Posted by Zach Brooks, March 19, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Since my "real" job (whatever that means) is in the "music industry" (radio is still part of the music industry, right?), I've always dreamed of going to the SXSW music festival. I've heard great things about Austin, Texas, and my friends and co-workers always have amazing stories of great shows that I am bound to love that take place in a really cool town. But this year, I discovered a new aspect of SXSW that makes me feel jealous about not getting to go: all the serious sandwiches.
Thanks to blogs, Flickr, and most important, the invention of the iPhone, the SXSW food porn has been pouring in since last week—and I have to say, the sandwiches look pretty damn delicious. Using previous years as a guide, you would expect me to be super envious of missing My Morning Jacket tear through their new songs at the Austin Music Hall, or Michael Stipe playing at the all too famous Stubb's. This year, however, I think I'm bummed because I missed out on all the eatin'.
After the jump, my recently created, hipster food porn-based, Austin sandwich checklist.
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Posted by Michael Nagrant, March 7, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Chicken boti at Khan BBQ
When looking for serious ethnic spots, I find if you're the only white anglo dude in the joint, you're probably in the right place. Khan BBQ, on Chicago’s Devon street—a strip of Pakistani, Indian and orthodox Jewish bakeries, restaurants, and clothing shops—is one of those places.
It shouldn't be, as I and a few others have written about the perfume of coriander from the tandoors, the puffy stacks of Naan bread, and the grilled succulent meat over the last couple of years. Yet, last week when I stopped by for a bite, the dining room was filled with the usual smattering of cabbies and Pakistani families.
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Posted by Alaina Browne, March 5, 2008 at 2:45 PM
The trio of SXSW Festivals and Conferences (Music, Film, and Interactive), best described as Spring Break for geeks, kicks off this weekend in Austin, Texas. Maybe you've already decided which panels, screenings, shows, and parties you'll be attending—or not. That's OK, there are more pressing concerns like, where are you going to eat?
The SXSW Baby! Guide: Where to Eat During SXSW 2008 [pdf], has all the answers. Compiled and written by Kathryn Yu, a SXSW veteran and a serious eater, restaurants included meet the top criteria of hungry festival-goers: close proximity to the Convention Center, easily accessible by foot, cheap, fast, and tasty.
But you're in Texas. And Texans make some serious barbecue.
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Posted by Michael Nagrant, January 11, 2008 at 11:00 AM
You gotta have bulletproof glass, utilitarian decor, and a grizzled soul man stoking an aquarium-style smoker or a black pit drum with hickory and fruitwoods to have great barbecue, right? In Chicago, until about two years ago, this seemed the rule.
In these parts, good ‘cue was predominantly an African American community–driven affair. Finger-lickin’ piles of ribs sandwiched in clamshell styrofoam that are so good you wolf them down while leaning against your car came from unremarkable storefronts on the city’s south side (save Honey 1).
So when Smoque BBQ opened last December on the north side with a ton of accolades, lines out the door, and media coverage second only to that of Britney Spears’s affairs, I was skeptical. Were people (me included) covering the ‘cue so heavily because it was coming out of a clean well-lit space in an upper middle class Chicago neighborhood from white people, or because it was genuinely good?
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Posted by Alaina Browne, September 12, 2007 at 10:00 AM
A trip to down to North Carolina to visit my family was the perfect excuse to pay a visit to Wilber's Barbecue. Wilber's hasn't changed much if at all in the 26 years I've been eating there. Growing up, we'd stop at Wilber's on our way down to the beach on summer weekends and order barbecue, slaw, and bread (hush puppies) from the takeout counter. I didn't realize it at the time, but we were eating some of the best barbecue in the country and, in my opinion, the best Eastern Carolina–style barbecue—whole hog smoked over an oakwood fire, chopped and dressed with a peppery vinegar sauce.
Wilber’s Barbecue is such a well-loved barbecue institution that the city of Goldsboro grandfathered it into its new air-quality controls. Owner Wilber Shirley can continue to burn wood in his pits, but when he dies, the restaurant must convert to gas cooking.
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Posted by Alaina Browne, June 27, 2007 at 4:22 PM
Forbes Traveler explores the "high-end" barbecue restaurant trend, citing Blue Smoke, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, and Dinosaur Bar B Que as a few examples. I think the trend is more accurately described as a growing national awareness and enthusiasm for authentic regional barbecue (as Ed would say, barbecue is not "fancy pants" food). As a barbecue lover, I think this is what Martha would call a "good thing" — more barbecue lovers = more barbecue restaurants and better barbecue. Even so I do worry that this nationalization of barbecue may eventually lead to a less delicious barbecue monoculture that's consists only of "pork barbecue" and "beef barbecue," but until it does, I'm going to enjoy eating Texas barbecue in Manhattan.
Posted by Ed Levine, June 8, 2007 at 3:42 PM
First of all congratulations to our Serious Eats Big Apple Barbecue Block Party Bubba Pass Plus Winners. See you both this weekend. There are so many pitmasters and other food and drink booths I thought the Serious Eats community could use some 'cue guidance so that you maximize your eating pleasure when you do go. Now I must admit that I have not tried every pitmaster's cue as of this moment. But I can give you my list of Five Fave "'Cue" Booths so that you can be certain that even if you didn't purchase a Bubba Pass, the time you'll spend on these particular lines will be well worth it:
Big Bob Gibson's Championship Pork Shoulder, Pitmasters Chris Lilly and Don McLemore: Let's face it, most of us might not ever make it to Decatur, Alabama to visit the Big Bob Gibson mothership, so a wait on this line is a must. Flat out, the best pork shoulder sandwich you will ever taste.
17th Street Bar & Grill and Championship Bar-B-Q Baby Back Ribs, Murphysboro, Illinois, Marion, IL, and Las Vegas, Nevada: Mike Mills, pitmaster. Mike Mills may be as good a yarn spinner as he is a pitmaster, and that's saying something, because his dry rub baby back ribs will make you cry they are so good.
Southside Market & BBQ Beef Brisket & Sausage & Pickles & Onions, Elgin, Texas: Bryan Bracewell, Pitmaster: Bryan Bracewell's smoked beef sausage is so delicious and so juicy I'm convinced the man is secretly a dry cleaning and laundromat magnate. Wear an already stained t-shirt to save yourself the worry.
Mitchell's Whole Hog and Cole Slaw, Wilson, NC, Ed Mitchell, Pitmaster: Until you've had one of Ed Mitchell's incomparably delicious Eastern Carolina whole hog barbecue sandwiches, with its little crispy shards of skin and bits of meat from all over the pig, you haven't really lived. Really.
Stehling Brothers Fried Pies, John Stehling, Early Girl Eatery, Asheville, NC and Robert Stehling, Hominy Grill, Charleston, SC. I've never really embraced the idea of eating dessert at the BABBP, but these guys are serious food people, so I have to believe that their fried pies are going to be killer.
This is not to say that everything else at the Block Party is not up to snuff. I'm just trying to make sure you maximize your barbecue and fried pie pleasure this weekend.
Happy "Cue Hunting. http://www.bigapplebarbecue.com
[photographs taken by Lia]
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 24, 2007 at 10:45 AM
Today in the New York Times, $25 and Under columnist Peter Meehan hits the Bronx for Mo Gridder's BBQ, a smoke joint housed in the confines of an automotive garage. Serious Eats had a chance to sample Mo Gridder's earlier this month (ribs and a pulled pork sandwich), and Mr. Meehan's assessment is accurate: "The meat is sweetly and amply imbued with smoky flavor by the time it’s in your hands. The meat on the ribs — and the ribs are meaty — has a yielding tenderness, but none of the falling-off-the-bone toothlessness of lesser barbecue."
The pulled pork sandwich, in my opinion, was nothing to write home about, particularly if your home is North Carolina, where pulled pork is an art. It had almost no smoky flavor and was much too salty. Above is a photo of a Mo Gridder's rib, and here's a photo of the Mo Gridder's pulled pork sandwich.
Posted by Adam Kuban, November 15, 2006 at 4:59 PM
Pssst: Wanna great lunch for two for around $14 total (before tip) at Blue Smoke? Ask them to split their usual nine-ounce burger into two burgers.
Blue Smoke general manager Mark Maynard-Parisi said the restaurant is happy to make two 4.5-ounce burgers for the same price as the single nine-ounce sandwich on its menu ($11.50, comes with fries; cheese and bacon each $1 extra).
This is good news for people who aren't that into big-ass honkin' burgers. Especially at Blue Smoke, where the otherwise big-ass honkin' burger is especially tasty. Downsizing to two half-size burgers does the trick nicely: You still get a decent amount of meat, and because it's served on an airy brioche bun, the bread component is not as overwhelming as you'd fear -- it can be squished down nicely.
Two of us at AHT went there for lunch recently and got out with a total food bill of $13.50. Not bad for a classy Danny Meyer joint, eh?
Mr. Maynard-Parisi suggests supplementing the meal with an appetizer or two, but it was a filling meal without.
We probably shouldn't even be sharing this with you. Who knows how long they'll keep this up once word gets out. :(
