When confronted with city ’cue, purists are often quick to add the begrudging qualifier, “It’s pretty good…for New York.” Hugh Mangum’s low-and-slow meat haven needs no such addendum—it’s mighty good barbecue, period. The drummer turned chef first hawked his Texalina—Texas spice meets Carolina vinegar— specialties at his immensely popular Smorgasburg stand, and when the operation went brick-and-mortar in December 2012, the hungry throngs followed. Lines snake through the steel-tinged East Village joint, gawking as black-gloved carvers give glistening meat porn a dash of Maldon salt before slinging it down the assembly line. Paprika-rubbed brisket ($8.85)—slow-cooked for 22 hours—boasts a quarter-inch smoke ring and a girdle of fat that will have your taste buds cheering, if not your arteries. The thick campfire bark of the pulled pork ($7.75) elevates it from the usual saucy porcine slop you’re used to, and the Jurassic-sized beef rib ($23), which looks like a prop from The Flintstones, is so impossibly melt-in-your-mouth tender, one bite will quiet even the pickiest of BBQ hard-liners. 103 Second Ave at 6th St (212-677-3733, mightyquinnsbbq.com)—Christina Izzo
There’s no better way to welcome summer than with a good ol’ Southern cookout. Let Gotham’s newest ’cue contenders—including a sprawling honky-tonk in Astoria and a Top Chef’s Park Slope pork temple—do the work for you. Here are the best new BBQ restaurants in NYC.
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