Last night my wife and I were invited to a friends and family session at a new restaurant called Southern Hospitality BBQ..

SH BBQ~

Located in Hell's Kitchen at the Corner of 9th Avenue & 45th Street

The reason we were invited was two fold.

The first was that about a year and a half ago, I posted on Facebook that I was dying for some serious BBQ- I received a response from Eytan Sugarman in about 2 seconds telling me to come to his joint on the UES. Ah the power of social media. Eytan realized that I had been in the food business since BC and we quickly developed an on line friendship.

 He sent me an invite through Facebook to come and be testers for his 2nd Southern Hospitality on 9th ave and 45th street and my wife and I accepted.

If you don’t know this- 9th ave in the forties is blowing up with some serious food joins, including 5 Napkin Burger, soon to open Hakkasan, and a ton of little mom and pop Asian restaurants.

When we walked in, we immediately met Eyton and that is where the online Social Media became off line. This is where true relationships are developed…..NOT IN CYBER Land!

He is charming and I was quite impressed with his shaking hands and kissing babies skills.

I also ran into an old friend Chris Russell, the former King of Moomba- do you remember that joint?  He is also a partner at SH and it was fantastic to see him!

The place is perfect for Hell’s Kitchen- delicious baby back ribs- Fried Chicken livers, fried onion rings, good beer and good service. We loved the design and know that this place is gonna rock!

My final words are that if you have a business and do not use any forms of social media, you’re dumb and you are leaving money on the table.

The guys behind SH get social media as well as Scott Conant and his team at all of the Scarpetta outposts.

Such a cool little area at Southern Hospitality BBQ~