Fete Sau
354 Metropolitan Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 963-3404

The final destination on the Meat Coma NYC 2010 Tour took me to Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Considering the density of hipsterness in this area, I am actually surprised it has taken so long for a BBQ joint to open here. Thankfully, what did open is one of the best Q joints in the Five Boroughs.

Situated in a converted garage along the still mostly warehouse-esque stretch of Metropolitan, Fete Sau is everything I want in a future Hut location. Exposed brick walls, roll up garage doors, long communal rustic wood picnic tables & funky faded meat cut artwork on the walls. It’s got a perfect Q joint vibe without being fauxbilly or too urban country.

Like Hill Country, Fete Sau is market style. You enter to find the display case filled with pork & beef. Give the carver your order by the pound & then move along to the sides. As I was somewhat full from HNH BBQ, Asia Dog & The Smoke Joint, I decided – again like Hill Country – to stick with meat only. Well meat & a beer.

Ordered a 1/2 pound each of brisket, pulled pork & pork belly. I was a little disappointed to only have the choice of lean brisket, but it was quite tasty. If I had to rank the brisket eaten over the course of the Meat Coma Tour, it would be:

1. Hill Country
2. HNH BBQ
3. Fete Sau/Capital Q Smokehouse

I’ll skip discussing where I think MY brisket falls on that list (*cough*tiedwithhnh*cough*) but it was quite wonderful to discover so many joints on the tour making what – at least to me – is REAL smoked brisket.

Fete Sau’s pulled pork was done exactly the way I believe pulled pork should be done. No sauce – nice rope pull – a bit of crusty bark – & enough smoke to flavor but not overpower the meat. I can’t say I found their use of Berkshire Shoulder to add anything to the product other than price. It’s not that I do not respect the use of heritage/organic/local meat – it’s how I learned to make Q – it’s just that rarely does it actually affect the end product. BBQ is about taking cheap cuts of meat & making them yummy. When you start with expensive meat – you’re kind of defeating the purpose of BBQ.

Then I tasted the pork belly…

OK – I get it here. This is amazing pork belly. Rich, smokey, fatty goodness. It’s not bacon – though you could fry it up like bacon. It’s like concentrated essence of pork with a smoke undertone. I seriously wish I had gotten more of this. It makes me want to start working with pork belly as soon as I can.

I certainly have to agree with those praising Fete Sau. When it comes to hardcore Q in Brooklyn, it might well be the top joint. Besides – you can buy beer by the gallon here & that’s reason enough to love the place.

Though the brilliant Q is an even better reason.

Asia Dog
Mobile vending at various locations.
Check their website for schedule.

With time still to kill before lunch & done with our HNH BBQ brisket sandwich, we decided one more Brooklyn Flea food vendor was in order.

Someone is selling “hot dogs with Asian-inspired toppings” & one of the toppings is Chinese Pork Belly, you just have to know I’m buying. The Wangding is an organic beef dog topped with chopped onions & fried pork belly. Somewhat an Asian cousin to Crif Dog’s Spicy Red Neck without the hillbilly edge. The pork belly added a richer flavor to the dog than any plain bacon wrapped dog I’ve ever had. My only criticism is I wanted more pork to dog ratio.

Looking forward to a return trip to the Flea to try more of these dogs & their limeade sodas.

Porchetta
110 East 7th St
New York, NY 10009
(212) 777-2161

Thank you David Lebovitz.

On the first morning of Meat Coma 2010 in NYC (our food tour for Cha Cha Hut research), Cherie was reading her feeds & came across a post on David Lebovitz’s blog about Porchetta. The description & photos of the pork roasts looked too good to pass up. We made the decision to start the day with lunch there. It would ultimately set the tone for an “all pork but not pork BBQ” day.

If there is one rule I believe in strongly – especially when it comes to restaurants – it would be:

Do one thing & do it very well.

Lebovitz echoed the sentiment in his article about Porchetta. I have rarely had a decent meal in a place where the cook believes they can do Italian, Indian, Asian & American Bistro & do them all well. Inevitably, everything is either a sort of LCD mish mash completely unforgettable or worse – just dreadful. Focus on one core cuisine & make those dishes over & over. I remember reading a quote from a pitmaster (forgot who) claiming his father always said: “You never really know how to cook something until you’ve done it 100 times.” I certainly believe this is true.

Porchetta does one thing & does it incredibly well! It’s roast pork wrapped in pork fat for a crispy skin & seasoned with fennel, thyme, rosemary, salt & pepper. Slow roasted then displayed in a case in the front of the very tiny store front. A few stools & an small outside bench are the only seats.

The pork is sliced to order for either a sandwich on a crusty roll or for pork plate. Sides include sauteed greens or roast potatoes with pork burnt ends. Drinks are natural sodas from Boylan’s & Fresh Ginger Ale .

We went for two sandwiches, an order of potatoes & a couple of Fresh Ginger Ales. The pork was amazing. So tender & moist with a crispy candy skin. Cherie thought the skin was a bit too crisp – which was fine with me as that meant I got hers. A wonderful ciabatta style roll complimented the pork nicely. No sauce or dressing needed on this. The herbs used for cooking are all the seasoning needed.

I would never think to order roasted potatoes at lunch, but these work SO well with the pork it would have been a shame to miss them. Perfect roast – great seasoning – but it is the burnt pork bits that REALLY kill here. So wonderful! If you’re in NYC you must head to Porchetta for lunch. Get there early as they have the tendency to get busy & run out of pork. As it should be when doing one thing well & keeping it fresh.

So now I’m thinking – can we do a smoked porchetta at the Hut?