Hill Country Alum Unleashes New Barbecue Restaurant on LES This Weekend

The Lower East Side will soon have a new barbecue restaurant from a pitmaster with experience at favorites like Hill Country. Jared Male’s new restaurant Randall’s Barbecue will start dishing out spare ribs, brisket, smoked duck, as well as options pulling from the international influence of NYC dining, starting Sunday, August 26 at 359 Grand St., at Essex Street.

Male previously worked at Hill Country Barbecue and Dinosaur Bar-B-Que; as well as London’s Big Easy. Recently, he has been operating a pop-up and catering business under the Randall’s Barbecue moniker, but this will be the first brick-and-mortar restaurant of his own.

Photo by Molly Tavoletti

The 44-seat space sports vintage decor from the ’70s and ’80s, including wood-paneled walls and retro Budweiser signs for a throwback den look. In fact, Male says the design is inspired by the TV den at his grandparents’ house in rural Connecticut, where he often spent holidays. “A lot of my food memories involve my grandparents,” he says. The restaurant is also named after his grandfather.

It’s a casual barbecue affair, where classics like spare ribs and brisket are served on plastic trays and in baskets. But Male also brings in other influences from his own upbringing, he says.

“I’m from New York; I’m not a Southern boy,” he says. “I grew up eating things like deli sandwiches and Chinese food, and because of my mother’s side of the family, a lot of New England-style seafood.”

As a result, the menu also has things like New England clam cakes and a Chinese-style five spice smoked duck. Male says he wanted to bring in some of the neighborhood’s Jewish roots in dishes like a pastrami sandwich, yielding a menu that’s similarly eclectic to that of Red Hook’s Hometown, which also pulls influence from New York and around the world.

Sides include the usuals: baked beans, slaw, cornbread, mashed potatoes, and mac and cheese, as well as some nontraditional barbecue sides like an Israeli salad and smoked sweet potatoes. Male will collaborate with some of his LES neighbors, sourcing pickles from the Pickle Guys and bialys for the sandwiches from Kossar’s. For dessert, there are s’mores.

Cocktails and local beers make up the bar program, with drinks like “The Randall,” made with mezcal, birch beer, and lime, rimmed with the house rib rub. There’s also white and red wine on tap, and Male says the restaurant will be rolling out a happy hour with beer and shot deals.

Randall’s starts slinging meats this Sunday, August 26 and will be open from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday through Wednesday and 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.