From Pastrami to brisket.
For those fans of Texas BBQ brisket, I recently went back to Ranger BBQ, formerly known as Pearson's. Awesome brisket, beef and pork ribs, pulled, chicken, and pork. Pearson's used to be in Long Island City till they lost their lease. They were smoking their meat in the backyard in the pre-LIC gentrification days. They moved to Legends Bar in Jackson Hts and opened a restaurant in Manhattan. Without their attention to detail and trying to run 2 places, the restaurant closed in 6 months. Eventually Pearson retired but the outpost remains. They are not far from Northern Blvd on 35th Avenue and 71st street. Bar in the front grill in the rear.
Enjoy a break from the turkey.
There happens to be a real live wood smoked Bar-B-Que take out place on Long Island.
Burke's Bar-B-Que Barn located at 2092 Grand Ave in Baldwin, just North of the Baldwin LIRR station.
They compete in local BBQ competitions, and their BBQ chicken has won awards.
Besides their chicken, they make ribs (of course), pulled pork, brisket, pulled chicken (???) and smoked sausage (Kiełbasa, not Texas hot links ???).
Everything comes mopped with St. Louis sweet sauce, and nothing else. These folks don't seem to care about being authentic, but considering that real BBQ is a totally foreign cuisine to this area, they can be forgiven, I guess.
Their biscuits are basically country style biscuits, except they flavor theirs with garlic and cheddar cheese (????). One of their starters is pulled pork wontons ????.
Their pulled pork is just odd as it comes with their icky sweet St. Louis sauce, and not the Carolina vinegar based sauce, but they will leave the sauce off if you ask them.
Their ribs come with the skirt still attached (sometimes, YMMV), as opposed to trimmed St. Louis ribs.
Their brisket is just so-so.
If this place was opened in Texas or Memphis, they wouldn't last a day, but can you find a Jewish Deli in Texas or Memphis that could hold a candle (or Menorah) to Katz's?