Snapple Big Apple BBQ Party!

New York restaurants are known for lots of things, but great bbq isn't one of them. That's why I jumped at the chance to attend the Big Apple BBQ party at Madison Square Park yesterday, where pitmasters from all over the nation brought their talents to a city notably lacking in them.

Upon arrival at 11 a.m. sharp, we got right down to business--headed straight for the following pitmasters: Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q for his famed pulled pork shoulder, Ed Mitchell of The Pit for his whole hog cooking spectacle, Mike Mills of 17th Street Bar & Grill for his baby back ribs, and Michael Rodriguez of The Salt Lick BBQ for his beef brisket and sausage.

A few representative pictures of the stands:

We first passed by Mike Mills' stand on our journey, and the line wasn't too bad, so we split up, joining the queue for ribs while I made my way down to The Salt Lick BBQ, whose line was considerably longer. The wait wasn't bad at all, approximately 15-20 minutes before we got our plates. It was a little sad, the Blue Smoke stand was completely ignored, and the workers really had to hustle for business, even going up to people in line for The Salt Lick BBQ and literally bringing them plates and change before walking all the way back to their registers. After our tag-team efforts, we had 6 plates of delicious bbq to try amongst the three of us.

Check out pictures of the brisket and scrumptious sausage!

The picnic tables were already in use, so we decided to just stand and eat our bbq alongside an awning of an office building. I have to say, the beef brisket was really dry and didn't have much taste. Maybe I had to douse it in extra sauce to get it to taste good, but really, shouldn't the beef speak for itself? The sausage, on the other hand, was simply delicious--thick and meaty, not too salty, what a satisfying savory snack!

Next up were the ribs...and again, I was a little underwhelmed! Maybe I like sweeter, juicier ribs, but the marinade was more on the salty, vinegary side. It tasted better on top, where there was more sauce, but again, shouldn't the meat taste good on its own? The baked beans were really good, a little surprising the side was the star of a bbq show...

We were getting a little full at this point, but we only hit up two of the four pitmasters on our list, so after digesting for a few minutes, we made our way down 26th St. Soon we saw the massive line for Chris Lilly, the longest one in the whole festival, and patiently made our way down to get our pork shoulder. Although the line was long, it was a lot of fun watching other pitmasters tending to their bbq and really hacking the tender pork meat with meat cleavers:

A picture of the huddled masses waiting for pork shoulder:

The holy grail!

I really didn't have high expectations for the shoulder, since the other two previous plates were a bit of a disappointment. But this pork shoulder was actually really good. On its own, the meat was extremely tender and flavorful, and the little bits of char gave it a smokey and crispy kick and texture, and the bbq sauce lent the perfect amount of sweetness. If you missed this year's event, definitely plan on visiting Chris Lilly's stand for next year! I wish I had filled up on two plates of this shoulder rather than on the brisket and ribs.

We were too full to get a plate of Ed Mitchell's wonderful pork. It was quite a spectacle, seeing his staff get to work on a huge pig. 4 of them were literally digging through the body of the pig, tossing out bones, fat and other parts to leave only pure, edible meat. I got a kick out of seeing them lift off the thick, crispy cooked skin in whole, which they served out samples of to the public. I really wanted to try it, my heart was saying yes, but my body was saying no!

We strolled through the actual park, where vendors and sponsors had set up stands to give free samples of their products. Edy's was giving away samples of its slow churned ice cream; the cookies and cream I had was a sweet end to all the fatty, smokey goodness that I had devoured today. And random celebrity sighting--OxiClean was a sponsor, and Billy Mays, the product spokesperson, was there for pictures!!

All in all, totally worth your while if you come early knowing exactly what you want (which is pork shoulder and whole hog, nothing else!). A perfect block party that brought the city together for an afternoon of bbq deliciousness!