Friday Find: YETI Presents: Hometown

The story of Billy Durney’s path to opening Hometown Bar-B-Que in Red Hook and how he fed a community in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy even before the doors of his restaurant officially opened. Both Speedy and I loved Hometown few years back, but I didn’t know this fantastic story until this video.

When Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast, all the hard work and heart Billy Durney put toward building his dream restaurant came to an unexpected halt. But that didn’t stop this bodyguard-turned-pitmaster from pulling through for his Brooklyn community. He lifted his hometown’s spirits with damn good barbecue, and in turn, they inspired his greatest pursuit yet.

 

 

Friday Find: Testing NC Barbecue Techniques on a Whole Lamb

Arrogant Swine in Bushwick demonstrates a Carolina whole hog technique on a whole lamb.

On today’s fresh episode of Prime Time, Ben Turley and Brent Young head to a barbecue restaurant called Arrogant Swine, to meet up with Tyson Ho, an expert in North Carolina barbecue. The guys talk whole animal barbecue, and why cooking whole lambs makes so much sense.

Linkdown: 3/14/18

– Just a few more items from the #BrooklynBBQ controversy last week

– A Brooklyn paper defends Brooklyn barbecue; so does The Houston Chronicle

– Attention Nashville:

– Ribs from Big Bob Gibson was a favorite dish at SoBe Wine and Food Festival in Miami earlier this month

– Evolution of a Filipino Barbecue Cookbook

– [thinking emoji]

– Damn, the food in the Bomb-Ass Biscuit Pop-Up at B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque does indeed look bomb-ass

They opened B’s doors at 9 a.m. on those days (the Riverside restaurant usually doesn’t open until 11 a.m.), slinging Council’s biscuits stuffed with country ham and apple butter or Furman’s fried chicken or sausage gravy. “If you come to a barbecue joint looking for a healthy breakfast, you’re in the wrong place,” Furman says. “We do not do gluten-free here!”

At some point, they added brisket hash to the menu. Then, they started selling beignets. And almost every morning, they sold out.

– WSOC-TV, the local ABC affiliate in Charlotte, has an odd “Best and Cheapest Barbecue in Charlotte” list that almost seems to start like an alphabetical list before stopping after 5

– Congrats to Our State Magazine, writer of some of my favorite barbecue articles

Linkdown: 3/7/18

When a re-posting of a 2014 article takes over the internet on a Sunday; Munchies on how one food writer noticed a micro-trend of barbecue restaurants around the world modeling their restaurants on Fette Sau in Brooklyn

– The Charlotte Observer had not one but two separate stories in response to the tweet (again, on a story that was 4 years old)

Lexington Barbecue fans react; Allen & Son fans react

– The Washington Post even weighed in; again, this story was 4 years old

– Then came the tweets. The awesome, awesome tweets.

– Oklahoma sushi:

– Brooklyn doughnuts:

– A solid mini-tweetstorm (click on Tweet to see follow-ups)

– There’s just way too many to pick from:

– I’m actually not one of those who don’t believe that Brooklyn doesn’t have good barbecue. I’ve certainly had bad barbecue in Brooklyn, but Hometown Bar-B-Que is very, very good (our review). Arrogant Swine is pretty good too (our review). Heck. even Dinosaur Barbecue wasn’t bad for a regional chain (our review). You may recall that Matthew Odam of the Austin-Statesman took a pulse check last November.

– Sam Jones agrees, and is a friend of Billy Durney of Hometown Bar-B-Que

– A few NC sportswriters in Brooklyn for this week’s ACC Tournament actually tried Fette Sau and the verdict? Actually pretty good!

When all was said and done, the four Carolina boys that showed up on their barbecue high-horse were left with little room to eat their words — fat and surprisingly happy — after chowing down on a couple pounds of meat.

– The NC State beat writer from the News & Observer tried The Smoke Joint near Barclays and didn’t mind it (we hated it nearly 6 years ago)

– But for reals, here’s a solid PSA: