Get Your Grill On

In my recent BBQ Restaurant Pet Peeves post, I talked about “award winning” barbecue, effectively saying that you’ve got to take these awards with a grain of salt. Now don’t get me wrong (or as Roger Clemens likes to say, “make no mistake about it”), I have the utmost respect for both restaurateurs and competition […]

Having the barbecued meats arrive in a pool of juices.
No, I’m not talking about meat juices. I’m talking about leakage from cole slaw, baked beans or collard greens. How about just serving the sides on the side (which is why they’re called “sides”), or using a small bowl to keep everything segregated?
Being charged extra for […]

By the Pound
I like joints that sell barbecued meats by the pound. In the Northeast, you’ll see this at RUB (NYC), Fette Sau (Brooklyn), Wilson’s (Fairfield CT) and Bendle-Bean’s (Pembroke MA). This method gives you the ultimate flexibility to create any combo you want and eat as much or as little as you want, in […]

On the back of every spare or baby back rib is a membrane. A great debate in BBQ is whether to remove the membrane or not. Most cooks remove it believing that it allows spice and smoke to penetrate the underside of the rib rack. Many restaurants won’t remove the skin. […]

Last night on my way home from work, I stopped in the Barnes and Noble bookstore on Broadway and West 81st Street in Manhattan. This bookstore always surprises me. Besides having all the latest books, it has one of the best selections of barbecue cookbooks in New York. They may only have one or two […]

Check any of the all-purpose restaurant bulletin board sites and the only topic more arduously debated than who has the best barbecue in any given area is the subject of tipping. I originally posted these tips on tipping on my barbecue restaurant review site, but these could apply to any restaurant:

For a full-service restaurant, if […]

In Defense of Buffets
Sometimes buffets get a bad rap, generally on two fronts: (1) the quality of the food isn’t as good as you’d get by ordering off the menu; (2) it’s all about (and only about) the gluttony. I’d agree that the first point is usually true, although it doesn’t have to be. I’ve […]

I realize that this forum is dedicated to all things grilled and smoked, but I’ve had cole slaw on my mind of late, and if you’ll indulge me, I need to get this off my chest. I recently had occasion to stop by a local barbeque joint (and I mean joint in the best […]

Here’s an interesting article that Grub Street, NY Magazine’s on-line food section just put up about the pre-preponderance of Jewish Pit Masters on the New York barbecue scene. But NY Magazine was beat to the punch on the connection between Jews and Que in NY by my buddy Erica Marcus over at Newsday. Look’s […]