Best Barbecue Spots in Queens
We’re dishing on New York City’s best barbecue - ranging from Southern to African to Asian. This Memorial Day weekend, let’s gather around the grill and chat about the trials and tribulations of the last year.
Addy’s BBQ is a halal barbecue fusion with chef experience ranging from Africa to Asia, and Europe to America. The owner, Addy, hails from Kenya and grew up eating mishkaki, a comforting street food whose name denotes kebabs of marinated, skewered, and grilled halal meat, but Addy doesn’t shy away from Asian flavors — his grandfathers came from India.
Although he doesn’t subscribe to the low-and-slow style of American barbecue, he takes cues from their sides with thick-cut chili cheese fries, layered with spicy chili, fries, jalapenos, and melted cheese.
This is barbecue with a mission - to connect customers to the source of their food - small scale, sustainable local farms that are committed to producing natural, humanely raised, high quality and distinctive meat products.
The meat candy is crispy on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth tender on the inside, but you can cut through the fat with their key lime pie. Light and tart, it’ll be refreshing end to dinner and prep you for a walk along Steinway Street on a summer night. Pack their honey butter cornbread to go.
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You can’t go wrong with unlimited mimosas, but the barbecue holds its own. The brisket is generously spiced and smoked with thick bark, the avocado fries are like fried guacamole, and the lamb burger with tzatziki-style sauce falls apart in your mouth.
Get the potato salad, and an extra side of BBQ sauce for dipping.
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Sample a unique barbecue sauce at Mapo BBQ - the soy-and-pear-based sauce is sweet and salty, drawing on and innovating classic Korean flavors. Not only this, but staff will cook the meat on a glowing-red charcoal grill, right at your table, until just the right temperature, to ensure you get the perfect grill.
Pork belly is a Korean barbecue classic, but in this case, their galbi (short ribs) are the winner.
Minutes away from the Murray Hill Long Island Railroad station is Han Joo, a classic Korean barbecue spot in Flushing. Get the perfect level of doneness on their tilted crystal grill, which is said to give a better char than a traditional metal grill. The kimchi, which comes with the barbecue, is placed on the lower side of the grill to soak up that barbecued flavor without becoming greasy. Their specialty meat is samgyeopsal (pork belly).
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You may be inclined to order brisket, pulled pork, or any of the standard fare that you would get at a barbecue. Skip those and try the burnt ends with cornbread and bear. The burnt ends, drawing from fatty brisket, are bite-sized nuggets of full flavor. The cornbread is bread pudding solidified, with enough airiness to avoid feeling dense, and washed down with a cold beer, it’s just the thing for a hot summer day.
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Sides are half of the fun at barbecue - try their smoked gouda macaroni and cheese, collard greens, sweet potato fries, and cornbread. Order the rib platter to share and mop up the sauce with extra bread. Don’t be shy about asking them for it! You’ll want it.
Their Instagram-worthy meat lover staircase combo is as fantastic as it looks and begs for you to come back and swap in different meats until you’ve tried them all. As an Asian fusion restaurant with Korean and Japanese-style barbecue cuts, sides, and spices, their drinks are equally diverse — sweet peach and aloe balanced with green tea, thick and creamy mango smoothies, and more.
Choosing a date spot? Their bathrooms are filled with free mouth wash, q-tips, hair ties, and menstrual products to keep you looking and feeling up to snuff throughout the date.
Photo via Yelp