NY's Smoke Sweats Wins Brisket King NYC 2025
Anthony Scerri of Smoke Sweats won Brisket King NYC 2025. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)
At Wednesday night's Brisket King NYC event, there was no way to guess who would ultimately win the crown. Held at Pig Beach Queens, 20+ chefs and pitmasters served up outstanding brisket dishes on a perfect spring night to hundreds of hungry guests.
Pitmaster Anthony Scerri of Brooklyn-based Smoke Sweats BBQ was ultimately crowned the new Brisket King of NYC. Scerri served up two excellent dishes. One was a "Limp Brisket," a Wagyu brisket that was cold-smoked for 6 hours in almond wood before a 15-hour cook using post oak wood. The second was "BBQ Cereal," made with chopped Wagyu brisket over cornbread cream, corn, scallions, sweet soy jalapenos, and Achilles Heat smoked chili crisp. Judges and attendees alike were impressed with the creativity and quality of the dishes.
The always funny Anthony Scerri of Smoke Sweats showing off a brisket in a way only he would. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)
The journey to Brisket King winner has been a long time coming for Scerri. After years of hosting intimate BBQ events, he began doing larger public pop-ups in 2019 and then started competing in 2021. He has been a runner-up three times — Brisket King 2024, Rib King 2024, and Rib King 2023 — and now he is a grand prize winner.
"We hate the word competition. It's nice to get some flowers, but what's more important to us is the fact that we as chefs all come together to serve amazing, hard-working, and hungry people," Scerri said. "Our main goal is to give back to our growing fandom. Jimmy Carbone has been a big part of that, as well as wonderful people like Steve Raggiani from the 8it app, Sean Ludwig of NYCBBQ, and each individual chef we've crossed paths with. They inspired us to break rules and push further."
Chef Vincent Mangual showed off his skills once again and took home the People's Choice Award and Soup-er Comfort Food Award. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)
The People's Choice Award, presented by community partner Friends of Firefighters, went to Staten Island's Empire BBQ. Chef and pitmaster Vincent Mangual served up a delicious Creekstone Farms brisket grilled cheese sandwich with a side of smoked tomato basil soup.
Mangual has had an impressive run of wins at recent BBQ events. He won the top prize at Pig Island NYC in 2023 and won Rib King NYC in 2024. His attention to detail and high-quality ingredients are showcased with each dish.
The brisket sandwich from Avellino Family Barbecue was heavenly. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)
This year's runner-up was Leland Avellino of Avellino Family Barbecue, who also won last year's Brisket King NYC. It's rare for a winner to come back the following year, but Leland likes a challenge. The Connecticut-based Avellino Family Barbecue crew served up perfect brisket sandwiches with crispy onions on top. It was one of the best bites of the night, just like last year.
NJ-based Tio Rozay's BBQ brought the fire at Brisket King. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)
The Brisket King judges also handed out other awards, all with whimsical names. These winners included:
Soup-er Comfort Food — Empire BBQ (Note that they won two prizes!)
PYT (Pretty YUM Thing) — Kam Rai Thai
Bao Down — Fire and Smoke BBQ
La Mama de la Mama — Tio Rozay's BBQ
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Brisket — Crossroads Que
All of the award winners were well-deserved.
The Texas-style brisket from OK Charley's was excellent. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)
Additional standouts that didn't receive awards but perhaps should have included the traditional Texas-style brisket from OK Charley's, Kimchi Smoke, Morgan's Brooklyn Barbecue, and Brothers Barbecue. The only problem with nearly everyone serving great food is that some folks went home empty-handed.
Many hungry brisket fans showed up for Brisket King NYC. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)
I had a blast at this year's Brisket King, and I hope I'll see you at other major NYC-area BBQ events in 2025.
See more photo highlights from Brisket King over on the NYC BBQ Instagram.
Sean Ludwig
Founder, NYC BBQ
SAY HELLO
If you're not already subscribed to the newsletter, sign up here. You can also follow along on Instagram and Facebook. If you want to write for NYC BBQ Weekly, sponsor the newsletter, or let me know about the best new barbecue you’ve tried, send me an email and let’s talk! Also, be sure to subscribe to sibling newsletter The Smoke Sheet on Substack.