The Woodburning Pit

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The Woodburning Pit
(718)630-9980

Ordered:

Chicken and Ribs Lunch Special
Steamed Vegetables

One of my greatest regrets at being driven out of Astoria was the loss of a handful of great restaurants, the best of them being an over the counter churrascaria type place. It was incredible, great meat ready as soon as you point at it. And cheap. My heart wept as I waved goodbye.

I was overjoyed to find another South American bbq on 5th Avenue in Bay Ridge, down near Ovington. "The Woodburning Pit" was closed for a week or so after I first saw it, but my wife brought home a menu after they reopened. My rollercoaster ride had gone something like this:

1. Great churrascaria in Astoria. Hurray!
2. Priced out of Astoria. Oh no!
3. A churrascaria looking place in Bay Ridge. Hurray!
4. Looks out of business. Oh no!
5. It's in business, I have a menu. Hurrah!
6. I'm ordering! Hurrrrah!
7. The delivery guy is here, Hoooooray!
8. I'm eating. Oh no.

Yeah, "The Woodburning Pit" was pretty not great. I had the lunch special, a chicken and rib combo with rice and french fries for $5.99. I had 'em throw in an order of steamed vegetables to get it up to $10, the minimum for delivery.

The meat was pretty blah. The ribs were dull and not meaty, they had a peppery taste but not much else. Not even the taste of ribs, just grey meat. No wood smoke, either. The chicken was okay, not much of it. A random cut near the breast and a drumstick, not very meaty either. Not a lot of stuff going on with the chicken, but at least it was moist.

The steamed vegetables were only borderline edible. I love steamed anything, and look past bland when stuff has been cooked in gassified water. But, blah. A generous serving of vegetables, but most of it went into the trash.

So, yeah. Not very hot. The pleasant woman on the phone told me that their chicken sandwich and the hamburger were very popular. I'll probably try this place again, but can't imagine when. With their lack of vegetarian options, I can't really order from here except when I'm alone.

The back of the menu, by the way, is great. It pictures a silhouette of a running chicken, carrying a fork and a knife. It's the sort of thing that kind of gives me the creeps, especially because the chicken looks so happy. I the upper left it says "TRY US ONCE..." with a sunburst behind the letters. A black and white sunburst behind black and white letters, not the best graphic designiness. Looking more, I see the chicken is missing toes. Brrr.


EDIT: I ate at this place in person and was just as disappointed as I was with the delivery. The only good thing was that they had a decent BBQ sauce available behind the counter.