Yep, that is right folks. Not only can you get ridiculous ribs at Rudy’s but you get some gas there also. This place is amazing. The menu is short and sweet and you order everything by the pound. I ordered a half pound of baby backs, pork spare and St. Louis ribs. I couldn’t help myself, it was so much fun just to order the food by weight. I also got their sausage. I figured I’m already in for a pound and a half of meat whats another half pound. They have a huge smoker where they cook all their meats. There are a bunch of Rudy’s around but I think the one in Frisco TX is the only one with the gas station. This is a Texas staple and a must go.

I had a crew of about 6 others with me and lets just say we defiantly covered the menu. Also you have to try their brisket and potato salad, both are Killer. I almost went back to get both for my own dessert but I was stuffed after 2 pounds of meat.

Baby Back Rib

Pork Spare Rib

Sausage

I went down to South Carolina to visit the southerner. I really wanted to eat some southern cookin. One of the things I learned in my last stay in South Carolina was there are three types of BBQ. You have your ketchup, mustard and vinegar based BBQ. Last time I was down in South Carolina I didn’t get to try mustard and vinegar based so today was the day.

We went to Farm Boy’s BBQ to get my southern fixings. This is a buffet style restaurant with all the typical southern food you want. I tried everything I could until I was super stuffed and could not eat anymore.

Plate 1 consisted of collard greens, lima beans, green beans, cabbage, hush puppies, pork rinds, a fried chicken leg, corn, baked beans, and vinegar based pulled pork with a side of cole slaw.

Plate 2 consisted of hash and rice, baked macaroni and cheese, more baked beans, another hush puppy with white gravy on top, mustard based pulled pork with a side of vinegar cole slaw and a Brunswick Stew.

I really wish I had a bigger stomach to get another round of food but I just could not fit it all in. I got two servings of the baked beans. They were so good but I finally had mustard and vinegar based BBQ and I have to say they were both really good. I could not tell you which I liked better. It really has opened my eyes to two more types of BBQ. We are all used to Ketchup based and they didn’t even offer it at Farm Boy’s BBQ.

When we were leaving Farm Boy’s we picked up some pork rinds for dinner later that night. I also noticed they even have a drive through window to pick p your buffet. Ah, you have to love the south.

Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em. And, WE JUST GOT ‘EM!!!! My first foray into smoking. I have been putting it off for a longtime while I enjoyed the professionals excellent smoked tasty. What’s inside? A rack of ribs and a half a pork butt. Both covered in Rendevous BBQ dry rub. Chips=Hickory. Temp 165. (this is my worry right now. I can’t seem to get it up to 225 but not sure if I need to). Stay tuned for the verdict. AND NOW THE VERDICT…

I realized about an hour after I posted that I needed more air flow in the smoker in order to get it hotter than 165 degrees. This led me to some “on the job” modifications. When the job is on fire, it always makes for interesting work. Using my fire pit as a staging area/work bench I hatched a plan to pull the charcoal pan from the smoker flip it into the fire pit and drill several holes in the bottom of it. Of course the key part of this is not to let the smoker loose that much heat so, I needed to move fast. In order to be as fast as possible I would need new coals ready to go immediately. That menat I needed to have my chimney smoker filled and burner in teh fire pit as I worked on teh pan. To add more heat to the situation, once I flipped the coals that were in the pan they would continue to burn while I worked on the holes.

The plan wasn’t the smartest but it was the quickest. Moving swiftly I started my process. Open, pull, flip, drill, burn, push, dump, close. All went seamlessly. In the words of Hannibal Smith, ” I love when a plan comes together”. Immediately my temp bumped up to 240. Exactly what I needed. For the next few hours I smoked in this heat range and things really started to work out.

The above pork shoulder came out nice. I pulled it exactly at 154 degrees. I would have liked it to pull from the bone a bit more. I think my temperature issue was to blame for this.

I also had some ribs in there. These came out nice too. A little dry and my pink ring was not as thick as I would have liked but not bad for my first go round.

After such a tough day battling the smoker I decided to keep dinner simple and authentic with the standard or July fourth fare. Next smoker date is tomorrow. Let’s see how attempt two goes.

After getting back to San Fran from Seattle, I was hungry. I arrived back to Mulls’ place and like some sort of divine intervention there were a bunch a friends, a bunch of wine and a bunch of food in his kitchen. Ben was at the helm working on 5 to 6 dishes. Brit was making up a little snack plate and Ricky and Mulls were playing with their iPads. Kelly and I got into the wine and the conversation and before you knew it Ben had the spread ready for consumption.

Above is one of 4 porterhouse steaks grilled up to perfection. Ben’s little trick is to finish them in the oven. (might have to steal that one buddy). Below we have the rest of the spread.

sweet corn

roasted onions with dill

roasted pineapples

couscous

Long family Caesar salad

roasted vegetables

We wrapped all that up with a delicious small batch wine made by one of Mulls’ buddies. A 2001 xtant red from Napa Valley. Big and delicious. I love that I can travel all the way across the country and still find a home cooked meal with great friends. Warms my heart and my tummy.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 115 | Post-meal (1 hour): 117 | Insulin: 5 Units

When I was down in South Carolina Kelsey and her parents wanted to take me to eat some southern barbeque. That was definitely on my agenda while I was down for my visit. They decided to bring me to Carolina Wings & Ale. We ordered slightly family style. I made sure we all ordered something different because I wanted to try everything. We ordered fried mushroom, chicken wings, pulled pork, ribs with a carolina dry rub, baby back ribs and five different sauces to dip in. It was a lot of fun and it was really good. Love a place with a lot of sauces.

Kelsey has told me all about the barbeque in South Carolina. There is something about barbeque that I didn’t know. Did you know that there are three types of barbeque, ketchup based, mustard based and vinegar based? At Carolina Wings & Ale we only had Ketchup based which is the only BBQ I have ever had. Kelsey’s favorite BBQ is vinegar based. One of these days I’m going to try the other two types.

Here is how it all went down:

Fried Mushrooms

Chicken wings

Pulled Pork

Carolina Dry Rub

Five Sauces

Last week was a doozy. Yesterday was no exception. Lots of eatin’. I ended the work week on a high note that took my belt back a notch. I don’t think there is much more to say that the video can’t explain. But, if for some reason you do have a question, drop it in the comments and I will be sure to answer. I will say, if you are looking for a mess of smoked pork piled onto butcher paper and thrown on a cafeteria tray, Hill Country might be the best game in town. The theatrics alone are 5 star. Quick warning, never go to this spot with me. I will make you leave in pain. Have you ever passed a 3″ pork chop around the table with your hands? I didn’t think so.

Hill Country
30 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10010
(212) 255-4544
hillcountryny.com

Burney Brothers Bellevue Seattle from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 116 | Post-meal (1 hour): 94 | Insulin: 5 Units

I finally made it back to America but I am not home in New York just yet. I had to make a pit stop in Redmond Washington to attend our yearly Techspert Summit at Microsoft. We had a night off to go out and grab some grub. A few of us ended up at a mall food court, which had a ton of different types of restaurants. It had been a really long time since I had BBQ so I went for it at Burney Brothers. I was very skeptical because I was at a mall food court but check the video and you will see how it was.

Yes. I ate a lot of pork again. The above video gives you the hour by hour. Below are the pics and expanded dialogue on the day.

My previous BBQ adventures woke me up with a need for more smoked pork. I started the day easy with a coffee and a walk down main street to watch the trolleys and the early morning stirring. I had planned on visiting Rendezvous BBQ for breakfast around 11am (when they open). I stopped back at my hotel, post walk, to shower up before hitting the ‘que. Coincidentally, Rendezvous, could be seen from my hotel window.

I mentioned in my last post the tension I felt between the races here in Memphis. That thought unfortunately popped into my head when I went to choose my T-shirt for the day.

I haven’t had a thought like this for some time and I tried to convince myself I was over thinking things but my gut kept telling me that my choice in attire was off. As an explorer, I sometimes wander into areas that are not touristy and very local. As a rule you want to be as non-descript as possible when in these areas. Just to be clear, I am talking about a chuch in Napoli, a red light district in Malaysia or an African American neighborhood in Memphis. This shirt was definitely not that. In the end, I decided not to wear it but was upset that I even had the debate with myself. Later that day, at the festival, I saw a little white girl run out from a tent to give a little black boy a gift of beads. Witnessing this I immediately thought about the tension that I described in my last post. This act made me smile and realize that even though Memphis’ history has shaped its culture, it’s future is still not bound to the bad habits of the past.

Ok. Back to the food. So off I went, out the door, around the corner, into the alley and down the steps to Rendezvous BBQ. I sat at the bar surrounded by vintage signage, a rack of guns and various accumulated artifacts from the bowels of Memphis. I ordered the rib and shoulder combo and a sweet tea. Quickly my linebacker sized bartender/waiter came with a giant plate. Setting it down in front of me I counted 5 bones, a hunk of shoulder on top of some bbq sauce soaked white bread, slaw and baked beans.

The ribs were some of the best I have had yet in Memphis. Tender, moist and a beautiful dry rub across the top. My linebacker was very attentive, filling my sweet tea every few minutes, as I savored each bite. Moving on to the shoulder I placed a flavorful bite of slow cooked Boston butt on my tongue. It was dry spiced and but had pockets of a smoky sauce as I chewed. The slaw and the beans were both excellent as well. Even thought it was mayo-based slaw, it didn’t swim in mayo and had a fresh flavor to it. The beans were straight beans. No bacon other pork accompanied the beans but they had a nice rich smokiness to them. I finished up at Rendezvous and stopped back at the hotel to clean the sticky off of me.

I left the hotel and headed down to the festival. On the way to the park, I stopped and added to the collection of Memphis building photos I had started on my morning walk. Memphis architecture is quite interesting to me because it has a large warehouse district that is spread across the city. Besides the few modern high rises the buildings are generally low. Many of the buildings are brick with large steel supports. As I poked around town, I noticed several old warehouses that have now been converted to residential living spaces. A sucker for old typography faded into brick facades, I explored a bit more before heading down to the festival.

I happened upon a gated area that ran along a bluff which looked down on the park and festival. After bribing a security guard for a day pass into the area, I discovered an isolated residential area of Memphis in which every house seemed completely different in design style, era and construction. The most fascinating thing was that some of these modern buildings had backdrops of the old factories. This created a tension that was absolutely beautiful to me. Here is a quick slideshow of my favorite buildings from Memphis.

I finally made it down to the festival and went straight to the taster’s choice tent where they were giving a seminar on how to judge BBQ. I learned a great deal about the formalities in judging such an informal meal. To become a judge one has to take an 8-hour class given by the Memphis BBQ Network. It’s a one day class in which you learn how to spot and taste good ribs, shoulder and whole hog entries. At the end of the class you must take and pass a written test. This enables you to judge contests officially. Before you can judge Memphis in May you must judge three smaller competitions. For each of those competitions you have to judge all three categories (rib, shoulder and whole hog)

So what is judging like for the Memphis in May contestants you might be wondering? There are many smaller competitions inside the big three (rib, shoulder and whole hog). For this description we will be focusing on those awards. Entries are judged on two types of judging, blind and non-blind. Blind is simple enough. A series of judges taste 5 samples at a time marking down their favorites. These plates have no garnish or other condiments. It is the straight up pork. For the non-blind judging, it’s a bit more hands on and intense. Each team is visited by 3 judges. These judges sit with the teams in their camp for 15 minutes each. After the first judge the team has 5 minutes to reset their tent and prep for the next judge. This happens three times in a row until all three judges have been through the team’s tent.

Seems easy. It’s not. Each pit master must do a full dog and pony show for each judge. They take them through their gear, their smoker, the techniques, the ingredients. Finally they sit them down and let them taste. To add to all of that, the judge is also looking at the condition of the camp. A cigarette butt on the floor, grease left under a fingernail or a stain on an apron can cost a team dearly.

I was lucky enough to befriend team, Ribdiculous. These were NYC boys and I new we would have something in common. On the first day of the festival we got to chatting and I was invited back for some food the following day. Damon and Shane cook at Craft and Craft Steak in NYC, two of the finest restaurants Manhattan has to flaunt. Neither is a BBQ restaurant. When I asked them why they were here they replied, “For fun!”. That was the perfect answer for me. In my experience pro chefs can sometimes take their jobs a bit too seriously and after that answer I new I would get along great with this crew.

Mid day on Saturday was judging time and I decided to head down to Ribdiculous to watch them go through it. As I arrived I had to chuckle to myself as I saw them all standing semi-circle with their hands folded behind their back. Shane was giving the judge the show while the rest of the team stood at attention. This is NYC service through and through. I expected nothing less but was still surprised to see their Manhattan based habits come out so strong amongst a much less sophisticated environment. (Referring to the festival and food not the people, just to clarify). I watched for a while and then decided to wander a bit and check back with them later.

I headed off to a few more classes in the training tent. There I met Amy Mills daughter to one of the most winningest men in BBQ history. She gave a talk on the history of BBQ and then her and I started talking USA BBQ joints. She has been to all my favs, LC’s, Dreamland and Blue Smoke. In fact, her dad helped set up the kitchen for Danny Meyer and is the “born into BBQ” partner for the restaurant. We talked NYC BBQ for the next 15 minutes until we were both pulled away by the National Pork Board to publicly announce our favorite “pork moment” No off color jokes please.

On the way back over to the Ribdiculous Krewe I stopped for a rib at the Weber grill booth and then did a quick check of the results board to see who won the best whole hog award. Turns out the guys from 1st Party Q won the whole hog prize. These guys invited me, yesterday, into their tent to take some pics of their hog before it went on the pit.

I finally made it back to the NYC guys and was greeted with a long pour of cold beer into my now empty oversized fresh lemonade cup. The judging was over and they were about to pull about 10 racks of ribs off the smoker. They invited me to stay and chill. I accepted.

The crew. Damon is second from left. Shane is on the far right.

These ribs were done to perfection. A wet rib but with a solid glaze on it so it didn’t make you fingers gush sauce. The flavor was as sophisticated as their judging stances. I could taste NYC in every bite. The meat was perfectly done pulling from the bone with the tiniest coaxing from my lips. This was hands down the best rib I tasted in all of Memphis and it wasn’t even a Memphis rib. It goes to show you that good BBQ can be learned not just born into. I stayed and tasted, chatted and drank with the guys for a while before moving on. I needed a rest and some digestion time before my next rib joint adventure.

A few hours later I was back at my hotel and feeling the rib meter getting low. I chatted up the two receptionists at the front desk of my hotel to get some insight on which restaurant I should try. After some debate I decided to head to A+R BBQ. I was particularly interested in the BBQ spaghetti, a blasphemy in name alone.

The store was just a few blocks walk away. It was a very jointy looking place. Glass windows across the front, bare bone basics inside. The waitress sat me at a booth and happily brought me a tea. I ordered 5 bones with slaw, spaghetti and some fried okra, another Memphis specialty. As I sat there a police officer walked in. Everyone who worked there knew him and half the patrons did also. One of my cabbie’s had said to me that Memphis is a big small town and this was complete proof off that. In the end, A+R was a let down. The spaghetti was horrible as expected but the ribs were subpar as well as the slaw and the okra. Good sweet tea though.

I walked out of A+R and took a few lapse around downtown Memphis to walk off the swine. I then headed back to my hotel to rest up for my final day in Memphis.

Restaurants:

‎

A+R BBQ
24 N 3rd @ Court St .
ph: 901.524.5242
fax: 901.524.5244

Craft Restaurant
43 E 19th St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 780-0880

Craft Steak
85 10th Ave # B
New York, NY 10011
(212) 400-6699

Yesterday I checked out the Memphis in May BBQ competition. I have wanted to experience this festival for about 5 years and so, after Miami I headed out to Memphis to eat some pork. I have 72 hours to eat as many ribs as I can so here we go.

After I poked around all the tents, I went and made some pitmaster friends so I could get some free ribs. I spent most of my time talking up the Whole Hog teams. This scene repeated itself over and over as I was invited into each teams camp. Everywhere I looked there was a huge raw pig and and a unique looking pit master prepping it for the smoker.

I started the eating with Corky’s. I ordered a half slab which came with some slaw and some beans. The ribs, beans and slaw were all ehhh. I was not that impressed. The ribs were full of sauce and that usually turns me off a bit. The slaw was Mayo based and I prefer the vinegar based cabbage. Still the slaw was not drowned in mayo so it did carry a nice flavor.

Next was Willingham’s BBQ. I ordered 3 bones. They were dry. Better than Corky’s but still just ok.

My last stop at the festival for the day was the tasting tent. Here I tasted 5 pork shoulders, all different, and rated them against each other. Of the 5, two were dry, two were wet and the last was in the middle. I preferred the dry over the wet but that is usually the case with me. This was hands above any ‘que eating to date in Memphis. Things were looking up.

Completely stuffed and slightly sunburned I headed back to my hotel to nap and digest. A good 4 hours later I woke ready for my next pork adventure. Central BBQ was my destination. It is about 15 minutes from downtown. I jumped in a cab and took the “scenic” route to get to it.

Memphis is a really interesting city with what seems to be such a clear distinction between white and black. In this day and age you would think this wouldn’t exist in such contrast. It has everything to do with where the poverty line is drawn and who was on what side when they did it. What really upset me is the way the two races seem to respect, or rather disrespect each other. I am not even going to launch into this debate but, I did feel it necessary to mention. When you live in a city like NYC, day in and day out, you become accustom to the diversity and mutual respect human beings have for each other. Being reminded of the differences from city to city in America is something I don’t ever want to forget.

I arrived at Central BBQ to a line out the door. 60 minutes later I had placed my order and was sipping a sweet tea waiting for the runner to bring out my half slab, greens and slaw. The ribs here were great. They fell off the bone perfectly and had a nice deep smokey flavor. Their hot BBQ sauce was delicious and their spice rub was also fantastic. (Hints of paprika and chili mixed with brown sugar and white pepper.)

On the way home from the joint I stopped on Beale St. to feel some blues music and have a few beers. The scene on Beale st. is much like Bourbon st. in New Orleans. After 9pm the street is closed to cars and to anyone under 21. Open containers are permitted in the streets and beer and booze is served about every 10 feet both inside and outside the bars. The bar lined street stretches 5 blocks and is adorned with neon, flashing signs and live music all over the place. The patrons of the street run the gamet. So, great people watching. All colors and creeds dressed in various attire. Some are decked to the nines in heels and tight dress’. Others are in caps and shorts. I have to say it was quite pleasurable to watch this jigsaw puzzle of people wander in, out down and across the pleasures of Beale St.

I blues-ed and drank myself out around 11pm and I headed back to my hotel to get some rest and nurse the sunburn a bit. Tomorrow is another day and I have to be in shape for day 2 of ribdiculous eating.

Corky’s Poplar (East Memphis)
5259 Poplar Ave (inside the 240 loop, near White Station)
Memphis, TN 38119 • (901) 685-9744
Sun-Thur 10:45am – 9:30pm • Fri, Sat 10:45am-10pm

Central BBQ
2249 Central Ave
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 272-9377

In preparation for my weekend in Memphis, and to satiate Bennett’s craving for USA BBQ, we had some supper at R.U.B. I jumped on the meat plate (above pic). I augmented a delicious plate of pastrami, brisket and pulled pork with a quarter rack of St. Louis style ribs. Slaw and greens for good measure. Washed it down with a sweet tea. But that is the standard. The app was what got me.

Bennett and Jen were both really excited about getting a Frito Pie. I was not paying attention and thought that it was named for no particular reason. In all my BBQ stops I had never heard of this. I suppose it is a HUGE oversight. At least from the girls perspective it was. When it arrived along side the hush puppies (pic above) I realized what it actually was. For those who don’t know either, it’s a bag of Fritos oped up flat. Then chili and cheese are dumped on top. Boom, it hits the table. I have to say it was good but I am all biz in a BBQ joint. I realized that this Pie simply is something that can make me eat less ribs and that is a bad thing. So a few bites in I resigned the fork and let the girls have at it.

We ended the night by checking out Sweetiepie, the new hot dessert shop in Greenwich Village. As soon as I walking in I knew the experience would be interesting. A giant birdcage with a table inside of it sat to my right and to my left was a row of tables stretching the length of the restaurant. One of the 50′s style, bow-tie wearing, hipster, waiters pointed to Bennett and Jen sitting at the last table on the back of the restaurant. As I walked towards them I realized that every patron in the store was a woman. A young, attractive woman no less. I reached the table and sat down on the ornate, high backed, red leather seat. A white, marble-ish table was slide against my stomach and the ornate menus were handed to us by the buddy Holly glasses wearing waiter. They ordered the Sundaes pictured below and I ordered a coffee. My coffee came in this girlie-girl frilly tea set that pushed me deeper into this dollhouse fantasy/nightmare I was “really” living. I lifted my eyes up from the table and took in the entire restaurant, front door to the cup in my hand. It was an extremely well designed restaurant with every detail matching the theme. Not that I could hear, but the patrons were all clearly engaged in girl talk as they paused only to put something chocolate or whipped between their lips.

To say that Sweetiepies is only for woman is a lie. In fact, as a single guy in NYC, this might be the perfect place for a guy. Of course, you have to like Cinderella, have a fast metabolism and know the latest on Brangelina to get a word in edgewise. So, with that I am off to pick up the latest copy of US Weekly and start studying.

R.U.B.
208 W 23rd St
New York, NY 10011
(212) 524-4300

Sweetiepie Restaurant
19 Greenwich Avenue, at 10th Street
New York NY