I’m a strange bird. A place can be on my list for quite a while, for whatever reason, and for no solid, real reason will it jump to the very top. And so I found myself at RUB BBQ one slightly rainy night… Weirdly enough, I used to take dance classes across the street once a week for about 6 months, but I never managed to cross the street and try it, though this night, I got up off my couch and dragged my lazy butt into the city to have dinner with a friend.
I’m a sucker for wings, and appetizers, and fried foods, so I was indulged and “allowed” to order whatever I wanted, which included BBQ chicken wings, coated in a thick and sticky, slightly sweet BBQ sauce, served in a paper basket with a cup of blue cheese. I liked these enough, though they were by no means wonderful nor amazing.
Next up, fried green tomatoes, which I’ve only tried once and were AWFUL (I don’t even want to link to my review, but the place was bad). These stayed hot way too long for me to enjoy while we were at the restaurant – my friend kept trying to eat them all while my sensitive-to-excessive-heat-mouth made me refrain, so I finally yelled “Stop eating that! I want to try one when it won’t burn the shit out of my mouth, geez!” and was obeyed. The ‘green’ of the tomato spoke strongly to my taste for the savory; I love a ripe tomato but this appealed in a different way. Expertly fried with a crisp exterior and a piping hot interior, I think, if there were no such thing as health repercussions, I would eat these daily for the rest of my life.
BBQ bacon chunks, deliciously salty, fatty, awesome. I could feel my arteries clogging as I consumed this, but I couldn’t bother to care, they were so good. Little nuggets of joy, melting happily in my mouth… mmm
The real kicker though, the final push to the bypass I had to order later? BBQ chili cheese fries; smothered in bright yellow liquid cheese (I’m a philistine, I love liquid cheese, ha!) and – be still, my pounding heart – no wait, don’t be still, because that means you’ve finally clogged completely – their house made chili… with brisket and burnt ends… omfg! OMFG! Each morsel of brisket/burnt end was meltingly tender and delicious, the cheese added to the fries and the fries were crisp enough and potato-y enough to stand up to what was piled atop it. Love, love, love, these are the chili cheese fries of my dreams. If I dreamed about such things. Okay, who’m I kidding, of course I dream about chili, and liquid cheese, and fries… mmm
My dining companion ordered the burger of the day, the Mediterranean.
I don’t recall the details, but I know it was not enjoyed and was, in fact, proclaimed a soggy yucky mess.
I was there for BBQ though, so I ordered a platter combining four meats. Wait, that doesn’t look right… yeah, our waitress, who was fairly inattentive (it took forEVER to bring us anything, though it was not busy that night… though later, another server came by to tell us he was our new server because she hated us, then amended by saying she wasn’t feeling well and went home…), brought me the above and then ran back over to ask me if I’d touched it because this wasn’t my order. I hadn’t touched it because I was so busy photographing it, but amusingly, I hadn’t even noticed that there was a sausage link where none should be.
My real platter of pastrami, brisket, ribs, and pulled pork, along with collards and onion strings. The collards were fairly bland, and needed a bit of salt, but worked well as a foil to the salty meat (not too salty, but salty, obviously). Pickles were just taking up stomach space (though good), and the bread was ignored. The onion strings, as expected, quickly turned to an oily, greasy ball… but what you want to know is about the meat. I was excited to try smoked pastrami, and it was tasty, but needed something to elevate it to new heights (which, I discovered using the leftovers, was an egg sunny side up, which also went well with the bacon bits from earlier). The brisket was on the dry side, but better with sauce; even more amazing when made into chili by the crew at RUB, yum! Pulled pork lacked oomph and the ribs were just so-so…
So what am I saying?
Yvo says: The BBQ was not amazing. Most of it was solid but flawed, which is to say, not suited for my palate. I know people rave about this place so clearly those people and I are just looking for something different in our ‘cue. I wouldn’t argue against going back, but nor will I fight to do so (except maybe for some takeout appetizers! and bacon chocolate chip cookies, of which they were sold out that night). And I wouldn’t argue if someone handed me a big container of any of these meats, I just might find myself frying an egg with a raw yolk to pop over the meats… mmm
middle of the road; liked the appetizers, the main was OK
TT says
no link to my review? i did that bad a job? 😛
RUB’s food has the most pronounced smoke flavor out of all the NYC BBQ joints.
I missed out on the bacon chunks when I went, I WANT!
I really liked the bbq pastrami. Great Jewish Deli style with a smokey twist.
Feisty Foodie says
Sorry! I couldn’t think how to relate that to the post!
TT says
uh, it relates since it is the same restaurant. 😛
Feisty Foodie says
I meant work it into the story, TT!
T.C. says
DAMN! Look at all that heart-clogging action. BBQ CHILI CHEESE FRIES!!!!
Hooray for the variety of meats. I want to try their burgers.
Is RUB better than Blue Smoke? Will need to find out sometime…
TT says
yes it is.
Burgers are only on Mondays, so plan accordingly.
BeerBoor says
I’ve had the burger here before, and had a similar to reaction to “dining companion”. It just isn’t rave-worthy. I’m sure there’s a Monday Special that’s awesome, but I didn’t find it and, well, there’s so much else to eat here.
Helpful hint: if you order the brisket as one of your meats, you get waaaaay too much to eat.
T.C. says
Way too much to eat? FBMer fail. Haha.
Doggy bag that son-of-a-biatch.
Hungry says
Next time order the burnt ends for brisket. It’s fattier and hence, more delicious.
Monique says
yvo this was hilarious “Im a philistine, I LOVE liquid cheese” LMAO. im not a philistine but dammit do i love me some liquid cheese.
I also love the sides they look great. bummer that everything was just OK though. me hates that
Goats says
My brother made the same comment the other night about the brisket being too dry. I guess that’s a personal preference, as I’ve always enjoyed Rub’s dryish brisket. I’m surprised the pulled pork wasn’t better, as I’ve found that to be their signature, along with the burnt ends of course. I’ve never actually tried the ribs there, so thanks for the warning!