Mable's Smokehouse

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: If you serve your food on trays, can we get like place mat that you can color in?

Mable’s Smokehouse is right by Brooklyn Brewery and I could think of not place better to eat at, if you did the beer tour and was hungry. Mable’s is part of the ever growing number of respectable barbecue joints in New York and specifically in Brooklyn. Give it a few more years and Brooklyn will have its own barbecue style eventually. I like eating at barbecue places because it is straight forward. Order how much meat you want, sit down, eat. You can eat a meal here at Mable’s in under 20 minutes, depending on how much you chew and do dinner afterwards. Wait, you mean eating two dinners is not a thing? Meat After the Jump!

Though they had a nice combo tray that you could try their ribs, brisket and pulled pork it came with three sides which is just filler and gets in the way of meat. You can order by the pound here so I got all three meats and then to pretend to be healthy, a side of collard greens (okay, most sides are filler, this is just tricking myself).

I apologize before hand for the even crappier pictures of the food. I guess due to intense meat hunger, I was rushing a bit with the camera, do not worry, Austin will not be like this. First off the collards were great, vinegary and greens having a bit of bite to them made it an acceptable side and only peace of greenery before I gorged on meat. I pulled pork was the weakest of the bunch. 

The pork was stringy and the bits of bark made it okay to eat and it easily needed sauce which smartly, they serve on the side. The sauce is mainly tomato, easy on the vinegar and peppery, it was fine, nothing that I would be trying to steal and replicate. The ribs fared a lot better. They were lightly sauced and then they get a bit more of their dry rub on top of that making them spicy, not in a heat sense, but they were similar to being blackened. Paprika and chili pepper I think were the dominating flavors but then again, I am not a Rain Man of tasting. The smokiness in the ribs was strongly apparent and worked well with the spice rub. The ribs, a St. Louis cut were a bit tough and could have used a bit more time on the smoker. 

The winner meat here and the reason to come here is their brisket. I asked for the fatty part which the counter lady did not understand and gave me a weird look. I guess this uncomfortable moment worked because I of the half pound of brisket I ordered, the majority was from the fattier side. However, the leaner cut were just as tender and juicy as the fattier parts. It did not need sauce at all; it was good as is which is what great barbecue should be. The meat was not falling apart (this is not your Passover Brisket) it had the slightest bit of resistance and though I think Hill Country has the best brisket, I would have to do more research to determine which is better. But I would not be sad eating the brisket here. Or eating this next morning cold for breakfast, I mean, not that I did that…

Mable's Smokehouse
44 Berry Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
www.mablessmokehouse.com/