Does anyone like Wildwood BBQ?...

...'Cause I certainly did not. Not even close. Worst NYC BBQ I have had to date. Sorry Dallas BBQ, you just moved up one notch from the basement. I will qualify this review with the fact that I ate there one night in the first week they were open for business, so things could have improved since then. My friend said as we walked in, "I didn't realize this is where we are eating! This place is a doomed space. Everything Steve Hansen puts in here ends up failing. We are in for a baaaad meal. I can feel it already." And after waiting an 45 minutes at the crowded bar, he was right.

I realized up front the service would probably be awful. I mean who has their service down pat in the first few nights of operation? It just doesn't realistically happen, and it did not on this night either. I think we had three different servers during the evening and the first one disappeared and never returned. At one point the hostess had become our server, trying to do whatever she could to help save the sinking ship. Anyway, it was the food that really concerned me. You don't learn how to smoke meat on the fly when opening a BBQ restaurant, you better have a damn good knack for that coming into this endeavor!

Obviously I am sure they have experience, and maybe they are still getting used to their smokers, but I found it to be hit and miss - and mostly miss. Also, the space is way to large, impersonal, and souless for a BBQ joint. Table service in cramped quarters with a typical NYC hot spot look and feel, as well as a loud crowd that was way too well dressed for the venue - or would have been had it not had that chichi feel to it. Not how I like my BBQ joints to look and feel. Give me down and dirty and a tiny shanty shack on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere with a pitmaster who was raised smoking 'Que by his daddy and his daddy's daddy (and so on), and I'll take that any day over this corporate bull shi*t!!!

I did not find much of my food satisfying. The lamb ribs were an odd addition to the menu, so we obviously tried that - fatty beyond belief. I could barely find any meat on that bone to justify it being worth going back for a second rib, but of course, glutton for punishment that I am, more high fat/low meat ratio on #2. The other styles of ribs (Kansas City and St. Louis, maybe?) were not memorable, but certainly passable. They were firm enough and not too fall-off-the-bone, which usually means an oversmoked rib. The brisket was way too lean and not nearly enough marbeling or moistness going on. I may have just gotten a bad cut, but serving lean brisket is like ordering your steak well done - why even bother? The chicken was OK, but who can fuck up chicken? The sides were rather small in size. Not exactly family style. The sausage was solid and I think my Diet Coke tasted good. Nothing like good fountain soda.

A few friends of mine ate there a few weeks later and this was the reveiw I saw afterward:

"Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from a digestive tract expelledthrough the anus (or cloaca) during defecation. The word faeces is theplural of the Latin word fæx meaning "dregs".

You may think I am talking about sh*t, however I am talking about Wildwood (dregs) BBQ which may actually be the same thing given our experience lastnight. Steve Hanson has once again taken the one thing that is almost impossible to mess up (there is no such thing as bad BBQ) and turn it into an all around horrible experience from the first breathe of the faux smoker that has the looks of a chinese death wheel with bits of torture wood. The margarita I had was so sweet I had to inject myself to insure diabetes didn't set in prior to my departure which could not have come soon enough. This is the point I blacked out due to frustration or the fact it took 1.5 hours to seat us after every other person who came in after us had already left. I should have know what our future had in store when these BBQ zombies left without the leftovers, who does that?

I HATE THIS PLACE AND CURSE ANYONE WHO TREATS BBQ LIKE A DIRTY WATER DOG. Hindsight being 20/20, I would have gone for the dirty water dog.

-Peter Vankman"

editors note - Both this review (and the review within the review) were delayed because, well, I am a delayed human being and I took awhile to getting around to it. I am sure, especially due to the close proximity of my apt. to Wildwood BBQ, I will give it another shot. But I can assure you it will be in due time and I will not be rushing to it anytime soon.

Bacon Explosion!

The Big Guy Upstairs has answered my prayers and given me the bacon loaded delicacy that I so crave. Apparently so do a lot of other people, according to this article that hit the New York Times. I guess this just goes to prove there are a few hundred thousand Baconites out there. Good to know I am not alone. This may have to be tried on Friday at Memphis In May this year. Although I pray Gary's Perfect Sandwich's are still present too. No reason to mess with that slice of Heaven here on Earth!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/dining/28bacon.html

Bacon Explosion fresh off the grill

Bacon Exlosion glazed with BBQ sauce
Cross section of Bacon Explosion

Allen & Son Barbeque - Chapel Hill, NC

I was in Chapel Hill, NC the other weekend visiting my good friend, The Hup Dog, and he took me to a cozy little spot for some North Carolina pulled pork with vinegar sauce and slaw! Allen & Son Barbeque was the spot. We were prepping to go to the UNC Tarheels host the Miami Hurricanes later on that evening at the Dean Dome, and we had had some sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits at the Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe earlier that afternoon (we'll call it brunch). We drove just a few miles out of town, but I can see that just outside of the main drag and the life in Chapel Hill, it gets pretty spacious and quiet - farmland, to you Northerners like me. Place was delicious! The pork plate was hefty and loaded with awesome mayo based slaw (the way I prefer my slaw - none of that health slaw shit!). I got a pulled pork sandwich with slaw on it. The sauce was obviously a vinegar based sauce with lots of spice. I could taste (and see) the red pepper flakes floating around in it and there were certainly many other spices going on in there too. Lots of flavor going on in the sauce, but I am more of a tomato-based BBQ sauce fan so when in Rome... The fries were just OK, but lets be honest, I wasn't coming here to sample fried potatoe products. I actually may have been more blown away by their homemade pie selection! They must have had 20 different types, made fresh and ready to eat! We went with pecan and a scoop of vanilla ice cream - excellent! (For those of you back home, not quite Luger's pecan pie with schlagg and vanilla ice cream, but then again, nothing is.) The one pie I probably should have pushed Hup to get was this insane chocolate peanut butter pie and another one called the Klondike pie (this one sounded insane, but I figured I would never appreciate a good dessert again after this one). I will be back, perhaps as early as July for the Merge XX 20th Anniversary Celebration, so I wouldn't be surprised to find myself back at Allen & Sons BBQ sampling a Klondike pie all to myself!

Hup's plate of pulled pork, hush puppies, and cole slaw

My pulled pork sandwich with cole slaw on it

Pecan pie with vanilla ice cream and powdered sugar

Ubons at The Jack!

This past week was the Annual Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational BBQ event (Oct 24-25) and our good friend's Ubon's was representing and holding it down onsite. They placed 30th overall out of 78 contestants, and 2nd Place overall for Pork Shoulder! We here at the Hebrew Hogs would like to congratulate them in their strong showing and cannot wait to reunite at Memphis In May 2009 for some more low and slow smoking...

The BBQ Song!

Damn this song is good...and accurate too. I know I have been lax about posts recently and I know I still have to play catch up and finish my Memphis in May posts and also the Big Apple BBQ posts, not to mention my review on Wildwood BBQ and some friends reviews on it too, but Brian Campbell sent me this today and I thought it was great! The new job has not given me much time to work on this blog lately. Regardless, enjoy the BBQ Song, you Yankees!

Memphis in May 2008 - Day #2 (5/16/08) - Pt. 2

...Wow! That was a heckuva lot to talk about, and keep in mind, everyone is getting pretty soused up as the Bud Lights keep getting cracked all day long! Not to mention some Ubon's Specials thrown in. But these guys are pros, and booze doesn't throw them off their game whatsoever. In between the first hog prep and the second hog prep, the ribs for dinner that evening were prepped. This was all about Leslie, as she is the Rib Queen! I am surprised she has not competed in the rib competition before, but I guess she does not want to split off from the team, as this team specializes in Shoulder and Whole Hog. Adam had the audacity to claim he was going to eat 37 ribs before the evening was done. We had about 37 racks of ribs (12-13 ribs per rack) to go around, plus a few extra the guys over at Natural Born Grillers gave to us.

Leslie is supervising Gary rub the ribs down and she means business!

That is a shitload of ribs! You better believe dinner was sensational.

The second hog was prepped at this time, after the ribs were done being prepped and put in the rib smoker, a smaller smoker with many racks in it to hold the ribs and rotate them through the smoker. Brian Jay got his hands dirty officially participating on the second hog, as one of the four Yankees had to get messy and represent in this preparation! We were not carrying our weight around here otherwise. Eating and drinking our weight, yes, but carrying it, not a chance!

Way to get your hands dirty Brian Jay! Represent!

Who let that damn Yankee touch the hog?! Just kidding around. Brian invited him to do so.

Later on that eveing (after a quick nap back at the hotel), the boozing continued and the ribs were removed from the smoker after about 6-7 hours.

Memphis in May 2008 - Day #2 (5/16/08) - Pt. 1

Day #2 at "Memphis in May" began innocently enough with the 4 of us meeting outside on Beale St. and getting some coffee. Dave and Adam had already taken a walk over to the Memphis Redbirds minor league stadium and gotten some merchandise. Mind you, I was pretty fuckin' hungover, as those Ubon's Specials really go down easy and they kicked my ass! Given I must have had a 6-pack of Bud Light on top of a few stiff Ubon's Specials in a short amount of time, but I had no idea I would wake up with a pounding hangover. I was forced to get an egg and cheese crepe with my coffee to aleviate some of the brutal hangover I was dealing with. We waited 20+ minutes for the ONLY bodega in town to open (sign said "be back shortly", but no one ever came back. Apparently they were in the back the entire time and right after we walked away, it 'magically' opened up - go figure.)

Then we headed down to the booth site on the festival grounds and walked by the Ribs to get to the Whole Hog section. Pork Shoulder was past us. Since over half the competitors were in the Ribs category, it was a fairly far walk through the park to the Whole Hog and Shoulder teams. A quick side note here for those unfamiliar with the way the competition works: This year there were a total of 264 teams broken down as follows - 40 Whole Hog teams, 68 Shoulder teams, 119 Rib teams, and 37 Patio teams (1st year competitiors - Ribs ONLY - not eligible for Grand World Champion). There is a Top 3 placing in each category (Ribs, Shoulder, and Whole Hog). The top overall winner (among every contestant in all categories) is named Grand World Champion. The Top 10 in each category gain entrance back into next year's Memphis In May competition. You may only compete in 1 category per team per year. Many teams gain entrance into the competition by winning other sanctioned Mamphis In May competitions around the country leading up to this event. Others pay their way in, but those teams are more here to party and have a good time and cook up some food. They are not considered serious threats to win a Top 3 in any category. (But I will say they add to the chaos and drunken craziness of the event late night on Thursday and Friday nights!)

To provide more frames of reference, as it was told to me, the only 3 time winners of Grand World Champion are Mike Mills, a.k.a. "The Legend", of 17th Street Bar & Grill in Murphysboro, IL and the Apple City BBQ Team (yes, he is always and will be again this year at the Big Apple BBQ Block Party, but no, he is no longer on the competitive circuit any longer) and "Myron Mixon, a.k.a. “The Man in Black,” of Vienna, GA, chief cook of Jack’s Old South Competition Bar-B-Que Team", who interestingly enough was right across from our booth and was also defending Grand Champion. Ubon's has a 1st place and a 3rd place finish in Shoulder over the past 13 years and this year competed in Whole Hog for the first time here in Memphis. Apparently the other Major BBQ Championship is the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue. It happens this year (19th annual) on October 25th, 2008 and they compete in the categories of Pork Ribs, Pork Shoulder, Beef Brisket and Chicken. I am surprised there is no Whole Hog category, but I can't say, as a Texas based BBQ guy, I don't like that addition of Beef Brisket.

OK, back to our story. We arrived around 9:30am the hangover is still present. What's the best way to get rid rid of a hangover? Start drinking again! Leslie, Gary Roarke's daughter (Gary is the proprietor of Ubon's), was making what I must say were the best bloody mary's I have EVER had! On top of a spicy bloody mary mix she was using (again, I hope I am not giving away trade secrets) Ubon's BBQ sauce and homemade pickle juice! She topped them off with a homemade pickle and of course the prerequisite large amount of vodka. I gotta say, I do like my bloody's spicy, but theese were just amazing! You could taste the Ubon's BBQ sauce and the homemade pickle juice as a sweet aftertaste on the bloody mary. I was in love with it and of course had 2 or 3 very quickly - well played.

Gary Roarke slicing smoked prime rib for "The Perfect Sandwich".

For lunch, Gary had been smoking 3 prime ribs the previous night and then let them cool to room temperature over night for service the following day. This is the base of "The Perfect Sandwich". I don't have the exact story, but apparently this was something Ubon's sort of stumbled over a number of years back and it has now become a tradition in which many of the teamms that have been coming here for years and years come round to Ubon's booth on Friday at lunchtime for a sandwich that is, well, PERFECT! Let me explain: The Perfect Sandwich is thinly sliced prime rib on an onion roll with mayonaisse and mustard on one side of the roll, horseradish on the other side of the roll and then sliced onions on the prime rib as well. I can't really explain it, but it is OUTSTANDING! Now you have to understand, Allen had been talking about this sandwich for months now, so it had plenty of build up, and in life, I have learned most things do not live up to the hype. It's just too hard. But 5 Perfect Sandwiches later, I was wrong. The hype stood tall and delivered perfectly (sorry for the pun). Leslie made some sauce to also go with it, which was optional. I tried it both with and without the extra special sauce, and I thought it really was delicious! I can't wait for Friday of next year's competition to devour 5 more (minimum).

Now we are a few bloody mary's into the day and about 4-5 Bud Lights as well. It's lunchtime. This day has just gotten started. Next, comes the preparation of the whole hog. Ubon's had 2 whole hogs (about 105-110 lb.s each) to be smoked, using 2 smokers. The idea was the first hog would be for initial judging, and the second hog would be for Finals judging. The head chef of this operation was Brian Campbell, Allen's brother. Their brother Mark, a welder here in Memphis, had built the smoker that Brian mainly uses. The second smoker was loaned to them by a friend, and Brian was not as comfortable using that one, as he had smoked a few hundred whole hogs on the one his brother had made. To watch this preparation was really a thing of beauty. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to me, this was damn pretty! Here are some pictures of the hog before the jump. After the jump I will go into the preparation.

Dave kissing the hog right before it is about to be prepped.

Splitting open the hog to get it wide for prep and the smoker. Some organs were cleaned out and the membranes were removed off the meat.

Here, you can see Brian had just finished using a small electric saw to cut through the ribs and create the baby backs. Also, Alan is holding a basting of apple juice and seasoning which Brian is injecting into the hog in key areas to make it sweeter and juicier.

Here you can see a group of people rubbing the hog down with Ubon's Seasoning. The pig is moise and holds the seasoning well. We noticed some other teams rubbed their hogs down with French's Yellow Mustard to hold the seasoning and apparently to tenderize the meat as well. The mustard cooks off, but the vinegar in the mustard apparently helps to tenderize the meat.

Lastly, the hog is laid on the smoker for final preparations before the cover is closed to achieve a specific temperature and not reopened for between 22-24 hours.

I will try to go through this quickly, but they really have this down to an exact science. First, they clean the inside of the hog out by removing the few organs the butcher does not (like the kidneys). Then they remove some membranes that cover the meat and bones using their hands and a scissor. Next, they pull from each side to open the hog wider and then use an electric power saw to cut through the ribs and create split off the baby backs from the rest of the rib just to get the hog even wider apart. The apple juice/seasoning/mixture is then injected into key areas of the hog to make it sweeter and more tenders as it smokes. The hog is then rubbed down with seasoning (each team has it's own concoction, but at the end of the day they all have similar bases of salt, pepper, paprika, herbs, and other spices) thoroughly. Next, the hog is laid flat on the smoker. Some teams we noticed smoked their hogs skin-side down, while others, including Ubon's, smoked their hogs skin-side up. I think the method affects mainly the skin and how crispy it gets.

Ubon's choose to baste the skin in olive oil and then put a sheet (yes, literally a bed sheet you would buy in a store) over their hog and rebaste the sheet with more oil to keep the skin from getting blackened. Part of the onsite judging (which will be discussed on the post about Saturday, 5/16) is appearance of the hog. The smoker, which has already been heating up using wood and charcoal, is then closed and not reopened for between 22-24 hours. There is a lot of luck involved, as you need some perfect cooking conditions to have a great hog. Brian suggested the ideal heat being about 225 degrees and the challenge of maintaining that heat for essentially a full day. He is charged with the task of staying overnight with the hog and making sure this occurs. We watched as throughout the night the temperature climbed to that 225 degree range and then as they tried to maintain this temperature. If you open the cover, even for just a minute or less, you will let all that heat escape and lose all that temperature you have been trying to achieve and the entire hog will suffer a setback, one you may not possibly recover from in competitive cooking. To be continued...