Comments on: NYC Dining Preview: Hill Country NYC BBQ

By: Kaytrey

Kaytrey — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 07:57:42 +0000

TWO HOUR WAIT on a Friday night. I don’t know what we were thinking, but after 1.5 hours it became a competition between us and the hostess. we refused to leave, having been quoted a 45 minute wait time. Really. Is anything worth a two hour wait for a table for three? I mean, the food was good and all, but seriously. I would never go again for dinner. Maybe lunch on a Tuesday, but never dinner. And as a previous poster mentioned people were leaving by 11pm even though there was great live music. No dancing…so weird.

By: Dannyc

Dannyc — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:01:21 +0000

Hill Country is good, but is OVERPRICED. If you go there uninformed (like me) you could wind up spending $90 for lunch 2 people (like me). They sell by the LB, and 2 pork ribs one the bone probably weigh a LB. Pay attention to the people around you with SMALL brown paper and SMALL side dishes, those are likely people who have been there before and could probably guide you to correct menu choices.
Also, $6 for a cupcake seems excessive.

By: Eat What We Say! » Blog Archive » Hill Country

Eat What We Say! » Blog Archive » Hill Country — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 18:46:12 +0000

[...] crappy Cingular 8525 camera phone I’ve been ‘rocking’. But check out the photos here.) Hill Country 30 W 26th St New York, NY 10010 (212) [...]

By: rayray7

rayray7 — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 22:42:11 +0000

I will be paying Hill country a visit soon. I am sure they must have red wines to go with the deliciuos looking ribs. After my visit I will post article on my blog http://www.winesandbenefits.com for all to read. Great story and the pictures are the best !

By: Orelle Young

Orelle Young — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:36:36 +0000

I have had the honor of being a part of Hill Country before opening. I viewed the intense labor for construction and even helped move in the initial hundreds of pounds of post oak wood. I plan on working at Hill Country for a long time. Good food…good people…and good food. I’ll be serving you all your hot cuts of fine BBQ five days a week. If you have any questions feel free to send me an email - Orelle_Young@yahoo.com.

By: extramsg

extramsg — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 23:20:42 +0000

1) “Texas BBQ” doesn’t mean much by itself in actuality. If you’ve travelled around Texas, you’ll find that there are a variety of Texas BBQ traditions. There are the African-American traditions, the east Texas traditions, the west Texas traditions, the south Texas Mexican traditions, and the Central Texas traditions that these guys seem to be trying to emulate. Afterall, the place looks like Kreuz had a going-out-of-business sale and they bought them out. Central Texas BBQ is indeed first and foremost about beef, but most Texas traditions are much more opportunistic that they’re given credit for. You’ll see lamb, goat, pork, and beef on many menus. The places in Lockhart specialize in brisket, but all have spareribs and sausage, and some of their best things are items like prime rib and pork chops. Rubs are minimal and sauce is generally avoided. But these rules aren’t as hard and fast as Kreuz’s toursity digs suggest. People should pick up a copy of Robb Walsh’s Legends of Texas BBQ. btw, these central Texas places are more likely to be serving food at breakfast time than dinner time. Sometimes they will have largely sold out of meat by mid-afternoon.

2) The problem I foresee is the pit they’re using. Yeah, the show pits — the “holding pits” — are cool. They’re exactly what you’d see in Lockhart at Kreuz, Smitty’s, or Black’s, or down in Luling or up in Taylor, etc. But the Ole Hickory pits are going to give different results. I’ve played around with commercial smokers and know people who own BBQ restaurants that use and have used a variety of pits. The thing about those central Texas pits is that they’re all wood, give off a nice steady stream of fresh smoke, and can get really hot. The Ole Hickorys have a max temp of 325. What people don’t realize is that the central Texas places don’t cook as low and slow as generally accepted. They cook farely hot, at least for a while, which builds a nice bark on the briskets, a bark like you won’t find throughout most of the country. It’s really hard to build that nice of a bark even at 250 degrees. Also, the steady stream of smoke makes for a very smokey product that nonetheless doesn’t become caustic or chemically. The smoke penetrates really nicely, too, because all the heat generated is from the wood/smoke. At least that’s the theory I’ve heard. And the combustion of the wood produces a moister air that electric and gas can’t. Instead of an Ole Hickory, I think they would have been better off with a Oyler from J&R that was all wood. They’re UL approved, etc, and I’ve seen them produce really nice results. btw, I think those pits probably do more like 500 lbs each.

By: JJ

JJ — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 13:29:24 +0000

Top BBQ in Texas, Coopers, sorry Kruez’s. Best BBQ chain, Rudy’s. Haven’t been to Hill Country yet, but many menu items make authenticity doubtful. However, haven’t found anything close to Texas style among all the KC style stuff, so I am hopeful. Gotta have the onions, pickles and white bread though.

By: Crystal

Crystal — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:42:36 +0000

Josef:

I am also from Texas (Abilene). We always had sweet iced tea at our house. Not just sweet tea, but sometimes even sweetened sun tea. Everyone I know in Texas drinks sweet tea. Maybe the preference for sweetened/unsweeted varies by region?

By: Kay Dee

Kay Dee — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 02:45:20 +0000

What kind of music is playing? Country I hope?? Is there any live music and will there be any country couples dancing???? Food looks Great! Thanks and best wishes!

By: Louis

Louis — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 19:28:32 +0000

Hill Country might be TX BBQ, but RUB just got their first of many deliveries of Shiner Bock

By: chuck

chuck — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:18:25 +0000

Going there on Saturday. Can’t WAIT! I’m drooling. Bacon peanut brittle! Too much!

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:46:04 +0000

do you have a room for private parties? Please email me directly if you do.
Thx

By: offthebroiler

offthebroiler — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:25:55 +0000

Mike: I don’t work for any of the restaurants I write about for this blog.

As to the 10PM thing, I think you are being unrealistic. Many New York restaurants close between the hours of 10 and 11, particularly in that part of town. You can’t expect people in New York City, particularly kitchen staff, to work at late hours. Bar staff is another matter altogether — plenty of bars that serve food close their kitchens at 10 but continue to serve alcohol.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:30:12 +0000

Offthebroiler, it seems to me that you work for this place by looking at your comments. As for me, I would take the Texans’ opinions of Hill Country over anyone else! Why? Well, they would know better than any of us New Yorkers. I stopped by to check out the place on a Friday night around 10pm and the place was already closing down. Now a REAL Texas BBQ place would be in full swing at this time, blasting loud/fast country music, people dancing, and pigging out on CHEAP food and drinks. This place did not offer anything of the sort. Also, a secret in business……have lower prices and in the long run, you’ll make MORE money because THAT’s what will draw more people. Also, don’t say that it’s just a NY thing because Brother Jimmy’s BBQ’s prices are slightly lower than HIll Country’s and they draw in much larger crowds and make MORE money. Take lessons from the REAL BBQ places as seen in Texas and all over the south. NY needs a REAL SOUTHERN BBQ place, not just another disney rip-off. But, keep HIll Country the way it is and I can promise it won’t last more than 10 years, if not less. If you can’t do anything else, at least play COUNTRY MUSIC!!! Otherwise, change the name of your establishment and don’t be a hypocrite.

By: offthebroiler

offthebroiler — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 16:55:34 +0000

In all fairness, tx, this was the preview thread for the restaurant so the prices weren’t posted yet. There’s also the thread on the actual restaurant opening which has all the prices listed.

Yes, its expensive. But its also Manhattan, and they spent a fortune on that restaurant. Its to be expected.

By: txnj71

txnj71 — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 16:52:39 +0000

As a born and raised Texan, I was curious as to how a dining establishment in Manhattan was able to have Blue Bell ice cream on the menu, so in the interest of research, I ate there last night with some friends. I had a taste of both kinds of brisket and they were very very good, not like the crappy brisket I had at Blue Smoke. I think the place works better as a market and not a restaurant only because EVERY ITEM IS OVERPRICED. There’s a reason that the menu doesn’t show the prices of the items. Sure, it’s Manhattan, it’s Chelsea, the prices will be higher…whatever. All I had there was a small side of mac and cheese (never had mac and cheese made with ZITI rather than actual macaroni…), the bourbon pecan pie (needs more bourbon!) and a diet coke served in an old fashioned little coke bottle (not a fountain drink with ice and free refills) and the total for all three items was $14.09. The whole reason I went there in the first place was for the Blue Bell ice cream and found out it was sold in the little single serving paper cups AT FOUR DOLLARS EACH. Add a buck to that and I could buy a whole gallon of Blue Bell in Texas. The meat is sold by the pound. The dining experience is very loud and noisy, at least on the main floor next to the market. If I return, it will only be to get some brisket and sausage to go.

By: offthebroiler

offthebroiler — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:11:12 +0000

The Kreuz sausage isn’t necessarily the best thing they have there, the brisket and beef ribs are excellent, as are the sides. Their roasted/BBQ chicken is also among the best in the entire city.
Any theme restaurant in New York is always going to be a Disney-esque version of the original. If you can get past your Texas pride and just concentrate on the food itself, you’ll have a good time.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:15:08 +0000

Oww. This place in no way reminded me of the BBQ places of Texas, and at best fuels the contempt I continue to have for the “Hey New York, this is what it’s like in Texas” concept of the state. Like an upscale Cracker Barrel, this place shined and shimmied with lights, stars and texaphanalia abound. It made me gag. When we got there they ran out of Lonestar, one of the few from Texas I can’t get at the store, and the famous Kreuz’s sausage was undercooked. As mentioned above, there was no buffet of onions, pickles and white bread. Further research on Texas BBQ places, Drexler’s BBQ in Houston, Austin’s BBQ in Eagle Lake, Sam’s BBQ in Austin, and hell even the BBQ restaurant/stop and go that is Rudy’s BBQ would have yielded better results.

By: offthebroiler

offthebroiler — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 03:38:40 +0000

“How would a “New York hotdog” on bruschetta with a mild gruyere cheese and sprig of tarragon strike most New Yorkers?”

Tasty!

By: Mama J

Mama J — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 03:06:23 +0000

My son, 5th generation Texan on both sides, currently lives in NYC. He sent me this review, and then he called after he and his lady (also Texan) visited the place. He is enough of a BBQ afficionado that they always visit the meccas of Central Texas BBQ (sorry, not Lockhart, I feel it’s vastly overrated - Coopers, Salt Lick, Schoep’s, etc.) when they are back home, and I periodically have been known to send BBQ care packages to sustain them in between visits.

They report it’s spot on, and the ‘Q is excellent. (My question was, “Where do they get their beef?” They promise to find out.)

I’m promised, when I finally make it up to NYC, a visit to confirm. I look forward to it (with some suspicion, it’s true).

Oh, and I’ve been drinking sweet tea (and sweetened tea, not at all the same thing) for, oh, close on to 60 years now. In Texas. It’s absolutely necessary when you’re bringing in the hay.