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“Bar Q”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Asian	West Village	Moderate	Great

Trends are a curious phenomenon. I always marvel at how in the course of one month, four new high-end burger shacks, or a half-dozen new ramen joints can open. Or how suddenly everyone is living in Ditmas Park, or wearing skinny jeans and ballet flats. Where do trends start? How does it all happen? (See Malcom Gladwell’s The Tipping Point for more on this.) And when a trend is growing and reaching its peak, is it best to refuse to follow or to get in line and be a sheep? Or is there perhaps a third possibility—a way to somehow follow the leader, but to do something new at the same time? Is there a way to take the road more traveled but to somehow make it seem unchartered?

Yes there is. And this is precisely what Anita Lo has done with Bar Q. She’s opened a restaurant that fits snugly into the barbecue bonanza that New York has been experiencing over the past few years (Wildwood being the latest entrant to its community), and instead of hopping on that honky tonk train and serving Ball jars of whiskey punch in a setting marked by red and white gingham cloths, rolls of paper towels on table tops, peanut-shell covered floors and Johnny Cash walking the line on the juke box, she’s done the opposite. She’s opened a decidedly feminine restaurant cloaked in cool white and chrome, with high-backed booths in pure milky leather and shiny tables the color of straw dressed with silver placemats and fine flatware. You’d never guess that inside, a chef was smoking and grilling. But she is, though she’s left the smoky brisket, saucy pulled pork, and sticky ribs of American regional barbecue to the able pitmasters of this city, and instead decided to turn her attention to the fiery and pungent barbecue of Asia—Korea, China, Japan, and Thailand. In short, she’s managed to open an un-barbecue barbecue restaurant. Nicely done.

The idea for Bar Q actually predates the barbecue explosion by some years. It was back in 1996, when she was the chef of a restaurant called Mirezi. It was a clubby Pan-Asian spot on lower Fifth Avenue that served dishes like spicy green papaya salad and Chinese barbecued ribs. And it was at this unfortunately ill-fated space (which is now Danal) that Lo conceived of an idea for an Asian barbecue restaurant. It took 12 years for her vision to come to life with Bar Q. I’m glad she didn’t give up.

Kathy, Julie and I met at Bar Q last week where we started off with o ... [more, click below]

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Posted: May 4, 2008

Other restaurants in West Village :
+ Jefferson-- Closed   + La Palapa Rockola   + Sumile   + Babbo   + Tasca   + AOC Bedford   + Home   + The Spotted Pig   + Barbuto   + Numero 26   + Mas   + August   + Alta   + Cru   + Blue Mill Tavern-- Closed   + Employees Only   + Lassi   + Metropol--Closed   + Turks and Frogs   + Bellavitae   + Yumcha-- CLOSED   + Gusto: SEE EARLIER REVIEW; THIS CHEF HAS LEFT GUSTO   + Perry Street   + Home   + Ditch Plains   + The Little Owl   + Cafe Condesa   + Cafe Cluny   + Gusto   + The Waverly Inn   + Morandi   + P*ONG   + Perilla   + Soto   + Market Table   + Centro Vinoteca   + Barfry   + Dell'Anima   + Bar Blanc   + Smith's   + Commerce   + Elettaria   + Bar Q   + Cabrito   + 10 Downing   + Minetta Tavern   + Braeburn   + Scuderia, by guest reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Bar Blanc Bistro by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Joseph Leonard   + Bar Henry, by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Kin Shop   + Monument Lane   + Wong   + Bin on Bleecker, by Dara Pollak   + Ristorante Rafele   + Cole's Greenwich Village by Guest Reviewer Claire Jaffe   

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