During our 10 day long foodie road trip during the week of Jan 6, we intended to stop at a number of BBQ dives along the way from NYC to Florida. We’re not barbeque experts, but we certainly now live in an area of the country were barbeque is an art form. We’re also not usually persuaded to eat barbeque in any major northern city, although we have tried (and liked) barbeque from Dinosaur BBQ (in Rochester, Syracuse, and NYC), Daisy May’s, and Blue Smoke. Our hotel was close to Hill Country Barbeque, which many NYC foodies list on their top 10. We decided to try it out.
We’ve seen a number of places with a similar style throughout the south: a cafeteria with a meat and a sides station. You get a tray with your crafted menu items, and the servers come to give you drinks and give you napkins. But this is New York.
We have a few basic tests for all the BBQ joints we have visited: brisket, pork ribs, and pulled pork. Well, no pulled pork at this place – very surprising. They made up for this omission with one of the best briskets we’ve every tasted – Moist Brisket was indeed moist, tender, and had a great flavor. The pork ribs were not so good – they almost tasted like a braised pork rib, rather than a slow cooked smoked rib. They again made up for the ribs with an amazing pork belly special.
The sides were rather standard, with a decent mac n’ cheese, and a very good green bean casserole. But stay away from the sweet potato bourbon mash – just too sweet.
Lucky I have the DinnerDoctor with me – she can always give me give me a heavy dose of cholesterol lowering drugs to counter-act the meal.
WARNING – Do be prepared to be in a food coma for several hours afterwards. And don’t operate heavy machinery until at least 1 day after visiting Hill Country Barbeque Market.
