Blue Smoke

I now know where I'd take visiting friends for an American night out. The perfect blend of a bit of class with something very American (Texan really), very enjoyable and quite special.

So Daphne, an improv buddy invited me along with some of her family and friends to Blue Smoke, a rib joint on 28th street in Manhattan. 'You eat meat don't you?' she asked. 'I do' I replied though my policies were rapidly kicking in: not to eat heavy food late at night, especially a school night, and not to eat beef as it is chewy and heavy.

'What do they serve?', I asked. 'Meat' she replied with a slight no-compromise-possible-there shake of the head. And I went for it as she is great company and the whole thing seemed like a good idea. Plus I really liked the way one of her friends initiated a chat with me in the bar where we were. Rather than introducing herself or worrying about names etc., she leant in as if we'd already been talking a while and said "I eat one hotdog a year - just to acknowledge that its' summer" and we were off. 

So Blue Smoke. Love the name. A big restaurant with booths aswell as Walton's kitchen table type tables. We took one of the latter. There was a huge broken mirror on the wall near us, very high ceiling and a feeling of enjoyment in the place. The slightly ramshackle nature of the mirror and scrubbed wooden floor resonated nicely against the more chic soft blue and white lighting and excellent quality feel of the intelligent menu.

I say intelligent as the specials were exciting, the crisps (chips..) with blue cheese dip were made on site (and were truly amazing - the dip was so cheesy and fresh tasting - but not to fill up on those!). And there was a nut-free menu which is why my buddy, who is very allergic and has made into her career as allergy-expert very successfully, had chosen this joint. 

Soon after we'd settled in, we were getting impatient. The flow of huge creamy plates of arrays of curving Brooklyn-bridge shaped ribs with pickles passing by were really bringing out the saliva and the caveman in all of us. The juicy evil glistening dark brown kill on the plate! 

But then our waitress introduced the table to another waitress, Rio, who would apparently be taking over our table. Once this had been done, the new, funky looking spiky-haired waitress promptly marched off.

Monica said "where's she going? What about our order?"

Daphne "oh she needs to put on more sparkles and do a little dance out the back before she can do that..."

then later when she re-appears:

Daphne (to the waitress) "We are sooo ready for you!" (meaning we are getting very impatient - but said sweetly and firmly)

Rio (opening her arms and doing a slow, high amplitude shimmy looking up to the sky): "And I am so ready for you!" (winning endearment)

Then later, once Daphne had asked why the slaw was not on the nut-free menu, as the waitress came back from enquiring:

Daphne: "Oh is that a bad face?" (frownsome face seen as she approached)

Rio: "No, it's a trying to hold lots of information in my head face".

You can probably tell I was enjoying the forward nature of the interaction with the waitress. Very fun.

Soon after that our ribs appeared along with a brushed aluminum bucket centre-piece, for....the bones!

And bones there surely were.

I now understood Daphne choosing the rib joint. I know that she is sensitive about what she eats and when - she is digestion-concscious.

I've never had ribs before and was fascinated by the animalness of the ends of ribs - the visceral nature of them.

And while there is plenty of meat there, the impressive volume on your plate and in your caveperson hands, is mostly bone. And the meat strips off and melts in your mouth! And so tasty and ...light! Doesn't feel like beef. Fang, the Chinese guy who sits behind me at work commented that meat near the bone is the most tasty. I would say Chinese might well be the authority on that.

We all had salt and pepper rubbed ribs which were just lovely. There were also dishes of slaw and southern greens - very fresh and super tasty. And we had doggy bags to take home - a rib for breakfast!

So come ye to Manhattan and stay that I may ply you with beef like satin, and comments like this from our waiter:

"Here you are you lovely people"

Said with affection on presenting the bill.

Ha! Quite separate occasion. But this seems like NY wit to me:
Daphne walks down the street with me on her right and Scott on her left and says to me:
"well as Chris here was telling me"

..then immediately on realizing that it was Scott, added as if planned all along:

" who looks a lot like Scott" (without a blink or a blush).