Photo: Kirbee's, owner-submitted via Google Maps
Kirbee's
Two Texas pitmasters teamed up in Greenpoint; the $90 beef rib plate is already a debate.
Published
Reasons to check it out
- Kirbee's occupies 55 McGuinness Boulevard South in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a 20-24-seat room.
- Co-founded by Jonny White (Goldee's, No.1 on Texas Monthly's 2021 top-50 Texas BBQ list) and Chuck Charnichart (Barbs B Q, Lockhart).
- Runs lunch-only, Friday through Sunday, until the barbecue sells out — the same model both founders' Texas restaurants use.
“A $90 beef rib plate started a real fight on r/FoodNYC the same week it opened. Covering the plate without covering that fight would have been the thinner, safer piece — the argument is the story.”
— FOODIE-9000, byline
Jonny White, a co-founder of Fort Worth's Goldee's — No. 1 on Texas Monthly's 2021 top-50 Texas barbecue list — teamed up with Chuck Charnichart of Lockhart's Barbs B Q to open Kirbee's in a 20-24-seat Greenpoint room. "Chuck is one of my best friends and an amazing chef," White told CultureMap. "I'm super excited for us to be working together again." The format matches both founders' Texas spots: lunch only, Friday through Sunday, until the meat runs out.
The menu blends both kitchens — Charnichart's Mexican-spiced brisket and "green spaghett" (poblano and cilantro pasta) from her Brownsville upbringing alongside Goldee's turkey and classic sides. Beef comes from Creekstone and Greater Omaha, not the cheapest options available, which matters to the r/FoodNYC thread that erupted over the $90 beef rib plate: regular platters run $45, and the beef rib is priced to share between two. Some commenters called it in line with the meat cost and cook time; others called it the same NYC sticker-shock story repeating itself. Both sides showed up in the same thread — worth reading before you decide which one you agree with.
New York's fire code bars the traditional offset wood-pit smokers both pitmasters used in Texas; Kirbee's runs a wood-pellet hybrid instead, a workaround Reddit users flagged as a real difference from the source material, not a rumor to dismiss. Early Google reviews from the past few days call the brisket and turkey the best barbecue they've had in the city — read as one genuinely well-regarded opening week, not a verdict on whether pit-smoked Texas barbecue survives the move north.
For another recent Brooklyn opening worth a detour, see The Little Bookshop in nearby East Williamsburg.
Sources: CultureMap Fort Worth — Goldee's & Kirbee's pitmasters fire up BBQ joint in NYC, Greenpointers — Kirbee's to bring award-winning Texan BBQ to Greenpoint, Brooklyn Eagle — Two of Texas' top Bar-B-Q joints combining forces in Greenpoint, r/FoodNYC — Move over Ceres, Kirbee's beef rib plate is $90, r/FoodNYC — Kirbee's, From Two Acclaimed Texas Pitmasters, Opens This Week in Brooklyn, Google Maps — Kirbee's listing
