Friday Find: Trying Everything on the Menu at Hometown Barbecue

June 25, 2021June 25, 2021 / Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Monk: Alex Delany, formerly of Bon Appétit, used to do this thing where he tries one “perfect” bite from everything on the menu and then gives out awards for his favorite items. For his visit to Hometown Barbecue in Red Hook, Brad Leone joins in on the menu tasting.

They are also joined for a short chat with Dave Gill, Aussie pitmaster of Hometown, who gives his recommended order for first time customers at Hometown.

Note: After I composed this past, I found out that Delany left Bon Appétit last year under quite a bit of controversy and while I don’t condone his actions, I still wanted to feature this video for the Hometown Barbecue of it all.

Description: While New York City may not be a city known for its barbecue, Hometown Bar-B-Que stands apart as a truly great spot to meet your smokey meat needs. We sent Alex Delany to go try one perfect bite of every item on the menu at this joint, and we also sent his buddy Brad Leone along for the ride.

Friday Find: Why Hometown Bar-B-Que Is The Most Legendary Barbecue Restaurant In NYC

September 20, 2019September 18, 2019 / Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

I hadn’t realized that Louie Mueller in Taylor, TX was the main reason why Billy Durney left his job as a personal bodyguard for celebrities to start Hometown Bar-B-Que to be the head “fire tender” (he thinks the term “pitmaster” is ridiculous). Food Insider tries most of the meats from “the best barbecue in New York” in this video.

Description: Hometown Bar-B-Que is arguably the most famous barbecue restaurant in New York City. Customers from all over the world flock to this restaurant and can wait up to two hours to try the food. INSIDER’s Herrine Ro and Sydney Kramer visit the restaurant and learn about Billy Durney’s story about how he fell in love with his craft and what makes his barbecue unique.

Friday Find: YETI Presents: Hometown

June 8, 2018June 7, 2018 / Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

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.

Hometown Bar-B-Que – Brooklyn, NY

December 19, 2016January 2, 2017 / Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Name: Hometown Bar-B-Que
Date: 12/2/16
Address: 454 Van Brunt St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Order: ½ pound pulled pork. ½ pound brisket, ½ pound lamb belly, beef rib, medium queso mac and cheese, medium collards (link to menu)
Price: ~$90 (for 3)

Speedy: NO SLEEP TIL BROOKLYN. That’s right, Monk and I took a trip to the big city to play hipster for the weekend, so what’s the first thing on our agenda? Barbecue, of course!

Monk: And not just any barbecue, but artisanal wood smoked barbecue in Red Hook! Friend of the blog Johnny Fugitt actually ranked Hometown Bar-B-Que #2 in his book, The 100 Best Barbecue Restaurants in America. I wanted to check it out last fall when we spent 8 nights in New York but it just didn’t pan out. Mostly because we realized that Red Hook is just not so convenient to get to whether by Uber (much less on fixies, another approved transportation method), whether you are in Manhattan or even in a different part of Brooklyn (as we hipsters found out staying in Williamsburg that weekend).

Speedy: So we rolled up to Hometown, a standalone building near the Upper Bay. The atmosphere is supercool for a couple hipsters like us. It definitely reminded me of a Texas joint, with a cafeteria-style line, a separate bar, and a second dining room complete with a band setup (so hipster!). Monk and I immediately went to work and ordered a little bit of most things on the menu. The meat was cut and weighed right in front of us and we were good to go.

Monk: Well, good to go in the sense that they charged us a buttload of money just to get a decent amount of barbecue. But I guess that’s kind of touristy of us to complain about high prices in New York, so nevermind, back to hipster mode…

Speedy: The first thing to discuss is definitely the beef rib. It was definitely quite the piece of meat. It was seasoned well, providing some bark on the outside, and was cooked to perfection – tender but not overly so. Overall, this was a great start!

Monk: This was my first real beef rib and I agree that it was pretty great, though of course I don’t have the frame of reference that Rudy or even Speedy have. As for the pulled pork, it was fine minus the small pool of grease it was sitting in. This got more and more unappetizing as our lunch went on. I would rank it last of the meats we tried but it was still above average.

Speedy: The brisket definitely exceeded expectations. Monk and I got a cut off a fresh brisket, complete with extra outside.

Monk: Real recognize real…

Speedy: …It was oh-so-peppery and delicious. Not overly seasoned at all – just a really good brisket. The only drawback is that it was a little on the fatty side (we weren’t asked fatty or lean), but I’m nitpicking. This is one thing I’ll be ordering again if I ever find myself in Red Hook again.

Monk: Why would you find yourself in Red Hook again? Pre-gaming for a Bon Iver show or something?

The most interesting meat we ordered was the lamb belly, which was served pulled similar to the pork. In fact, if you weren’t paying attention it was hard to tell the difference between the two just by looking – just a slight variation in brown. It was very, very good albeit again I had nothing to compare it to. The texture varied slightly from the pulled pork and it was more succulent maybe? This being my first time, I’m not doing a good job describing it but I would order it again even if it did have the same pool of grease issue as the pork.

Speedy: I thought the lamb belly was excellent. I was expecting it to look/taste more like pork belly (the only belly with which I’m familiar), but it ended up being quite different. There was definitely a lot of flavor, some vinegar tang, and a little sweetness. I think it tied the brisket for me for my favorite meat of the day (something I try to pick out at the end of every day).

Monk: For a couple of wannabe hipsters like us, Hometown Bar-B-Que was worth the trip from Williamsburg and is now my favorite barbecue joint in New York over Arrogant Swine, Mighty Quinn’s, and Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (still so mad about The Smoke Joint, which came up again during this trip).

Speedy: Totally agree, Monk. Overall, I haven’t been uber impressed with NYC ‘cue, but you could drop Hometown in the middle of Lockhart and it would pass just fine.

Ratings:
Atmosphere – 3.5 hogs
Pork – 3.5 hogs
Brisket – 4.5 hogs
Beef Rib – 4 hogs
Lamb belly – 4.5 hogs
Sides – 3 hogs
Overall – 4.5 hogs