10th Annual Big Apple Barbecue Block Party!
June 11th, 2012 by Mr. C
The Big Apple Barbecue Block Party came, conquered, and then drifted into the hog smoked gotham sunset this past weekend but not without creating some kind of slow cooked-carnivore frenzy! About 17 BBQ pit masters from all over the U.S. converged into Madison Square Park in NYC on friday night to setup for the weekend to show us the best of the best in smoked out goodness! By the end of the day, we managed to try 7 out of the 17 BBQ joints before we were wheeled away into the porky penalty box. We had a little racket going on where the 3 of us stood on 3 different BBQ vendor lines and before we could say miss piggy – we had 3 pulled pork sandwiches at our paws ready for consumption! Our main goal was to get to the most revered BBQ pit masters before the lines would get out of hand. The three vendors that we choose to hit up 1st were BIG BOB GIBSON BAR-B-QUE for their pulled pork shoulder sandwich, MARTIN’S BAR-B-QUE JOINT for the whole hog pulled pork sandwich, and ED MITCHELL for his North Carolina style whole hog pulled pork sandwich!
After inhaling the heavenly trio of wilbur inspired sandwiches before noon time, we developed a heavy heart from the steady flow of pork grease running through our veins! After some meditation in addition to some deep Deepak Chopra thoughts while watching mondo-curry do his best rendition of the running man dance move in order to burn off some calories – we braved the BBQ trenches once again for the final round! This time we shared 4 plates from the likes of JACK’S OLD SOUTH – Brisket, JIM ‘N NICK’S BAR-B-Q – smoked sausage, THE SALT LICK – smoked sausage, and HILL COUNTRY – brisket!
Getting right down to it, our favorite of the day was Big Bob Gibson for their pulled pork shoulder sandwich. The meat had a nice subtle smoke flavor with just enough seasoning and char. The roughly chopped/pulled meat was moist and when you lightly bit into it – you can taste the pork flavors getting stronger exponentially right up to the swallow. All the meanwhile, the juices slowly oozed out when your teeth made contact with the meat causing the bun to soak up the carnage! We lathered up the sandwich with a dash of Big Bob Gibson standard BBQ sauce as well as with some of their white sauce! I also dug the crispy cole slaw mixed with a citrus based blend.
The second favorite of ours and it seemed to be unanimous was ED MITCHELL’s pulled pork (whole hog) sandwich. The succulent dry rubbed meat was finely chopped and mixed with a vinegary base. The meat was also very moist and light in color but the flavors were definitely very colorful upon impact with your mouth! The sandwich did not look as sexy as the others but no doubt – there were some heavy hitting explosions of pork juices being overrun into the buns which acted as a safety net! Cole slaw was the ‘side that they gave me’ but I barely took notice because the smoked out ED MITCHELL whole hog kept flashing her titties at us resulting in love at first bite!
The 3rd favorite was a mixed bag between us porky crackheads as SHI preferred the side dish that ‘played the Robin to the Batman’ at Jim ‘N Nick’s – the homemade pimento cheese! It was tasty and slightly spicy from the jalapenos and I probably would of took a bath with it if no-one was watching! It sounded like a tossup for 3rd place for Mondo-Curry but he seemed to be hinting at the main dish at JIM ‘N NICK’s – the smoked sausage! It was juicy, it was smokey, it was dee-licious! My contender for 3rd place was from THE SALT LICK – the smoked sausage! The casing that held the flavorful ground up smoked pork meat was very snappy to the bite! The white bread that the sausage was sitting on also provided a nice way to slop up the juices!
All the BBQ we had at the block party was tasty! I was even glad to have finally tried NYC’s own – HILL COUNTRY! The brisket was tender and the layer of fat certainly helped with that! How many days left for the next Big Apple BBQ Block Party 2013?!
To cap it off, the surf guitar riffs and rockabilly sounds of SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS added some extra sauce to the event! Their music almost inspired us to head back into the block party trenches for some more BBQ! Where did that wheel barrow go?
Enjoy some of the photos from the festivities!
(Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Que – Decatur, Alabama – Bigbobgibson.com)
(Ed Mitchell – The Pitmaster – Raleigh, North Carolina)
(Martin’s BAR-B-Que Joint – Nashville, Tennesee – Martinsbbqjoint.com)
(The Salt Lick Bar-B-Cue – Driftwood, Texas – Saltlickbbq.com)
(Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q – Birmingham, Alabama – JimNnicks.com)
(Hill Country – NY, NY – HillcountryNY.com)
(Jack’s Old South – Unadilla, Georgia & Miami, Florida)
(Rodney Scott’s – Oil Drum/Mad Max looking smoker! – Didn’t get a chance to try their ‘Cue)
(Mike Mill’s – Pit Master from 17th street Bar & Grill)
(Ed Mitchell – Pit Master from North Carolina)
(Southern Culture on the Skids)
(Photo Credits: mr c)
Tags: big apple barbecue block party 2012, big apple bbq
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