We had to find a place serving “traditional American food” that could seat 8 people at short notice – this was our mission. A quick search online led us to RUB – Righteous Urban Barbeque. I mean, barbeque is American right? Let’s leave out the part where there are different regions within America and that New York isn’t a traditional place for barbeque and just bear with me, okay? There were cranky people to feed, cranky people who’d been listening to talks since 8am and they were all carnivores. RUB had a lot of seating and a lot of meat – bring it on!
We started the meal with a couple of starters for the table: some finger-licking good barbeque chicken wings…
… and fried green tomatoes. The tomatoes were just ok but not the fault of the restaurant, I think. This was my first time having fried green tomatoes and I was slightly disappointed to find out that they’re exactly as the name suggests – battered, fried slices of green tomato. Nothing mind-blowing.
I hoped to have The Baron – “A tasting of beef, chicken, pork, ham, pastrami, turkey, sausage, and topped with a quarter rack of ribs”. The waitress ensured us that this would feed three people and so I roped in two of my colleagues and ordered this.
This is what came to the table:
THREE people?! Are they insane? Maybe three giants. Or three rugby players. The chalkboard at the front said they were out of ham so this is the only thing missing from the platter.
My favourites were the pulled pork and the pork ribs and the brisket that just fell apart at the touch of my fork. On the table, there’s both their classic and spicy hot barbeque sauces, which were both delicious tomato based concoctions, but many of the meats didn’t even require extra sauce. I wasn’t a big fan of the turkey, which I found dry, but then again, I always find turkey dry.
It came with two large side dishes. I chose the onion strings while my colleague went for the super fries. The onion strings were greasy and good, exactly what I hoped for, and the fries were very good and actually were much better than I expected.
Needless to say, we didn’t finish the platter. We enlisted help from our other colleagues but they were struggling with their own orders.
For example, one friend of mine ordered a whole slab of baby back ribs with cornbread on the side. She just about managed to finish this by freely handing out ribs to all takers.
Here’s another friend’s two meat platter; he chose beef brisket and pulled pork. A quarter of the way through, he declared himself full but he soldiered on and just about finished the platter. A good effort!
We pretty much rolled out of there. And for a Londoner, the prices were frankly, ridiculously low. I mean, that Baron platter? The one that can feed at least six people? $45. And yes, that includes the two large side dishes. I’m not sure how much barbeque normally costs in the US, but this was a pretty good deal for so much food!
RUB BBQ
208 W 23rd Street
New York, NY
Tue, 23 Sep, 2008 at 09:02
miss american bbq here, drooling over these photos
Tue, 23 Sep, 2008 at 09:31
Holy crap! I thought Bodeans was good, but they look positively stingy in comparison.
Tue, 23 Sep, 2008 at 20:07
As a Texan and BBQ-lover (it’s the law) – I’d say $45 is a bit much.
to break it down price-wise:
BBQ wings – $5/£3
Fried Green Tomatoes – $4/£2
The Baron (with ham) $25 to $30/ ~£15
2 large sides: $10 ea./£6
Babyback Ribs platter $25/£12
Brisket and pulled pork – $15/£7
Then again, this is Texas. Beef is plentiful and cheap. A two-meat BBQ platter with trimmings (and ICED tea) runs no more than $12/£6
an interesting note: The dishes you had were a combination of East, Mid-West and Southern American BBQ. BBQ was actually first invented in the area of the east coast by the Spanish (they got the idea from the Native Americans). East Coast BBQ is usually more pork-based and sour/savory, while the closer you get to Texas and the American Mid-West, it turns sweeter – almost all the BBQ sauces are rich in sugar and molasses.
An even more interesting side note: many Americans are unaware that the traditional garnishes of dill pickle slices and onions are actually meant to be used as palette cleansers between bites of BBQ. The vinegar in the pickles is perfect to wipe away the sugary coating of sauce form the tongue.
Wed, 24 Sep, 2008 at 22:50
While that looks delicious, Su-Lin, you have a standing invitation to visit Beck and me and I will smoke you some bbq right before your eyes! I promise.
Louie has the traditionalist bbq mindset correct. Remember, bbq is a noun not a sauce or a verb.
Thu, 25 Sep, 2008 at 00:55
That looks like one amazing BBQ spread! But my goodness what portions!
Thu, 25 Sep, 2008 at 07:39
Looks great! I guess you didn’t have room for dessert??!
It has been too long since I had some good ribs – I will have to hunt some down
Thu, 25 Sep, 2008 at 13:58
kat:
Gosh, it must be difficult to find in Japan! Maybe even nonexistent!
Lizzie: Gah, yeah, Bodean’s. I haven’t been there in ages – I heard some not great reviews lately. Must try them again one day.
Louie: Really?! Oh my, you’ll have a heart attack if you ever see the bbq prices in London…
But thanks for opening my eyes! I never knew of bbq’s past history nor of the east-west divide in style. And while I did not know of the pickle’s roll in palate cleansing, I did treat them as such, like pickled ginger in a sushi restaurant!
Donald: You’ll be the first person I call should I find myself in Atlanta! The bbq (noun!) in your blog looks fantastic – particularly that beef brisket!
joey: Yup! It was pretty good…and good value too!
Jonny: A couple of us were eyeing up the deep fried oreos…but there was just NO ROOM left for dessert.
Fri, 26 Sep, 2008 at 00:30
Interesting! Living down here in Texas, it’s strange to see what passes for BBQ in New York… pastrami?!
Not only is there an east/west divide, there’s also micro-regions… the vinegar mops of North Carolina, the mustard-yellow sauces of South Carolina, mutton in Kentucky – it gets pretty intense once you get a little deeper into it! You’ll have to come to Austin to try some real brisket at some point.
Fri, 26 Sep, 2008 at 20:06
Those onion strings look lethal! It’s always to joy to eat out in the US (or just about anywhere, for that matter) when spending on pounds… Too bad I can’t do that anymore *sob*
Sun, 28 Sep, 2008 at 16:01
Boots in the Oven:
That is pretty awesome – lots of barbecue for me to try!
Nilmandra: Definitely! But the pound had dropped a bit while I was there…sigh… How are you enjoying Vancouver?