MilitantSquatter
Moderator
After taking our daughter to a Dora The Exolorer show at Radio City Music Hall, we headed over to RUB on 23rd St around 7PM.
This was my fourth visit... previous visits were all excellent but I will go so far as to say tonight was more than great and overall was the best BBQ (from a meat perspective) I've had to date in a BBQ joint anywhere.
Started out with the fried green tomatoes and the freshly made lemonade and sweet tea. What I liked about the tomatoes was the noticeable thickness of the slices.. They seemed to be egg batter fried instead of cornmeal or other type of breadcrumb and the exterior was a little bland and soft which took it down a notch but the perfect tomatoes still made it above average. The remoulade sauce was nice too but I prefer them without the dipping sauce.
We then ordered the brisket platter along with 1/2 rack of baby backs, 1/2 rack of long end St. Louis spares.. Sides were onion strings, baked beans & cornbread.
All I can say about the brisket and both style of ribs were that they were absolutely perfect in every way.. I could not find one flaw about anything.
Brisket was extremely moist, very flavorful and had the perfect tenderness & smokiness. The bark had an excellent crumbly texture on the top which was a definite plus and inside was just fantastic. Sliced thinner rather than thicker, I ended up putting the balance of the slices on the white bread and layered on the pickle chips. I could not let anything be left behind.
Ribs were phenomenal... Perfect size, great color, flavor and texture and smoke flavor. These would have been perfect ribs for competition BBQ from a presentation and taste standpoint (without the sauce). They are served dry (possible very light coating that gets cooked on ??) with sauce on the side.. I tried one rib each with some sauce but I think the sauces (original and spicy) hurt the ribs rather than help which is something rarely seen. Tonight, they were just spot on and to me exemplified everything that a BBQ rib should look and taste like.
I barely ate any of the fried onion strings.. I sampled the beans but I was so stuffed at this point.. The beans were average.. I noticed very little (if any) BBQ meat included in the serving we got.. It was smoky which was good but it seemed too much like canned Bush's bean with some thick spicy BBQ sauce. I did not care as the meats were the clear star.
We finished off with some deep fried Oreos.
What a great visit.. I left stuffed but wanting more.. If only I had room for the Reuben crusher and the sausage and other stuff I have not tried yet.
Service was great... Jennie was our waitress and she was very attentive (and pretty cute too !!) Only downside was that we were seated in the back corner table of the restaurant and it was very dark over there. It was pointed out halfway through the meal that there was a lighting issue that needed to be addressed.
As well, on the way out, I had the pleasure of bumping into our very own backyardchef !!! Matt was dining with his wife, father and mother in law. What a nice surprise and coincidence.. only in NYC with millions of people !!! I hope he got the same quality that I got tonight.
Tonight's meal definitely re-confirms my opinion that RUB has the best BBQ in NY. Hill Country brisket and other beef are really good, but RUB is my definite first choice overall out of several of the others that are also worthy of spending money on to get above average BBQ.
This was my fourth visit... previous visits were all excellent but I will go so far as to say tonight was more than great and overall was the best BBQ (from a meat perspective) I've had to date in a BBQ joint anywhere.
Started out with the fried green tomatoes and the freshly made lemonade and sweet tea. What I liked about the tomatoes was the noticeable thickness of the slices.. They seemed to be egg batter fried instead of cornmeal or other type of breadcrumb and the exterior was a little bland and soft which took it down a notch but the perfect tomatoes still made it above average. The remoulade sauce was nice too but I prefer them without the dipping sauce.
We then ordered the brisket platter along with 1/2 rack of baby backs, 1/2 rack of long end St. Louis spares.. Sides were onion strings, baked beans & cornbread.
All I can say about the brisket and both style of ribs were that they were absolutely perfect in every way.. I could not find one flaw about anything.
Brisket was extremely moist, very flavorful and had the perfect tenderness & smokiness. The bark had an excellent crumbly texture on the top which was a definite plus and inside was just fantastic. Sliced thinner rather than thicker, I ended up putting the balance of the slices on the white bread and layered on the pickle chips. I could not let anything be left behind.
Ribs were phenomenal... Perfect size, great color, flavor and texture and smoke flavor. These would have been perfect ribs for competition BBQ from a presentation and taste standpoint (without the sauce). They are served dry (possible very light coating that gets cooked on ??) with sauce on the side.. I tried one rib each with some sauce but I think the sauces (original and spicy) hurt the ribs rather than help which is something rarely seen. Tonight, they were just spot on and to me exemplified everything that a BBQ rib should look and taste like.
I barely ate any of the fried onion strings.. I sampled the beans but I was so stuffed at this point.. The beans were average.. I noticed very little (if any) BBQ meat included in the serving we got.. It was smoky which was good but it seemed too much like canned Bush's bean with some thick spicy BBQ sauce. I did not care as the meats were the clear star.
We finished off with some deep fried Oreos.
What a great visit.. I left stuffed but wanting more.. If only I had room for the Reuben crusher and the sausage and other stuff I have not tried yet.
Service was great... Jennie was our waitress and she was very attentive (and pretty cute too !!) Only downside was that we were seated in the back corner table of the restaurant and it was very dark over there. It was pointed out halfway through the meal that there was a lighting issue that needed to be addressed.
As well, on the way out, I had the pleasure of bumping into our very own backyardchef !!! Matt was dining with his wife, father and mother in law. What a nice surprise and coincidence.. only in NYC with millions of people !!! I hope he got the same quality that I got tonight.
Tonight's meal definitely re-confirms my opinion that RUB has the best BBQ in NY. Hill Country brisket and other beef are really good, but RUB is my definite first choice overall out of several of the others that are also worthy of spending money on to get above average BBQ.
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