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Jun 20, 2008 9:31 am US/Eastern
Dining Deal: Barbecue On Park Avenue At 'Wildwood'
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
It's never too early to talk about good barbecue. CBS 2's Tony Tantillo has a new spot for some good old fashion eating.
Tantillo is headed to Wildwood, a new restaurant near Union Square for this week's Dining Deal.
Wildwood is only a few months old, but the pungent smoky barbecue aroma is already ingrained in the neighborhood.
They're part of a certified green restaurant group; their rough hewn beams are made from recycled wood, the fifty foot bar from compressed cardboard and the meat they serve is all natural.
Despite the architecture, Tantillo is there for barbecue and to meet the pit-master, Big Lou Elrose - a former cop, and now a barbecue legend.
"Being a NYC cop is the greatest job in the world, but it's not a job where you work as much. On the other hand, I'm here 7 days a week...But it's rewarding, just watching people's faces as they eat delicious food," said Elrose.
It was time for Tantillo to try some of Elrose's signature dishes.
"Let's start by talking about the ribs. First, there's the Hatfield all natural baby back ribs. They are put in the smoker for about 5 hours to get a nice spice on them. They then come out of the smoker, and we provide a rasberry chipotle bbq sauce," explained Elrose.
For a "little bit of everything," they also have a "best of the best" platter with smoke apricot rubbed chicken, North Carolina pulled pork and their famous brisket.
Tantillo also tried the meaty beef short rib with a great smokey flavor.
Elrose told Tantillo about a lesson he learned from watching Tony on CBS 2. He went to the market and picked out beautiful asparagus; nice, green plump asparagust.
"We put them on the grill and then sauteed them in white wine butter and shallot sauce," said Elrose.
If the meats weren't enough, Tantillo sampled their cornbread, their vegetarian chilli and their signature brisket sandwich.
"Big Lou, thanks for having us here. Barbecue on Park Avenue doesn't get any better than this," said Tantillo.
Wildwood is located on Park Avenue South at 18th Street. They're open seven days, for lunch and dinner.
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