I've had a decent amount of really good barbecue in my life so I was looking forward to this trip, as Daisy May's has received excellent reviews from pretty much every publication I've seen.
I ordered the 'Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich', and the 'Memphis Dry Rub Pork Ribs' with sides of Cajun dirty rice and beans, and Bourbon Peaches. I also ordered a sweet tea, which was served chilled in a mason jar.
Overall, I was honestly disappointed. I'm not sure if I caught them on a bad day, with quality of the food sacrificed due to the higher volume of BBQ seekers on Memorial Day, but there was something missing in nearly every part of the meal.
Lets start with the pulled pork sandwich, which is one of my favorite meals on this earth and the menu item I select 99.6% of the time I eat BBQ. I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but the pork is slathered with sauce like a sloppy joe. Every time I see this I can't help but think they are trying to compensate for half-decent meat. I never understood this practice, and am actually quite turned off by seeing this happen. Let me explain why.
The beauty of a really good pulled pork sandwich is the moistness of the shredded pork that just melts when you bite into the sandwich. It should consist of long but tender strands of slow-cooked pig placed on a buttered and toasted bun. The application of the sauce should be left to the individual consumer, as should the addition of cole slaw to the sandwich. By inserting the cole slaw before you send the sandwich out (as Daisy May's does), the heat of the pork softens the cabbage and reduces its crunchiness, defeating the purpose of slaw on a sandwich in the first place.
The ribs were dry, and I'm not referring to the rub, they were dry all around. Just because you're preparing your ribs without sauce, doesn't give you an excuse when the meat contains no moisture. The rub had a good flavor though so I finished a good portion of my ribs.
Neither side item is really worth mentioning. They were both decently mediocre.
The best part of my meal was the sweet tea, served how every sweet tea should be served. Sealed in a mason jar with a few sprigs of mint, the tea had been chilled to almost freezing, allowing it to stay cold enough throughout your meal to avoid the need for ice. Ice does two terrible things to sweet tea; Dilute the tooth-stabbing sweetness that makes the beverage so delicious, and occupy valuable real estate in the jar that could be considerably better served by more tea.
After eating that enormous amount of meat, I knew I couldn't just hop on my bike and ride away, so I took a walk down to the Hudson River and encountered this ship...
From what I understand it is the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), a US Navy assault ship which was docked during fleet week.
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