Brisket King® NYC

1. 2026Brothers BarbecueFour former champions in one field, a first. The judges called it the closest competition they had seen.
2. 2025Smoke Sweats BBQScerri had been runner-up here in 2024 and at Rib King in 2023 and 2024.
3. 2024Avellino Family Barbecue
4. 2023Wildwoods BBQFirst year in Queens, outdoors, and the biggest field to that point.
5. 2022SmoKing of MeatsThe People’s Choice award started this year. Richie Holmes handed over the crown.
6. 2021Juicy Lucy BBQThe first edition after the pandemic, outdoors in the rain and wind. Second crown in a row for Juicy Lucy.
7. 2020No eventCancelled for COVID
8. 2019Juicy Lucy BBQJuicy Lucy had not opened yet. The restaurant followed in Staten Island.
9. 2018Cherry St. Bar-B-QueThe crown left the country. First and second place both cooked out of borrowed Brooklyn pits.
10. 2017Izzy’s BBQ AddictionFirst year with the Golden Calf trophy and a sequestered judging before doors. Aaron Franklin and Daniel Vaughn judged.
11. 2016The Wandering QueThe year the butchers came: Marlow and Daughters, Dickson’s, Hudson and Charles. Jay Fox broke down a whole beef shoulder on the floor.
12. 2015Hometown BBQFirst year in Brooklyn, and a Monday.
13. 2014Ducks EateryAwards ran by category that year, so there was no overall runner-up. Several hundred people ate brisket the night before a snowstorm.
14. 2013BrisketTownSold out. The judges called the runner-up almost too close to call.
15. 2012John Brown SmokehouseThe first Brisket King of NYC, with a dozen cooks. The year before, A Brisket-A Brasket at Jimmy’s No. 43 was the trial run.

All winners, runners-up and People’s Choice