’s grandmother, Mable. “It’s kind of in-between Kansas City, Texas and Memphis in terms of using a tomato-based barbecue sauce,” Love says of the style, in which sauce isn’t slathered on the meat but rather served on the side. 44 Berry St., Williamsburg; 718-218-6655
Specialty: Try the brisket ($14.95 for a half-pound platter with sides) — it’s served naked (Texans will no doubt approve) with a wonderfully zingy and just-sweet-enough barbecue sauce on the side. (Who cares if Texans would disapprove!) Also bite into the Schwab’s Oklahoma hot links ($5) — the state’s sausage standard. “In Oklahoma,” says Love, “that’d be like ordering a Coke.”
DINO-MITE!
We’re not sure if “Syracuse barbecue” is really a thing, but Harlem’s Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, which is set to expand to Park Slope next month, makes the case for it. Founder John Stage is a motorcycle man, and he was inspired to open up his first Dinosaur upstate in the ’80s after riding through the South on his bike. You can taste the Memphis, St. Louis and Texas influences in his pork and ribs, but upstate comes through too in the popular chicken wings — which are a dry Syracuse, not Buffalo, style. 604 Union St., Park Slope, and 700 W. 125th St.; 212-694-1777
Specialty: Upstate standard-bearers include Syracuse-style salt potatoes (boiled with lots of salt and served with butter), as well as plump wings ($3.95 for three, up to $13.95 for 13) barbecued to spicy perfection.