Brisket King NYC will showcase some of the best up-and-coming barbecue talent this April. (Photo by Sean Ludwig) One annual event I most look forward to is Brisket King NYC, a showcase of barbecue talent from New York and beyond, all focused on making succulent brisket bites. The event, hosted by Food Karma Projects, will once again return on April 17, 2024, at Pig Beach BBQ in Queens. BUY BRISKET KING TICKETS HERE. Now in its 12th year, this walk-around tasting event will include more than 20 pitmasters and chefs, all competing to be the Brisket King. This year’s talent will inco ..read more

I'm not sure about any of you, but at the end of 2023, I'm exhausted but looking forward to 2024. This year was full of top-notch BBQ events and too many good dishes to count. Still, I've done my best to put together a list of some of my favorites that I ate this past year. Let's dig in! Pastrami from Kimchi Smoke at Brisket King Robert Austin Cho of NJ-based Kimchi Smoke won the award for Best Pastrami at the annual Brisket King event and for good reason — it was an incredible flavor bomb. Cho has been known for a long time for his brisket, but perhaps he'll be even bette ..read more

Sauce King NYC judges gathered recently to taste test many of the country's best sauces. The annual Sauce King NYC competition assembles judges from the culinary world to rate and honor top barbecue, hot, and other sauces from around NYC and the world. This week, the winners of the fourth year of the competition were announced. (Top winners first appeared in The Smoke Sheet newsletter.)  The Smoked Jalapeño Jam Hot Sauce (middle right) from FireFly Barbecue out of the U.K. won the top prize at Sauce King NYC. The Grand Champion award for best overall sauce went to FireFly Barbecue from ..read more

Barbecue, beer, and bourbon lovers in the NYC area will soon have the chance to enjoy all three at the 13th annual Beer Bourbon & BBQ Festival. This year’s event will take place on Saturday, July 8, 2023, at Industry City in Brooklyn. The festival showcases several local barbecue restaurants and numerous bourbon and beer brands to sample. On the food side, this year’s event will include Red White and Que Smokehouse, Gotham Burger Social Club, Dinosaur BBQ, Pure Grit BBQ, Brooklyn Baked and Fried, and more. The Beer Bourbon & BBQ Festival brings together a diverse crowd to try good smo ..read more

This month, Madison Square Park in Manhattan will host an exciting new barbecue event called Celebrate Big Apple Barbecue. MSP was formerly home to the Big Apple Barbecue Block Parry, an enormous annual event that ended in 2018 after outgrowing the park. Taking place on Tuesday, June 13, Celebrate Big Apple Barbecue will be an all-you-can-taste affair featuring more than 20 Tri-state area barbecue joints and pop-ups. The BBQ operations serving food range from well-established joints like Hometown Bar B Que and Blue Smoke to up-and-coming hotshots like Bark Barbecue, Hindsight Barbecue, and Pin ..read more

This past Saturday, hundreds of barbecue fans gathered at Industry City in Brooklyn for Rib King NYC to try great smoked meats from 15+ pitmasters and to see who would be crowned as the next “king.” Pitmaster Jose Perez from Connecticut-based Bear’s Smokehouse was crowned the winner, with amazing smoked pork ribs that had a perfect balance of flavors and were topped with chicharron dust to give them extra texture.  “As the head judge, I can say it was a hard-yet-easy decision,” Rib King Judge Adam Poch wrote about the ribs from Bear’s. “[This] rib had it all. Good cook, great accompanyin ..read more

The Wildwoods BBQ team won Brisket King NYC 2023. (Photo by Anthony Scerri / Smoke Sweats) On Wednesday night, a new Brisket King was crowned. The team behind newcomer Wildwoods BBQ in North Wildwood, NJ, won both the top prize and People’s Choice trophies at Brisket King NYC, beating out several past winners. Held this year at Pig Beach NYC in Queens, Brisket King attracted hundreds of barbecue fans who were able to try a fantastic assortment of smoked brisket, sides, and drinks.  The winning brisket from Wildwoods BBQ. (Photo by Sean Ludwig) Wildwoods BBQ was a frontrunner going into ..read more

My next-door neighbor’s house caught on fire yesterday. A dryer with an overly full lint trap ignited, and dense smoke began pouring through their house and forcing its way out the windows. Some of the smoke ended up in our home, and naturally, my wife and I freaked out a bit. We quickly got our five-month-old baby and 14-year-old cat out of the house and hoped the fire wouldn’t spread. Thankfully, multiple fire trucks arrived quickly and put out the small blaze without much hassle. No one was hurt. The smoke in our home swiftly went back out of open windows, sparing us smoke damage. It could ..read more

As the holidays get near, many folks (including myself) are still looking for the right gifts and stocking stuffers for friends and family. Or maybe it’s a good time to stock up on a few fun items you’ve been looking at for yourself. If you’re looking for any barbecue-related gifts this season, here are five NYC-BBQ-related items that will make barbecue lovers happy. Pig Beach BBQ Cookbook: Smoked, Grilled, Roasted, and Sauced — Matt Abdoo and Shane McBride Matt Abdoo and Shane McBride cut their teeth preparing three-star Italian and French cuisine, but in their spare time, what they loved co ..read more

Pitmaster and owner Ruben Santana of Bark Barbecue has attracted acclaim in the NYC area during the past two years. (Photo by Sean Ludwig) This is the web edition of the NYC BBQ Weekly newsletter. If you would like to receive this in your inbox for free each week, subscribe here! For the past two years, pitmaster Ruben Santana of Bark Barbecue has made a name for himself by slinging some of NYC’s best barbecue at Smorgasburg and other pop-ups around the city. Now he’s taking a big step forward by moving his operation into the Time Out Market in Brooklyn next week, where he’ll be serving ‘cue ..read more