Weekend Well Spent: Big Apple BBQ in NYC

Had a great time at the 10th annual Big Apple BBQ in Madison Square Park, NYC this weekend. If you’ve ever been to the park, its a nice respite from city life but of course not as big as Central Park. Actually it only spans about a city block and is the home of the first ever infamous Shake Shack, but burgers were not on my mind, next time! Thank goodness the rain held back and only got a light shower as soon as we arrived. I wasn’t going to let a little rain stop me and neither were the folks running the show. The music was blaring, grills were fired up, beer was flowing and the umbrellas were out, three out of four, not bad.

The Jon Langford band playing country, folk music to kick things off.

The drizzle finally stopped and it was smooth sailing until the very end. The Baker’s Ribs pit masters from Texas seem to be having a great time in spite of the showers and the humidity but they’re from Texas so I’m sure they get it worse down there…glad it was them and not me!

JC Brooks and his band from Chicago were awesome!

The baby back ribs from Pappy’s Smokehouse of St Louis, Missouri were amazingly good. Spicy, tangy, sweet and everything a good sauce should be! Loved it, one of my favorites from the event.

Pork and beans, delicious!

Southern Culture on the Skids! Head boppin’, hip swaying funky music.

I wish there was enough time to try all of the out of state pit masters but the lines were just way too long. Some lines had about 200 people so tried to make my way over to the fastest moving one. The best strategy for any of these types of events is to get there early with a small group and have each of your friends stand in different lines so you get to try everything. Well, next time. Below is the beef brisket from Hill Country, NYC. Tender, juicy and perfect with an cold beer.

There were a few BBQ vendors that ran out of food but there were plenty others still cranking out the ribs. Once you got your fill you could run over to the merchandise booths and get t-shirts or BBQ sauces from all the pit masters at the event.

By now I was pretty full, sweaty and exhausted. I made sure I wore comfortable shoes but didn’t matter when you’re on your feet for 6 hours or more. Madison Square Park also doesn’t provide much seating and with the thousands of people at this event there was no chance we were getting one BUT as luck would have it, we just so happen to be standing next to a couple leaving…whew *JOY*. Now for my ice cold brew…boy were my dogs barking!