• R.U.B. BBQ

  208 W. 23rd St., 212-524-4300

  The phrase “New York barbecue feast” is thought to be an oxymoron, like “Moldovan hamburger festival” or “Wyoming clambake.” Occasionally, however, miracles do occur. That’s our explanation for the dauntingly delicious “Down Home Pig Pick’n,” available for a cool $89.75 at Righteous Urban Barbecue (R.U.B.) in Chelsea. This fat man’s banquet—is there any better way to eat barbecue?—consists of an entire pork butt, rubbed with secret powders (paprika, chile, brown sugar, etc.), then smoked down to its porky essence over many hours. Proper pig pickings are designed for mass consumption, so the butt is served whole, with a blizzard of pickle chips, slices of bread, and four silver tongs for picking off the meat. Use the tongs for a while, then do what we did and begin tugging at the ribbons of hickory-smoked pork with your fingers. If the meal devolves into a free-for-all, don’t worry. In down-home proceedings like this one, going hog-wild is the point.

From the 2006 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine