Block Party: Fabulous Friends

Danny Meyer, Mike Mills, Amy, and Mitchell Davis.
Photo ® Ken Goodman

Still finding lots of photos I haven’t shared of the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party. Besides hanging out with our fellow pitmasters, one of the highlights of the weekend is the opportunity to nuture the friendships we’ve made over the years, and forge some new ones, too.

® Ken Goodman

If you’ve read Peace, Love, and Barbecue, you know the story about Pat Daily and Tom Viertel, pictured above with Mike. Pat and Tom are Broadway royalty and treasured friends. The first person to tell me, in the comments below, why they’re significant to barbecue in New York City will get one of our “I Love New Pork” t-shirts!

® Ken Goodman

David Bogan {far right} and his sweet family. We are so grateful to him for his help during the weekend and it’s always a treat to see his growing family.

Union Square Hospitality Group’s Michael Romano and David Swinghamer.
® Ken Goodman

These two. We have come a long, long way from the weeks spent sitting in our pit room during practice cooks!

We met Ed Levine when he was best known for his expertise on all things pizza and now he’s the overlord of the excellent Serious Eats site.

My son, Woody, always has a posse of Roxbury Latin School and college friends in the city for the summer. Here is this year’s pack of Sewanee friends.

Nate Goldstein and James Beard Foundation EVP Mitchell Davis. This has quickly become one of Nate favorite weekends. We shared moments as big as years at Eleven Madison Park the night before the festivities began.

PR pro extraordinaire Robin Insley greets a friend.

® Ken Goodman

Shake Shack culinary director Mark Rosati.

Meat Men: Mark Pastore and Pat LaFrieda, along with Pat’s son.
Photo ® Ken Goodman

OnCue friends and clients. Rick Thomas {top} and
Bob Yarmuth {bottom} from Sonny’s Barbecue with Mike.
Photo ® Ken Goodman

More OnCue friends and clients: Top: Billy Durney and Mike Mills.
Bottom: Mike with Eva Pesantaz and her sweet son, Jesse.
® Ken Goodman

OnCue friends and clients from Hometown Barbecue and Brother Jimmy’s.

Our sweetest little friends love this day, too.

Photo ® Ken Goodman

So much goodness in this photo. I spy Laurie Jon Moran, Le Bernardin pastry chef, and his wife, Wayne Mueller, Texas Monthly barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn, and James Boo of Serious Eats.