Gluttony at Daisy May
BBQ-master Adam Perry Lang is justly proud of his beef short ribs.
Photo: Steven Richter
A gourmandlich life is full of great lamb. The tenderest spring lamb at Chez l’Ami Louis in Paris. The rack of aristocratic Jamieson lamb at Gotham Bar & Grill. The velvety marinated lamb chop just out of the tandoori oven at Devi. I still recall the first taste, the startling silkenness more than 25 years ago, of lamb marinated Hunan style at the long gone Hunam.
But recently, all other lambs fade, as I am haunted by the discovery, at an impromptu dinner party on 11th Avenue, of the taste of Adam Perry Lang’s sublime barbecued rack of lamb – tangy and sweet, rare, and astonishingly meaty. I had to have it again. It was no trick at all to talk friends into joining me for an encore in the no-frills back room at Daisy May’s, where you can watch the game on giant screens, baseball now, and across the room, a sixsome devouring half a pig. Months ago, Adam Perry Lang, who divides his time between running the kitchen at Robert’s Steakhouse and strip bar, this personal fiefdom, and making the rounds of BBQ championships, wowed us at that first pigout with his amazingly moist Texas brisket. “They booed me in Texas when the MC said I was from New York,” Lang had told us then. “But they cheered when I won the blue ribbon.”
Now, as he slices our lamb rack, he gazes at our stylish coven – the women in Chanel jackets and blue jeans, and BBQ diamonds.
“I need to do something about these lights,” he said.
“Yeah, you could do surgery in here,” my guy agrees.
“You promised to change those lights months ago,” I remind him. A minion fetches a bunch of fixins': feisty baked beans with burnt ends, creamed spinach you won’t write home about, coleslaw techy with hot mustard, and Texas toast, which you think you can live without, considering the serious cow in front of you….'til you bite into the thick buttery brioche and your mouth says “more.”
“I’ve got a couple new dishes I want you to try,” he says, slicing into a blackened hunk of barbecued short ribs, each slice jiggling in its rich caramelized fattiness. There are moans of ecstacy and defiant snitching of seconds and thirds. Appetites are flagging a bit by the time he passes along slices of roasted Carolina pork that he normally would serve pulled with vinegar... tender challenge to every cooked-out slice of arid pork you’ve had this year. There are a few final nibblings of short rib and beans revisited, since we will not dare be here again 'til our lipitor kicks in to mollify our arteries.
Cubes of pineapple on toothpicks are the perfect palate cleanser.
623 11th Avenue, corner of 46th Street
212 977 1500 www.daisymaysbbq.com
Reservations accepted for Big Pig Gig Items only at 8 p.m. Seating nightly.
Hours Monday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday-Friday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday noon to 10 p.m. Sunday noon to 9 a.m.
***
About Gael Greene
Photo: Steven Richter
In her role as restaurant critic of New York Magazine (1968 to January 2002) Detroit-born Gael Greene helped change the way New Yorkers (and many Americans) think about food.
"Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ice Cream But Were Too Fat To Ask," "The Mafia Guide to Dining Out." and " Nobody Knows the Truffles I've Seen" were early pieces. In more recent years her annual roundup of New York City's dining favorites, Ask Gael, was a gourmand's collectible for many years and she continues to write a weekly Ask Gael column for NYM. Earlier she worked at the New York Post.
As co-founder with James Beard and a continuing force behind Citymeals-on-Wheels as board chair, Ms. Greene has made a significant impact on the city of New York. Citymeals, the largest public/private partnership in the country, has raised $200 million in its twenty-six-year history to help feed the city's frail elderly shut-ins.
Ms. Greene's memoir, "Insatiable, Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess" was published April, 2006. Earlier non-fiction books include "Delicious Sex, A Gourmet Guide for Women and the Men Who Want to Love Them Better" and "BITE: A New York Restaurant Strategy." Her two novels Blue skies, No Candy" and "Doctor Love" were NY Times best sellers.
Gael Greene
Articles used with permission of Gael Greene, Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. Steven Richter's photographs may not be used without permission.
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Gael Greene
Gael Greene's New York City Restaurant Reviews and more....
The NYC Insiders Guide
for women who aren't kids
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