BBQ Club hits JT’s Southern Hospitality

BBQ Club began this summer when my friend Ray and I decided it’d be fun to get our pals together every couple weeks for beer and BBQ at a restaurant we’d never tried. When the weather was warm we stuck to outdoor picnic-style joints (Williamsburg’s Pies-N-Thighs and Fette Sau were favorites). But now that the weather’s turned we’ve had to move “meetings” indoors (last time at Georgia’s Eastside BBQ, which was very good).

Our most recent destination was Southern Hospitality on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Reviews were iffy, but our choice was one of novelty, as this restaurant was established over the summer by none other than Justin Timberlake (& a business partner I don’t care about). It’s his 2nd NYC restaurant (Italian spot Destino was 1st in February 2006, though back in 2003 he opened Chi in Hollywood, which later shut down).

The six of us that showed up all agreed with the reviews we’d read: the food was OK but nothing extraordinary. We first split a fried pickle appetizer just because we were intrigued, and although that was pretty yummy, we were disappointed by how meager the portion was (though they were stupidly generous with the bowl of spicy thousand island style dipping sauce). Then, although I can pretty much always be trusted to order pulled pork (my faaaavorite), I opted for fried chicken because reviews had said it was the best item on the menu. And I concurred! Especially since the portions were huge enough to take leftovers with me to work the next day.

Now I’ll answer the questions you really have. Did we see Justin???? No, we did not. Did they play his music??? Yes. In fact, the most magical part of the evening was when “Lovestoned” came on JUST as our server brought out the food. Very nice touch, Justin. Besides that I remember hearing some Elvis and top 40 stuff.

So, yeah, overall, not a place I’d hit up again, especially because the seating was cramped (even moreso than other NYC eateries), the server never smiled, and when I tried somebody else’s pulled pork I found it bland (plus there wasn’t any spicy sauce to kick it up with).

Oh the bathrooms were very nice though! I will say that. The official Southern Hospitality site is here if you want to check it out.