This was the same pier where we watched the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks last month.
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que was one of the places we wanted to try months ago and we didn't think we were going to have enough time to go back to Harlem before we left New York, so we were excited to see they were one of the BBQ stands at the fest. Plus, after the Di Fara wait, waiting for top notch food doesn't seem so crazy anymore.
So we took our place at the end of the long line, excited about some of their famous ribs. But after waiting almost 30 minutes in line, we heard a murmur "no more ribs." What? It can't be possible to run out of ribs hours before the fest ends. A lady behind us checked with them, and sure enough the ribs were sold out.
Of course we were all pissed because how can you run out of ribs at a rib fest???? It's not like they ran out 30 minutes before closing time. Apparently they had over 1,500 pounds of ribs that they didn't anticipate would be gone in three hours. But we had already been in line for so long that we decided to stay for their pulled pork sandwich, which was still available.
The pulled pork getting its proper "massage." We were dying at this point.
We're so glad we stayed for their pulled pork sandwich ($7) because this was the best pulled pork sandwich we've ever tasted in our lives (since we've never visited the BBQ states). The meat was tender, lean, not too smoky, and perfectly proportioned. They absolutely didn't skimp on the meat (maybe to avoid a riot from pissed off rib seekers). Their BBQ sauce was perfect and was all over our faces (it didn't help that they also ran out of napkins). If we knew how good these were going to be, we would have ordered four.
Of course there was blues, which unfortunately we didn't have too much time to enjoy. At least we got to enjoy some of it while waiting in line. We also didn't have time to stand in the long Guinness line.
Although we wanted to watch the blues bands, our focus was on the meat! We were not about to leave here without trying some ribs so after pigging out on the large pulled pork sandwiches, we stood in another long line to get ribs from Brother Jimmy's BBQ.
We were getting nervous about them also running out of ribs, but as we approached closer to the tent we saw them bring out another batch and we knew we were in the clear. One problem - it began to rain, and they were not passing showers.
We got two orders (8 pieces total). There were four different sauces to choose from. We poured on Brother Jimmy's Original BBQ sauce and their sweet and tangy Carolina sauce. Both sauces were spectacular. But the stars were the ribs. They were so moist and tender, gentle smoky flavor, and they easily fell off the bones. We also got some pretty darn thick pieces. Although they were thick, they weren't disgustingly fatty pieces.
The part that sucked about our rib eating experience was that we were eating the Brother Jimmy's ribs in the pouring rain. There was absolutely no tent coverage or any place for shelter on the pier. Our BBQ sauces were diluted with rain water. But they still tasted damn good!
