Virgil's Real Barbecue, Theater District, NYC - food and restaurant reviews - food blog

Be sure to have a hearty appetite when you go to Virgil’s, NYC’s first barbecue restaurant that opened in 1994 in Times Square. You won’t leave hungry.

Hot is the operative word for their spicy habañero margaritas ($11.50). Really hot. The timid instead should reach for the fresh refreshing watermelon one made with that fruit muddled.

Do not miss their BBQ nachos — which are . some of the best I’ve ever had, and I’m a nacho lover. The large plate comes piled high with crisp tortilla chips, a judicious amount cheese and heaps of the smoked meats that Virgil is famous for. Virgil’s smokes these meats for up to ten hours over a mixture of woods. Those meats on the nachos include BBQ pulled chicken, Carolina pulled pork and Texas beef brisket plus a capping of sliced jalapeños. A bargain at $13.95 as it could be a meal. For me, anyway.

I’d skip the Maryland crab cakes (two for $15.95), as they’re more bread-y than I like. They were served with regular cole slaw, not the zucchini and cucumber one the menu described. You might try the smoked whole BBQ chicken wings served with a mild (needed more) blue cheese sauce, which our friendly waiter Dave described as “The best wings in New York City.” They were good, but not deserving of that hyperbole.

Dave also suggested that night’s special of baby back ribs; he said they were leaner and more tender than the Virgil’s favorite Memphis-style pork ones. These lean baby backs were seasoned with a salt, pepper and dry rub, basted in an apricot BBQ sauce, smoked for four to five hours, basted again with the sauce and served with homemade cornbread muffin. With that slab or ribs, we had a fresh biscuit with honey butter, their flavorful baked beans and mac and cheese. The ribs were tender and flavorful, but arrived as a whole rack that we fought with (literally) in an attempt to separate the ribs. I highly suggest they cut the rack with a good knife in the kitchen before serving the baby backs.

I suggest your order the tender sliced smoked Texas brisket over those ribs (mainly because of the difficulty in cutting). Tender, flavorful, moist meat in a portion size impossible for most to finish. I also recommend their crispy fries over the potato salad that begged for seasoning.

All desserts are housemade. We preferred the warm, not too sweet, fresh fruit cobbler with vanilla ice cream over the sweeter key lime pie with a scoop (yes, a scoop) of whipped cream