Nearly a thousand people came to Industry City for Rib King NYC™ on Memorial Day weekend 2024, and Vincent Mangual of Empire BBQ (@empire_bbq) in Staten Island went home with the crown. His Porkstrami Rib was a cherry-wood-smoked pork pastrami rib with pickled jalapeño, yellow mustard barbecue sauce and rye bread crumbs. Empire came in fresh from an award at Brisket King NYC the month before and a first place at Pig Island NYC 2023.
Anthony Scerri of Smoke Sweats (@smoke_sweats) was runner-up for the second year running and also took the Longest Line award: St. Louis ribs in a sauce built on Finback Brewery’s Banana Pudding stout, finished with 24-karat gold leaf, a rib he called a love letter to the barbecue community. Six years earlier he had been the one standing in line.
The 2024 awards
- Rib King NYC™ Champion: Vincent Mangual, Empire BBQ, the Porkstrami Rib
- Runner-up and Longest Line: Anthony Scerri, Smoke Sweats
- Friends of Firefighters People’s Choice: Darlene Lawrence, Sands Jerk Hut (@official_sandsjerkhut), apple honey smoked jerk ribs with peach cobbler cornbread
- Prehistorically Delicious: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (@dinosaur_bbq)
- Size Doesn’t Matter: The Dancing Pig (@thedancingpigbbq)
- KISS, Keep It Simple Smokey: Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue (@morgansbrooklynbbq)
- Vampire Killer: Archie Moore’s
Who cooked
Also cooking: KAM RAI THAI (@kamraithai), Iron & Oak Catering and Fire & Smoke BBQ (@fireandsmokebbqny). MuMsKitchens NYC (@mumskitchensnyc) handled grilled cheese and dessert.
Results from NYC BBQ, June 2, 2024 (Dennis Cheng); photos by Dennis Cheng, Chang Media and Chris Gampat. Read the full recap at NYC BBQ.