I will venture to say that Hill Country is as close to “real” barbecue as New York will ever get: brisket wrapped in butcher paper, served up counter-style, with a spacious 250-seat dining room akin to rough-around-the-edges bbq joints.

But, when you wait 45 minutes like I did on a Friday night, it’s easy to remember that, yes indeed, this is New York. The waiting area is small, so I suggest making reservations or avoiding the dreaded 7-9pm dinner time. The upside to Hill Country’s counter service is that as soon as your table is ready, you head up to the food stations and within 2 minutes, your meat, sides, and drinks are ready.

Take a typical Brooklyn dive bar (the real deal, not the cool ironic kind), add a barbecue menu, and you get 6th Avenue’s Bar BQ. There’s Abita beer for those of you drawn to this New Orleans export, but just remember that the pulled pork sauce in bottles is there for a reason! I ate my entire sandwich, finding it not flavorful enough, before I realized it’s up to you to sauce it! Doh.

Also, this is one of the few restaurants/bars where I have dined alone (I hate to!) and I have to say that I enjoyed it. I sat at the bar, to avoid awkwardly taking up an entire table, and had a nice chat with the bartender about their upcoming demos at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Chile Pepper Festival.