New 'Cue: Georgia's Eastside, Oklahoma Smoke
Stopped by both these new joints yesterday. Georgia's compact short ribs sandwich (shown below left, with the top down; $7) was nice, and I happily nibbled the bones clean. The vibe is hip; in the evenings the tuck-in-your-elbows dining area may remind you of the nearby Ludlow St. beer joints. Nudge, nudge.
Oklahoma Smoke, by contrast, will open a 100-seat dining room in mid-August, but for now, during the soft opening, it's takeout only, with limited hours on some days. With a name like "Oklahoma," a main like "smoked shrimp" (below right) wasn't even on my rader going in (and when I spotted it, my thoughts flew to "sky prawns": http://www.flickr.com/photos/eatingin...), but I'm very glad I took their suggestion. They peel 'em, you just have to scarf 'em down; the $8 tab included a side of firm collard greens and a canned iced tea, too. Next time, I'll venture the brisket or the pork jerk ribs, if I can possibly lay off the shrimp.
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Georgia's Eastside BBQ
192 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002
Oklahoma Smoke BBQ
231 W 145th St, New York, NY 10039
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Don't hear too much 'round here about Georgia's Eastside BBQ.
Anyone have anything to say?
Tipsy
›2 Replies-
re: TipsyMcStagger
JoanN
May 24, 2008 01:59 PM
Was there for a late lunch today (Saturday of Memorial Day weekend) and was quite impressed. Tiny place: three tables for four and one for two plus a counter with perhaps five stools. Very friendly waitress and comfortable vibe. Still no liquor license. My friend and I shared an order of wings. The wings are available with barbecue sauce or an herb marinade. Since we were also sharing an order of ribs, we decided to go with the herbs. They were charred on the outside and moist and tender on the inside. Not the least overcooked. It augured well.
The ribs, which come with two sides, are steamed over beer and finished on the grill so those who are looking for authenticity probably aren’t going to find it here. What they will find is fall-off-the-bone, tasty, lean ribs with a hint of hot in the rub. They came with a small container of additional barbecue sauce, which my friend said had a bit of a kick, but I didn’t think the ribs needed it and didn’t even try it. As a dedicated bone-gnawer, I like to have to tear the meat from the bone with my teeth. I prefer Daisy Mae’s dry rub ribs, but these were darned good. We chose cole slaw and collards for sides and were very pleased with both. They were fresh and not so heavily seasoned as to seem to be hiding something. The cole slaw contained a minimal amount of mayonnaise and the collards didn’t taste as though they been sitting in a pot of ham hocks for a few days.
All in all, good ingredients prepared well and with care. Forgot how much the wings were, but the rack of ribs was $17. On Monday night, I think it is, they have all-you-can-eat ribs for $28 if anyone’s interested. My friend and I really enjoyed the place and the food and are looking forward to returning to try the fried chicken.
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re: TipsyMcStagger
Since every BBQ joint is overrated and not so good, this place actually has the best flavor and is the best value. Get over them not having a huge smoker because the other places fail anyway. The ribs are really good when not overdone which happens a fair amount, unfortunately.
BBQ chicken is really good too.
This is because of the sauce pretty much.
Green beans are a great side and I don't like them.
Logistics are not great there so dishes get overdone and sometimes there are delays but for taste and price, it is better than any of those over hyped, expensive joints further uptown even with these minor problems. Better that than just have a mob fest where people are drunk and think anything they are served is good. I won't list the offenders but you can figure it out.
People are cool there if not always on top of everything.
All You Can Eat is Sunday for Ribs.
And I think Brisket is Tuesday or Wed, something like that.
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