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"FacebookPinterest\n\nThe partners of Mighty Quinn's, purveyor of barbeque, are adamant that I invented my account of the now-controversial goings-on at their Smorgasburg DUMBO location. \"Categorically false,\" claimed Micha Magid on Gothamist. Hugh Mangum, on Eater, described me as confused. I am indeed confused\u2014by their absolute certainty that they have it right and I have it wrong. Neither one of them was there.\n\nGrub Street wrote, \"What really happened that day in a hot, crowded lot in Williamsburg? The world may never know.\"\n\nI know. That's because I was present. It is my belief that an experienced reporter who was on site is a more accurate source of information than a pitmaster and his partner who were nowhere to be seen.\n\nBy calling my depiction of events \"categorically false,\" Magid is asserting that nothing I said was true. To address that point, as well as Mangum's unflattering evaluation of my alertness, I will recount what took place, straight from my notebook.\n\nI drove to DUMBO on the morning of Sunday, August 11, the second half of a weekend of intense eating at both Smorgasburg locations. My purpose in stopping by Mighty Quinn's was simple: I wanted to taste the barbecue, which I heard was very good.\n\nNow comes the event they insist never took place: A woman manning their stand refused to give me a sandwich. She insisted that I begin a line, explaining that once it was of substantial length, I would be served.\n\nMagid and Mangum both claim that what I wrote could not possibly have occurred because they don't do business that way. Good for them, because what transpired speaks poorly of Mighty Quinn's. Yet their point is irrelevant. I was not reporting on Mighty Quinn's company policy. I was writing about what happened to me. They didn't see it. They have no idea.\n\nAs far as I know, there is really only one key witness, other than me. That would be the woman at the counter. At 11:10 a.m., on Sunday, August 11, she told me to start a line. At the time, she and I were alone. She was behind the counter. I was in front of it. Nothing stood between us. In case she has forgotten, I was the not-so-young guy with a pen in hand, writing down everything she said in a notebook. A few minutes later, I was the not-so-young guy standing at the head of the line, pen in hand, writing in his notebook as she cooed, \"Soooo close...soooo close.\" While I was doing this, a friend who came with me helped out by counting the people in line. That's how I came up with an exact number\u201425 adults, three baby carriages.\n\nAt 11:10 a.m., I wrote in my notebook, \"I was asked to start a line...I never saw this before, a place demanding you stand in line even though no reason for it.\"\n\nThen I wrote, \"The line quickly formed behind me. Brilliant marketing. In five minutes, more than 20 people.\"\n\nAfter that, \"Girl says, 'Soooo close...soooo close.' Taunting the peons.\" (Hmmmm. I guess I should apologize for calling her a girl. I do so.)\n\nAt 11:17 a.m., I wrote, \"25 and 3 babies in carriages...\" Then I added, \"Brilliant marketing, cynical customer service.\"\n\nMy two teensy sandwiches came right after that. The time that elapsed from my first encounter with the woman standing behind the counter to the moment I had the sandwiches in hand was just under 10 minutes. Mangum asserted that I had to wait \"literally three minutes.\" That's incorrect, too, but it was a pretty good guess by somebody who wasn't there. Anyway, the insult was not the duration of my wait, but that I had to wait at all.\n\nThat's the extent of my notebook. If anyone still wants to believe the events didn't take place as stated, so be it. I can't do better. I wish I had gotten barbecue sauce stains on my pants, further evidence that I was indeed at Mighty Quinn's, but I did not. This was an unusual occasion. I didn't drop food on myself while eating standing up."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/alan-richman-mighty-quinns-barbecue>