Ferry Street Barbecue

I almost didn't write about this place because, as I was taking the above picture, an irritating twat behind the counter said petulantly, "No photos allowed."

Surmising that the impromptu policy was not so much about culinary secrets as it was about the immigration status of most of the employees, I asked:

"Not even just the food?"

"No."

If the dictum "request" had been delivered with even the least iota of courtesy, I would have considered complying. But screw it. Businesses should really try to keep the cunts away from the public.

Sullen twats notwithstanding, Ferry Street Barbecue hawks some mighty tasty grilled chickens. Nicely seasoned, with the right amount of char, and (usually) juicy, a whole bird will set you back 11 bucks - 12 if you want rice or french fries with it.

As is probably obvious from the photo, this place is a barbecue in the sense of "meat grilled over charcoal", not "smokehouse barbecue". It's a very informal place - a counter and 6 or 7 tables - and almost everyone is there for the chicken, but they also do pork ribs, beef ribs, shrimp, and bacalhau.

Ferry Street Barbecue
89 Ferry St., Newark, NJ 07105
973-344-7337
(from Newark Penn Station, walk 5 blocks east on Ferry St. - 5 to 7 minutes)
menu (add $2 to most of the prices)

Upstairs at the New World Mall

On the main floor of the New World Mall, near the Jmart cashiers, is a counter I passed many times before deciding to investigate. It generally has a motley assortment of what look like savory pastries, cold "salad" items, and stewed meat items for takeaway, and the other day, some lovely-looking pork shanks caught my eye. How could I resist?

They call this jiang zhǒu zǐ (酱肘子), pork shank stewed in a soy, sugar, and star anise sauce, and it is DELICIOUS. Well worth the 8 or 9 bucks it will set you back.

It's the perfect edible souvenir after a meal at Tian Fu or Li's Noodles downstairs.

New World Mall
Main & Roosevelt (enter on Roosevelt), Flushing 11354
(7 train to Main St.-Flushing)

Kungfu Express cart

Next to the Northwestern Famous cart on Broadway by Columbia University is Kungfu Express, a cart run by a woman from Henan.

I asked for some guidance as to what I should try, and sure enough, she steered me toward the Henan-from-Xinjiang favorite dà pán jī, listed as "chicken over rice" (大盘鸡盖饭 - dà pán jī gài fàn , or over handmade wide noodles, if you prefer) on the posted menu. Of course, it's impossible with a cart to make each order on the spot like they do at HeNan Feng Wei, but she scooped up a nice, mild, homey version from a waiting pot: chunks of chicken stewed with potatoes, tree ear fungus, and just enough red pepper and spices to be interesting.

She also does some nice grilled skewers - over charcoal, no less! The Chinese sausage (烤香肠 - kǎo xiāng cháng) was delicious - sweet, with a bit more complexity of flavor than most Chinese sausages - and a chicken skewer I saw looked quite good - not the usual tiny chunks of meat.

Kungfu Express cart
Broadway, east side, @ 117th St., New York 10027
(1 train to 116th St.)

Angelo's Bar-B-Que

My first gig in Fort Worth was over 10 years ago, and Angelo's Bar-B-Que was at the top of the list of places I wanted try. All these years later, it is - along with Babe's - my favorite return destination here.

Angelo's is an institution in these parts, and it's classic Texas barbecue. Down here, beef - not pork - is king, especially brisket (sliced or chopped). And the sliced beef is excellent. Be sure to ask for it fatty! (The kind of restaurants I like in Texas all seem to have terrible lighting for picture-taking, so apologies.)

Plates come with beans, potato salad, and cole slaw.  The sides are fine, but not worth spending much time on.

Although beef reigns supreme, the pork ribs are surprisingly good - a truly worthy alternative. Barbecued chicken, on the other hand, not so much... the white meat is, predictably, dry. The pork loin is nice and moist, but not particularly exciting. If you like salami, though, that's a winner:

My favorite item here, though, is the sausage. Just get a pound of these marvelous barbecued hot links to go - trust me. Here are some on a loaded baked potato:

Closed Sundays.

Angelo's Bar-B-Que
2533 White Settlement Rd., Fort Worth, TX 76107
817-332-0357
website

New York Han Du (CLOSED)

Next door to my beloved Spicy Road is a space that is now home to its third restaurant in as many years. The short-lived Deyi Peking Duck House is now the much-more-satisfying-in-every-way New York Han Du.

New York Han Du is a Korean-style barbecue buffet run by northern Chinese. I haven't figured out, and forgot to ask, if it's a Yanbian establishment, but I suspect not. Their food, in any event, is excellent. A good selection of meats, seafood, chicken, and organ meat (sliced kidney, anyone?) is on hand, both marinated and fresh, spicy and non-spicy. The side offerings are minimal, but it hardly matters: the barbecue items hold center stage effortlessly.

And with the addition of the galbi (갈비):

Comparison with Picnic Garden, the best-known (only other?) Korean barbecue buffet in Flushing is inevitable: I find New York Han Du's quality a notch or two superior. And there is the added advantage here that the pleasant, attentive, and skilled wait staff tend your barbecue for you. For the time being, they are running a 20% off special at dinner - at the moment the price is $19.99 a person (regularly $24.99).

New York Han Du
43-18A Main St., Flushing 11355
718-539-3061
(7 train to Main St.-Flushing, then 9 blocks south on Main St.)

Uncle George's Greek Taverna (CLOSED)

I really should make an effort to get to Astoria more. Most of the time, though, I head that direction and...keep going to Flushing. Uncle George's Greek Taverna is the first restaurant that inspired me, years ago, to periodically make the trek to Queens for dinner - the one that started it all! But I hadn't been in a while (too much regional Chinese food to explore), and then I read somewhere on the internet that it had closed. That bummed me out, but it somehow never occurred to me to doubt the information. Then someone told me that it had not, in fact, closed, and I finally remembered to have a look for myself when I was I in the neighborhood this evening. Just goes to show - don't believe everything you read on the internet!

I'll be damned if I can figure out why there seems to be so much misinformation out there about Uncle George's. I have read more bad notices of this place than any restaurant that I love that I can think of. And I have never had a bad meal here. Keep it simple and traditional, and you'll be fine. And be sure that at least one meat from the rotisserie is part of your meal. Tonight proved that their kontosouvli (pork) - my single favorite menu item here - is still as great as ever. Fourteen bucks gets you a huge portion of 12-15 chunks of beautifully seasoned spit-roasted pork, plus a side dish (their lemon potatoes are excellent).

 I brought a friend from Portugal here a few years ago who, like most Portuguese, takes good food very seriously. He took one bite of the pork and said "It was worth coming all the way from Portugal just to taste this." The arni souvlas (lamb) is almost as good.

Also not to be missed are the dolmadakia, grape leaves stuffed with rice and meat, served hot covered in an egg-lemon sauce. My favorite grape leaves anywhere. Start with some traditional cold dips for an appetizer--the traditional trio of skordalia (mashed potato and garlic), taramosalata (fish roe spread), and tzatziki (yogurt, cucumber, and garlic) is uniformly great. Not that I'm an expert, but the texture of each one seems just right (unlike those of Taverna Kyclades), and the flavors are clear and strong.

The oven-roasted leg of lamb here is also very good, and I still remember a delicious orzo cooked in the roasting juices that came with it (this was years ago) - I'm not sure if that's something they have regularly, but it's worth asking. Although I've never ordered fish here, carnivore that I am, I'm told their whole grilled fish are good and I believe it. I also hear that this is not the place to get things like gyro and souvlaki, but I can't imagine why you would with so many other stellar options on the menu.

Oh, and it's open 24 hours.  But try to go during more or less normal eating times - at off times, things can rather obviously have been sitting around and warmed up.

Uncle George's Greek Taverna
33-19 Broadway, Astoria 11106
718-626-0593
(N or Q train to Broadway, then 2 blocks east)

Hahm Ji Bach (함지박)

This evening I joined Pete and his charming friend Youlim for a meal at Hahm Ji Bach (함지박), just a stone's throw from the Murray Hill LIRR station in Flushing. I'm glad I did; it's the best Korean meal I've had in a very long time – maybe ever.

Hahm Ji Bach specializes in meat dishes, barbecue in particular. So, following our waitress's excellent suggestions, we ordered four barbecue items, plus a pa jeon to start. Somehow, a seafood bibimbap got ordered, too...because we just didn't have quite enough food for the three of us, I'm sure.

A stunning array of banchan instantly appeared, all beautifully prepared (made in-house, of course). (Photos by Pete)


There were several kinds of kimchi, including a particularly nice one made with thin slices of the knobby stem of a mustard plant, the kind from which the Chinese make their preserved vegetable. Curiously absent was the normal fermented kimchi made with white cabbage...I didn't miss it one bit. There were a couple of seafood banchan, too, including chunks of crab in red pepper, and bits of deep-fried squid. The haemool pajeon (해물파전 – seafood pancake) was, for me the perfect combination of crisp on the outside and just chewy and moist enough on the inside – the best I've had in a long time. And the dipping sauce – indeed, all the dipping sauces here – was particularly delicious.

There is almost always something slightly disappointing to me about Korean barbecue. It never seems to quite satisfy, or live up to the hype, or something. Such was not the case here. Dol samgyupsal (돌삼겹살), thick slabs of unmarinated pork belly, is something of a house specialty.


It was delicious, as much for the meat itself, carefully tended by the amazingly attentive wait staff, as the wonderful condiments and side items. Hahm Ji Bach is one of the rare establishments that offers ultra-thin, circular slices of daikon radish to wrap and eat barbecued meats with, and it's the perfect way to eat samgyupsal. That is, with some of one of the excellent dipping sauces and some shredded scallion. Hyomit gui (혀밑구 이) – delicate, thin slices of beef tongue (also unmarinated) – was perfection when simply dipped in gireumjang (기름장), a sauce of sesame oil and salt. Galbi gui (or, more specifically, yang nyum galbi gui –양념갈비구이) is the best galbi I've had anywhere.


Aside from the usual sugar and soy sauce, I’m not sure what's in the marinade, but I suspect one of the ingredients is crack. The wait staff saw to it that the pieces were perfectly cooked, and the wonderful house-made ssamjang (쌈장 - spicy bean paste) is the perfect sauce for dipping, before wrapping it in a frilly lettuce leaf and popping it in ones mouth. (Bliss ensues.)

We saw ori rohsu gui (오리로스구이) – dark-ish discs of some meat of indeterminate origin – at a neighboring table and inquired as to what it was. Upon learning it was duck, we decided to order that, too.


An excellent decision. Although unmarinated, the meat was tender and flavorful, and a delightful change of pace. The only way any of it could have been improved would have been by grilling over wood embers instead of on gas grills. (Is there any Korean barbecue in Flushing that uses wood embers? Yanbian, yes, but I don't know of any Korean places.)

Somewhere amidst this avalanche of food, the haemul dolsot (해물돌솥 – seafood mixed with rice in a hot stone pot) surreptitiously appeared. It was fine, although a bit difficult to appreciate amidst all the barbecued meat. A simple, lovely beef and cabbage soup was also brought as something to sip between courses. To help wash this all down was a cucumber-infused soju. Quite mellow and smooth – my new favorite soju. And capping off this mammoth repast was a cup of pumpkin sikhye (식혜), a punch made with fermented rice. Not the kind of thing I normally like, but it was surprisingly light and refreshing. And at that point, we definitely needed some "refreshing"!

Satisfaction comes at a price, however. The barbecue dishes are on the expensive side. But - and I almost never feel this way about Korean barbecue - considering the high quality of the ingredients and marvelous attention to preparation, it's absolutely worth it. The prepared main dishes, on the other hand, are quite reasonably priced—in line with, or even a dollar or two less than, other Korean restaurants in Queens.

Hahm Ji Bach (함지박)
41-08 149 Pl., Flushing 11355
718-460-9289
(LIRR Port Washington branch to Murray Hill, or 7 train to Flushing-Main St., then the Q15 or Q15A bus to 150 St. (Murray Hill LIRR station). Then 1 block south on 149th Pl.)
website

Sol Hyang Gee (솔향기)

After reading about it several weeks ago, I finally rounded up enough people this evening – or more accurately, Audrey Lo rounded up enough people – to make a trip to Sol Hyang Gee worthwhile. And worthwhile it definitely was.

Sol Hyang Gee is yet another Yanbian restaurant on the Flushing eating scene, but this one offers something special. If you’re reading this, you’re probably familiar with Korean barbecue. This place does table-top barbecuing of skewers over... wait for it... wood embers! The number of Korean barbecue restaurants that use wood embers has been steadily dwindling over the years (I can think of only a couple of others that still do). Most never had them in the first place, and the handful that did have been little by little changing over to the boring gas grills. Sol Hyang Gee sets itself apart from the rest right out of the gate.

Order from a huge selection of skewers – some 25 varieties, including lamb, mutton, pork, beef, various offal, fish, and seafood. Most arrive at the table raw, but some have been partially pre-cooked in the kitchen to be finished at the table. The surprise hit of the evening was mutton. We weren’t quite sure what to expect from what is essentially old lamb, but it grilled up tender and flavorful, perfectly complemented by the salt-and-pepper cumin mixture provided for dipping. The lamb arrived partially cooked, with a nice vinegar and honey glaze. The pork intestine was really lovely – small rounds that crisp up nicely with a bit of char, but stay meltingly tender. The only dud was, oddly, the short ribs. Also pre-cooked with a glaze, the miniscule pieces were as much cartilage as meat – annoying to eat, and, in the end, unsatisfying. And at twice the price of everything else we ordered, definitely not worth the cost. Also note that each variety of skewer lists "number of pieces": one piece equals one small skewer, not the number of chunks on one skewer. Most varieties work out to about $1.20 per skewer.

We also ordered the "house special sizzling bean curd" (鐵板豆腐 – tiě bǎn dòu fǔ, or iron slab tofu), and it was fantastic: squares of very lightly breaded tofu on a bed of sweet sliced onions on a sizzling iron plate, with a beautiful dipping sauce on the side. If you like tofu at all, get it.

Most of the Yanbian places I’ve been to in Flushing feel somehow more Chinese than Korean (and Yanbian is in China, after all), but Sol Hyang Gee feels more Korean. However, the delightful banchan are Yanbian all the way: bean sprout salad, a shredded daikon kimchi with the typical Yanbian flavor balance of a bit of spicy coupled with more than a bit of sweet and vinegary, bamboo shoots with jalapeño peppers (this was not nearly as flavorful as Feng Mao’s version), and boiled peanuts.

If you go, know that their awning says "Sol Hyang Lee". It’s a typo – you’ve found the right place!

Sol Hyang Gee (솔향기)
136-73 41st Ave., Flushing 11355
718-353-8160
(7 train to Flushing-Main St., walk 2 blocks south on Main, then left on 41st Ave.)

Jeff's Joint BBQ

Taos, New Mexico, was not exactly the place I expected to have the best barbecue I've tried in years, but life is full of surprises. When I first drove past Jeff's Joint BBQ, I thought it looked promising somehow, and my instincts proved to be correct: this is the best BBQ I've had since Clark's Outpost in Tioga, TX (it was North Carolina before that).

The busy pitmaster (Jeff, presumably, although I did not have a chance to ask) wandered by the counter once or twice, and my inquiry as to the house specialty yielded the answer, "Ribs". Thanks. There are 4 kinds here: spare ribs, baby back, beef ribs, and short ribs. Naturally, I wanted to try all of them, and herein lies the biggest problem with going places solo as I so often end up doing. The intensely sweet but scattered woman behind the cash register was more of a hindrance than help with ordering, but in the end, I settled on a half rack of spare ribs over the baby back, plus half-pound orders each of beef ribs, short ribs, and sausage (to go--even I can't eat all that in one sitting).

It was all fantastic. This guy really knows what he's doing. The ribs all benefited from a nice dry rub, then were barbecued/smoked by an expert. The meat comes out so juicy and tasty that it hardly needs the tangy, not-too-sweet, house barbecue sauce served on the side, but is enhanced by it beautifully.

My big regret: not being able to try to the Saturday-only special, Stephane's grilled and sliced whole top sirloin. Maybe next time.

Closed Mondays, and be sure to get there before 9:00 p.m.

Jeff's Joint BBQ
1014 Paseo del Pueblo Sur
Taos, NM 87571
575-758-1027
website

Restaurante Adega O Fuso

If you're in Lisbon and have access to a car, you should definitely take a trip to Arruda dos Vinhos. Take the A1 highway from Lisbon, in the direction of Porto, and exit at Alverca. From there, follow the signs to Arruda dos Vinhos--the trip takes about half an hour from Lisbon, and takes you through some lovely and unusual terrain. The trip is well worth making because of an outstanding restaurant called O Fuso.

The heart of the restaurant is a big, stone lareira--the hearth where all of the house specialties are grilled. And these specialties justify the trip completely: bacalhau grilled over the wood fire--with liberal amounts of garlic, then doused in olive oil--and, my favorite, naturally, costela de vaca--a huge... what does one call it?... beef rib chop, also grilled over the wood fire (remember the beginning of the Flintstones cartoon, at the drive-in? This rib chop reminds you a bit of that....). A grilled chouriço to start, and you're in heaven. The wonderful, local bread they serve is made even better if you ask them to toast it (torrar) over that same fire. The restaurant is easy to find, right on the main drag in the center of the town.

Restaurante Adega O Fuso
Rua Almirante Cândido dos Reis, 94-96
2630-216 Arruda dos Vinhos, Portugal
(+351) 26 397 51 21

Tierra Astur

If there is one restaurant that sums up what is for me the essence of Asturias and its food and drink, it is Tierra Astur in Colloto, on the outskirts of Oviedo. If you’re anywhere nearby, grab as many people as you can and GO, and be prepared for a hedonistic binge of consumption. It’s one hell of a party!

It is, first and foremost, a sidrería (pictures from their website):


The design of the Colloto location—converted from the old Águila Negra beer factory—is fantastic, and the “wall of water” is an ingenious modern take on a traditional way keeping the sidra at the proper temperature, which I first experienced at an outdoor chigre in Soto de Agues, tucked next to a puente de piedra with the bottles chilling in the stream.


Here one can enjoy sidra escanciado, or “de espicha” (from the tap):


You won’t find sidra de espicha just anywhere, so I suggest trying it here. It also has the advantage of being “all-you-can-drink” for one quite modest price, as opposed to paying by the bottle.

The menu is huge, and everything is listed, charmingly, in bable asturiano and castellano. Stick as closely as you can to the traditional parrilla fare—it’s what they do best. For starters, they have a wide selection Asturian embutidos (cured meats of various kinds)… try everything. As much as I love it, this probably isn’t the place to get jamón ibérico. It’s decent quality—not the best—but sliced by machine and not by hand. The same weight goes farther that way, but the texture, and therefore the flavor, isn’t right. But with all the other great cured meats and sausages you shouldn’t miss it.

Hopefully you’ve arrived with enough people to warrant ordering the parrillada, a veritable avalanche of food that easily feeds 5-6, and a bargain at €38: chorizu criollu (light-colored pork sausage), chorizu roju (red, paprika chorizo), morciella fresca (blood sausage), pitu (chicken), costiella de gochu (pork ribs), costiella de xata (beef ribs), llacón (pork hock), churrascu (cross-cut beef rib), entrecó de carne roxa (beef entrecote), paletilla de corderu (lamb), pimientos (roasted red peppers) and fried potatoes. They do a good chuletón de güe (ox chop) here, too. It may not be up to the high quality of Nozana, or even El Quesu in nearby Bobes (Siero), but it's better than adequate. The items from kitchen (as opposed to the grill) tend not to be nearly as good. There’s an incredible selection of Asturian cheeses for postre (once again, don’t bother with the kitchen dessert items).

There are three locations at this point, and for my money the Colloto one is by far the best (if you go, you may be lucky enough to be waited on by Cristina, who will give you some cheeky auténtico asturiano banter while doing a great job). There’s also one in El Bulevar de la Sidra (calle Gascona) in Oviedo, and a newly-opened location on the Playa de la Poniente in Gijón—say hello to my friend Saulo if you hit that one!

Tierra Astur
Antigua Fábrica del Águila Negra
Colloto 33010 Oviedo, Spain
(+34) 985 79 12 28
website

Mesón de Nozana

The parrilla of central Asturias is, predictably, probably my favorite genre of restaurant in the world. The most traditional ones are open, airy structures, the nerve-centers of which are big, wood-burning stone hearths where the meats are grilled in plain view of anyone who cares to watch.

One of the very best of these is Mesón de Nozana in Viella, just a few kilometers east of Oviedo.

Their parrillada is a mountain of grilled meats that easily feeds 3-4 people: beef ribs, pork ribs, sirloin, lacón (like what Americans think of as ham), grilled chicken with lemon, chorizo criollo (white-pink seasoned pork sausage), and chorizo rojo (semi-cured paprika pork sausage).

At 28€, an unbelievable bargain, especially considering the high quality of the meats. They also have a full selection of appetizers, salads, and other basic Asturian dishes, plus a a wine list that covers all the Spanish bases (Ramón Bilbao is an especially good choice with all that meat), and, of course, sidra.

Mesón de Nozana
c/Iglesia, 2
Viella 33429 Siero, Spain
(+34) 985 26 05 36
a bare-bones website

Lark's Hand Car Wash & Bar-B-Que

Recently, I was on a gig in southwest Michigan. It had been a few days, and I was beginning to think there was no really good, honest food in the area at all when Paul finally took me to Lark’s. I went back every day the rest of the time I was there.

Barbecue and soul food is what they do here, and it’s all fabulous. The best introduction to their art is the Pig on a Bun: a peerless sandwich of pulled pork. Jerk chicken is also stellar (I’m a huge fan of the dark meat)—not exactly what one might expect if one is familiar with Jamaican jerk chicken, but the barbecued chicken with a spicy dry rub is pretty stupendous on its own terms. As is the homemade spicy Polish dog—get it with onions and barbecue sauce (the house sauce is good and vinegary, not too sweet, and spicy enough to be really interesting). Curiously, the only thing I tried that was less than top-notch was the ribs… they were just a tad dry. But the country-style ribs were tender, juicy, boneless chunks of utter deliciousness.

If you go, say hello to Marilyn Lark, a former Queens resident and a great lady.

Lark & Sons Car Wash & Bar-B-Que
174 W. Main St., Benton Harbor, MI 49022
269-926-9833