The Barbecue Bros had a nice little blurb in the April 2014 issue of SouthPark Magazine! This make it two in one week, after nearly two years of zero. And yes, we know it lists us as “barbecuebros.com” instead of “barbecuebros.co,” but at least the recognition is nice…
-Monk
– Giving a whole other meaning to barbecue hash, the owner/operator of Smokey’s BBQ in Dallas, NC charged for selling marijuana in and around his restaurant
– The NCAA recently allowed unlimited snacks for “student-athletes” and this article runs down the best advantages gained by schools due to local cuisine (many of which are not coincidentally barbecue)
NC State: The Wolfpack will attempt to turn the ACC’s best prospects away from Tallahassee by offering unlimited whole hog barbecue and vinegar-based sauce from The Pit in Raleigh. The toughest recruiting battles on Tobacco Road will be between NC State and North Carolina, which will attempt to lure recruits with fried chicken-and-cheddar biscuits from Chapel Hill’s Time-Out (available 24 hours a day, of course).
– A Barbecue Bros hometown joint gets a shout out from The Great NC BBQ Map
Love the look of this menu from Kepley’s Barbecue in High Point – clean look and classic graphics. pic.twitter.com/9tsXAS8tld
— Amanda Aileen (@ncbbqmap)
– Is Durham becoming a barbecue mecca? BBQ Jew thinks so.
– The Barbecue Bros tend to stay out of political debates and focus on barbecue, but this final paragraph in a story about last night’s debate of GOP candidates for Senate in NC caught our eye
In a lightning round at the end of the debate, the candidates were asked to pick their favorite style of North Carolina barbecue. Three picked Lexington, which is built around a vinegar-based red sauce.
“I love it all,” said Tillis, smiling coyly.
– The latest stops on Marie, Let’s Eat!’s epic NC barbecue road trip finds him in Hill’s Lexington Barbecue in Winston-Salem, Deano’s in Mocksville, and Carolina Bar-B-Q in Statesville; gotta say I’ve definitely enjoyed reading about Grant’s NC travels (barbecue-related and not) the past few weeks
Straight out of North Carolina, the Barbecue Bros are experts in this delicious pork concoction, bringing you some amazing reviews and recommendations on where to find the best BBQ. Monk, Rudy, and Speedy are the masterminds behind this one-of-a-kind blog, all three having extensive experience and knowledge in all things barbecue. Hailing from High Point, NC, and having attended high school together, the bros are actually now living in different places themselves (Monk and Speedy in Charlotte, Rudy in Austin, TX). However, their love for all things barbecue kept the trio together, and now they actually use this geographically diverse setting as a way to spread even more barbecue goodness on the site. As much as they love the delicious pork dish, the bros were getting frustrated with all of the unsatisfactory reviews they found of BBQ joints around their area, and decided to finally take matters into their own hands, thus creating the Barbecue Bros blog. Here, you can find fantastic reviews, recommendations, tips, and more on all things barbecue, both in North Carolina and beyond. You can start by clicking on the Charlotte Rankings tab, which gives you a hefty list of the top spots for BBQ in and around Charlotte; each review complete with great, insightful information as well as some mouth-watering photographs. Otherwise, you can click on the Map of Joints to take a look at all the places that these boys have covered across the country. Another cool category is The North Carolina Historic Barbecue Trail, which gives you a list of all the historic BBQ places in the state, all of which the bros are attempting to have eaten at by the end of 2014. Be sure you check out this wonderful site, especially if you love barbeque too!
Barbecue Bros the blog!
Barbecue Bros the Facebook page!
Barbecue Bros Twitter!
Barbecue Bros’ list of favorite restaurants at TheBesty.com!
Be sure to also check out TheBesty.com Facebook page and follow us onTwitter!
Thanks to TheBesty for a nice profile on our site! And be on the lookout for possibly more from them on us…
-Monk
The Best Barbecue in North Carolina and Beyond with the Barbecue Bros!
Name: Pappy’s Old Fashioned BBQ
Date: 4/5/14
Address: 1982 Chesnee Hwy, Spartanburg, SC 29303
Order: BBQ plate with red slaw, hush puppies, and sweet tea; “white velvet” cake for dessert (link to menu)
Price: $11.75
Monk: Well, I’ve hit a first in my barbecue blogging experience. Something I had heard dirty rumors of but never thought I would see myself. This past weekend I encountered a modern convenience which has revolutionized home cooking but has no place in a proper barbecue joint. Yep, I’m talking about a microwave.
Speedy: But was it an old fashioned microwave? (Sorry, I had to…)
Rudy: Was it at least a dirty microwave that could be considered “seasoned”?
Monk: Not even close, guys. Pappy’s Old Fashioned BBQ started out promising enough. It’s housed in a small roadside shack in Spartanburg, SC with a standalone smokehouse and a sizable woodpile out back. Order at a counter and you’re set. Or at least that’s what I thought.
Now to say that it was a slow lunch hour for a Saturday would be an understatement. There was one family who ordered takeout before us but once they left we were the only customers dining in the restaurant. However, for some reason our order took awhile to come out.
As I went to refill my sweet tea I noticed one of the owners shoveling barbecue out of a large aluminum pan into a paper boat and warming it in the microwave. And this had to be done 4 times for our group. A few minutes later once our plates were finally brought out to us, I noticed that the warmed over barbecue had good chunks of bark and smokiness but was really dry. I can’t understand why the owners would go the trouble of splitting logs and cooking over wood but storing the barbecue in large aluminum foil pans in the refrigerator. Based on the bark and smokiness, I can only guess that had the moisture and tenderness matched it I would have been impressed. Instead, I could only guess. There was a variety of sauces – vinegar, mild sweet, medium hot, and hot – and even that didn’t help too much.
Rudy: Any chance the logs and smokehouse were just props to lure in suckers (if so, it worked)? Because I would agree there is no use in going through all that work for just a microwave.
Monk: I don’t think so – the bark on the pork was too smoky for those logs to just be for show. Though you never can tell in South Carolina…
The red slaw was a nice surprise on the menu and was passable. The hush puppies were a favorite of my in-laws, who said it reminded them of a joint called Bob Petty’s Oakwood Drive-In in Greensboro that went out of business many years ago, and I thought they were pretty good myself. There was a “white velvet” cake on the menu that was made that morning, so my curiosity got the best of me and I ordered dessert. It was a decent sheet cake, but I was a little disappointed based on the name.
Had Pappy’s Old Fashioned BBQ done some things differently, I could see it being a hidden gem of a joint just off 85 in upstate South Carolina. Too bad that didn’t turn out to be the case.
Speedy: I have nothing more to add other than to say the only reason to waste our time on this review is to warn people not to go. A microwave is completely and utterly unacceptable. Speedy’s rating: 0 hogs.
Monk (whispering): Shhh, don’t anyone tell Speedy he doesn’t really get his own ratings…
Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3.5 hogs
Pork – 1.5 hogs
Sides – 3 hogs
Overall – 2 Hogs
