33 Great BBQ and Meat Options to Try During NYC Restaurant Week

Blue Smoke, one of the top barbecue joints in the city, will be participating in NYC’s upcoming Restaurant Week.

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In case you missed it, reservations for NYC Restaurant Week have just opened up. Restaurant Week runs between January 21 and February 9 in New York this year and it gives you a chance to try places you haven’t been to before with lower-priced menu items. The event can also give you a chance to rediscover a great restaurant you haven’t been to in years.

For pricing, two-course lunches are $26 and three-course dinners run $42, with some exceptions. Occasionally, you’ll get a mediocre deal with a restaurant serving a smaller portion than they normally would. That said, the vast majority of my Restaurant Week experiences have been positive and you’ll usually get a good deal. 

Given that reservations have just begun and many places are still available, this is a good chance to highlight a few NYC restaurants with tasty meat options including high-quality steaks, burgers, fried chicken, and roasted pork.

Hamilton Pork in Jersey City, a great NJ BBQ joint, will be taking part in Hudson Restaurant Week.

On a smaller scale, we are also about to start Hudson Restaurant Week, which features prix-fixe discounted meals at restaurants in Hoboken, Jersey City, Weehawken, and Bayonne. That takes place January 27 through February 7. I’ll highlight a few of those below as well.

Here are some top choices for NYC Restaurant Week:

• Ai Fiori — try the white label burger

• American Cut Steakhouse (Midtown and Tribeca) — try the filet

• Bagatelle NYC — try the braised beef shank with carmelized carrot pureé and brussel sprouts

• Beauty and Essex — try the braised short ribs

• Bedford & Co — try the smoked duck leg or the roasted pork

• Ben & Jack’s Steakhouse — try the sirloin

• Blue Smoke (Flatiron and Battery Park City) — try the chipotle chicken wings, spare ribs, and banana cream pie

• The Breslin Bar & Dining Room — try the fried chicken sandwich

• Buttermilk Channel — get the buttermilk fried chicken

• The Capital Grille (Rockefeller Center and Wall Street) — get the burger

• Churrascaria Plataforma Brazilian Steakhouse — it’s all-you-can-eat, so try everything

• Club A Steakhouse — try the hanger steak or filet mignon 

• Delmonico’s — try the 18-hour braised short ribs 

• FELICE 56 — try the Braciola Di Pollo (grilled chicken breast with oven-roasted pumpkin)

• Gallaghers Steakhouse — get a steak

• Ilili — try the lamb burger

• Left Bank — get the burger

• The Library at The Public — try the burger or the fish & chips

• Park Avenue Winter — try the heritage pork loin or the braised short rib

• Red Rooster Harlem — get the hot honey yardbird

• Root & Bone — try anything

• Ruth's Chris Steak House — get the filet

• Smith & Wollensky — get the dry-aged sirloin

• Society Cafe — try the steak or the short ribs

• Tavern on the Green — get the grilled skirt steak milanese

• Tudor City Steakhouse — try the skirt steak

Here are some top choices for Hudson Restaurant Week:

• Court Street Restaurant in Hoboken

• Del Frisco's Grille in Hoboken

• Edward's Steakhouse in Jersey City

• Hamilton Inn / Hamilton Pork in Jersey City (a great NJ BBQ joint!)

• Harry's Food & Drink in North Bergen

• Liberty Prime Steakhouse in Jersey City

• Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Jersey City and Weehawken

Did I miss your favorite Restaurant Week joint in New York or New Jersey? Let me know!

Sean Ludwig
Founder, NYC BBQ

EAT ALL ABOUT IT

Here are the top BBQ (and related) food news stories you need to know about this week:

Corner House BBQ on Staten Island will be revamping its menu in early 2020 but still offer lots of BBQ favorites. (Photo via Corner House BBQ / Facebook)

• Corner House BBQ, one of Staten Island’s top BBQ joints and a regular at BBQ events in NYC, will be revamping its menu and making other big changes in 2020, the Staten Island Advance reports. The joint will still feature traditional barbecue staples like brisket and ribs, but wants to broaden it further with items like smoked bone marrow with chimichurri and sweet onion marmalade. On top of adding new menu items, the owners will be “turning the Grant City spot into an outdoor destination with its backyard patio plus seeing more emphasis on catered tailgate parties.”

• Fans of pitmaster James Odell and his joint ODBQ in Ambridge, Penn. have started a GoFundMe for him after he had to close his restaurant in early November. Odell closed the popular joint so he could care for his ailing mother in New York. Odell was known in his community for having incredible brisket, turkey, hot sausage, smoked ribs and more. If you’d like to donate, you can do so here.

• Roscoe's Traveling Smokehouse has closed just six months after opening at its brick-and-mortar location in Wallingford, Conn. "Chef Roscoe has recently experienced some health issues that is keeping him from continuing to operate ...," co-owner Dave Silvia wrote in a Facebook post. "Whoever buys the business will have the opportunity to use our recipes and business name and continue what we started.. we are even offering to stay on for several months to train new owners.”

• The owners of Old Fields Barbecue in Huntington, New York will soon be opening a second location in Setauket (also on Long Island). Owners Rory Van Nostrand and David Tunney also own two Old Fields restaurants that aren’t focused on barbecue. Tunney told GreaterPortJeff their new location of Old Fields barbecue in Setauket is “influenced by the Brooklyn barbecue style to give their place a little bit more of an industrial vibe to go along with the authentic barbecue.”

• Finally, in a strange bit of news, the megachurch Brooklyn Tabernacle Church is suing Thor Equities and local chain Dallas BBQ for “catastrophic damage” to their condo unit caused by “putrid” liquids emanating from the restaurant, reports The Real Deal. 

IRL BBQ

Here are the top BBQ (and related) food events coming soon to the New York metro area:

Warm yourself up with delicious cassoulet at the 12th edition of the Cassoulet Cook Off in Brooklyn on January 25th.

• Saturday, January 18, 2020: The 10th Annual Beer Bourbon & BBQ Festival is leaving Manhattan after a decade of fun and heading to Brooklyn. A ticket buys you access to tasting great local barbecue, hot sauces, and tons of spirits. The “Beast Cage” will be back with exotic smoked meats, including alligator, lamb, bison, longhorn rounds, and much more. There will also be whole hog as well and you won’t want to miss it. Buy tickets here.

• Saturday, January 25, 2020: The 12th Annual Cassoulet Cook Off will take place on Jan 25 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Cassoulet is the ultimate winter dish, where French traditions meet New England baked beans, Texas BBQ brisket burnt ends and beans, California vegetarian beans casserole, and many other chef driven styles. There will be 10+ chefs and more food than ever, plus craft beer, hard cider, wine, and spirits. Buy tickets here.

• January 26 - February 11, 2020: A musical called Das Barbecü will be performed at Hill Country Barbecue Market in Manhattan this January and February. The performance, a reimagining of Wagner’s Ring Cycle that takes place in Texas, is a musical farce about mismatched lovers who meet during a double shotgun wedding. Five actors play more than 30 characters. This will be the first full production to be performed in the lower-level music space of Hill Country Barbecue. Naturally, BBQ will be served during the production. More info here.

• Friday, January 31, 2020: If you like bourbon and whiskey, you won't want to miss the Jersey City Whiskey Fest, which will feature over 100 styles of whiskey and spirits. Ticket holders are able to try their favorite as well as new spirits. Taste an outstanding selection of whiskies and even a variety of craft spirits ranging from the all American Kentucky bourbons to the Mexican Tequila, Russian Vodka, and more. Buy tickets here.

• Saturday, April 11, 2020:  Don't miss the 2020 NYC Bacon and Beer Classic on April 11. The event, at the Brooklyn Expo Center in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, will turn into an foodie paradise filled with decadent bacon dishes, free-flowing craft beer, and games. Cheer on NYC's fiercest foodies as they go head to head in the Hormel Black Label Bacon Eating Contest, challenge your friends in cornhole, ride a bacon seesaw, and more. Buy tickets here.

• Saturday, April 18, 2020: Mark your calendars for the Jeff Michner BBQ Benefit 2020 at Pig Beach. Following the successful 2019 version of the event, this will feature many of the top pitmasters from around the country at Pig Beach in Brooklyn. Read about the 2019 Jeff Michner BBQ benefit here and this listing will be updated when tickets are officially available.

• April 18 - 19, 2020: The 8th Annual Hot Sauce Expo NYC will be back for two days in 2020. The event will be held at the Brooklyn Expo Center in Greenpoint and features tons of hot sauce samples, barbecue and beer to purchase, fun on-stage events, and more. Buy tickets here.

• Wednesday, April 22, 2020: If you love brisket, you won’t want to miss Brisket King 2020 in April. More than 15 chefs and pitmasters will be there serving up their take on brisket and pastrami. Early bird ticket sales are available now so get them before prices go up! Buy tickets here.

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