I've long been a fan of anything pickled and anything fried, so you can imagine my excitement when a friend, David Steinvurzel, recommended I order the "Frickles," with horseradish dipping sauce, to accompany my
Samuel Adams Summer Ale at Brother Jimmy's BBQ in New York City. I'm not sure he thought it would specifically go with the beer's promised "background tropical fruit note reminiscent of mangoes and peaches," but it was fantastic advice.
For extra measure, we also ordered the fried okra "Beginning," as Brother Jimmy's calls its appetizers, and we were rewarded with a complimentary, ice cold scorpion bowl with plenty of vodka and sour mix. We found all this fried food and cold drinks at the original Brother Jimmy's at 1485 Second Ave., between 77th and 78th. But there are five other locations in NYC.
Photos by New York photographer
Jacob Silberberg.
UPDATE: ABC News reporter
Scott Mayerowitz, a former colleague of mine at
The Providence Journal and
an occasional guest-blogger at my Latin American politics blog,
Small State, did some Zagat sleuthing about Brother Jimmy's. Here's what he dug up:
"Young and loud" but "tasty as hell," these "guy-oriented" BBQ joints serve "not-bad" eats to "beer-soaked frat boys" lured in by "cheap" tabs, "fishbowl"-size drinks and "hot little waitresses" flashing "bare midriffs"; in short, "if you're over 30, have it delivered."
CORRECTION: I'm told that the photos were taken by David Steinvurzel, who shoots for specialty foods importer
Roland. The camera, a Canon 5D Mark II with a 35/1.4, belongs to Jacob Silberberg.
Last night, at a pan-African happy hour, I felt subtly bullied into ordering the Tusker, a Kenyan beer I had never heard of but that apparently sells 700,000 hectoliters per year (whatever the heck a hectoliter is).
