Big Apple BBQ 2009

17th Street Bar & Grill; Murphysboro, Ill. | Baby back ribs and beans

Rain and crappy weather didn't stop 'cue aficionados from stomping Madison Square Park this past weekend at the Big Apple BBQ, the brainchild of restaurateur extraordinaire and Blue Smoke founder Danny Meyer. A St. Louis boy himself (a town as well known for its eponymous rack of ribs as it is for its giant arch), Meyer called in the country's best pitmasters for a wild weekend of all things smoked and delicious.

This year's list of distinguished pitmasters included New York's own Kenny Callaghan (Blue Smoke, natch), John Stage (Dinosaur), John Wheeler (Rack & Soul) and Pete Daversa (Hill Country). The rest of the formidable list pulled their smokers into town from, among others, Alabama (Chris Lilly, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q), South Carolina (Jimmy Hagood, BlackJack BBQ), Texas (Michael Rodriguez, The Salt Lick BBQ), South Carolina (Jimmy Hagood, Black Jack BBQ), and... Connecticut (Ed Wilson, Wilson’s Barbeque)?! Go, go Connecticut!