by Farm2Me NY Team

What is BBQ?  Is it even an American invention, and if so, is it a taste? scent? technique? 

I would describe Pig Beach as the laboratory trying to solve that question – and that place happens to be in NYC! Welcome to the NC, TX, MO, KS, Western NY home for all thing Pit master.

2018 was certainly the year of BBQ for New York City. 2019 is the year that these newcomers are making a splash in this town – so mark your calendars, or you’ll miss the magic!  When Matt invited me to come experience Pig Beach on a Tuesday afternoon, my expectations were a popup smoker, maybe a tiny smokehouse, experimenting with TX bbq in Brooklyn.  Man were we wrong!

I huddled in the corner of an expansive room – easily overshadowing Salt Lick, Franklins, any smoke house I’ve ever seen.  This place is going to introduce BBQ to the masses in NYC, and it was as much introducing the experience of the South as it was the flavor.  I snuck around for most of my time there – from the open layout backyard with corn hole games, castiron smokers, bar stools, communal tables and gardens.  To the deli style counter where I could order meat by the pound.  And even the whiskey, bourbon, and beer wall with endless combinations of seasonal cocktails and local excise.

Shortly after I met Matt and his team, I realized these guys were pork dorks!  I mean, they studied smoked BBQ for 4 years, before opening even a popup concept.  They all had full time jobs as Executive Chefs de Cuisine at top NYC restaurants, and found time for 6 hour smoke sessions? travels around the country to compete in smoke off competitions? for fun? and winning awards? Before Pig Beach was even a thing? Yeah….

Anyway, we tried a ton of their food.  Created in the vision of some of the best regional pit masters from around the country – NC, TX, MO, NY, you name it and they’ve studied it.  And it’s not just a NC dish or a TX dish, etc.  No, no, no. This is meticulously studied, experimented BBQ, executed into a quasi-fusion approach, scaled to a 1,000 capacity restaurant space, making food to order, and tasting like no BBQ I have ever had before!

Grab the babies, your best friend, your husband, your girlfriend, and go!  And try some meat while you’re there.

Farm2Me is passionate about sustainably and seasonally sourced food and how it prevents disease. Follow us through our travels and read about our local food adventures around the world.