FiPS Preview: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

The Future Home of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

According to esteemed barbecue archaeologists, our ancient ancestors believed that the tastiest part of the T-Rex is the ribs. Just ask Fred Flintstone. Measuring a few meters long, T-Rex ribs are the Holy Grail of barbecue. Pterodactyl wings are also supposedly tasty, as are brontosaurus burgers & many other dinosaur-based barbecue dishes. Don't bother trying velociraptor meat though. It's like a cross between lizard & pigeon.

These days, thanks to the Endangered Species Act & such impediments, dinosaur meat is sort of hard to get your hands on. Our research into amber/DNA revival of these tasty creatures has thus far been unsuccessful. As such, if we want to live like our hairy ancestors, who TOTALLY lived alongside the dinosaur, the closest thing we've got is the New York-based Dinosaur Bar-B-Que restaurants. Unfortunately for Park Slope residents, at the moment, the closest of the four locales is in West Harlem. That shit's at least an hour subway ride away.

Luckily, in a little less than a year, Dinosaur will be opening a new locale in an industrial space at 604 Union St, just across 4th Ave into Gowanus. With this announcement, last month's opening of Fort Reno Provisions & the general media buzz about Park Slope BBQ in the air, I traveled up to Harlem to chat with John Stage, the founder of the mini-chain of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que joints.

As the story goes, back in '83, John was 23 and riding his Harley to motorcycle gatherings throughout the northeast. He went to these events and came to the realization that "the food really sucks at these things." "No one (was) paying attention to the food" and "no one really wanted to do the food."

It wasn't long before he and his partners (including his 350-pound friend Dino, who the restaurants are named for) decided to "get in the business of feeding bikers." They cut a 55-gallon drum in half and started traveling to biker rallies, tattoo shows, fairs & the like, cooking up what they referred to as "barbecue."

Once they started traveling to events south of the Mason-Dixon, they quickly learned that what they were making wasn't actually barbecue. As a result, John started riding through the south, checking out real barbecue joints and getting a taste for what barbecue was. He’s been "trying to perfect the craft ever since," creating Southern-style barbecue with his own spin.

When the Brooklyn Dinosaur Bar-B-Que finally opens in early 2013, it'll be their seventh location (a Newark spot is scheduled to open in April and Stamford will get one in October). As John explained to me, he likes to pick locations that are "off the beaten path" & "feel like barbecue." In 2003, he had a lease for the space that eventually became Union Hall but it just didn't feel right. To him, a larger space just into Gowanus that's been home to both a tool & die shop and an AC supply shop felt right. By the time the renovation is complete, it'll be just as big as their Harlem location, making it one of the larger restaurants in the area.

As for what Dinosaur plans to bring to the area, other than the until-recent lack of BBQ in Park Slope, John believes that their location & space will be something that'll be unique to the neighborhood. Thus far, all walks of life (including two presidents) have been eating at his restaurants & he hopes that the Brooklyn locale will have the same atmosphere.

After chatting with John for a bit, he gave me a tour of the kitchen and the pit, where all the meat-smoking magic happens. The pit's pretty crazy. It contains these large black boxes where ribs & whatnot are smoked & turned for hours on end over a fire made of hickory logs. It's sloooooooow cooking. Basically, what you eat for lunch was put into the pit the previous evening. This process not only ensures maximum deliciousness but it's part of the reason why there’s not a Dinosaur Bar-B-Que where Union Hall currently stands. Brownstone Brooklyn probably wouldn't deal well with the smoke from the large amount of meat Dinosaur produces. "Wah wah my kid has asthma wah." That sort of junk. If breeders fully grasped the delicious culinary result of all that smoking, they'd realize that all that smoke is worth it.

While the smoked items like the ribs, brisket & pulled pork are the real stars of the menu, there are items like the chicken wings (a grease-less wing that's one of their biggest selling items) & the Churrasco chicken sandwich (a Cuban sandwich they've been serving since John learned about Cuban food from a late 90's-era girlfriend). Then there's a fully-stocked menu of sides & I'm sorry to those that disagree, but it is okay to go to a BBQ joint for the sides. While the smoked meats obviously take center stage, as long as there's a good selection of quality sides, I see nothing wrong with creating a feast out of them.

When we were done with the tour, John hooked me up with a sampler plate of their "greatest hits."

For the most part, their menu's pretty standard through all the locations, with a few variations here & there, so the Brooklyn locale will be pretty much the same. Here's what I tried out:

Bar-B-Que Ribs - The ribs are what folks order up the most at Dinosaur & for good reason. With the amount of smoking that goes into making them, the meat on these mofos pretty much falls right off of the bone. The meat's ridiculously tender and features a smoky flavor that's perfectly complimented by the char & the rub.

Mac & Cheese - Since Americans LURVE their mac & cheese, this is Dinosaur's top-selling side item. It's elbow macaroni with a non-runny cheese that has a little crust to it and, though has a little bit of a bite to it, isn't overwhelming.

Roasted Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Spicy Nut Topping - This shit's good. It's a sweet potato with a brown sugar-like flavor & walnuts mixed into it for the occasional crunch. Since it's whipped & roasted & sweet, it's got a consistency & flavor that's very similar to a butternut squash. It was definitely my favorite of the sides.

Syracuse Style Salt Potatoes - These are their third biggest seller as far as sides go--tiny yellow potatoes brined in a salt water and served with a tangy butter cream sauce. They're soft on the inside & a tiny bit crispy on the outside & salty throughout.

Burnt Ends - These suckers are meat that's cut from the point half of a smoked brisket & since they're high in fat, cooked further to get them cooked fully. Dinosaur's are smoky & melt in your mouth. Sure they're like 90% fat, but who cares? They're like 100% awesome.

Pulled Pork - John & I briefly discussed pulled pork sliders & whether or not they had "jumped the shark." He feels that the only place they've jumped the shark is in the media, where they were over-discussed for a while. While the media eventually moved on, pulled pork is still around & still tasty, whether it's on a slider or not. It's true as far as Dinosaur's pulled pork goes, as it's juicy pork with a lovely smoky flavor.

Cornbread - I've never been a fan of cornbread, but for those who like it, theirs has just the right amount of moistness & sweetness. It'd probably go quite well with a heaping helping of juicy BBQ.

Smoked Sausage - This is an relatively new item on the menu. John had always wanted to make his own sausage but never got around to doing so until about six months ago. It has a subtle sweetness to it & when in sandwich form, is served with pickled onions, house pimento cheese & Creole honey mustard BBQ sauce.

So yeah...the food I sampled was all pretty damn good. They've also got a beer list that features mostly craft beers, many of which are from the New York area, including two Dinosaur beers brewed exclusively for them by Syracuse's Middle Age Brewery. They've even got lower-priced beers like Honey Brown, a Rochester beer that's pretty good for a cheap beer.

All in all, they seem to have all the right ingredients going for the Brooklyn locale. If the Mayan calendar's correct & come October we all get wiped out like the dinosaurs, I guess we'll never know it'll all turn out. Hopefully the Mayans were just crazy though. If so, we'll see you around this time next year for a full review of the place.

Read way more from Shawn at eatdrinksnack.com.