Hill Country BBQ

I’m running pretty far behind here, so forgive the quick run down here…

One of my favorite foods is, well, real barbecue.  I’ve heard plenty of times from various sources that NYC lacks a truly great BBQ place, but in recent times, there’s been a huge boom of these types of restaurants, one of them being Hill Country BBQ, which, according to some, is the best BBQ in NYC.  Obviously, a visit needed to be made, so, one balmy Friday, 7 of my nearest and their dearest came along with me to sample the wares.

Hill Country is set up cafeteria style.  Once you enter, you’re handed a “ticket” which, if lost, will cost you $50.  (Which, actually, isn’t that bad if you order a ton of food on one ticket… haha sneaky)  This is extremely similar to Katz’s Deli’s system; a lost ticket there will cost you $20 there, though.  So, basically, you go around the room ordering what you’d like, and they mark your ticket. 

My first order was of deviled eggs; though my blog doesn’t reflect this, deviled eggs is something of a favorite of mine.  I rarely order them in restaurants because, well, they’re rarely on restaurant menus, but to this day, just thinking about the deviled eggs at Resto makes my mouth start to water.  My family actually loves deviled eggs; it’s one of the few things my sister can make well, and she makes them every time anyone goes over to her house.  It’s an obsession. 

In any case, these were hugely meh… the background burn of cayenne pepper was a nice addition, but with no contrasting textures, the overall egg fell flat.

BF ordered the brisket moist, and some rib eye (he’s got a thing for rib eye).  I tried some of the brisket moist and found it heavenly, juicy and deliciously soft.  A touch of house BBQ sauce (on the tables) made it absolutely divine.  The rib eye was, well, rib eye, and tasty, but he insisted that all of this stuff was way too pricy for what it was.  I can’t say I’m inclined to disagree; considering that we go up and order whatever we’d like, serve ourselves save the drinks, $22.99/lb. for most of this stuff seemed a bit ridiculous.

My package… mostly closed up.  I requested one rib each of beef and pork ribs, so I could sample each and decide what I liked before heading back up for more.  However…

The guy took out and weighed the beef rib (which is ginormous), marked my ticket, then took out two pork ribs, weighed it, then handed me the package, winked at me and said, “That one’s on the house!”  Nice!  I found it even funnier since BF was right next to me, and we were clearly together; the guy didn’t do it in a skeevy “I want your number” kind of way, just a friendly manner (and seriously, as any of my friends can attest to, I think everyone’s hitting on me, lol).  In any case, I dove right into the beef rib, excited by its size and well, I really like beef ribs.  Unfortunately, there was next to no meat on my rib, and what little there was was super dry and chewy and just not very tasty.  Boo.  HOWEVER… the pork ribs were meaty, fatty, juicy, succulent, delicious, everything the beef ribs had promised (and failed to deliver)… and more!  I found myself ripping the meat off and stuffing hunks of it into my mouth, pure bliss.  BF wasn’t as impressed with it, though. 

For our sides, we totally over-ordered, but I really wanted to try lots of stuff, so…

The beans were quite yummy!  I love when the beans have hunks of meat strewn throughout them, it makes it that much tastier.  This makes great leftovers for lunch, btw…

I also love macaroni and cheese to death, as does BF.  This was really good as well – BF inhaled most of it, I only managed to snag a few pieces – but it was quite yummy and cheesy.  Not super sharp and not super mellow either, very flavorful and right on.

I would say I made two mistakes here.  Ordering a third side, which BF had requested, and ordering a medium size (since he dashed off before I could ask, and I didn’t want to order too little for him).  These are the bourbon mashed sweet potatoes, which were tasty, but I’ll be honest, the remainder of that container continues to sit in my fridge.  (I’ll probably throw it out tonight, if I remember…)  They were alright, nothing that special to be honest.  BF said they were okay… he was most interested in the mac & cheese, I should have ordered a medium of that instead.

Overall, there were some delicious dishes (brisket moist, pork ribs, beans, mac & cheese), and a couple of hit-or-misses (they missed for me, but my friends had various dishes – not pictured nor sampled – and one of them actually really liked the beef ribs, though her BF – who shared the order with her! – disliked it for the same reasons as myself). 

Yvo says: While I do think the pricing is a bit high, I can honestly say that since I (probably) won’t be attempting to make any smoked items myself anytime soon, it’s well worth it, afterall good BBQ is a high-effort affair.  If I did go back, I would probably take some brisket moist and pork ribs to go; maybe some beans and mac & cheese as well 😉 to make a complete meal!  The desserts, however, though looking mighty tasty, at $6 a cupcake, well, that’s just outrageous, so we passed on all of that.  In fact, I would definitely get some stuff to go next time… tasty dinner, and even tastier lunch the next day, guaranteed! 
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