NY ’Cue
By MELENA RYZIK
Beans are among the side dishes at R.U.B. on West 23rd Street.
Call New York’s Bravest because the city’s barbecue is smokin’, says Peter Meehan: “Restaurants that hobbled out of the gate have hit their strides. The best pits in and around the city have gotten better.” Head to Pies ’n’ Thighs, “a scuzzy closet of a kitchen in the back of an even scuzzier bar in the shadow of the Williamsburg Bridge,” where you’ll find “the best pulled-pork sandwich in the city” and an equally good side of greens amid the broken beer bottles and cigarette butts. For super-smoky brisket, try Righteous Urban Barbecue, which also offers barbecued beans with “an uppercut of deep, soulful smokiness.” And Mr. Meehan’s verbal blue ribbon goes to the “improbably amazing whole rack of lamb” at Daisy May’s, which “sits atop a heap of great ’cue the likes of which New York has never known before.”351 Kent Avenue (South Fifth Street)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
(347) 282-6005
Righteous Urban Barbecue
208 West 23rd Street
Chelsea, NY
(212) 524-4300
Daisy May’s BBQ
623 11th Avenue (46th Street)
New York City, NY
(212) 977-1500
