DINO BBQ

Vegetarians beware.   This post is strictly catered towards the carnivorous crowd. 

Dinosaur BBQ opened up its doors to its fifth location in Newark, NJ earlier this month.  The joint, originally based in upstate NY, has slowly been expanding throughout tri-state area.  During my undergrad years as a student at an upstate university, I took a few trips up to the Syracuse location.  A 1 hour drive up North + a 1.5 hour wait + another 30 minute wait after ordering was worth it every time, so you can imagine how excited I was when one opened up right down the block from my dental school.  I called in at noon on Sunday to make a reservation but it turns out that this was totally unnecessary.  J and I arrived at 12:30pm and were seated right away.   

I didn’t have my camera on me so you’re gonna have to settle for some crappy phone pics [sorry!].

For appetizers, we ordered the Swag sampler plate - salmon fritters, chicken wings, fried green tomatoes, and deviled eggs.

Apps were all just OK except the chicken wings.  Possibly the best chicken wings I’ve had?!  They were moist, meaty, spice-rubbed, pit-smoked and grilled to perfection!  We ordered the wings with Wango Tango sweet habenero sauce which had starts off slightly sweet flavor and ends with a spicy kick. 

[For those who are a bit more daring try the Garlic Chipotle and for those who are willing to challenge Satan himself, go for the Devil’s Duel. ]

Next, the main attraction: the meat plates. 

We both ordered Custom’que plates where you can choose 2, 3, or 4 meats of your choice and included honey hush cornbread and 2 homemade sides.

I went with the St. Louis ribs & pulled BBQ pork with a mini iceberg wedge + whipped sweet potatoes sprinkled with spicy walnuts.

The pulled pork was juicy and flavored with that smoky BBQ goodness that totally speaks for itself.   The ribs were surprisingly fall-off-the-bone tender amazing. 

The portions are pretty generous so I figured I would bring left-overs home.  NOPE.  I polished off everything except for one rib. 

One food coma later, the waitress asked us whether we will be ordering dessert.  I didn’t want to offend the waitress so we ordered the key lime pie to-go and enjoyed it after our post-food coma nap.  It was just as good as the rest of the meal.  Perfectly tart, creamy, and delicious. 

Most valuable advice I can give you: wear stretchy pants or something with an adjustable waistband.  You’ll thank me later. 

Some tips for fellow UMDNJ-ers:

-If you can, avoid driving there (unless you’re ballin').  Street parking is limited and lot parking costs $.  Take the shuttle to Newark Penn instead, and walk a block.

-Try to avoid days that Prudential center is holding events (hockey games, concerts, etc.); it can get busy.

-Drawstring scrubs are highly recommended.