What’s the vibe?
If you’ve ever been to somewhere like Ironworks in Austin, you’ll get the vibe of Hometown, a BBQ restaurant in Red Hook that’s frequently lauded as New York’s best. There’s not an ounce of pretentiousness here – join the queue, grab a beer, and be prepared to wait at least an hour to place your order at the counter. While you wait, you’ll at least have plenty of time to think about what to order!
What to order?
If there’s just two of you, we think we’ve got a pretty much perfect Hometown order down. Don’t be tempted by ordering meat by the pound or one of the admittedly epic-looking beef ribs as these will absolutely wipe you out. Instead, get the juicy brisket sandwich and a half rack of the jerk-seasoned pork ribs, both of which are BBQ perfection. And then the wild card, and potentially the best item on the menu – the lamb belly banh mi. We didn’t see anyone else order this the whole time we were there (presumably most Americans don’t know what a banh mi is) but we knew we’d done the right thing as soon as we saw the glistening bun stuffed full of soft lamb belly meat and given some crunch with veg, and bite with a sweet a sauce. EPIC. Sides are not the strong suit here but get the backyard potatoes and the pickles and you’ll be in business.