(07/13/08) (08/09/08)

The Joint

Wildwood is the barbecue wing of the BR Guest restaurant empire overseen by Steve Hanson, so you'd expect some pedigree here. He hired Big Lou Elrose, formerly of Daisy May's and Hill Country, as the executive pitmaster. Elrose's deputy is pitmaster Matt Fisher, a BBQ blogger and caterer whose 'cue has been tasted by a former US president. Wildwood uses a pair of Ole Hickory pits and they're the first barbecue restaurant to use only all-natural meats.

The open space is the work of noted restaurant designer David Rockwell, famous for his creative use of materials. Nearly half the room is allotted to the bar area. There's aged wood everywhere, unique seat constructions and slanted garage doors above the bar. Wildwood doesn't try to make you feel like you've entered a hoedown in Texas, Tennessee or Missouri; the vibe is pure New York City and atypically upscale for a barbecue restaurant.

The Menu

With a bar emphasis, there are several appetizers to choose from: chicken wings (rubbed and fried or also slathered with choice of sauce), chili (also available as a side), "bottlecaps" (deep-fried jalapenos), stuffed potato skins, stuffed portobello mushrooms, two types (Texas and jalapeno) of custom-blended sausages and three types of salads.

Wildwood's barbecue menu includes four kinds of ribs: pork babybacks, pork spare ribs, lamb spare ribs and a single "Queen cut" beef short rib. Of these, only the babybacks arrive sauced. The pork ribs may be ordered as whole racks, half racks and in combination. Lamb ribs may be ordered as whole racks or as a half rack add-on to another platter.

Sliced brisket and pulled pork are available on sandwiches (with one side), as platters (no sides) and as "pit plates" (2- and 3-meat combinations with two small sides). There's also a smoked half chicken and the aforementioned sausages. Sandwiches also include grilled chicken, soft shell crab, a pork/brisket/cheese variant and the Big Lou Barbeque Burger.

The Visits

I was fortunate to be allowed a sneak preview of Wildwood a few days before they opened. It was more of a tour than a meal, but I did get a chance to sample the wings, chicken and spare ribs, and I was impressed. My first real visit was about ten weeks after Wildwood opened, where I joined a party of three for a Sunday night visit. A month later, I returned on a Saturday night as a party of six. Both visits allowed a wide ranging survey of the meats, with repeat tastings of the key items.

The Appetizers

Wildwood's wings (6 pieces for $8.95) aren't smoked, but these juicy behemoths are some of the better non-smoked wings you'll run across. I liked the flavor of the raspberry chipotle sauce on the wings, but I thought the heavy handed saucing overowered them. The savory dry rub wings were outstanding, with a pronounced crispness, plenty of spices and a strong salt finish. There's no doubt that I'll be ordering more of these on my next visit.

Chili ($6.95) is presented impressively in a mini kettle, with finely chopped onion and a generous amount of a freshly shaved, high quality cheese. The flavor is much too sweet for my taste, but I liked the texture of the finely ground beef, bits of brisket and minimal use of al dente beans.

Big Lou's Barbeque Burger ($13.50 with fries) is an 8-ounce custom mix of brisket and other secret cuts from Pat LaFrieda, who supplies Shake Shack, among others. It's well-seasoned, juicy and flavorful inside and out, and they don't go crazy with the barbecue sauce. The crisp bacon brings both porkiness and saltiness to the equation; caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms are a nice touch; the ordinary bun is somewhat out of place for this otherwise extraordinary burger.

The Meat

Spare ribs ($25.95 per rack, $15.50 per half rack) arrive unsauced, moistened on the outside by a faint application of finishing glaze. Inside, the meat is bright pink and ready to emit juices upon contact. These are among the meatiest pork ribs I've ever encountered and easily the most bodacious in New York City. I really liked the intensely porky (almost hammy) flavor of the meat that's enhanced but not dominated by the conservative use of smoke and rub. On a second visit, the rub was more assertive and the bark more pronounced, but the spare ribs on both visits were excellent.

Babyback ribs ($25.95 per rack, $15.50 per half rack) are lightly coated with the raspberry chipotle sauce, and its more restrained use here made it a little more effective than on the wings. On two separate visits, these were cooked to the point of being just tender enough to allow a clean bite. I liked the crisp bark and the strong porky flavor; a little more tenderness and a slightly thicker cut are all it would take to push these from very good to great.

Denver cut lamb ribs ($22.95 per rack, $11.95 as a 3-bone add on) bore a fully developed bark outside and a beautiful pink smoke ring around the well marbled inner meat. The rub and smoke, both used more aggressively here than on the other meats I sampled, combined to supply the perfect foil to the gamey lamb flavor and fat-fueled succulence. I'm generally not a lamb fan, but this rack converted me, and I implore any serious barbecue fan who visits Wildwood to be sure not to miss these fantastic lamb ribs. My only qualifier would be to consider ordering them as an add-on or as a shared item, because they're a little heavy for even the most robust eater to polish off single-handedly.

The beef short rib ($21.95) was also well executed, with a dark, crusty exterior and moist, pink, just-fatty-enough inner meat. The flavor was a nice blend of beef amid a backdrop of subtle smoke and spice. It's somewhere in the same league as its counterpart at Daisy May's.

Pulled pork ($11.25 platter, $10.50 sandwich) was the weak link of the meats I've tried so far. On the first visit, I chose a pulled pork sandwich that arrived with onion rings inside. The meat was a little overdone and the flavor was odd, as if the kitchen was working from a recipe that had a typo. On the second visit, the flavor of the pork on a pit plate was pleasing, if a little subdued, but the meat was again overdone. If you order pulled pork as a platter, it's plated as a large, bark-filled mound with two slices of white bread and a ramekin of vinegar and pepper mopping sauce (neither the sandwich nor the pork on the platter had this sauce). A few such platters I observed on neighboring tables had much more appealing pieces, with a higher bark ratio and a good looking texture. If you're a pork lover, sticking with the platter is the recommended route.

Applewood smoked chicken ($11.50) is a half bird glazed with an apricot barbecue sauce that's surprisingly elegant for a barbecue restaurant. This was moist and intensely flavored on one visit, less moist on another visit's "Best of the Best" pit plate.

A nicely arranged brisket platter ($12.50) on the first visit featured slices from both the flat (the leaner end) and the point (the fattier end), and the tenderness and flavor were both solid. The brisket that was a bit player on the second visit's pit plate fell slightly shy of that first batch but was still very good. I'm not ready to put this excellent brisket in Hill Country's league just yet, but it's close. Like the pork, I'd recommend that the brisket be ordered as a platter to ensure the best selection.

The Sauces

Each table has a condiment caddy with Wildwood's classic barbecue sauce, Big Lou's secret sauce (raspberry chipotle), Dirty Dick's hot sauce and Wildwood's rib dust (dry rub). The classic has too much of a molasses and corn syrup flavor for me, but I like the raspberry chipotle sauce when used sparingly. It reminds me of the Blues Hog sauce that seems to always do well in competition. I'd also like to see the apricot sauce that's used on the chicken added to the caddy and also used elsewhere.

The Sides

Sides ($4.95 to $6.95 a la carte) are a mixed bag. Although I had no life or death issues with them, the sides generally didn't come close to impressing me as much as their counterparts at other top Manhattan BBQ joints or as much as the meats at Wildwood. Cornbread, served in a mini skillet, had a pleasingly coarse texture, with varying levels of moistness on my two visits. On the first visit they forgot to drizzle on the honey. The skin-on fries that accompanied the burger were thin and crisp. Baked beans were slightly al dente and more than slightly ketchupy. Calling the straightforward asparagus al dente would be an understatement. Cole slaw had a muted herbal flavor and a super thick condiment that might have had sour cream in it. Potato salad (no longer on the menu) was also fairly plain. Panko breadcrumbs made a nice counterpoint to the velvetty mac and cheese, my favorite of the sides I've tasted thus far.

Other Thoughts and Observations

There's no getting around it: with mostly a la carte ordering and high price tags across the board, the tab at Wildwood adds up very quickly. With tax and tip, one whole chicken wing winds up being almost $4.00. Big Lou's burger is great, but $13.50? Ribs are actually a bargain here, especially for the quality.

Wildwood is that rare place that has authentic barbecue but is also "Saturdayworthy" enough to serve as the perfect setting for a date. On my Saturday visit, there were actually several all-female parties, dressed in expensive coctail dresses (probably drinking expensive cocktails), enjoying the barbecue as much as the mixed and all-male parties scattered throughout the room.

Although the pit plates offer a convenient combination of two or more meats and the implied value of the included (small) sides, the platters are the way to go. You'll pay a little more, but you'll get far better presentation and meat quality. For me, that's a better value.

The servers are mostly well informed and efficient. Even during busy times, the plates hit the table within minutes of being ordered.

Yes, this is a BR Guest establishment and, yes, they do have plans to open more locations. I'm as much of an advocate of the one-of-a-kind mom and pop joint as anyone, but when Wildwood is on its game, they're better than any mom-and-pop joint. There are also times when Wildwood isn't at the top of their game, but it's still early.

The bottom line: The prices are astonishingly high, the sides need some work and the vibe is anything but barbecue. But the caliber of the smoked meats here is equally high—sometimes wow-inducing high. If Wildwood can hit the heights they've already hit on a consistent basis, they have the potential to be the best barbecue restaurant in the city. Based on what I've tasted so far, they're already one of the top three or four.

Rebuttal to Time Out New York's Hatchet Job of Wildwood

other opinion:

Beef Aficionado's review of Wildwood

NY Post feature on Wildwood

Restaurant Girl's review of Wildwood

Time Out New York's review of Wildwood

White Trash BBQ's review of Wildwood