Blue Smoke NYC

Just looking through a resturant guide to NYC, came across Blue Smoke. Seems like its a dignified BBQ resturant serving BBQ at city prices. Just doesnt seem right. Seems like fake BBQ, yuppy-fied food. Anyone ever been there to prove this theory wrong? Is it worth trying?

If I'm not mistaken, Blue Smoke is the latest entry from the folks who own 17th Street Barbecue in Murphysboro, Illinois, near Carbondale. I believe they also own a place in Las Vegas. For those who don't know, 17th Street Barbeque won the Memphis in May cookoff three times in the last several years (although not three years in a row). They have bankrolled their notoriety into a small BBQ empire in three states. My wife and I have eaten at their original location in Murphysboro twice. The food was good but not great. If you're traveling through that part of the world you would do well to stop in at Brown's Barbecue, a small nondescript shack, also in Murphysboro on the east side of town just as you're coming in. Mrs. Brown is getting up in years, and only opens on the weekends these days. Probably best to call before dropping in. For those interested, southern Illinois, in the area surrounding Shawnee National Forest is a hot bed of authentic old fashioned southern style barbecue.

Getting back to your original question about the quality and authenticity of Blue Smoke: I haven't been there, but as stated above, they certainly have the right credentials. I'd have an adventure and check 'em out at least once.

Actually, you may be mistaken! Blue Smoke in NYC is operated by the Union Square Hospitality Group run by Danny Meyer. The Pitmaster and Executive Chef is Ken Callaghan.

Well, I was pretty darned embarrassed there for about 18 hours (the time between daveritzdog's posting and the time I could get a hold of someone down at 17th Street Barbecue to confirm or deny their ownership in Blue Smoke). As it turns out, we're both correct! In speaking with a manager down at 17th Street, it turns out they are co-owners with the above mentioned Union Square Hospitality Group. While this might somewhat dilute the over all credentials of Blue Smoke, I still stand by my original assertion that they're probably worth trying at least once. I mean, assuming you're in good health and in your prime, and this is not going to be one of your last meals on Earth, but rather just one of the 15-30,000 lunches and dinners you likely have left in your lifetime, Blue Smoke could be worth taking the risk.

Blue Smoke has okay food but don't expect it to be authentic BBQ. It is, as JaSnake16 says, yuppy-fied food. Brisket on brioche - yuck! Least successful, in my opinion, of Danny Meyer's restaurants.

quote:

Originally posted by Rayme

Blue Smoke has okay food but don't expect it to be authentic BBQ. It is, as JaSnake16 says, yuppy-fied food. Brisket on brioche - yuck! Least successful, in my opinion, of Danny Meyer's restaurants.

I guess it depends on how "success" is defined. The place packs them in.

Actually, Meyers may be running the joint, but that BBQ is 17th Street / Memphis Championship BBQ. That's authentic 17th Street Magic Dust in and on all the dishes. Mike Mills taught them everything they know about BBQ. Meyers' group take it to a different level with imagination and fantastic presentation. Wash it all down with a Fitz's Root Beer (a St Louis micro-brew, shipped in by Blue Smoke) and New Yorkers can experience something we all take for granted here. In fact, I'm heading out to Murphy now to pick up my order at 17th Street. Buy the way, they have another 17th Street store in Marion, Illinois and four Memphis Championship stores in Vegas.

quote:

Originally posted by Rayme

Brisket on brioche

Can anyone explain why they do this stuff? It's my biggest gripe about eating food allegedly from other American regional cuisines in San Francisco. I tried a place that claimed to offer cajun/creole food once. I got fried oysters. They came as about 6 oysters on a large pile of gourmet greens with walnuts scattered about and drizzled with a sweetish viniagrette. I mean down south there'd have been the oysters, maybe some slaw, french fries and, if I was lucky, hush puppies, and it would have cost half as much (or less). That place lasted maybe a year. My contention is that if they'd have played it straight--served the folks yearning for a real fix of down-home food what they expected--it could have been a success. No?

BT, you've got a new place in Berkekey that's sure to get under your skin:
http://www.t-rex-bbq.com/
Starters and Salads

Eld Inlet oysters on the half shell with cocktail sauce and cucumber-habanero mignonette 12

Mixed greens with poached pears, candied pecans and Humboldt Fog goat cheese 8.5

Frisée salad with poached egg, fried oysters, bacon and red wine vinaigrette 11

Smoked salmon with devilled eggs, olives and lemon crème fraiche 11

P.E.I mussels with lemongrass, ginger, tumeric and cilantro 10

Grilled quail with bloomsdale spinach, black-eyed peas,

meyer lemon and huckleberries 12

Spicy smoked chicken wings with blue cheese dipping sauce 9.5

Smoked pork riblets with spicy cayenne bbq sauce 10

Thick cut french fries with chipotle ketchup 6

Mixed smoked nuts 4.5

Sandwiches
Pulled pork with apple cabbage slaw and bbq potato chips 11

Smoked brisket with creamy horseradish sauce and potato salad 11

Jerk chicken breast with mango salsa, avocado and bbq potato chips 11

Fatted Calf smoked beef hot link with roasted peppers, onions and bbq potato chips 11

The T-Rex hamburger with french fries and your choice of cheese 9, add bacon 1
(Gruyere, Pt. Reyes blue, white Cheddar)

Entrees
Grilled pork chop with dino kale, soft polenta and chestnut-honey jus 22

Grilled spiced bavette steak with broccoli rabe and Yukon gold mashed potatoes 21

Grilled rare ahi tuna with pipérade, roasted potatoes, organic broccoli and aïoli 22

From the Smokers
Smoked spareribs with your choice of any two sides
Half rack 16 Full rack 32

Smoked baby back ribs with your choice of any two sides
Half rack 16 Full rack 32

Smoked beef brisket with your choice of any two sides 17

Smoked long-cut beef short rib with your choice of any two sides 16

Pulled pork butt with your choice of any two sides 17

Two way plus two sides 24


Sides and More
Macaroni and cheese 6
Apple cabbage slaw 4.5
Radish and cucumber salad 6
Creamy herbed potato salad with bacon 5
Blood orange and jicama salad with basil 4.5
Belma Buckett’s corn bread with honey butter 5
Long cooked greens with ham hock 6
Barbeque baked beans 5
Mashed potatoes 5
Soft Polenta 5
Texas toast 3

New age Q. uh oh.

quote:

Originally posted by bill voss



Frisée salad with poached egg, fried oysters, bacon and red wine vinaigrette 11

I think that's what I had (except at dinner it cost 50% more)--maybe they moved across the bay.

Apple-cabbage slaw?? GMAB!

As far as I am concerned, looking at a BBQ restaurant in New York City is as silly as looking for a good bagel in the Carolina's!

I love Blue Smoke. It's certainly not a traditional BBQ place, but why does it have to be? The food is awesome (for the most part).

quote:

Originally posted by Greymo

As far as I am concerned, looking at a BBQ restaurant in New York City is as silly as looking for a good bagel in the Carolina's!

????? I had one of the best bagels I ever ate in Asheville...not sure I follow your logic?

quote:

Originally posted by Greymo

As far as I am concerned, looking at a BBQ restaurant in New York City is as silly as looking for a good bagel in the Carolina's!

Yeah, well, when you find a restauranteur as good as Danny Meyer in your travels, be sure to let us know. All due respect to the BBQ fans, but I still think that running Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern and the food service at the renovated MOMA (among his other menus) might be a litttttttle more difficult to master than pulled pork.

And if you don't think he can do Roadfood, you haven't been to his Shake Shack, which serves one of the best burgers I've ever eaten.

quote:

Originally posted by Scallion1

All due respect to the BBQ fans, but I still think that running Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern and the food service at the renovated MOMA (among his other menus) might be a litttttttle more difficult to master than pulled pork.

And if you don't think he can do Roadfood, you haven't been to his Shake Shack, which serves one of the best burgers I've ever eaten.

It has more to do with intent than with ability, I think. What bothers me is when skilled chefs/cooks in the coastal urban foodie meccas decide it's beneath them to offer superlative examples of the authentic items--pulled pork for example; or a hamburger--and that their skill has to be put to use creating something "new" or "fusion" or whatever they choose to call it.

I can't critique Blue Smoke--missed it on my recent trip. I actually thought about trying BBQ in NYC but then I decided "why bother" when that is not really what NYC is known for or best at or however you want to put it.

If I lived in New York, though, I'd feel as I do in San Francisco. The nouveau versions of "down home" foods would be OK if authentic versions were plentiful so I could make the choice to go "traditional" or not. But in SF they often aren't. Everything has to be Californicated. New York is so much bigger, maybe that's not true there. If so, right on Mr. Meyer.

quote:

Originally posted by Tony Bad

quote:

Originally posted by Greymo

As far as I am concerned, looking at a BBQ restaurant in New York City is as silly as looking for a good bagel in the Carolina's!

????? I had one of the best bagels I ever ate in Asheville...not sure I follow your logic?

Well, I shall be more careful in explaining my logic. When I am traveling to New York City, I look for what I cnsider to be a New York dining experience that says "New York" to me. That would include deli sandwiches, bagels, and top name New York City restaurants. I have eaten at both Gramercy and Union Cafe and thought them wonderful but I would not bother going to a barbeque restaurant there. In my opinion, one looks for good barbeque in the south.

I checked Zagat's guide for the ratings on the barbeque restaurants in New York City. Blue Smoke comes in 3rd and is the highest priced one. The numbers that you see from left to right are the ratings on Food.....Decor.......Service........Cost. The highest rating that can be had is 30.

Blue Smoke
116 E. 27th St.
(bet. Lexington & Park Aves.)
Manhattan, NY
212-447-7733
Gramercy Park Barbecue 21 17 19 $39

Daisy May's BBQ USA
623 11th Ave.
(46th St.)
Manhattan, NY
212-977-1500
West 40s Barbecue 23 5 13 $17



Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
646 W. 131st St.
(12th Ave.)
Manhattan, NY
212-694-1777
Harlem Barbecue 22 18 19 $26


The food rating for Union Square Cafe is 22 and the food rating for Gramercy Tavern is 27.

That leaves out RUB, which is "More Authentic", and certainly less spiffied up than Blue Smoke, + seems to garner the most accolades of "Best In NYC" among Q fans.

One of the biggest problems in getting good BBQ in NYC is the smoking process. The city requires all sorts of scrubbing mechanisms in a restaurants exhaust system so that the whole neighborhood doesn't smell like a barbque pit. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but some people object. I understand that these systems are prohibitively expensive, and in some instances water down the effect of the smoke.

I haven't eaten at Dinosaur or Daisy Mae's. And while I'm not a huge BBQ fan, I've been enjoying pulled pork since my first visit to Goldsboro NC, about 40 years ago.

Also, I take the point that there's no reason to gussy up something that's essentially a rustic style of cooking. Makes perfect sense to me.

However, I do think that if someone as talented and dedicated as Danny Meyer put his mind to, and his name on, making a BBQ joint, it would be a good BBQ joint.

Also, having seen the vehemence with which BBQ fanciers defend each little regional variant on their favorite food, I feel that the standards must be, essentially, that it tastes good.

I will, however, stand behind anyone who wants to outlaw making hamburgers with foie gras and truffles.

Pass the napkins, please.

Out of Blue Smoke, Daisy Mae's and Dinosaur, I think part of the reason Blue Smoke is by far the most popular is it's convenience. Not that you choose a restaurant for that reason alone, but consider this: Daisy Mae's is strictly take out, so that's no good for a restaurant experience, and Dinosaur is far uptown and out of the way, and getting there and back plus the wait, plus the meal time will pretty much take up your whole evening.

On top of that, Blue Smoke is a pretty darn good meal. Of course they charge city prices, why wouldn't they?

P.S. If you try the DB Burger with truffles and foie gras at DB's Bistro Modernair, I think you'll change your mind about that law. Yowza!

Daisy Maes's is actually pretty darn good. The sides (creamed spinach, bourbon peaches, corn and baked beans) are superb. You can also get a tasters menu for $20 a head that gives you everything. I fed 14 people for $100 and had leftovers! And if you like sweet tea, theirs is great. Order delivery for any day in NYC 24 hours in advance.

quote:

Originally posted by Pigiron

Out of Blue Smoke, Daisy Mae's and Dinosaur, I think part of the reason Blue Smoke is by far the most popular is it's convenience. Not that you choose a restaurant for that reason alone, but consider this: Daisy Mae's is strictly take out, so that's no good for a restaurant experience, and Dinosaur is far uptown and out of the way, and getting there and back plus the wait, plus the meal time will pretty much take up your whole evening.

On top of that, Blue Smoke is a pretty darn good meal. Of course they charge city prices, why wouldn't they?

P.S. If you try the DB Burger with truffles and foie gras at DB's Bistro Modernair, I think you'll change your mind about that law. Yowza!

My hat, as always, is doffed to Daniel. Haven't had the burger, although I knew of it. Actually was thinking about someplace in Vegas that does it, unquestionably less skillfully than M. Boulud.
I'm sure it's incredible food. It's just the idea of it being called a hamburger that throws me off.

Which isn't to say that this kind of cross-cultural stuff is inherently abhorrent to me. Many years ago I worked for a brilliant chef who had, among his first courses, a meatball hero. Of course, the "hero" was his own brioche, the meatballs were made of veal and pork, and the "gravy" was ... unbelievable. But this kind of thing wears thin quickly for me, and, as noted above, in less-talented hands often ends as a disaster.

Personally I'd rather have a great bar burger, or a great Arthur Avenue meatball hero, and stick to the lobster souffle when I go to one of Daniel's places. It's a slippery slope from genius to kitsch to schock.

So maybe the original poster was onto something; let each craftsman work his own field. I know that when I was catering, I did a lot of mock-Asian stuff, especially hdo and appetizers. Some of it was great, like the dumplings filled with a very delicate shrimp mousse and chunks of lobster. But it sure as hell wasn't Chinese food.

quote:

Originally posted by Greymo

Well, I shall be more careful in explaining my logic. When I am traveling to New York City, I look for what I cnsider to be a New York dining experience that says "New York" to me. That would include deli sandwiches, bagels, and top name New York City restaurants. I have eaten at both Gramercy and Union Cafe and thought them wonderful but I would not bother going to a barbeque restaurant there. In my opinion, one looks for good barbeque in the south.

I gotcha now. I understand why someone from out of town wouldn't seek out a BBQ joint in NY for the reasons you state. Us locals, however, have to make the best of it while here. I used to love Pearson's when it was out in Jackson Heights, but they seemed to slide down hill and didn't make it when they moved. The food was good and the prices fair for what you got.

When ever I speak of BBQ in NY I always qualify it by saying it is "good NY BBQ". I live on Long Island, and we have some "good LI BBQ" too. Good NY or LI BBQ can be good, but once you have had the real deal, the "good for wherever" qualifier becomes critical. "Good NY BBQ" may just be "passable" when compared to some of the finer places in more traditional BBQ regions.

Those bagels in Asheville were really good though!!

http://www.chowhound.com/boards/manhat/messages/232610.html
http://www.chowhound.com/boards/manhat/messages/232780.html
http://www.chowhound.com/boards/manhat/messages/233249.html
http://www.chowhound.com/boards/manhat/messages/234103.html
http://www.chowhound.com/boards/manhat/messages/235463.html
For you New Yawkers to ponder....

nothing against danny meyer's and blue smoke it is good for what it is and he does run some of the finest resturants in nyc but it ain't a bbq joint it's a bbq restaurant. same as shack shake it's cool it's great but it ain't a burger joint it's a burger restaurant (too many fancy variations if ya know what i mean). i've been to blue smoke a couple of times and it's ok but it ain't the real deal. part of what makes great bbq great i think is the visceral experience. not that the greatest bbq couldn't be served in a fine resturant i've just yet to see it happen and i've eaten bbq in places like blue smoke to side of the road joints in georgia where you pulled your own pork and they only served on thursday's and fridays. there used to be a place in nyc called smokey's over on 9th ave and 24th st. now that was a bbq joint with great bbq. just a simple menu no fancy additions and boutique beers just food. well that's my 2 cents but i will add a tip of the hat to all the nyc bbq guys for at least trying and in some cases succeeding and giving us some bbq in this city.

I, for one, agree with Mr. Voss...

I've had all the NYC BBQ, and, though I'm slightly biased, I think RUB is smoking some pretty damn good meat.

The main problem I find is that many NYC BBQ joints don't stay true to the spirit of BBQ which is a meat and two sides. Most of them offer up the meat and a thimbleful of slaw with side such as beans, fries, etc as ala carte at $5 a pop. And a few of the places I've been to are a LITTLE heavy handed with the liquid smoke, which I can sniff out a mile away. Blue Smoke is ok and has some tasty food, but its a NYC take on BBQ (pricey and fusion-y). Thats right, I just made up the word fusion-y.
Virgil's is decent if you don't mind a tourist clientele. As I've said before, I love the Dinosaur and I don't mind the train ride and I always make a reservation as its generally packed. The original one in Syracuse is better just because of the original vibe. Yeah, Die Hard 2 had an OK vibe, but there was no smarmy Hans Gruber to chew the scenery, now was there?