Meat Sweats

Two All-Star Barbecue Teams Are Teaming Up for a New Concept in Gowanus

The Salty Rinse BBQ team celebrating a victory.
The Salty Rinse BBQ team celebrating a victory. Photo: Salty Rinse BBQ

Good news for fans of smoked meat: A pair of competitive barbecue teams run by a supergroup of fine-dining chefs are taking over Brooklyn’s the Green Building for the summer. Starting this Wednesday, Ridiculous Bar-b-Krew, captained by Balthazar’s Shane McBride and Salty Rinse BBQ — which counts Del Posto’s Matt Abdoo and Ed’s Lobster Bar owner Ed McFarland among its members — will join forces to launch a concept called Pig Beach.

In the recent past, the two teams have had strong showings at the Memphis in May barbecue festival, where Ridiculous snagged second place in the 2014 mustard-sauce category (a real thing!), and Salty Rinse took home the silver in this year’s whole-hog competition. Pig Beach is a summer pop-up to test the waters, as McBride tells Eater that “everyone’s dream is to turn this into a brick-and-mortar restaurant.” Of course, McBride and Abdoo aren’t the only fine-dining chefs to give into the allure of smoked meat: The NoMad and Betony vets James Zamory and Aaron Saurer packed their bags for Smorgasburg in 2014, where they launched a slow-cooked beef-rib concept, and before them, Jean Georges alum Hugh Mangum debuted Mighty Quinn’s at the same festival.

[Eater NY]

All-Star BBQ Teams Are Teaming Up for Pig Beach in Gowanus