Daisy May's BBQ

Note: Click here for a later visit to Daisy May’s BBQ.

In 2003, Adam Perry Lang—who had previously cooked at such haute cuisine temples as Daniel, Le Cirque, and Chanterelle—decided to open a barbecue joint. He chose practically the most inhospitable and least accessible location in town: the corner of 46th Street and 11th Avenue, a solid fifteen minutes’ walk from the nearest subway station, and in a rather dingy neighborhood. Nevertheless, ’cue hounds flocked to Daisy May in the belief that no one else in Manhattan had come close to getting it right.

This spring, Daisy May added a small cafeteria-style dining room (it was previously just counter service, take-out or delivery), and they enhanced their menu, with rack-of-lamb for two ($95), half-a-pig or a whole pork butt for six ($200), or the whole pig for twelve ($400). All of these items have to be ordered a couple of days in advance, with a credit card to guarantee the reservation.

In the Times, Peter Meehan warned that it’s a ton of food, although he was in pig-heaven nonetheless. I didn’t have half-a-dozen companions to bring with me, so my friend and I pre-ordered the lamb. It cooks over a low heat for about two hours, and it’s fall-off-the-bone tender by the time it’s served. The rack was higher in fat content than what most restaurants serve, which is what allows it to cook for so long without drying out. Two or three ribs is quite typical for a lamb entrée, so with four between us the portion was ample. Yet, it was so good I was sad to see it gone. It came with homemade barbecue sauce (made partly with lamb gravy) that was out-of-this world.

The dish comes with huge helpings of cole slaw, watermelon, “Texas toast,” and two additional side orders from a menu of about eight choices—I picked the Peaches Bourbon and Cream of Spinach. The sides came in large serving dishes and could easily have accommodated five or six people. We didn’t touch the spinach, and we left behind great quantities of all the others. It is a sinful amount of food, and we felt rather guilty at leaving so much behind (when children are starving in Africa, yada, yada, yada).

The Times warned that service is pretty “bare-bones”, but the bones were barer than I’d imagined. The food is served with paper plates and plastic utensils. They not only lack a liquor license, but even so much as cups or a corkscrew. Unless you’ve pre-ordered one of these massive cuts of meat, service is strictly cafeteria-style, with canned soda all that’s available to drink. Then there’s the very long walk to 11th Avenue. This may well be the best barbecue in town, but I’m not sure how often I’ll walk that far to get it.

Still, on this occasion it was more than worth it.

Daisy May’s BBQ USA (623 11th Avenue at 46th Street, Hell’s Kitchen)

Food: **
Service: Fair
Ambiance: Fair
Overall: *½

Righteous Urban Barbecue

Note: RUB BBQ closed in January 2013.

*

Righteous Urban Barbecue (or “RUB”) is my favorite barbecue restaurant in Manhattan. I’ve had several excellent meals there, and its location is convenient. Here are two reviews, the first from August 29, 2005:

I went to RUB yesterday and ordered the burnt ends ($19.95). I’ve never had this dish before, but it sounded so appealing that I was willing to forego the St. Louis ribs, which are my usual order at ‘cue restaurants.

The burnt ends were really terrific. You get a plate full of juicy brisket squares, with perfectly charred ends and nice pink flesh with a real smoky flavor. I was not tempted to add any sauces, being content to let the intrinsically musky flavor do its own work. Side orders were the cole slaw (underwhelminig) and onion straws (addictive). To my surprise, the soda was free.

In the mid-afternoon on a Sunday, I had no trouble getting seated. I’ll certainly be back to sample more of the menu.

This one was from just a couple of weeks later, on September 12, 2005:

Another visit to RUB yesterday, this time for the Szechuan Smoked Duck. It’s gotta be the strangest offering on the RUB menu, not at all typical for a barbecue restaurant. It’s truly a hybrid dish, with the duck prepped as it would be in Chinatown, and then given the finish in Paul Kirk’s smoker. The billowing layer of fat underneath the skin gives the duck a flavor explosion, while the flesh has the smokey bbq taste.

You can have a half duck at $14.75, or a full duck at $26.75. Unlike most of the other entrée dishes, it doesn’t come with any sides, but the half-duck alone was sufficient for me. You have to be a bit careful, as there are a lot of bones to pick through, but the payoff is sufficient to justify the effort.

The décor at RUB is really bare-bones. The food is what it’s all about. (I later went back and tried the ribs, although I didn’t write a review at the time. However, my experience on that third visit was comparable to the other two.)

Righteous Urban Barbecue (208 W. 23rd Street, west of Eighth Avenue, Chelsea)

Food: **
Service: Satisfactory
Ambiance: Satisfactory
Overall: *½

Postscript: Though I remain a fan of R.U.B., it is no longer my favorite barbecue joint in Manhattan: Hill Country is better.