Avellino Family BBQ Wins Brisket King NYC
Pitmaster Leland Avellino of Connecticut-based Avellino Family Barbecue has been wowing audiences at Brisket King NYC for years. But on Wednesday night, he was finally crowned the Brisket King of NYC after serving perfect brisket sandwiches to the masses.
Avellino, who previously ran the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que location in Stamford, founded Avellino Family Barbecue in 2020 and has been hosting successful pop-ups since that time. It's a well-deserved win for a long-time competitor whose brisket has gotten better each year.
Pitmaster Leland Avellino (right) was crowned the Brisket King of NYC on Wednesday. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)
This year's Brisket King NYC was hosted at Pig Beach BBQ in Queens, and hundreds of hungry New York and New Jersey residents came together to taste-test some of the best brisket dishes in the region. Both established names and newcomers brought the heat.
Avellino Family Barbecue served up a perfect brisket sandwich on brioche bread that was cooked with beef fat. (Photo by Chris Gampat / The Phoblographer)
The runner-up for Brisket King 2024 was Brooklyn-based Smoke Sweats. Anthony Scerri, the most humorous pitmaster around, keeps getting better and better as he competes more, and his brisket was some of the most flavorful I've had in a long time.
Anthony Scerri of Smoke Sweats won runner-up for his insanely flavorful brisket. (Photo by Chris Gampat / The Phoblographer)
La Estación, based in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, won the People's Choice award. Pitmaster Kevin Roth cooked his juicy briskets at the incredible pits at Hometown Bar-B-Que and added Caribbean flavors to the dish. Lines were long throughout the event.
The People's Choice Award went to La Estación from Puerto Rico. (Photo by Chris Gampat / The Phoblographer)
Other awards handed out by the judges included:
Brisket Beach Award — Hindsight Barbecue
Congestion Tax Award — Eazy's Craft Barbecue
5-Star Award — Kam Rai Thai
Let's Taquito About It Award — Empire BBQ
Boricua Barbecue Award — La Estación
Eric Vitale of Eazy's Craft Barbecue had one of the best briskets of the night. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)
Other joints that deserve a shoutout for their great briskets include Brothers Barbecue, Tio Rozy's Barbecue, Kimchi Smoke, Morgan's Brooklyn Barbecue, and Blue Smoke.
The brisket birria taco bites from Hindsight BBQ were one of the best things I ate at Brisket King. (Photo by Chris Gampat / The Phoblographer)
Overall, this was an impressive showing from the competition, and it was hard to predict who the winner would be. Multiple judges who had just returned from a Texas BBQ trip said they were more impressed by what they had at Brisket King than by what they ate in Texas.
Chef Christine Rosa of Blue Smoke brought some great brisket.
Congrats again to all the winners. Special thanks to Chris Gampat of The Phoblographer for taking incredible pictures at the event. See more photos from Chris below.
Sean Ludwig
Founder, NYC BBQ and Co-Founder, The Smoke Sheet