Matt, I see that you mentioned that you had a barbecue place in Brooklyn. Do you mind if I ask what that was?
Another opinion you might not agree with is that I like Dinosaur quite a bit, at least the original in Syracuse. I haven’t eaten at any of the NYC branches though.
I’ll readily admit that the range of barbecue places I like is quite wide.
Lunch today in Flushing was spectacular at Chef Wong’s Bistro on Northern Blvd just by Main.
It was our second time here, the first was with a group of 15 for an amazing seafood feast. There is no real decor except for a wall of live seafood tanks.
We hit the wall for a half pound of live shrimp steamed on a bed of cellophane noodles and tons of garlic. They were incredible! Unfortunately the shrimp ran small as, according to our waiter, Raymond, the bigger ones are better.
Our second dish was clams in Typhoon Shelter style which was a dry and crumbly topping of pork, dry shrimp and tangerine peel. It was fabulous if overshadowed by the near perfect shrimp.
About $62 before tip. We felt pampered and stuffed.
great report, Dean!
I worked at Fletcher’s Brooklyn Barbecue, Wildwood, RUB, and Dinosaur in Harlem running the kitchens. I have cooked at the Big Apple BBQ Block Party multiple times, including running the pits for Hill Country at the BABBBP when they opened. I ran my own popup-- Queens Custom Barbecue for a few years. I have appeared on television and in print-- collaborated with Laphroaig and Lagavulin for media content. I won Rib King NYC, Brisket King NYC, Village Voice Choice Eats People’s Choice Award for best bite. I have consulted on multiple restaurants and opened franchises of popular places . Restaurant groups overseas have flown me in to consult. What else would you like to know?
I love the Syracuse Dino. It’s the best one.
I’m gonna miss our annual, sometimes semi Syracuse Dino visits while my youngest went to school there. She just graduated.
I’m sure royal rib is delicious but is it bbq or rotisserie. I always assumed the latter. The ribs in your photo don’t look smoked.
they cook over charcoal
Yes. Fette Sau and Royal Rib. Royal Rib makes fine charcoal grilled ribs. I don’t really think of it as Barbecue.
Exactly
Here’s a video, are you saying there’s charcoal at the bottom of the rotisserie (see 3:36 of video below), doesn’t look like it, maybe they sauce and finish on a grill?
I thought they did at the old location, but I could be remembering wrong. There was an in depth article at one point about them, but I can’t find it. It could have always been just gas.
I did find this picture at a link related to the old location. Maybe this is what I remembered.
I also find it a little odd to hear them say they’re making pulled pork like their family did in nc accompanied by photos of their nc ancestors. I’ve eaten pulled pork all over nc and never had anything that looked like @FlemSnopes photo. To be fair, I wasn’t alive back then so maybe there was a time and place where pulled pork was aerved like that.
Otoh, fette sau’s ribs look like they’ve spent some time in a smoker, you think they’re using sodium nitrate?
Ah my mistake, you didn’t say fette sau used a grill.
I’m impressed that your experience includes both barbecue competitions and barbecue restaurants. Those are different skill sets that often don’t overlap. The transition between barbecue competitions and running a barbecue place is tough.
You also appear to have strong PR/marketing skills, which is a skill set I could never master.
On my healthy eating/weight loss journey, i group foods as every day food, every day treats, occasional indulgences and ‘eff it!’ So if i ‘cheat’, I CHEAT.
KATZ’S!!!
Welcome back!
I have been writer’s blocked since our trip up in February, at least. My doc changed up my meds, which were really taking a toll. Now I know who I am. Plus I can write easily now. Still can’t proofread or spell check myself, but I never have been able to on those fronts!
I love that video about Royal Rib and I agree with you that it does not appear to show any wood or charcoal being used in the current iteration of Royal Rib. And I went back and read Robert Sietsema’s piece about Royal Rib’s reopening and he clearly says they use a rotisserie cooker.
I clearly remember there being a “very definite smoke flavor.” Which reminds me of that wonderful scandal years ago, which Calvin Trillin took so much delight in at the time, when a panel of renowned oenologists did an actual “blindfold test” and could not reliably distinguish red wines from white wines.
Given how wrong I was about Royal Rib, I have to wonder if someone sprang a blindfold test on me whether I could distinguish between Franklin’s brisket and the McRib sandwich.
In my defense I can offer a handful of weak explanations (or, more accurately, excuses).
(1) I was really sick with a summer cold (or RSV).
(2) I didn’t actually go to the shop, my wife brought takeout.
(3) Even though it’s not smoke, the flavor of pork fat rendering and then perfuming the meat as it hits the burner is delicious and kind of smoke-like.
(4) You can never rule out liquid smoke in the sauce.
I’m going to request absolution from my purist friend @johntannerbbq. John does yeoman service by acting as the agent for the Campaign for Real Barbecue to certify barbecue places in DC, Virginia, and Maryland that cook solely with wood, and my naugahyde palate might suggest that his life’s work has been valiantly strowing pearls before swine (to irretrievably mix metaphors).
PS - My list of the top barbecue places in the nation is limited to places that cook at least partially with wood or charcoal (Southern Pride smokers and other gas-assisted or electric-assisted smokers are eligible), so I have unceremoniously expelled Royal Rib from my list.
But the pork did taste like soupy NC barbecue, which, as I’m sure you know, is often cooked with gas or electricity. In Lexington NC, arguably the greatest barbecue town in America, the Chamber of Commerce’s map to the 20 or so barbecue places in town puts an asterisk by the places that cook only with wood, and fewer than half get the asterisk.
But you’re right that NC barbecue is never soupy.
