Root & Bone- Sweet Corn on the Cob: Corn Bread Butter, Lemon-Dusted Popped Corn

Blue Smoke Burnt Ends

Mississippi chicken wings and sausage with Bloody Mary Cucumber Salad

Fox Bros.

Blue Smoke-Burnt Ends

The Original Fried Pie Shop

The Original Fried Pie Shop-Cherry Pie

Suagarees Bakery-Red Velvet Cake

Suagarees Bakery-Chocolate Cake

The Big Apple Barbecue Block Party in New York City is one of my favorite events. It takes place over 2 days. I managed to attend both Saturday and Sunday this year. I don’t recall ever doing that before. I had such a good time on Saturday I decided to go back on Sunday to sample things I didn’t get to try the day before.

Here’s a quick rundown of my favorites for 2017 not in any particular order.

1.  Blue Smoke- Brisket Burnt Ends served with a Summer Corn Salad. Blue Smoke is a local BBQ restaurant located not far from the block party.  The burnt ends were tender and delicious. I usually try not to purchase from the BBQ vendors located in NYC where I have access to them all of the time. I’m glad I broke my rule and didn’t miss out on them. They were worth the money.
2. Fox Bros.- Bar-B-Q-Brisket and cheddar- sausage with potato salad– This was my first time sampling Fox Bros. I have seen them mentioned in many lists of top BBQ places in Atlanta. They lived up to their reputation of serving good food. I enjoyed both the brisket and the sausage.
3. Ubon’s Barbeque- Mississippi chicken wings and jalapeño sausage with Bloody Mary Cucumber Salad-I actually tried Ubon’s on Sunday. I admired the chicken wings on Saturday but opted to pass on them to save room for dessert. The wings were tender and the meat came off of the bone easily. My only wish was that they had more BBQ sauce on them. There was not quite enough sauce on them to enjoy the full flavor.
4. Sugarees Bakery- Red velvet and Chocolate cake– I discovered their red velvet cake last year and was sold instantly. This was a “must have” for me this year. As expected, the red velvet cake is consistently excellent. It is extremely moist, soft and delicious. The flavor is incredible. This year I also tried the chocolate cake. While it was good, it was clearly no match for their red velvet cake. Next year I will stick to the red velvet because I know it will be everything I expect it to be.
5. The Original Fried Pie Shop- Apple, Peach, Cherry and Blackberry pies-This vendor excites me because everything is made right in front of you while you are waiting on line. The pies are constantly coming out of the fryer, packaged and sold immediately. The demand was so great on Sunday they could not keep up with the volume of orders. Most people were buying no less than 3-4 pies at a time. Myself, I bought 3 on Saturday; apple, peach and blackberry and bought more on Sunday. I am looking forward to 2018.
6. Root & Bone- Sweet Corn on the Cob: Corn Bread Butter, Lemon-Dusted Popped Corn -I was new to this vendor this year. They happened to be the last vendor I passed on my way out of the park. I noticed people sitting on benches eating corn on the cob and I could hear them commenting about how delicious it was. Not wanting to miss out on anything, I got in line to try it for myself. Boy was I in for a surprise! The corn was covered in corn bread butter and topped with lemon-dusted popped corn.

If I had to pick one winner this year I would choose Root & Bone for their corn on the cob. This was a welcomed surprise. I give it a “10” for creativity. I was so impressed with  and inspired by the corn bread butter,  I recreated this at home with the help of my son. Stay tuned for more on that.

Enjoy!

Allison