The Waiting Game

Mighty Quinn’s Co-Founder Calls Alan Richman’s Line-Inflation Claims ‘Not True’

No 'cue without a queue.
No ‘cue without a queue. Photo: Garrett Ziegler/Flickr

Lines tend to attract hungry customers in New York. But this week, Alan Richman takes to GQ’s website with his write-up of Smorgasburg. He likes it as much as everyone else, but the big surprise is when a clerk at the Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque stand — known for its ridiculously long waits — reportedly refuses to serve Richman, who got there shortly after the 11 a.m. opening, until a line forms behind him. Is this a case of artificial line inflation? Micha Magid, Mighty Quinn’s co-partner, tells Gothamist that Richman’s claims are “preposterous” and “categorically false.” Magid says it takes the stand between 30 seconds and a minute to make each sandwich, which is why the line forms. (One Grub Street source claims to have “totally gotten Mighty Quinn’s with no line.”) The statement continues: “All I can say is that it’s just not true.” So it’s Richman’s word versus Magid’s. GQ versus MQ, if you will. What really happened that day in a hot, crowded lot in Williamsburg? The world may never know. [GQ, Gothamist, Earlier]

Mighty Quinn’s Co-Founder Calls Alan Richman’s Line-Inflation Claims