BROOKLYN — There’s a series of new barbecue shops coming to Brooklyn ... but don’t ask for brisket.
Urban Smoke is set to open just after Memorial Day on the border of Prospect Heights and Crown Heights, and later this summer in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens — serving smoked meats, sandwiches and sides with flavors distinctly apart from typical southern barbecue, its owners said.
Instead of the typical brisket, said executive chef David Schaap, the eatery’s menu will include pulled lamb, beef cheek, barbecue Portobello mushroom or smoked … meatloaf.
“The recipe is altered so it holds together on the smoker,” he said. “It’s new and it’s absolutely fantastic.”
Schaap said the restaurant is not trying to compete with real southern barbecue, which in New York he said is hard to find and “outrageously overpriced.” Instead, they’ll attempt to create something new.
“Any time people hear ‘barbecue,’ it’s the first thing they want to do — compare it to every place they’ve ever been to in Texas. With this concept, that wasn’t the point. The whole point is to play on barbecue and to make it different,” he said.
The restaurant, created by the owners of the popular Mexican chain Oaxaca Taqueria, will use a wood-fired smoker located off-site on Franklin and Atlantic avenues to supply their three new stores, Schaap said.
The eateries will also have a slew of seasonal sides that deviate from traditional barbecue side dishes; their spring menu includes corn pudding with avocado cream and cotija cheese, pesto potato salad with mint and English peas and rice-and-beans with coffee (or “red-eye”) gravy.
Prices at Urban Smoke range from $5 for a regular side to $9 for a sandwich (example: “The Rusty Oyster,” made with smoked pulled mushroom, Korean barbecue sauce and kimchi) or up to $11 for a half pound of smoked tri-tip steak.
The first and second locations — 417 Prospect Place on the border of Crown Heights and Prospect Heights and at Halsey Street and Lewish Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant — will be mostly to-go and delivery establishments, Schaap said. The Prospect-Lefferts Gardens shop, slated to open last at Rogers Avenue and Sterling Street, will likely have more seating and, possibly, cocktails or beer and wine, he said.
