I don’t know why it’s taken this long to write this down, but after telling the story of discovering the best BBQ in NYC for the 100th time, I think it’s way overdue.
In the summer of 2016 I was starting to feel like a local in NYC. I had a list of favorite bars, restaurants and things to do. I could navigate the city from memory and even had preferred methods of travel that varied based on the destination and time. IE: Going downtown, at this hour? The subway is going the better than a car. I could even join conversations on what restaurants offered the better cuisine. Which is the genesis of the Great Bar-B-Que Tour of 2016.
It was an early summer day, the windows in the office were open. The street 4 stories below created its usual symphony of city sounds. A group of us were in an office conference room that was named after a character from a James Bond movie. We were waiting on a scheduled meeting to start when a conversation about BBQ restaurants broke out. Some of the crew was surprised to learn that BBQ was a thing in city, others passionately defended their favorite spots. Personally, I had only had beento two different BBQ restaurants in the city. One tasted like rebranded Sony’s (a southern chain that’s mediocre at best) and the other deserved to be in a hall of fame somewhere. That said- I was intrigued by the passion of the conversation.
Leading the debate was Daniel, our data scientist. Daniel knew a little bit about a lot and could articulate his knowledge on any given field in a way that drew the listener in. It’s like a story where you waited with bated breath on the resolution and punchline. The second major contributor was Ben. Byron is a tall guy with a slight New England accent. His confidence in everything gave him a magnetic personality. He rarely spoke above an inside voice tone, so when he did his presence was demanding. During Daniel and Bryon’s ping ponging debate Jerry, the CEO of the company, decided to grace his meeting with his presence. Jerry was a brilliant guy and very aware of himself. However, his awareness didn’t translateto a natural self-confidence. He frequently needed pandering from his subnorates to make others aware of his position. I’m convinced it’s why he was always more than fashionably late to his own meetings. It’s like he wanted to see everyone’s hush when he walked in. At one point I even caught him leave a room where one meeting ended, to only stand in the kitchen while the attendees of the next filled the room.
When Jerry walked in Daniel was reaching his punchline and had Byron’s attention. The anticipation couldn’t have been higher. Upon delivery, it was decided, anyone who wanted to take advantage of the company’s summer Friday policy had to attend lunch at a NYC BBQ spot.
Daniel and Bryon would set the schedule and menu for each restrurant. But to legitimize it, each spot came with a score card that was weighted based on who filled it out! By the end of the following day Daniel was conducting interviews for participants to understand each and how to weight their opinions of each place and course. Afterall, he was a data sciencist. By the following Wednesday we had our hit list and score cards ready.
For one reason or another, we were only able to hit about 8 places as a group. Leaving only 5 that were “legitimately scored”, as Daniel put it. Of those, only two stood out to me:
#1 John Browns – Long Island City. Just walking into this place you recognized ithad character. The menu was a chalkboard that included a “People who Eat Free” list. Topping that list was Seal Team 6. You order at a counter and then wait for yourfood to be placed on a tray and handed to you. Out back was a courtyard with a separate bar serving local craftbeers.
#2 Dinosaur - Brooklyn. Getting there means wading through the sea ofhipsters that makes up Williamsburg. Eachone trying to out irony the next. To methe most ironic part of their entire being is they’re desperate grabs at individualityis what made them part of the larger collective that they hate. Once atthe restaurant it’s like most restaurants with table service, only it smelledlike BBQ.