“Wandering Que” pop-up kosher BBQ in Fairfield May 4

By Cindy Mindell

American blues great B.B. King named his beloved Gibson guitar “Lucille” after nearly losing her in a nightclub fire.

Third-generation Jewish-Texan Ari White dubbed his custom-built, wood-burning meat-smoker “Hakadosh BBQ” (“best pun ever,” he says).

The pair roared onto the New York City kosher barbecue scene two summers ago, raising eyebrows (at the name) and the bar in local barbecue, landing on many “best of” lists, and even challenging the reigning king of smoked meat, Daniel Delaney.

Now pit boss White will bring his “Wandering Que” Traveling Texas Kosher BBQ rig to Congregation Beth El in Fairfield, as part of the May 4 community-wide Israel Independence Day celebration. Reviews effusing out of the New York kosher food world say that the overstuffed barbecued brisket sandwiches are worth the trip.

Ari White

White’s ancestors came to West Texas a century ago. “Growing up in West Texas, family and holiday celebrations were measured by how long in advance my father stood in the back yard hovering over our Portable Kitchen cast-aluminum smoker,” White recalls. “It was a childhood and adolescence filled with mesquite-smoked turkeys for Thanksgiving, the Super Bowl, and the many meals of Sukkot, the Jewish holiday celebrated outdoors in tune with nature and celebrating the fall harvest of biblical times.”

White moved to New York in 1998 to attend Yeshiva University after spending a year in Israel and Europe. After graduating and “doing time” in the corporate-finance world, White changed direction and opened his first restaurant in the city, Ari’s Gourmet Kosher Delicatessen. “It was a magical little six-foot-by-six-foot space in which we served more than 300 a day,” he recalls. “Even back then, the kosher bacon, brisket, and Texas chili were big sellers.”

White went on to create the Bronx-based Gemstone Catering and Got Cholent, Inc., home base of the Wandering Que. But White tips his hat to the 100-year-old tradition he hails from.

“My talented team and I have had the opportunity to introduce a classic Southern tradition to the East Coast like they have never seen or tasted before,” he says. “It is incredibly rewarding and I feel as if I am doing the great state of Texas proud. But what I am doing is not new – far from it. Rather, it is a tribute to earlier, simpler times and incorporates a style and method of cooking that goes back generations. Texas barbecue is entirely beef-centered and as such is inherently kosher-friendly. In fact, the first recorded example of smoked barbecue brisket dates back to a kosher butcher in my hometown of El Paso, in 1910!”

White has some Texas-smoked advice for the grill-perplexed Northerner. “Two of my pet peeves when watching folks barbecue up here is that so often I see them starting with dirty grills,” he says. “Great barbecue always starts with a clean grill. The other is when people cover their raw chicken in barbecue sauce at the onset of the cook, which only guarantees a black crust on a raw bird. Rather, cook your bird 70 percent or so and then add the barbecue sauce to glaze and finish. Also, forget the lighter fluid and spend $12 on a chimney, available everywhere. It takes only one piece of paper to get your coals fired and is virtually idiot-proof.”

The May 4 event is a preview of the First Annual Southern New England Kosher BBQ Championship & Festival on Sunday, Sept. 7 at Congregation Beth El in Fairfield, sanctioned by the World Kosher BBQ Championship in Memphis, Tenn.

“We are rolling in with 1,800 lbs. of barbecue and are praying for a sunny day to enjoy it under,” White says of the May 4 event. There will be a couple of vegetarian options, including smoked-beet salad and corn bread with fire-roasted poblanos, but this is an homage to the meat-lover, the pit boss says: “Even married to a vegetarian as I have been for 11 years, and being a card-carrying member of PETA (People for Eating Tasty Animals), it is safe to say that this event is a fleisch-fest par excellence.”

For more information about the community-wide Israel Independence Day celebration on Sunday, May 4, at noon at Congregation  Beth El, 1200 Fairfield Woods Road, visit  congbethel.net or call (203) 374-5544 

First Annual Southern New England Kosher BBQ Championship & Festival: snekosherbbq.org.

Ari White’s “Go-To” Dry-Spice BBQ Rub

This works great on everything from proteins to fruits and veggies:

1 c. white sugar 

1 c. brown sugar 

4 T. coarse black pepper 

2 T. each: garlic powder, chili powder, Colman’s mustard, oregano, chili flakes, onion powder, paprika, cumin, sea salt, and instant coffee.