Onions that RUBbed me right.
Sietsema’s “Best Use of Onions, 2005,” award went to R.U.B. (Righteous Urban Barbecue), on 23rd St. just west of 7th Ave. Having tried to go previously and discovered it’s closed Mondays, my girlfriend and I had occasion to try again last night. I’m glad we did – the onions were delicious, the meat was decent, and we were both extremely satisfied.
I have high standards for fried onions. None of the dining-hall-ish gritty prepackaged and deep fried crap will satisfy me, and I avoid ordering them except at places that I know excel. These high standards are a combination of my mother and father’s opinions of onions, I guess – Mom loves ‘em, Dad will pick tiny bits of them out of damn near anything.
Mom’s favorite onions were available at the late, lamented Philbrick’s (of Nauset Beach, Orleans, MA). I was regaled as a child with tales of youthful runs to Philbrick’s from the beach, and instructed as to their onions being best, while rarely being allowed to partake. Perhaps as a result of my parents’ generation’s newfound restraint with regards to fried food, Philbrick’s closed in the late 80’s/early 90’s (I remember family member outrage, but the date is elusive and Google seems not to help). It was replaced, physically, by a new snack shack called Liam’s, but the fryer suffered – apparently the salty sea air was not the secret ingredient.
Philbrick’s stumbled into downtown Orleans for a time, closing after a few summers; since then, my mother’s beloved onions have been unavailable. The good news is that R.U.B.’s onion “strings” are most likely every bit as good as Philbrick’s standard – and possibly even better. The thin-sliced onions (“string” is not a misnomer) are battered ever so delicately (I’m guessing a light flour, but I’m curious as to any other ingredients) and fried; they come out looking like a bird’s nest sans chicks, but with a reddish spice layer on top that gives a nice flavor. You’ll be scarfing them, a bit awkwardly due to their length and shape, while they’re hot – unless you’ve got an onion fiend in the group, though, they’d be tough to finish. The portion is huge.
I don’t want to ignore the barbecue, either. Neither of us was particularly hungry, so we opted to share the burnt ends platter ($20), and it turns out that was prescient – between the huge serving of onions, a pint of okay yellow-ish potato salad (two sides are included with most platters), and the chunks of tender, flavorful beef brisket, we were both stuffed at the end.
Ignore the laughable and near-stale slices of white bread that are included and try the beef with and without sauce – burnt ends are legendarily the most flavorful part of brisket, and, while I’m not a barbecue expert, I thought the meat was OK. I’m not sure I’d have been as impressed with an order of regular brisket, though – the chunks of meat that had less crispy surface area weren’t as satisfying. As to the sauce – it isn’t fiery, but adds a nice kick, and I ended up using it on the afore-mentioned interior pieces.
Combined with a couple beers (there’s a dark ale there that I don’t recall the name of – it’s quite tasty), R.U.B. probably won’t replace the best of Texas for aficionados. It might replace Philbrick’s for my mother, though, and I’m pretty happy about that.
I have high standards for fried onions. None of the dining-hall-ish gritty prepackaged and deep fried crap will satisfy me, and I avoid ordering them except at places that I know excel. These high standards are a combination of my mother and father’s opinions of onions, I guess – Mom loves ‘em, Dad will pick tiny bits of them out of damn near anything.
Mom’s favorite onions were available at the late, lamented Philbrick’s (of Nauset Beach, Orleans, MA). I was regaled as a child with tales of youthful runs to Philbrick’s from the beach, and instructed as to their onions being best, while rarely being allowed to partake. Perhaps as a result of my parents’ generation’s newfound restraint with regards to fried food, Philbrick’s closed in the late 80’s/early 90’s (I remember family member outrage, but the date is elusive and Google seems not to help). It was replaced, physically, by a new snack shack called Liam’s, but the fryer suffered – apparently the salty sea air was not the secret ingredient.
Philbrick’s stumbled into downtown Orleans for a time, closing after a few summers; since then, my mother’s beloved onions have been unavailable. The good news is that R.U.B.’s onion “strings” are most likely every bit as good as Philbrick’s standard – and possibly even better. The thin-sliced onions (“string” is not a misnomer) are battered ever so delicately (I’m guessing a light flour, but I’m curious as to any other ingredients) and fried; they come out looking like a bird’s nest sans chicks, but with a reddish spice layer on top that gives a nice flavor. You’ll be scarfing them, a bit awkwardly due to their length and shape, while they’re hot – unless you’ve got an onion fiend in the group, though, they’d be tough to finish. The portion is huge.
I don’t want to ignore the barbecue, either. Neither of us was particularly hungry, so we opted to share the burnt ends platter ($20), and it turns out that was prescient – between the huge serving of onions, a pint of okay yellow-ish potato salad (two sides are included with most platters), and the chunks of tender, flavorful beef brisket, we were both stuffed at the end.
Ignore the laughable and near-stale slices of white bread that are included and try the beef with and without sauce – burnt ends are legendarily the most flavorful part of brisket, and, while I’m not a barbecue expert, I thought the meat was OK. I’m not sure I’d have been as impressed with an order of regular brisket, though – the chunks of meat that had less crispy surface area weren’t as satisfying. As to the sauce – it isn’t fiery, but adds a nice kick, and I ended up using it on the afore-mentioned interior pieces.
Combined with a couple beers (there’s a dark ale there that I don’t recall the name of – it’s quite tasty), R.U.B. probably won’t replace the best of Texas for aficionados. It might replace Philbrick’s for my mother, though, and I’m pretty happy about that.
posted by Mike at 1:41 PM
1 Comments:
The pulled pork and ribs are excellent at RUB. Most of the sides we tried except for greens were also tasty. I moved up to NY from Atlanta about 2 years ago and have been franticly searching for a BBQ joint that comes close to anything we had back there. RUB is about as close as you get. Of the non-standard BBQ fare, I recommed the szechuan (tea smoked?) duck.
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