The Early Word: 'Picnick Smoked' Barbecue Truck at Wall Street Park

When I read in Eater about how the new barbecue truck on Wall Street was mobbed from the minute it opened, I had to scoot down there and see for myself. Sure enough, when I arrived at exactly 11:30, a line was already forming, though it was nothing like it would be by the time noon rolled around, when the office workers sprint to the small yellow trailer, planted near the corner of Wall and South streets in what is technically a city park. Picnick Smoked--one of its names--puts out tables with pretty red-checked tablecloths, too.

The offerings are modest, including three types of barbecue, potato salad, coleslaw, and free homemade pickles, some sweet, some sour. Each dose of 'cue comes with a split length of baguette smeared with garlic butter. Brilliant. The cart is the brainchild of Picnick, a sandwich kiosk in Battery Park.

I was prepared to be skeptical, since few things called barbecue sold from a cart are any good. Even though it appeared to come from a steam table, the brisket was fuckin' awesome, a thick char on the outside, tender inside, and smoky as all get out.