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Big BBQ in the Big Apple
After 9 years of cooking, the Big Apple BBQ Block Party is still heating up.
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What can be said about Madison Square Park? It’s ok, I guess– a nice place to go for a picnic on a Saturday afternoon – but aside from a giant, white, plaster sculpture of an elongated face, it’s not the kind of place that one would rave about. But for one glorious weekend this little park at 23rd and Madison Avenue (conveniently located in the shadow of the Flatiron Building) played host to the 9th Annual Big Apple BBQ Block Party, an event that brought Pit Masters from places like Dallas, St. Louis, and Nashville to put on one delicious culinary clinic.
Barbecue is one of those “great-American-pastimes” that (when it’s done correctly) leaves you feeling satisfied, yet craving more. And these guys know how to do it right. All through the streets surrounding Madison Square Park, people lined up to indulge in pulled pork, hog, ribs, sausage, beef brisket baked beans and coleslaw. Two lines in particular far-outstretched the others: the line for Ed Mitchell’s whole hog from The Pit out of Raleigh, North Carolina, snaked its way across lines from 5 or 6 other booths; and the line for pulled pork shoulder smoked up by Chris Lilly from Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Alabama, accumulated a line that was (unofficially) an hour and a half long. Other booths run by Hill Country and Blue Smoke (whose parent restaurants were within walking distance of the festival) were particularly good and boasted shorter lines. Although, when it came to dessert, Blue Smoke’s line for root beer floats, blondies and blueberry fruit crisp were some of the lengthiest on the block.
The festival had a variety of other events, though barbecue took the main stage. A full line-up of rock, country, blues and soul musicians from Austin, Texas, performed over the course of the two day festival. Artists included Bambi King, Guitar Shorty, Dale Watson, Doug Wamble, Those Darlins, and Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. Various sponsors gave away samples of their products, and in the seminar tent festival goers could attend lessons that ranged from how to prepare their own Southern cooking, to discovering the intricacies of Bourbon.
Overall, the 9th Annual Big Apple BBQ Block Party was a huge success. Crowds exceeded 100,000 people over the course of the weekend, through rain, stark temperature changes and overcast skies. But if you judge the festival’s success by how whether or not it has accomplished its goal to “teach New Yorkers about the joys of barbecue,” as proclaimed by Danny Meyer, one of the founders of the festival and owner of Blue Smoke, there is no question that it has. Every style of barbecue is different, everyone has a favorite, and this festival has helped New Yorkers find theirs. It was hard to call any one booth “the best” but one thing is certain: I haven’t seen this many great barbecue joints in the same place since I left Kansas City, Missouri.
For more info about the Big Apple BBQ, visit: http://bigapplebbq.org/
Didn’t make it to this event? Can’t wait for the 10th Big Apple BBQ? Check out these NYC restaurants that were represented at this year’s festival: Blue Smoke, Dinosaur BBQ, Hill Country, Rack & Soul