Photo Courtesy Harley's Smokeshack
It looks like New York’s hot love affair with barbecue is due to get even smokier in 2012 with a redesign of a Williamsburg favorite and the launch of two new places into which you can sink those sharp canine teeth of yours …
You might not be able to put lipstick on a pig, but you can certainly do a nice makeover on a place that serves a lot of pig. That’s exactly what’s happening at Fatty ‘Cue in Williamsburg. The cousin ‘cue joint of Fatty ‘Cue in the West Village shuttered itself on January 3 in order to redo the front bar space in the same way they’ve spiffed up the back area. The owners promise not only a new look, but new menu items and cocktails as well, and predict a reopening in mid-March.
While you work up your appetite for that, there are two new BBQ restaurants to put some sizzle in these cold January nights: Blue Smoke and Harleys’s Smokeshack & BBQ.
Blue Smoke in Battery Park City is the second outlet of the restaurant (its other half can be found at 116 E 27th Street), and promises to keep dishing up barbecue that spans styles found from Missouri to Memphis. The main spotlight is on their “real pit barbecue”: meats smoked “low and slow” over hickory and apple woods. This being New York, they get a little fancy too with starters like barbecued muscles and toasted pork ravioli with smoked tomato sauce.
Harley’s makes their meat sing in a Jumbo Southern Pride Smoker that turns out turkey, brisket, pork and other victuals for carnivores as easily as a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet turns out cornbread. We’re particularly excited to try the BBQ Frito Pie: Fritos topped with chopped beef, pulled pork (or roast turkey), cheddar, slaw, grilled jalapenos and sour cream. It’s a dish that just might keep you full till mid-March!
Fatty ‘Cue; 91 South 6th Street (bet. Bedford & Berry); Brooklyn; 718.599.3090; www.fattycue.com/home
Blue Smoke Battery Park City; 255 Vesey St.; 212.889.2005; bluesmoke.com
Harley’s Smokeshack and Barbecue; 355 East 116 St; 212.828.6723; www.harleyssmokeshack.org