New Yorkers now have another reason to travel to Newark besides superhero mayor Cory Booker: true-blue BBQ favorite Dinosaur Bar-B-Que has officially opened its doors across the Hudson. The popular BBQ restaurant—whose Harlem location almost always has a long wait to get in—has taken over a massive turn-of-the-20th-century warehouse space downtown. The restaurant pays homage to the building's history—the space has housed a haberdashery, a lighting plant and Newark's first spirit and wine bottler, among other things—with original mosaic floors and a bar counter made from wooden beams recovered during construction. Salvaged wood on the walls and table lends a rustic, homey feel to the space, while lampshades made of tin cutouts of pigs add a touch of suicide food. more ›

Park Slope, prepare your bibs: some heavy new BBQ hitters are heading your way soon. Ben Popken reports that Dinosaur BBQ, the Syracuse-based chain with a popular location in Harlem, is moving into a defunct warehouse on a desolate stretch on Union Street. more ›

Ben Grossman and Craig Samuel already have a trio of highly successful Southern-influenced restaurants in Brooklyn (Peaches, Peaches Hothouse, The Smoke Joint), but they're expanding their mini empire this week with the opening of the meat-centric Little Brother BBQ. Clinton Hill, prepare to get smoked. more ›

And here we have a screenshot of Fox News's report on President Obama's birthday party last night, which was attended by such hip-hop luminaries as UBS Investment Bank President Robert Wolf, FCC Chair Julius Genachowski, House Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Obama's Harvard law school friends. How street is that?! Oh, there were also gangsta celebs like Tom Hanks, Gayle King, and CSI: NY star Hill Harper! Heh, you can bet the baggy pants at this party were sagging lower than the Dow! more ›

This weekend, Madison Square Park will be filled with the sweet smell of smoked flesh, as the ninth annual Big Apple Barbecue Block Party rolls into town. We spoke to pitmaster Ed Mitchell last week about his plans for the gut-busting party, and today we're checking in with a few of the other pitmasters (there's 16 total—that's a lot of meat). more ›

With this weekend marking the unofficial start of summer, it's high time to get your grilling essentials in order. Here's our four-step guide to throwing an awesome BBQ, even without a giant backyard. more ›

Last July, MIH Ventures held their annual Heatwave gathering and left Prospect Park with an epic layer of trash covering it. The MIH folk didn't even have a permit for their large party (you need one for any gathering over 25 people), and they were trashed in the press for trashing the grounds. Well, this year they've stepped up their game! more ›

The Big Apple BBQ block party is up and cookin' today in Madison Square Park, with pitmasters from around the country serving up every pork part imaginable with all the classic sides. To reiterate, plates are $8 each and there are cooking demos and live music all weekend long. Just make sure you're prepared to stand in line! more ›

Earlier this week Prospect Park spokesman Eugene Patron sent out an email regarding how to keep the green space clean this summer, including tips on safely disposing of barbecue coals, and where to properly dispose of garbage. Hint: dumping these things in the lake is not the correct way! more ›

Police released a sketch of a man wanted in for questioning in the early Sunday morning shooting at a Queens BBQ that left one person dead and five others injured. The party, which was at a Springfield Gardens home at 182nd Street and 145th Drive, was an annual celebration of IS 238 graduates. This year, there were 200 people attending, because the invitation "went viral online" through Twitter and Facebook. The Post reports, "With the invite touting a deejay and free food and booze, 318 Facebook friends had said they would attend." more ›

Earlier this morning, around 2:30 a.m., shooting broke out during a BBQ at a home the Springfield Gardens section of Queens, at 182nd Street and 145th Drive, leaving one dead and other injured According to WABC 7, "Police say a man in his 20s was killed," from a shot to the head, and the others injured are "two men, ages 25 and 21, who were each shot in the leg; a 23-year-old man who was shot in back; a 22-year-old woman shot in the shoulder; and a 21-year-old woman who was shot in both hands." All are in stable condition. more ›

"The food is incredibly good" at Zak Pelaccio's new Williamsburg restaurant Fatty ’Cue, declares Sam Sifton at the Times. And it's even "worth traveling to visit. To expand on the playbook of awesome, Malaysian-ish cooking on display at the Fatty Crab restaurants in Manhattan, Mr. Pelaccio’s Fatty Crew... has added to their roster Robbie Richter, the Queens-born pitmaster who helped start Hill Country in 2007. Fatty ’Cue offers smoked crabs and smoked lamb ribs, coriander-dusted bacon and pieces of pig. You can eat smoky noodle soups and pickled chilies. There is brisket and bao. more ›

Brother Jimmy's BBQ is having a go at that big, 7,500 square foot space on East 16th Street that formerly housed Irving Mill (and before that Candela). This is the sixth location of the mini-chain, and their first foray below 23rd Street. Unlike the other locations, this multi-level venture is focusing more on dining, with a bar area that's much smaller than Jimmy's regulars have come to expect. But the J-bro's "southern roadhouse" design has been transferred intact: Jack Daniels barrels, corrugated tin roofing, Southern license plates, antique signage, etc. The menu (seen here) also has some new options you won't find at other Jimmy's outposts. more ›

The long-building wave of food blog hype has at last reached the shore of South 4th Street in Williamsburg, where the new location of southern comfort BBQ restaurant Pies 'N' Thighs finally opened today. You may recall that back in January 2008, the original location in the shadow of the Williamsburg bridge was shut down by the Health Department for such infractions as an improper pork smoker. (Our headline, "Pies 'n' Thighs Goes Tits Up," elicited some "fun" comments.) After more than two years of preparation and speculation, the P&T team has now opened in their new digs, at the corner of Driggs. more ›

This week's Eat Cetera brings you news of the 8th annual Big Apple BBQ Block Party, the Taste of 7th Street food crawl and exciting plans for a new rooftop brewery, courtesy of DogFish Head Brewery and Mario Batali. more ›

At the end of last week, we were so impressed to read that someone actually had the intestinal stamina to beat the Hill Country "Feed Your Face Challenge." We shouldn't have been. Turns out, eating two pounds of meat, two sides, a cupcake, and a 32-ounce soft drink in under an hour is child's play. At least, it is for a "competitive eater." We're told that on Saturday, an unidentified female pro eater visited the popular BBQ joint and beat the challenge in eight minutes—then added another extra pound of meat and some more sides! Hill Country's workers say they don't remember her name, but the restaurant insists they initially set the challenge with the condition that if anyone wanted to set the bar higher they could... and she did. Now it's really extreme. more ›

There was a lot of tall talk around the Gothamist offices yesterday about taking on the Hill Country BBQ challenge (eating two pounds of meat, two sides, a cupcake, and a 32-ounce drink within an hour gets your $65 meal comped). But while some were just talking, others were already gorging. Grub Street's Daniel Maurer strapped it on yesterday: "Around that 37-minute mark, you hit the wall. You begin feeling a little bit high, and not in a good way: time slows to a crawl; things become very grotesque; your friend is talking to you but you’re not really listening (mostly because hearing him ask the waitress to recommend a cupcake is making you nauseated); and suddenly it’s like you’re in the bar from Fear and Loathing." But Maurer persevered and finished with five minutes to spare, and now his photo's up on the Hill Country "Wall of Cue." You gonna take that, Tien? more ›

In a promotional gimmick to rival the "Ole 96er" steak eating challenge in the classic 1988 film The Great Outdoors, local BBQ restaurant Hill Country is throwing down the goutlet with their "Feed Your Face Challenge." Think you're tough enough to consume a massive amount of meat, soft drink, and one cupcake in under 60 minutes with no bathroom break? If you pull this off, you'll not only eat $65 worth of food for free, but you'll also receive a Hill Country hat and T-shirt, plus an immortal photo of your bloated face on the "Wall of Cue!" Losers, however, "pay for their meal and carry their shame home." Hill Country says [pdf] your "opponent" consists of the following items: more ›

This week Sam Sifton at the Times files enthusiastically on Madangsui, which he deems Manhattan’s best Korean barbecue restaurant. The informative review instructs readers how to order and when, plus how to eat: "Now use your chopsticks to drag a piece of cooked meat through the mixture of sesame oil, salt and pepper. Place it on a piece of fresh romaine cupped in your opposite hand in the manner of a tortilla. Add to this some banchan, some slaw, perhaps a dot or two of bean paste or kochujang. Wrap and eat: heaven in Midtown, with cold beer besides. Dessert’s an orange cut into eighths. It tastes of magic and happiness." Sifton also reviews the Tipsy Parson and says, "The food’s not great." more ›

The litterbugs are speaking up. Following their annual Heatwave BBQ that left Prospect Park looking more like a landfill than a public oasis, hosts of the event, MIHventures has released the following "explanation": more ›

Wondering where the smell of grilled meat is coming from? You should probably point your snout to Madison Square Park. This weekend is the 7th annual Big Apple Barbecue Block Party (so popular that their website is even down, but here's a pdf map). You can get your fill of food — whole hog, brisket, pork shoulder, ribs and sausages — for $8 a plate from 15 different pitmasters until 7pm tonight. Proceeds from the weekend benefit the Madison Square Park Conservancy. more ›

Seems those choir boys at Water Taxi Beach really believe all that stuff about giving being better than receiving. So take advantage of their munificence by eating free BBQ chicken at their Long Island City oasis Wednesday night – the handout is a reprise of yesterday's fowl philanthropy at WTB: “We had such a good time giving away free BBQ Chicken on Sunday that we are doing it again. We have 3 cases of fresh young chicken (approx 200 1/2 chicken) and we are giving it all away starting about 5pm on Wednesday.” (Entry to the beach is free on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday in July and August.) more ›

If you're staying in town this weekend and still don't have plans for the 4th, it's not too late to catch the spirit of '76; there are plenty of barbecue options within the five boroughs, whatever your budget or neighborhood. All the events below take place tomorrow, July 4th, unless otherwise specified. more ›

Today the Times’s Frank Bruni relates his multiple visits to West Village Asian barbecue restaurant Bar Q, and by the sounds of it you’d never guess print media is in any kind of financial trouble – an initial trip with one group of ungrateful friends prompted so much "grumbling" he had to "unruffle their feathers" by being “especially profligate with the wine” on his paper’s expense account. The hangers-on who shared his second visit tasted a better side of Bar Q; after passing over chef Anita Lo’s “cloying” baby back ribs for her “gorgeous” steamed lobster, he decides that Lo’s “triumphs, more than her wobbles, stayed with me.” Two stars. more ›

Saturday's thunderstorm ended just in time for Brooklyn Pigfest benefiting the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy. Beer, BBQ and bluegrass were promised and that's exactly what was delivered, along with an impromptu game of "tip cup". more ›