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The Five Best Bites from the Carolina BBQ Fest Kickoff

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Monk: While I wasn’t able to attend the full Carolina Barbecue Festival this year due to parental duties on Saturday, I wanted to be sure to check out the kickoff on a beautiful Friday night at Victoria Yards in uptown Charlotte. In-between bites I was able catch up with Garren and Kelly from Jon G’s, Chigger from the Low and Slow Barbecue Show, and Rodolfo and Craic representing Southern Smoke Barbecue. Hopefully next year’s timing works out for me to go to to the main event on Saturday.

That said, here are the best bites from the Friday kickoff:

  1. Brisket and Sausage link from Union Barbecue – perhaps not the prettiest plating but excellence as usual from Union Barbecue.
  2. Brisket Bun from Improper Pig – this was the biggest surprise for me from a barbecue place who’s most recent restaurant opening was in the former Pizza Peel location in the heart of Plaza Midwood. Maybe I should give them and their asian-influenced barbecue another chance in their new digs.
  3. Double Smoked Burnt End Street Taco from Midwood Smokehouse – it was close between this and the bun from Improper Pig bun this still had great flavors in an easy to eat package.
  4. Chopped Pork Tray from BBQ King – the lone pork offering from the kickoff, this was a typical tray of barbecue from the ever-dependable long-time Lincolnton restaurant.
  5. Brisket, queso fresco, and street corn salad (no tostada) from Mac’s Speed Shop – the tostadas were gone by the time I had my sample and I would’ve loved the crunch from the crispy tortilla. Great flavor from what was served, though.

Bonus bite: banana pudding ice cream from Golden Cow Creamery. I love banana pudding and this ice cream version of it from Golden Cow Creamery was so, so good with large chunks of vanilla wafers and bold banana flavor. Also, a special shout out to the youngest Monkette for being my hand model for the night.

Enjoy a side of bluegrass with your ‘cue at Old Hampton Store

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Monk: I’ve previously reviewed Old Hampton Store & Barbeque in early 2024 but if you need a refresher its a true ‘cue joint located in Linville, NC. The mountains aren’t typically a place where you find wood smoked barbecue, but Old Hampton Store is one of the standard bearers.

You’ll Find True ‘Cue at Old Hampton Store

On a recent November 2025 trip to the NC mountains to get our Christmas tree, we once again stopped for lunch at Old Hampton afterwards and were treated to a side of bluegrass music with our barbecue. First, some photos:

Now, enjoy a brief taste of the music that day:

The 6 best things I ate in 2025

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Monk: Closing the book on 2025 with a round up of the best things I ate last year. As it turns out, the list is equally weighted between barbecue from the first half of the year and the second. On to 2026!

6. Smoked brisket burger from Dampf Good BBQ (review)

While there was a lot to like at Dampf Good BBQ earlier this year, the smoked brisket burger took the cake over the brisket, ribs, and sausage. So much so that I forgot to take photos of it until I had taken a few bites of the delicious burger made from smoked brisket trimmings and topped with cheese, pickles, and mayo on a potato bun. It was a special on that day, but be on the look out if you are checking them out in Cary.

5. Chopped Lexington-style barbecue from Real Q (review)

It’s always good to strike a classic style Lexington barbecue off my longtime list. Real Q blends old school Piedmont dining with a decor that is unmistakably Winston-Salem through its depictions of Texas Pete and the tobacco industry that once drove the economic engine of the town. The chopped pork even turned the youngest Monkette into a believer.

4. Smoked Berkshire pork chop from Slow Bone (review)

The smoked Berkshire pork chop from Slow Bone in Dallas is a Sunday/Monday special that takes 3 weeks of prep work from initial seasoning to two separate stints of brining with a smoking between them before being finished on a flat top once they are ordered. While the complexity of that process may be lost on a lot of patrons who enter the door, I’m sure at the very least they can appreciate the juicy, flavorful pork chop placed before them.

3. Beef cheek from Owens & Hull (review)

I live by a simple rule: if I see beef cheeks on the menu, I’m going to buy it. Maybe I’ve been lucky but the two places I’ve tried – Palmira Barbecue in Charleston and Owens & Hull in Smyrna – have put out some seriously tasty renditions that are must orders at their respective restaurants.

2. Whole hog from Wilber’s Barbecue

A somewhat unexpected pop up brought some delicious eastern NC whole hog from Goldsboro to Charlotte just before Christmas. Wilber’s rented a Penske truck with coolers full of barbecue, brisket, ribs, turkey, slaw, hush puppies, Brunswick stew, naner pudding, and sides and set up a pick up spot behind the old Manor Theatre. For anyone who took advantage, they got a taste of whole hog barbecue that you just don’t get here in Charlotte.

1. Chopped pork with crispy skins from City Limits Barbeque (review)

Robbie Robinson mixes in pork belly with his whole pork shoulders and then chops in some crispy skin to finish it off. As I predicted back in June, it was going to take a lot to knock this sandwich from the West Columbia restaurant off its perch as my favorite bite of barbecue in 2025. And as it turns out, nothing did. Can’t wait to get back to City Limits soon.

What are my barbecue New Year’s resolutions in 2026?

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Monk: Last week I took inventory of how I did on my 2025 barbecue resolutions. If you need a refresher or missed that, check out the post here:

How did I do on my 2025 barbecue New Year’s resolutions?

Even though results were mixed for my 2025 resolutions, I’m moving forward with (slightly) new and different resolutions for 2026.

What are my barbecue new year’s resolutions for 2026?

Courtesy of Good Q and Eats

#1 Visit the joints I’ve been putting off (evergreen)

Gymnastics travels (for the eldest Monkette, not me) take us to Greenville, NC this spring so this will be a good way to plug in some of my eastern North Carolina holes. I’m planning for some combination of Bum’s, Grady’s, Wilber’s, and Stephenson’s to be in the cards.

I also want to revisit some more classic NC joints closer to home in the piedmont, specifically in the Lexington area. It may be time to refresh my Lexington-area rankings, which I first published in 2022:

Lexington Rankings

Then of course there’s still the SC joints on my list: Elliott’s BBQ Lounge in Florence, Fork Grove BBQ in Anderson, King BBQ in North Charleston, and perhaps a revisit to Palmira Barbecue in Charleston.

Ribs from Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneertown, CA

#2 Getting back into cooking ribs

Now that I’ve conquered whole hog (kidding), I want to get back into regularly smoking ribs and trying to dial in my process. Way back in the dark days of early COVID I pulled out the old Weber kettle from the crawl space underneath my house that I hadn’t touched in about 5 years and haven’t put it back since.

In 2026, maybe I’ll now pull out the Oklahoma Joe’s offset from the garage and between the two figure it all out when it comes to ribs.

#3 Take a barbecue trip

This one may be a little aspirational with all of my other personal travel, but I’d love to figure out a barbecue-specific trip to take in 2026. What does that look like, exactly? Maybe that’s to an out-of-state barbecue festival, something that was on my list last year but not accomplished. Or maybe its a barbecue road trip by car somewhere in the Southeast? Or perhaps its a flight to to another state to explore their barbecue. I’m leaving it open-ended on purpose.

What’s your barbecue resolutions in 2026?