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Hometown Bar-B-Que Owner to Open New Spot in Urby Staten Island

By Nicholas Rizzi | July 14, 2016 4:40pm
 Billy Durney, pit master of Hometown Bar-B-Que in Red Hook, teamed up with New Jersey restaurateur and TV host Victor Rallo to bring Surf BBQ & Grill to Stapleton.
Billy Durney, pit master of Hometown Bar-B-Que in Red Hook, teamed up with New Jersey restaurateur and TV host Victor Rallo to bring Surf BBQ & Grill to Stapleton.
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DNAinfo/Nikhita Venugopal

STAPLETON — The pit master of one of Brooklyn's most popular barbecue joints will bring his smoked meats to the new luxury apartment building on Staten Island's waterfront next year.

Billy Durney, pit master of Red Hook's Hometown Bar-B-Que, teamed up with TV host and New Jersey restaurateur Victor Rallo to bring Surf BBQ & Grill to Urby Staten Island, Eater first reported.

"We realized this is kind of going to be a destination place, and it's just got this spectacular views," said Rallo, who co-owns Surf BBQ in Rumson, New Jersey. "We wanted to give that barbecue experience, but a little more."

Unlike their other restaurants, the Staten Island spot won't be a counter-service, Southern barbecue eatery but it will be a two-floor, sit down restaurant with outdoor seating, Rallo said. 

And instead of just serving up smoked meats, Rallo said the menu will focus on wood fire cooking.

"The menu will be very concise and particular, but it will have other options aside from straight up smoked meats," Rallo said.

Plans for Surf BBQ & Grill call for 150 outdoor seats, a 25 to 30 stool bar on the first floor and a second floor with 100 seats, Rallo said.

Rallo, who hosts a television show "Eat! Drink! Italy!" and owns Birravino and Undici Taverna Rustica in New Jersey, said he searched the country for the best pit masters when he wanted to open a barbecue spot.

He found Brooklyn's Hometown and eventually asked Durney to be a consultant for Surf BBQ, which opened this year in New Jersey, with the Diaco family as partners.

When Rallo wanted to open another spot with Durney, the Diacos told him to visit Urby Staten Island, which they were the builders of.

"I said 'I'm a Jersey guy what am I going to Staten Island for,'" Rallo said. "We rode out to Staten Island and the views were just amazing and the project was just amazing. You couldn't say no."

Urby Staten Island, at 8 Navy Pier Court, opened up its first batch of 104 apartments in March after years of development.

The $150 million LEED-certified development has a "bodega" store in the lobby, a communal kitchen, a farmer-in-residence to tend to an urban garden inside and the next phase will include a location of the coffee-chain Coffeed. Surf BBQ & Grill is the first restaurant announced to take a space in the project.

Aside from the eatery, Rallo said the group will also run the bar at the pool for residents in Urby.

Surf BBQ & Grill plans to open in the beginning of 2017.