Fatty ‘Cue

This place blew my mind into tiny bits. Delicious. Went there on a rainy Wednesday. Going out to popular restaurants on unpleasant weekday evenings. Always a good idea [=)
Staff was great too.
All the dishes we had were delicious. But the one that made this place a 5’er was the fried chicken. The most I’ve paid for fried chicken and the most I’ve enjoyed fried chicken. ‘Nuf said.

I was skeptical because of the lukewarm reviews. I also dined once at the now closed Fatty Crab UWS location, which was lackluster and overpriced, which fueled my doubt. But, Fatty Cue was great! Apparently Opentable failed to confirm my reservation with the restaurant but they sat us anyway at 6:30 on a Thursday… it was empty but things started to pick up towards the end of our dinner just before 8.
Our server was helpful, attentive, and great with waters. He explained how everything was shared, and family style. It is bbq and Asian fusion after all. My friend had a Tiger beer but I surmise their cocktails are good. They have a modest bar (the whole place does not have a lot of seating). Décor is kind of orange.
We started with the Country salad which had yummy slab bacon (thick, salty), lots of frisee, apples, and a poached egg. Dressing was a buttermilky ranch (I think) that wasn’t too overwhelming. We also shared the bone marrow crostini. Buttery, thin, crostinis and interesting smokey, marrow. I have to say– it was my first time having it as I am a new beef eater and didn’t love it. It was just too fatty for me– just kind of gelatin and not salty, at that. Meh.
We then shared two mains– the beef brisket, the house favorite. Not overly fatty or salty, the brisket is nice and beefy, and thin. Comes with nice bao buns. albeit a bit dry, with veggie slaw (meh) and again a ranchy dressing I didn’t care for too much. We also had the fried chicken, which was cooked to perfection, so crispy, juicy and not overly greasy. But… it was not well seasoned. The breading did not taste like much, and the white BBQ sauce was better than the ranch-​y dressing we’ve been having but. I don’t know, I feel like their sauces and food at large just needs more heat. This is an Asian girl talking! :D. The best part of this dish was the collared greens, which were amazing. Brined in a Thai curry… this was fun fusion at its best.
For dessert, we shared the yuzu cream pie, which I wish was more like an actual custard. It was quite chilled but awesome my kind of dessert; tart, lemon-​y, and well. yuzu. What can I say? It was a custard pie, but I was too full to nom on the crust (which was a little hard). I wish they still had their buttermilk panna cotta from way back.
Thanks to Blackboard Eats, we scored 30% off so the total bill came to $ 77. The food is really heavy so I am not sure if I can revisit but, I do recommend folks to try it despite the lukewarm reviews.

Good was pretty good… You can definitely share plates as they mentioned … But it isn’t a lot either. so maybe a few main dishes to get full and happy… And that my friends easily sums up to $ 60 as each main course runs around $ 20+ The inspiration for each dish is also not too crazy… However the flavor is there.
I had the ribs and the pulled BBQ sliders. the buns where awesome… The pulled pork was not too impressive. However, overall i was happy with my meal. Maybe it was the pretty tasty margarita I had (I asked for it a bit less spicy and it turned out sweeter than I thought)
Service was very nice and friendly… Seating was a bit close to my neighbors, but the crowd is so nice. I had a great time talking to both sides of my table. :)

My boyfriend and I ate brunch here one Sunday morning and were very pleased to find that the star chef Mario Batali was also eating here! If it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for us…
I am a huge fan of poutine and I go to Montréal every year and have my fill. If you are used to Québécois poutine, the tater tot poutine may not be an entirely satisfying stand-​in. The tater tots fell apart too easily and the cheese didn’t seem to be the same as what they use up in Quebec. But, I did like the gravy as it was nice and rich and it was a good starter for our meal.
We also had the brisket sandwich which was delicious! It was juicy and rich without being too fatty and greasy. We were both sad when we were finished with it.
I am a huge fan of Au Pied de Cochon in Montréal and was thrilled that they had a PDC-​inspired pancake. What’s not to like about having foie gras, bacon, and maple eggs on your pancake? We would definitely come back for this.
The staff was really nice and attentive and the atmosphere was warm and comfortable. The food was great but I knocked off the one star for the poutine.

Good food with interesting flavor style — the BBQ meets Asian worked pretty well. Service was friendly. Bit expensive, but we certainly got a lot of food for our money.
On the unexpected side, very good poutine — rare!

This review is for Brunch only. Such a great deal! If you book your reservations through Groupon Reserve you get 20% off your bill. There is also a deal on Unilocal $ 10 for $ 20! I was here today with my gf for brunch and we shared the two best dishes ever.
PDC pancake: This is insane. Anyone would be scared to try it because it sounds weird, who has foie gras on their pancake anyway? Surprisingly it was amazing! There was so much going on in this dish… had some sort of meat, really good tasty maple bacon, and the seared foie gras was cooked perfectly. Heavy dish but so worth it. Reminds me of Montréal food.
Chili Chicken and Waffles: Chicken was cooked perfectly with a good crisp and the chili sauce worked well on the chicken. The waffles were also very good.
Definitely come here for their brunch! It’s a great deal with great food.

After trying this place THREE times, I can say without a doubt that I don’t like this place. The potential is there, but the execution and food is a complete miss. I prefer my pork belly with a sweeter sauce, but they serve it with a chimichurri-​like sauce. That’s fine, but if someone asks for a different sauce, at least give it to them! And for some reason, the food never really tastes that fresh. It comes out luke-​warm even though the restaurant is mostly empty (on a Friday night nonetheless).
The hostesses are nice, but the servers are mostly a miss. It kind of feels like the bartenders are there first to hang out and have a good time, and the secondary purpose is to serve the customers.
I say skip it, although by the looks of it, everyone is already doing that.

Great rubbed pork and ribs, terrific brisket. Friendly staff… Sean is terrific. If you have a fish allergy, be careful… most dishes use fish oil.
It’s noisy, but there is a great vibrancy to it. Brick walls, comfy booths, little bar… very inviting.

came here for an early afternoon lunch. food was very good — the brisket sandwich is excellent. I had a chicken and eggplant dish — I’m hoping it was the vinaigrette, but the chicken looked a little under-​cooked. It’s a fairly small plate (though deceptively decent-​sized portion), and had good individual flavors, but it didn’t mesh very well.
Not crowded for lunch. Would come back.

Came here because my friend had a coupon. The front door was a bit unique. It was a very heavy wooden door, I almost walked right pass it because I couldn’t see anything inside. The AC broken down that night and might I add it was a very hot night. In my mind I thought this place must be good because people were eating in the heat. (***)
I ordered the ½ Pound Deep Fried Bacon and the Cue-​Rean Fried Chicken as family style. They served it in chinese style plates. The fried bacon was good alone, but it was great when I dipped the sauce too. It almost taste like peaking duck. I normally don’t like the fat on the bacon, but I had to devour it with the fat. It goes so well together. The Fried Chicken was not overly dried and crispy on the outside. I think that maple butter helped out with the color. I really like the sauce and I can’t get enough of it. It also came with a watermelon salad. Yes watermelon salad, something very different. It was so refreshing. I think it was the sauce that made the fried chicken special. (***)
Serve was great. They checked up on us to make sure everything was ok. I had my water refilled without asking. I like the noise level. It’s good for a small group and it’s good for conversation too since the music wasn’t ridiculously loud. The bathroom was amazing. It was clean and it had it’s own sound system (at least to me). They played kelly clarkson in there and I was about to sing while in the bathroom. Check out their wallpaper in the bathroom, it’s like a sheet of art work in there. (****)

The food here is pretty bangin’!! Delicious Malaysian BBQ! I highly recommend their brisket (not the best I’ve ever had, but still tasty and comes with bread which changes, it was once Texas Toast but now it’s delicious bao) and tater tot poutine! Plus specials galore if you check-​in on foursquare!

Stopped in for a drink on Tuesday night and it was quickly obvious I wouldn’t be leaving the bar any time soon. Kevin was a maestro behind the bar, breaking down the drink menu (the pickle-​backs and spicy sangrita-​backs are home made and NOT to be missed) and helping select a handful of appetizers to keep the buzz in the moderate-​to-​thick range. After two pickle and sangrita backs (two of each, of course), Kevin mixed up an off the menu cocktail based on my friend’s palate for Jack and mine for bourbon and we were both very, very pleased (and they both went very well with their awesome house-​made beef jerky).
My favorite apps were the smoky chicken & eggplant and the tater tot poutine (incidentally, the start of the NHL preseason had me craving poutine earlier in the day, so I was thrilled to find them on the menu). The McRib bao buns and (special) buffalo short ribs were both really good, and the strawberries were predictably, well… strawberries.
I’ll be heading back soon… but it will be hard to sit anywhere besides the bar, where the whiskey and pickle juice flow like water… actually, that sounds kinda gross. Let’s just say I’ll be back for happy hour.

Succulent, firm brisket. I came for a late lunch and the restaurant was pretty empty. I’ll definitely be back to try more, but on principle, I veered towards the brisket sandwich.
The brisket is served on a baguette-​like bread instead of a traditional roll. The cilantro and pickled onion made the sandwich almost like a bahn mi. I really liked their smoked cheese addition to it, and felt like the cheese was almost contributing more smokiness than the meat itself. The chili-​jam gave the sandwich just enough heat, but is mild enough for most people. Loved the sandwich, though very very different from what you would expect when you order a brisket sandwich. Other than the fact that I would’ve loved to have more pickled onion in the sandwich, it was awesome.
Their cocktail menu looks fun but I opted to watched the company party at the bar drink shots while I went with a golden-​colored Sly Fox Oktoberfest.
Laid back atmosphere, and I like the menu because it seems like there’s something for everyone.

Remember that joke, the food was lousy and the portions were small! All apply here and throw in expensive and pretentious. Fatty Spew.
It’s an absolute joke that some rich bacon and bad bao rolls costs $ 24 dollars – and it’s a sharing portion! Somehow this place actually has it in it’s mind that you’re supposed to order like four of these $ 20 shared plates for like 80 bucks and be okay leaving hungry and disappointed. Really disappointed.
A Bacon bao dish as sloppishly presented as this sentence. The bao buns were really subpar, edging towards hot dog buns, not lite and delicate. The green salsa was okay, but not anything outstanding or delicious. And the bacon itself, is totally just like thick-​cut bacon, it’s alright, but as the highlight of the dish not a big fatty face-​splat. Not exciting.
The pappardelle and goat. Holy buckets of rank-​smelling «part. Honestly, it smelled like… yeah, it smelled like that. Extremely unappetizing smell, sort of like decaying meat out in a jungle somewhere. The taste of it, was not as off-​putting but as you eat, it does not compel you to consume more, it’s simply not tasty. Oxymoronically, it’s like one giant flat-​board noodle and some stringy goat meat. Best case, it was edible. Worst case it was not only not good, but downright awful and infuriatingly expensive.
The service here was actually pretty friendly, so I feel sorta bad shredding this place, but the truth will set us free. Even with a Scoutmob this is wannabe trendy, overpriced NYC rubbish that deserves to never be visited.

Of the several restaurants we visited on a foodie tour, this was the restaurant I was most looking forward to. Unfortunately, I found it to be just good, not anything special.
I love the restaurant’s concept — American and Malaysian BBQ fusion. The menu is unique and inventive — and a touch crazy. Personally, I was most intrigued by the «½ pound deep fried bacon entrée served with sweet and spicy salsa verde.» So, I was thrilled that this was the dish we’d be sampling. I’m completely baffled at the thought that someone could eat this dish as a meal! We had a piece that worked out to be about 6 bites served to us as a sample. It was good — a nicely smoked piece of pork belly with an interesting cilantro-​based salsa verde. But I certainly wouldn’t want it as a meal, and would not be even able to eat much more than that which was served to us.
However, the place is cool, staff is really nice, and it’s probably worth a shot if you’re in the area (perhaps for an inventive brunch).

Meh.
I was so psyched to come here after seeing a little documentary on these guys on the Cooking Channel. What drew me in was the descriptions of the Texas Toast and Master Fat. While I didn’t see it offered on their online menu, I still hoped…
My friend J and I had a reservation for an early dinner. The hostess seated us, then came back later and informed us that dinner service actually doesn’t start until 5:30 (we had a reservation for 5pm). We had the choice of waiting until service started, or we could order from the Happy Hour menu (4−7pm).
So we went for happy hour, but apparently that required us to get up and move to the front of the restaurant at the bar area (okay…). The whole thing seemed unnecessary and such a scramble. I actually wasn’t sure who exactly worked there. They seemed to have a rough transition between lunch and dinner service.
We settled for the pork ribs, boa chicken bao bao, and fried catfish bao. Our waitress apparently misheard our order and forgot the catfish bao (quickly fixed and the order was put in). She also originally thought that there were two baos to an appetizer (she was thinking of the dinner service appetizers), but there was only one. However, the kitchen comped an extra chicken bao for that mistake, so all was good.
There were two ribs to the pork ribs appetizer. They were succulent and tender. Meat came off the bone easily.
The baos were similarly tender. I enjoyed both while J disliked the catfish.
We finished the plates and dinner service started. We looked over the dinner menu, but nothing particularly caught our eyes (the texas toast wasn’t on there). Surprisingly enough, the ribs and 3 baos were enough to satiate us. I can’t imagine how much there would be to consume in full dinner service.
I would write further on the flavours and tastes of the dishes, but I can only best describe it as strong and upfront. It is clearly Asian-​inspired. At first bite, we both thought «Wow! This tastes great!» But everything is so strongly flavored that it quickly becomes tiring. You can only eat a little of each dish.
It was also very warm inside the restaurant. We originally sat in the middle, but were moved to sit alongside the storefront. On a day when it is a balmy 90, a hot and sticky restaurant is not a great attraction to would-​be BBQ feasters.
I can now say that I’ve tried the novelty of Fatty Cue, but I do not think I would return. Perhaps their main restaurant in Brooklyn fairs better.

OK so it was definitely good. I came here for brunch with a few friends for brunch. They make fresh watermelon mimosas which are legit — actual watermelon. Moreover, my friend called to make a reservation and they were more than accommodating to seat a party of 6.
The food was good, but I left feeling terrible about myself. After the lumberjack (sausage, pork rib, eggs, thick cut bacon, texas toast, and pancakes), I was clearly stuffed with enough calories to cancel out a week’s worth of gym going. I have to say that while it was a lot of meat, the thick cut bacon tasted awesome. It was just… a slab of fat (i.e. bacon) like I said.
The service was excellent. The staff was really friendly and super attentive.
ANYHOW– go here!

Let’s get some things straight about Fatty ‘Cue:
1) Order and eat family style (shared medium sized plates)
2) Don’t expect anything even remotely close to American BBQ
3) If you don’t like soy sauce marinade and ginger, then you’re going to have a bad time
That said, this was the first dinner I’ve had in a long time where I couldn’t even come up with any complaints. We ordered a bunch of plates (they come out when they’re ready and there’s no such thing as appetizers here) and thoroughly enjoyed each one.
The pork ribs were pretty substantially sized (at $ 7 apiece, they had better be!) and glazed in what tasted to be a heavily soy sauce based mixture.
The clams with bacon had some nice spice to it (thanks to ginger and garlic right in the broth). The thick cut bacon was in tiny pieces that you could throw right into the clam for a great 1 – 2 punch.
The duck laab was also damned interesting. You get a bowl of minced/​pâté-​like duck and some lettuce cups to make your own wraps. The duck is thoroughly spiced so you don’t need a lot per bite. I think we were able to make 6 wraps.
Lastly, we also had the brisket. A gigantic slab of beef (¹⁄₆ of which was just pure unadulterated fat). Pretty good, but I’ve had better at BBQ-​BBQ places.
All said and done, the meal came out to about $ 60 a person (before tip and before my Google Offers coupon). Not the cheapest, but definitely worth it for a once-​in-​a-​while treat.
Some final tips:
1) Order the Lower West cocktail. It is amazing.
2) Don’t leave here without trying the desert. The Chocolate Thunder may change your life.
3) The hand dripped coffee is also amazingly good.
4) Make reservations!!! If they don’t have availability on Open Table, give them a call.

Eh.
That pretty much sums up the dinner I had here. But let me elaborate a little bit.
The main problem here is probably that it is insanely overpriced for the quality of the food. Some of the dishes are also extremely underwhelming as well.
The place itself is very hip, and it has a really nice, lively atmosphere. But it’s still not worth these prices. For example, we started with the Caviar & Corn, which was $ 12 for two little spoons (literally served in spoons), of some caviar and corn. It tasted decent enough, but definitely not worth it.
The best tasting dish we got was probably the Chilies & Cheese — which basically amounted to $ 10 for two hot rolls with some cheese and chilies to spread on top of them. Most good restaurants have complimentary bread baskets though that offer even more bread that tastes just as good or better.
We also got the Poached Chicken & Smoked Eggplant Salad ($ 15) and the Broiled Sardines ($ 12), which were not very memorable.
And the main dish we got, the Smoked Brandt Beef Brisket, was an extreme let down. This dish cost $ 26 (!) for 3 decent strips of brisket, along with 2 strips of PURE FAT. Seriously, check my pictures, just pure fat. Not cool. I know some people are down with eating some really fatty meat, which I am not a big fan of, but this was beyond that — seriously, just pure fat. Sure, it’s called Fatty ‘Cue, but let’s be reasonable here.
I do have a sweet tooth, but I still do think the best thing we got here was the dessert — Chocolate Thunder, which consisted of chocolate peanut crisp, ganache, marshmallow, devil’s food cake, milk jam, and malt cream ($ 12). This was a really excellent dessert and the only thing that didn’t seem TOO overpriced for what it was (still a little pricy though). Still, after the other chintzy overpriced dishes, we needed to go to Grom down the street for a little more dessert to feel fully satisfied for the evening.
If there were more good-​looking options on the menu, and if the quality of the food improved, I might consider coming back, since the service and the atmosphere were both pretty good. Otherwise, I’d rather go elsewhere for some higher quality BBQ.

If a single word could summarize a Fatty Crab or Fatty ‘Cue experience, that word would be «cramped». Cramped tables, cramped bar area, cramped menus. Sometimes too much food is cramped onto too small of a plate (a rare problem for New York City restaurants), and sometimes you feel sorry for the cramped cooks in the kitchen (take a look a the clown car of a kitchen at the original Fatty Crab for a glimpse of human misery).
If you love oily, hard to eat fishes (and who doesn’t these days?), then you’ll love the broiled sardines which are paired with sweet and sour radicchio and crostini ($ 16). Once you’ve stripped the meat from these little fishies, the kitchen deep fries the bones and sends them back out with a dab of house made sriracha. They’re crispy, satisfying, and simply amazing. Smoked lamb shoulder ($ 23) is also the thing to get — sumptuously tender, with a lingering heat that’s cooled by a side of goat yogurt and house made pita.
But our dinner had a few duds, and among them was the duck laab ($ 24), which was alarmingly watery and disappointingly bland. And we jumped at the special of braised beef cheeks with silver pin noodles and chinese sausage ($ 24), only to be underwhelmed by a somewhat bland bowl of food.
Disappoints aside, you should leave room for dessert, and if it’s still on the menu, order the «Squash» dessert ($ 10). It’s innocently described as «hubbard, butternut, kabotcha, pumpkin, hibiscus», but instead its easily the most playful, weird, and satisfying dessert I’ve had in a very long time. A mélange of sugar tuiles, roasted squashes, birch (?) marshmallow, a ginseng (?) pound cake, and maple (?) foam, which tasted simultaneously of Autumn and awesome. My awkward description of this dish matches my incoherent babbling when I tasted this dish.
Overall, the menu suffers from a good problem — it’s cramped with too many enticing options. With so many good things going on, it’s very easy to eat well at Fatty ‘Cue, although a few middling dishes here and there cramp their style somewhat.