Rachael M - Brisket King

Brisket King® NYC 2025 Recap

Rachael M — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 22:02:00 +0000

NY’s Smoke Sweats Wins Brisket King NYC 2025

Anthony Scerri of Smoke Sweats won Brisket King NYC 2025. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)

Pitmaster Anthony Scerri of Brooklyn-based Smoke Sweats BBQ was ultimately crowned the new Brisket King of NYC. Scerri served up two excellent dishes. One was a “Limp Brisket,” a Wagyu brisket that was cold-smoked for 6 hours in almond wood before a 15-hour cook using post oak wood. The second was “BBQ Cereal,” made with chopped Wagyu brisket over cornbread cream, corn, scallions, sweet soy jalapenos, and Achilles Heat smoked chili crisp. Judges and attendees alike were impressed with the creativity and quality of the dishes.

The always funny Anthony Scerri of Smoke Sweats showing off a brisket in a way only he would. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)

The journey to Brisket King winner has been a long time coming for Scerri. After years of hosting intimate BBQ events, he began doing larger public pop-ups in 2019 and then started competing in 2021. He has been a runner-up three times — Brisket King 2024, Rib King 2024, and Rib King 2023 — and now he is a grand prize winner.

Read more about Scerri’s journey and find out who else walked away with big awards at Brisket King® NYC on NYC BBQ.

The post Brisket King® NYC 2025 Recap first appeared on Brisket King.

Ken Wheaton – How Long Can You Talk About Brisket?

Rachael M — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 15:11:50 +0000

Photo by Patty Brown

“After over a decade of attending and planning and participating in panel discussions, I’d become pretty convinced that a) panel discussions suck and b) there’s no reason for them to ever go longer than 25 minutes,” Ken Wheaton said. “But last night, I sat through a panel that ran a little over two hours and I didn’t want it to end.”

Brisket heavyweights Bill Durney of Hometown BBQ, lauded chef John Tesar, Jake Dell of Katz’s Deli, and Texas Monthly’s Daniel Vaughn sat down to talk shop—and brisket—in this story from the archives.

Brisket King® NYC 2024 Recap

Rachael M — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 23:01:05 +0000

Avellino Family Barbecue Wins Brisket King® NYC

Pitmaster Leland Avellino (right) was crowned the Brisket King of NYC on Wednesday. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)

This year’s Brisket King NYC was hosted at Pig Beach BBQ in Queens, and hundreds of hungry New York and New Jersey residents came together to taste-test some of the best brisket dishes in the region. Both established names and newcomers brought the heat.

Avellino Family Barbecue served up a perfect brisket sandwich on brioche bread that was cooked with beef fat. (Photo by Chris Gampat / The Phoblographer)

The runner-up for Brisket King 2024 was Brooklyn-based Smoke Sweats. Anthony Scerri, the most humorous pitmaster around, keeps getting better and better as he competes more, and his brisket was some of the most flavorful I’ve had in a long time.

Read on for all the winners and more from NYCBBQ.

The post Brisket King® NYC 2024 Recap first appeared on Brisket King.

NYC BBQ – Make Your BBQ Dreams Come True at Brisket King® NYC 2024

Rachael M — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 15:12:33 +0000

Brisket King® NYC will showcase some of the best up-and-coming barbecue talent this April. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)

One annual event I most look forward to is Brisket King NYC, a showcase of barbecue talent from New York and beyond, all focused on making succulent brisket bites. The event, hosted by Food Karma Projects, will once again return on April 17, 2024, at Pig Beach BBQ in Queens.

Brisket King® NYC 2024 Participating Chefs and Restaurants

Rachael M — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 01:59:40 +0000

Get reading for the smoking-hot 2024 Brisket King® NYC

Join us this year to taste the best of the best as chefs from New York and beyond go head-to-head for the Brisket King® NYC crown. Will returning competitors take the crown, or will new chefs walk away with the glory? Be there on April 17, 2024, at Pig Beach BBQ to find out. Tickets on sale now.

Brisket King® NYC 2024 Featured Chefs and Restaurants Include (subject to change):

Blue Smoke – Brisket King® NYC 2023 Runner Up – Christine Espinal Rosa – NYC, NY
Hindsight BBQ – Brisket King® NYC 2022 Runner-Up – Jeff Schmidt and Mark Fuller – Waterbury, CT
Bear’s Smokehouse – Winner Rib King NYC 2023 – Cheryl Antoncic – Hartford, CT
Empire BBQ – Pig Island NYC 2023 Best in Show – Vincent Mangual – NYC, NY
Iron & Oak Catering – Alexandra Donnadio – Featured on Gordon Ramsay’s “Next Level Chef” – Hillsborough, NJ
KAM RAI THAI – Dhanapol Marprasert and Jina Tisopa – Astoria, NY
Kimchi Smoke – Robert Austin Cho – Ridgewood, NJ
La Estación – Kevin Roth – Fajardo, Puerto Rico
Morgan’s Brooklyn BBQ – Cenobio Canalizo – Brooklyn, NY
Samuel Alleyne – Big Bob Gibson‘s Memphis in May Team – Decatur, AL
Big Guns BBQ – Sean Keever – Poughkeepsie, NY
The Meat Truck and Archie Moores – Jose Perez – New Haven, CT
Sands Jerk Hut – Darlene Lawrence – Brooklyn, NY
Smoke Sweats – Anthony Scerri – Brooklyn, NY
Tio Rozay’s BBQ – Hery Acosta – North Bergen, NJ
Crossroads Que – Jesse Corsini and Kevin Cole – Bay Shore, NY
Eazy’s Craft Barbecue Co. – Eric Vitale – New Jersey
Friends of Firefighters – Firefighter Chef Team – Brooklyn, NY
and more to come!

Get Tickets

The post Brisket King® NYC 2024 Participating Chefs and Restaurants first appeared on Brisket King.

Brisket King® NYC 2023 Recap

Rachael M — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 01:36:00 +0000

NJ’s Wildwoods BBQ Wins Brisket King NYC 2023

The Wildwoods BBQ team won Brisket King NYC 2023. (Photo by Anthony Scerri / Smoke Sweats)

On Wednesday night, a new Brisket King was crowned. The team behind newcomer Wildwoods BBQ in North Wildwood, NJ, won both the top prize and People’s Choice trophies at Brisket King NYC, beating out several past winners. Held this year at Pig Beach NYC in Queens, Brisket King attracted hundreds of barbecue fans who were able to try a fantastic assortment of smoked brisket, sides, and drinks.

The winning brisket from Wildwoods BBQ. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)

Wildwoods BBQ was a frontrunner going into Brisket King based on pedigree. Led by pitmasters David Gill and Joel Romano, Wildwoods BBQ opened in mid-2021 and has since become a Jersey Shore favorite for smoked meats and creative sides. Gill previously ran the pits at renowned Hometown BBQ in Brooklyn, and he had been mentored by previous Brisket King winner Billy Durney. Romano was the executive chef for The Goat’s Beard in Philadelphia for eight years.

The runner-up trophy was awarded to pitmaster Bret Lunsford of Blue Smoke in Manhattan, who has wowed the crowds in the past with his authentic, tender Texas-style brisket. His brisket was served over gooey, tasty mac and cheese, which was one of the night’s best sides. Blue Smoke in Battery Park City is one of the best places to eat brisket in NYC, so the award was well deserved.

Read on for all the winners and more from NYCBBQ.

The post Brisket King® NYC 2023 Recap first appeared on Brisket King.