SWINGBELLY'S BEACH SIDE BBQ

Me & the boys are always on the quest for good BBQ , especially on Long Island





I was very excited when Swingbelly's Beachside Barbecue in Long Beach finally opened their doors last month. It seemed like they were opening soon for about forever!! Since Pearsons BBQ moved to Manhattan and faded, we have pretty much makin the trek to Bayshore to chow down at Smokin Al's which has the best BBQ in L.I. ...no doubt. It is just that by the time we get there eat and get back , it consumes about 3 1/2 - 4 hours and there aint much elsle to do there!

Now we have Swingbellys, mere minutes away. The first visit was with my two beef chomping, pig eating boys. Must be an odd sight us three, a tall bald biker looking due, a big ol kim chee boy, and the balding jr middleweight. Well this is NY so nothing is really odd looking. We go there just about 5:00pm. The place was still unfinished needing some paint on the doors, trim and other minor finishing touches. We wasn't going for the decor and ambiance as they say , its about the BBQ, all about the BBQ...the meat that is.

So anyways we get seated, scope the place out. Seems like all young kids working the place which is no biggy. The locale is West End in Long Beach and we go right at the menu. The pleasant waitress goes into some of the details about no liquor license but you can bring your own booze, but we are still scoping the menu and order some ice teas. We go right for The Swing Sampler ($38.95) which consists of 1/2 slab of St. Louis Ribs, 1/2 lb pulled pork, 1/2 lb beef brisket, 1/2 whole chicken (oxymoron alert), 6 rib tips, with 3 sides & cornbread. We ordered the sweet potato fries (extra$1), smokehouse beans & mac n cheese as sides. Oh and we ordered 1/2 slab of babyback ($10.95) ribs just in case we didn't have enough food. Ya always gotta order the ribs dry ( no sauce) to really get the flavor of the meat. There was a sweet and a smoky sauce on the table. We ask and received a hot sauce from the kitchen. OK so the service was a little slow, but it is to be expected with a new restaurant and you can't rush BBQ anyway. The waitress was actually pretty attentive and nice without being too buzzy around us and brought us some peanuts to munch on.
At first I thought they might be those tasty southern boiled peanuts but the were regular roasted peanuts in the shell which were OK anyway. Then the real food came.





We were a little disappointed with the plastic basket that the food came in as well as the cheapo paper plates to put your food on BUT it is about the BBQ! We all agreed that the meats were all very good. Tops was the St Louis Ribs, but the baby back ribs, brisket, pulled pork, rib tips and chicken were all tasty and flavorful. The ribs were nice and tender with enough dry rub flavor to 'em that they really did not even require any sauce. All the meats were thumbs up and were laid on top of thick toasted bread. The sweet sauce was a little too sweet, but the smoky was quite good. We all really like the hot sauce which had a vinegary tilt with a medium kick to it. As for the sides BIG kudos to the sweet potato fries . Very nicey nice , light, crispy, seasoned, and not too greasy. The beans got thumbs down for being pretty ordinary having that kinda canned flavor to em. The mac n cheese also got thumbs down for being watery & lackluster. The sweet cornbread, was as advertised...sweet cornbread! We all thought that it was quite a treat. It was very moist and sweet, almost desert like, kinda like a corn pudding, cornbread sweet corn cake. Well you get we liked it and enjoyed the meal. It came out to about $80 with tip.

Second meal was me n me daughter, who has somehow developed a taste for BBQ. We got to the restaurant the joint the Friday eve after Thanksgiving. ( A good test of a restaurant's mettle). Now I hadn't noticed that on the menu there is an appetizer call that goes by the name "Pickle Chips". Of course my recently graduated Hofstra University daughter pegged that right away and insisted that we must try it. I was so happy to see that college education at work that I agreed we must immediately. Now since it was post-Thanksgiving and we were still a little food hungover, we were gonna order light. We ordered the pickle chips ($4.95) and six of the whole dry chicken wings called swingz ($6.95) and for dessert we had the brisket sandwich($10.95) with sweet potato fries($2.00 xtra). Now I gotta tell ya them pickle chips are a dang tasty & savory treat. They are lightly battered and fried just right with a nice tart taste, you don't even need the globby ranch dressing that comes with it. The chicken wing were also quite delicious and must have come from the LARGE chicken tribes as they were XXL size wings. We did not bother eating the bread and ate the moist succulent brisket along with them tasty sweet potato fries. I did get a little annoyed at the extra charge for the sweet potato fries. I don't think that sweet potatoes cost much more that regular Idahos do they? The service was as good as the first time. My daughter did point out that the music playing was darn good too. She also ranked that some of the young workers kinda had that stoner look, I explained it was from the bbq smoke in the kitchen.....hmmm. The were open for lunch the next week , so I hadda go.

Surprise surprise, the lunch menu was the exact same as the dinner menu ..prices and all. So I figured, let me bring my Dad for the true test. Now Pops is legally blind so he does not care how the place looks , only how the food tastes and the price. We were a gang of four ready to eat. We started out with my new favorite snack foo "Pickle Chips" and we all ordered the chili to start. The "Pickle Chips" were outstanding and the chili was just OK. We all thought the chili was OK cause it was kinda bland, not enough kick and the portion seemed small for a $6.95. The chili was serviceable( as they say in baseball). We all ordered sandwiches, pulled pork, brisket, Carolina pulled pork & cheesesteak with 2 orders of them tatsy seasoned sweet potato fries and two orders of regular fries. Now the sandwiches were good BUT the meat portion seemed a little skimpy compared to the last time or was the bread thicker. The sweet potato fries again brought raves, they regular fries were you normal run of the mill fries. All liked the meat quality but were disappointed with the portion size, the price (Approx $100 for 4 for lunch) and the slightly off service. Was this the lunch style....hmm, NO because these were dinner prices. We will give them the benefit of the doubt since they are new and still woikin out the kinks. Pops liked the food but was upset about the price. Well that's due to the fact he still wistfully remembers the Nathans $0.05 Hot Dog with a free root beer.

Well anyways Swingbellys has the best BBQ in Nassau County for now. There is a new BBQ place opening up also in Long Beach on the East End in a couple of weeks or so. Also there is supposed to be another BBQ restaurant opening up in Oceanside near the railroad station in another month or so.

We rate it AAA - Always Above Average, worth a regular visit....... tell em jimithe greek sent you

Swingbellys Beach Side BBQ
909 West Beech St.
Long Beach, NY 11561
516-431-3464


Ratings Guide: UGH = Ugh avoid or go to Burger King
AWT = Aaaawwwight, ok in a pinch, serviceable or go to a diner
AAA = Always Above Average, worth a regular visit, certain food is always very good
OMG = Oh my god go early and often, food is heavenly