I like food; I dislike crowds. So it was with mixed feelings that I descended the escalator into DeKalb Market Hall, the Albee Square food-court-on-steroids that opened today in downtown Brooklyn.
I arrived on the earlier side of the lunch rush – actually right at the stroke of noon, when civilized people like myself take luncheon – but the market was already bustling with people eager to sample from some of the 40-odd food vendors.
(Photo: Katie B. Foster)
Just a couple of months after Gowanus barbecue joint Pig Beach converted itself into a seasonal burger joint, the restaurant remains on Eater’s “heat map” of the hottest restaurants in Brooklyn. Now, good news for Manhattanites: You’ll no longer have to persevere the F train to get a taste of it. Pig Beach just opened a Greenwich Village outpost.
“Boots and buckles, red clay and sand. My point ain’t subtle. I’m a southern man,” are the opening lines to The Cadillac Three’s song “The South,” a country-meets-rock tune you might just catch if you stop by The Shop this Saturday.
Outside The Shop.
(Photo: Nicole Disser)
Last night Arrogant Swine, Tyson Ho’s hotly anticipated beer garden and “Eastern Carolina-style barbecue” joint, opened for business in Bushwick. And the bloody thirsty came out in throngs. When we arrived around 8 p.m., the line for bits of whole-hog barbecue snaked out into the feeding yard, far past the adjacent smoke house.
More →
Mike O’Brien planned Northern Bell around its spacious back patio: a sun-and-shade space sheltered from the wind by surrounding buildings. But the interior of the week-old southern spot ain’t so shabby, either: there’s reclaimed barn wood, subway tiles and antique mirrors. Plus a roomy wine cabinet that O’Brien — who runs a bar in Long Island with his brothers — plans to fill when he gets the dosh.
More →
(Photo: Elliot Black/NY Mag)
I live above a barbecue restaurant in Williamsburg called Fette Sau. It offers meats that have been sugared, smoked, and roasted until they are soft and sweet, like candy. It’s a popular place.
When my fiancée and I moved in, we were worried about the noise, since our apartment is directly above their outdoor seating area. Our bedroom window, in fact, is only 50 feet away from the active mouths of the patrons, and while smoking is not allowed, drunken storytelling certainly is. We go to bed early – I’m a school teacher, and she’s a medical resident – and for the first few nights we lay awake until midnight, grinding our teeth with rage, wishing death on these people and their stupid stories, these people who could stay up late drinking bourbon and eating ribs on a Wednesday.
More →
(Photo: Scott Lynch)
The weekend is almost upon us, which means it’ll soon be time to hit Smorgasburg for some Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque. Except for one thing: the line, always the line! It’s safe to say Mighty Quinn’s is the Shake Shack of Williamsburg. In fact, we’ve often found ourselves queuing for ‘que at East River Park and wondering if it’d be quicker to just hop on the L and get a brisket sandwich from the East Village location.
One day, we actually decided to find out, by donning some power-walking gear and challenging a hapless soul at the end of the line to a race. A race for brisket. Watch our video to see who got fed first.