Blue Smoke

REVIEW

August 23, 2009


CUISINE: Barbeque, Southern & Soul
NEIGHBORHOOD: Gramercy, Murray Hill

 

116 E 27th St Btwn Lexington & Park Ave

(p) 212-447-7733

 

Tuck in your napkin and prepare to lick your fingers clean at Danny Meyer's barbeque-feasting restaurant. The atmosphere is casual; red plastic booths are done up with paper napkins and multiple bottles of barbeque sauce. The lively bar, serving over twenty different kinds of bourbon and an original, Blue Smoke Ale, is decorated with dark woods and rustic light fixtures. Of course, the real draw here is pit-master Kenny Callaghan's three kinds of ribs: Memphis baby back ribs, Kansas City spareribs, and Texas beef ribs...

 

If you want to sample a variety of sauced up meats, go for the Rhapsody In' Cue, which includes spareribs, pulled pork, smoked chicken and sausage. We substituted sausage for brisket, which was too dry, especially compared to the pulled pork, which was rich and buttery. To go with all that meat, we ordered a slew of equally gluttonous sides. Mashed potatoes with deep-fried onions were delicious, as were the deeply flavorful baked beans. Mushed together, the two created a homey, melt-in-your-mouth stew.  Jackie's Fry Bread with chiptole butter was like eating a donut with your meat, especially when dunked into the staff's secret recipe— some kind of butterscotch, toffee sauce. And the deviled eggs were that much better than they were at your last family reunion. It may not be the truest form of BBQ, (there is a gluten-free and vegetarian menu, after all), but Blue Smoke is certainly a tasty, messy treat.

 

 


Posted in FOOD on August 23, 2009 3:06pm by Jena Steinbach | 0 comments




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