Hill Country Elbows Into Crowded Brooklyn BBQ Scene
By Elizabeth Nelson
When I first moved to NYC I was so head-over-heels for the city, there was no place I wouldn’t go. Every neighborhood was a new adventure. But six years later, there are a few places I’ve learned to avoid at all costs.
At the top of that list is the Fulton Mall in downtown Brooklyn. Discount stores, pawn shops and fast food chains line streets trafficked by gray-faced cubicle-dwellers and nametag-sporting tourists. I adore Brooklyn, but I don’t think the borough would suffer a serious loss if the earth opened up and swallowed the Fulton Mall.
And that’s exactly where I found myself the other night when I was invited to the opening party for the Hill Country Barbecue Market. Who could turn down the lure of “award-winning barbecue, fried chicken, house-made pies and Shiner beer”? Not me. Actually, it was a celebration of three openings: Hill Country Chicken, Hill Country Barbecue Market, and Hill Country Live—a performance zone for “honky-tonk, rockabilly, and blues.” All three are located at the same address, just off the Fulton Mall in a 10,000 square foot space that’s long been empty.
Hill Country, with two locations in Manhattan already, is a favorite of the Insatiable Critic herself. Naturally, I was eager to check out the Brooklyn outpost.
Anchoring a retail strip that includes Shake Shack, Panera Bread and Burger King, this new Hill Country does feel a little suburban. The Burger King logo glowed through the front window and made me feel like I was sitting at a food court. I wished we’d chosen a table in the back. But after a few sips of my “Brooklyn Brownstone”—the house take on an old-fashioned, warmed with a hint of cinnamon -- I cared less about the ambience. I was ready to sink my teeth into some ribs.
You serve yourself here, cafeteria-style. But don’t choke up.There are instructions on the menu. You’d be wise to send one person to load up on meat while another collects the sides. We bellied up to the counter and filled up a tray: barbecued chicken, spare ribs, moist brisket and sausage, all wrapped up in butcher paper. It was hard to choose among so many sides. We went with sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, corn pudding, collard greens, baked beans and cornbread.
A basket of BBQ is a delicious mess.
Our meal was just as good and greasy as I could have hoped. The tangy chicken and spicy greens, loaded with bacon, were my favorites. Seems I missed getting a giant beef rib, which is supposed to be fatty heaven.
Dessert was apple crumble with about three inches of topping, banana pudding and a PB&J cupcake. The fried chicken was next door so I missed seeing the platters of small pies. Thank goodness. I might have eaten myself sick. I mean, sicker. I was already too full to get my groove on to the Ebony Hillbillies, hosting a hoedown in the event space upstairs. The pie table turned out to be next to the stage. All I could do was gape and drool. I was too full to even think about trying one.
How many people will venture here for a barbecue fix when Brooklyn is already lousy with BBQ joints? When I told some of my friends I was going to check out a new one, they said Brooklyn didn’t need more barbecue and listed their favorites: Fletcher’s and Dinosaur in Gowanus/Park Slope, Smoke Joint and Hot Bird in Fort Green and Clinton Hill, Fette Sau and Mable’s in Williamsburg.
So maybe Hill Country’s “Don’t Mess With Texas” vibe and Fulton Mall location will keep some snobbier Brooklynites away. Leave them to Williamsburg. They won’t have to worry about getting their handlebar mustaches sticky from some of the best barbecue in the five boroughs. Hill Country will do booming business with the weekday lunch and after-work crowd, tourists from the nearby Marriott, and anyone who wants to kick up their heels to some country music after sucking some tender meat off the bone. Don’t forget to save room for pie.
Hill Country Barbecue Market, 345 Adams Street, Brooklyn NY 11201