Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, NYC
Cuisine: American Traditional, Barbeque
Neighborhood: Harlem
Price: $30 per person including several rounds of drinks
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is just one of those places that should be one every New Yorker’s bucket list. My friends and I used to go on BBQ tours around the city, and Dinosaur is one of my top favorite joints, along with Blue Smoke and Georgia’s Eastside BBQ.
The first time I went to Dinosaur Bar-Be-Que, I was with a friend checking out the American Museum of Natural History. As we were frolicking in awe around all the dinosaur fossils, we both started to get hungry for lunch and greatest idea was formed: “Let’s go to Dinosaur BBQ!” We just hopped on the 1 train to 125th Street and just 30 minutes later, we had snagged a couple seats in the bar area.
Side Note: This is an awesome idea for a cute and economical day date.
This past weekend, I had the fortunate opportunity to engorge myself again with the finger-lickin’ goodness of Dinosaur bbq. I had just spent the entire weekend in the Bronx volunteering at a workshop run by College Summit, a non-profit organization whose goal is to increase college enrollment rates across the nation, particularly focusing on low-income high school students. After an exhausting but rewarding intense weekend, I hopped on the 1 train from 242nd Street with my other Manhattan-bound volunteers. After ensuring that Dinosaur had some TV screens so we could watch the World Cup Final (wahoo España!), we decided to stop by for lunch.
Fried Green Tomatoes: Crispy fried, sprinkled with Pecorino Romano cheese and served with a cayenne buttermilk ranch dressing
Delicious! But what deep-fried anything is not?
Jumbo Bar-Be-Que Chicken Wings: Spice rubbed, pit smoked, grilled and served with Maytag Blue Cheese Dressing & celery sticks.
After BonChon korean fried chicken, Dinosaur Wango Tango wings are my favorite!
Texas Brisket Plate: Pit smoked up to 14 hours, hand sliced & served with house cured pickled jalapeños
Sides: Simmered greens and mac & cheese
So moist and tender, it melts in your mouth! Repeat favorite dish
Big Ass Pork Plate: Pork shoulder smoked low & slow the ‘ol timey way, hand pulled & piled high
Sides: Syracuse Style Salt Potatoes (tangy butter sauce is delicious!)
The pulled pork was okay, can get much better at Georgia’s or Blue Smoke. But Momofuku Bo Ssam’s pork butt kicks all other butts
Full Rack Bar-Be-Que Pork Ribs: marinated for 24 hours with Action Spice Rub; then slow pit smoked and lightly glazed with Dinosaur original Bar-B-Q sauce
::drool:: Don’t forget to go crazy with all the sauces!
Homemade Sides:
Mac & Cheese
Ridiculously rich, ridiculously amazing
Vegetable of the Day: Broccoli and chickpea salad with feta dressing
Not amazing, but they have had better options here. Was a weird coleslaw type dish… pass
Roasted Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Spicy Nut Topping
Nutty goodness, not overly sweet
Honey Hush Cornbread
I adore this cornbread! Moist and sweet and amazing
We were plenty stuffed after sharing all these dishes with a party of 6, including a couple pitchers of sangria, which was basically fruit juice… skip this and go for the beers!
Following Spain’s victory over the Netherlands, we headed out to catch the 1 train at 137th Street, as they were doing construction on the downtown track at 125th. The summer rains were pouring when we left, and we walked under the Riverside Drive Bridge for cover. Our shelter ended at 134th, so we ended up just sitting alongside the road and watching the rain. When the storm finally passed, we strolled through Riverside Park, and made our way to the station to continue our journey home.
food comas 