Note: A version of this article originally appeared late last year in The Smoke Sheet, a fantastic national barbecue newsletter that I regularly contribute to. For more information on how to subscribe, visit bbqnewsletter.com.
Monk: In late October of 2023, Asheville’s Buxton Hall Barbecue officially announced that it will close for good after service a few weeks later on November 22nd, 8 years after bringing whole hog to Asheville’s South Slope neighborhood.
This closure came roughly 15 months after Elliott Moss, who was instrumental in the creation and initial branding of Buxton Hall, abruptly left the restaurant as its pitmaster. Chef Nick Barr immediately took over as Executive Chef for Buxton Hall in July 2022 until the restaurant’s closing in late 2023.
Moss started the journey that became Buxton Hall Barbecue in 2013 in what was originally called “Buxton Hill Barbecue” (note the i), which promised to bring “All wood, Pit Smoked, Pastured Whole Hog Barbeque & Heirloom Southern Fare” to Asheville. It was originally announced as a partnership between Moss and Rodney Scott, then of Scott’s Bar-B-Q before starting Rodney Scott Barbecue in 2017, which made sense when you consider that Moss has family roots in the Pee Dee Region of South Carolina where Scott is also from.
However, that original concept was confirmed as not moving forward a few months later in September 2013 via Twitter, with Moss starting to presumably work with the Chai Pani Restaurant Group on what would eventually become Buxton Hall Barbecue (note the a).
Buxton Hall finally opened in August 2015 to great acclaim, with Moss smoking the local, pasture-raised hogs from Vandele Farm in a North Carolina-made BQ Smoker situated in an open kitchen. In addition to the whole hog, Moss’s influence was seen throughout the menu whether it be chicken bog, a chicken and rice dish from eastern South Carolina, or waffle fries, harkening back to his time working at a Chic-Fil-A in Columbia, SC. The restaurant was an instant success, and soon it was named as a “Best New Restaurant” by Bon Appétit magazine. Moss wrote a barbecue book named “Buxton Hall: Book of Smoke” that was released in October 2016 and continued to be the face of the restaurant, appearing at barbecue festivals from coast to coast under the Buxton Hall Barbecue banner.
The success continued until the entire food industry was hit by the COVID pandemic starting in March of 2020, which began a period of challenges for the restaurant. The dining room was closed from March until July 2020 before a fire forced the restaurant to temporarily close and rethink its approach to smoking whole hogs indoors. It used the period to finish repairs and install new equipment, including a new Texas-style offset smoker designed and built by Moss. The dining room reopened over a year later in August 2021 and less than a year after that Moss announced that he had left the restaurant in July 2022.
Since then, Moss took 13 months to open his next restaurants – Regina’s Westside and a sandwich shop called Little Louie’s – but left those less than 6 weeks after their opening in the summer of 2023. He has since been working barbecue pop-ups under the name Moss and Moore Barbecue and has recently traveled to Texas to collaborate with Fort Worth’s Cattleack Barbecue. He is also utilizing his welding experience and is now building pits and grills as co-owner of the Velvet Moss Company, which recently released a portable grill called “The Priscilla.”
This unfortunately marked another setback for new school North Carolina whole hog barbecue. Wyatt Dickson exited Durham’s Picnic after 7 years and his other concept Wyatt’s Barbecue never opened in Raleigh after pandemic setbacks. Jake Wood has opened Lawrence Barbecue in Durham to great success but opted not to do whole hog and instead focused on a menu featuring all styles of barbecue in addition to oysters. And of course there’s Ed Mitchell, who recently released a barbecue cookbook but whose whole hog barbecue restaurant The Preserve still hasn’t opened in Raleigh.
In February 2024, the Chai Pani Restaurant Group moved its flagship restaurant Chai Pani into the space formerly occupied by Buxton Hall. With that, it officially closed the book on Buxton Hall Barbecue which for many of the past few years was the westernmost whole hog outpost in the state of North Carolina.
However, not all is lost in terms of whole hog barbecue. In March of 2024, Elliott Moss posted an announcement on his Instagram about his future plans. Unfortunately, after 17 years Moss and his wife Jennifer are leaving Asheville, a city which he’s undoubtedly had a huge impact from a food perspective.
On the bright side, Moss will be continuing in whole hog barbecue. While the details and location are not known at this point and will be shared “a little down the road,” that is extremely promising news because I adamantly feel that the barbecue world is better with Moss active in it.
In the meantime, you can catch him and his food at the Carolina BBQ Festival in Charlotte on April 5-6. Tickets are on sale now and it features a great lineup for the 3rd year running.