Reviews

McKoy’s Smokehouse and Saloon – Charlotte, NC

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Name: McKoy’s Smokehouse and Saloon
Date: 7/5/22
Location: 4630 Old Pineville Road, Charlotte, NC 28217
Order: BBQ pork sandwich with fried squash and double-grilled smokehouse wings (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Monk: McKoy’s Smokehouse and Saloon is a Charlotte joint that I tend to forget or overlook since my first and thus far only visit in 2013. On that visit, perhaps I judged it too harshly which may have tended to be the M.O. in the early days of this blog when expectations were sky high and readership was quite low. I have slowly started to revisit Charlotte joints in recent years, or at least the ones that haven’t closed, so McKoy’s was next up on the list.

Just like on that first visit, I was greeted by the smell of wood smoke in the air as I exited the car and walked into the restaurant. The interior really embraces the “saloon” aspect of the name, and there are plenty of TV’s with sports on. McKoy’s has been around since 2006 and while I don’t want to speak too prematurely, it appears they have hung on beyond the pandemic, perhaps just barely.

For my appetizer, I decided to try their smokehouse wings, opting for barbalo and upgraded to their “double grilled” to get them nice and crispy. While they do utilize a “full roid” wing (I mean, these drumettes were huge), they were nicely cooked and quite tasty. Would order again.

McKoy’s pork has a mild smokiness to it – partially due to the use of the milder pecan wood as well as utilizing a gas-assisted smoker. The pork barbecue sandwich comes on a butter-grilled bun and that mildly smokey pork is topped with a mayo-based slaw. Add some dashes of Texas Pete and it makes for a very good sammie. While I was trying not to overeat, I still managed to finish off the whole thing.

Coming off the back end of a long July 4th weekend, I tried to go a little healthier for my side but fried squash was as close as I got. I had never seen it on a barbecue menu before, but I thought it worked really well and would order again. That makes three for three if you’re keeping track at home.

I still wouldn’t include McKoy’s Smokehouse and Saloon in the top tier of Charlotte barbecue but it is much better than I previously gave them credit for. I might go back and try the Living the Dream (LTD) platter some day to try their ribs, pot roast, and chicken, and it’ll be sooner than the nine years between my first and second visit.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 2.5 Hogs
Pork – 3 Hogs
Sides – 3.5 Hogs
Overall – 3 Hogs

Brisket Tacos at Buc-ee’s – Adairsville, GA

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Name: Buc-ee’s
Date: 6/12/22
Address: 601 Union Grove Rd SE, Adairsville, GA 30103
Order: Brisket taco and brisket egg taco
Pricing: $$

Monk: The cult favorite gas station/mega convenience store Buc-ee’s has been on my list of places to visit for some time now. Over Spring Break we just missed the opening of their first store in the Carolinas off I-95 near Florence, SC, and the closest locations of the Texas-based chain otherwise are in Georgia or Florida. Thankfully, gymnastics travels for the oldest Monkette put me unexpectedly in the path of an operational Buc-ee’s off I-75 between Atlanta and Chattanooga in north Georgia.

At the Texas Roundup station in the middle of the store, staffers in red shirts and cowboy hats were busy chopping brisket or assembling tacos and biscuits. While I was happy to stumble onto a Buc-ee’s, unfortunately my timing wasn’t ideal. Arriving a little before 10am, only breakfast items were available, as the sliced brisket, sausage, turkey, and pulled pork isn’t available until about 10:20. Undeterred, I soldiered ahead with both a brisket taco as well as a brisket egg taco.

Before I get to the tacos, I gotta say that Buc-ee’s lives up to the hype. The bathrooms were indeed spotless, and while a tad overwhelming, the store itself was a sight to behold. I didn’t linger too long but made sure to grab a couple bags of Beaver Nuggets in addition to the tacos. Next time I’ll definitely plan to spend more time in the store and will load up on more Beaver Nuggets as well as jerky and gummies.

I ate the tacos on the road and loved them. The brisket, while surely smoked offsite, tasted fairly fresh and was plenty smoky while the eggs were scrambled perfectly. Pulling it all together was a flour tortilla that was on the larger side and tasted perhaps housemade but may have been just a better quality tortilla than I’m used to. Would definitely get again.

Next time I have the pleasure of visiting a Buc-ee’s, I will try to time it better so I can try the rest of the items at the Texas Roundup station. A pro tip I’ve received is to arrive around 10:15am so you can have both breakfast and lunch available. I can’t wait to try that out and bring Mrs. Monk as well, who is dying to check one out. Buc-ee’s!

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 4 hogs
Tacos – 4 hogs
Overall – 4 hogs

Dukes Bar-B-Q – Orangeburg, SC

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Name: Duke’s Bar-B-Q
Date: 4/14/22
Address: 801-813 Chestnut St, Orangeburg, SC 29115
Order: Large barbecue plate with hash and rice and slaw
Pricing: $

Monk: Along interstates 26, 95, and 20 in South Carolina, you are certain to see signs for a number of Duke’s Bar-B-Q’s. While these are not all part of the same chain of restaurants per se, they are all loosely connected to the Duke’s barbecue lineage which goes back decades in the midlands of the Palmetto State.

Each store is independently owned an operated, and according to Destination BBQ this plain white cinder block building off Chesnut Street in Orangeburg is just down the road from the original Dukes Bar-B-Q that was opened by Earl Dukes in 1955 and launched the Dukes Bar-B-Q brand. That building sat less than a mile away but closed some years ago. This store is operated by Earl’s nephew Harry Ott, Jr and his wife Ann; Harry’s mother Elma was the sister of Earl and he learned the recipes from his other Uncle Danny in addition to Uncle Earl.

Not much has likely changed since 1975 when the Otts moved from their original location in St Matthews, and this rectangular box that is lit by fluorescent lights has a dining room with checkerboard table cloths at the front with the kitchen separated by the counter and serving area. Also going back to 1975, be sure to have cash on hand as they don’t take cards.

At Dukes, a large plate will get you a generous portion of hash and rice as well as barbecue topped with their mustard sauce and a side of slaw. The chopped pork was fine and the slaw inoffensive but for me, the draw was the hash and rice which isn’t overly sweet. I’m still a newbie when it comes to hash and rice, but I enjoyed the Dukes version of it which has a more orange tint than what I tried a few days earlier at new school Palmira Barbecue in Charleston.

New school is something Dukes definitely is not, but that’s a feature not a bug. Sitting four miles off I-26 in Orangeburg, check out Dukes Bar-B-Q for a classic, old school South Carolina barbecue experience.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Pork – 3 hogs
Hash – 3.5 hogs
Sides – 3 hogs
Overall – 3 hogs

Palmira Barbecue – Charleston, SC

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Name: Palmira Barbecue
Date: 4/11/22
Address: 99 S. Market Street, Charleston, SC 29401
Order: Whole hog barbecue, hash and rice, beans, slaw, and collards (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Monk: As has been well documented, Charleston has experienced a bit of a barbecue renaissance the past few years. Swig N’ Swine and Home Team Barbecue have expanded onto and around the peninsula. Rodney Scott started his self-titled barbecue empire in Charleston in 2017 And now has locations in Birmingham, Homewood, AL, and Atlanta. John Lewis started Lewis Barbecue around the block from Home Team BBQ’s downtown location and Lewis has since opened his border cuisine restaurant Rancho Lewis. Then, in recent years, Palmira Barbecue entered the Charleston barbecue chat.

Hector Garate named Palmira Barbecue after his grandmother and his approach to barbecue reflects both his Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage. He got his start at pop-ups at local breweries, but last fall the Port of Call Food + Brew Hall came…er, calling. Port of Call is what I would consider to be a mini-food hall at the former Bubba Gump Shrimp Company location right off the market. It has a great biergarten-style courtyard with an outdoor bar, 2 more indoor bars, and 5 total food stall options: Italian, Greek street food, Asian Fusion, acai and poke bowls as well as a raw bar. I found it to be a great concept and while business was a little slow on a Monday evening I have been told it gets pretty packed on the weekend.

Palmira offers smoked whole hog every day of the week and on the weekends expands its menu to include some combination of beef cheeks, brisket, beef barbacoa, and house-made sausage. The approach is “farm-to-pit” and for the whole hog, Garate partners with Marvin Ross of Peculiar Pig Farms in nearby Summerville for the heritage hogs that he smokes. The result is flavorful barbecue that is pulled and mixed by hand. Garate spent some time in eastern NC, and perhaps some of that influences his whole hog. Fantastic stuff.

Garate also offers hash and rice most days, a dish that Hector apparently loves and eats daily according to his interview with the Tales from the Pits podcast episode earlier this year. For his hash, he smokes the pig head that goes into the hash and pours the meat gravy over Carolina Gold rice. I might go for a double order next time around.

The Cuban and Puerto Rican influence really came through for me in the sides. The beans have a “Puerto RIcan twist” in the form of I believe sofrito. The Palmira slaw is vinegar-based but nothing like you’d have in either eastern or western North Carolina. The collards pack quite a kick in the form of spice on the back end.

Big things appear to be on the horizon for Hector Garate and Palmira Barbecue. Instead of waiting for a pricey smoker to be built and delivered to him, Hector built his own smoker and will soon be expanding into smoker building for other customers – Cienfuegos Smokers.

Port of Call Food + Brew Hall is a fine start, but I can see Hector expanding to his own brick and mortar for a second location before too long. In short, based on my experience I expect to see more of Palmira Barbecue and its sustainable approach to whole hog and Texas barbecue around Charleston in the near future.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3.5 hogs
Pork – 4.5 hogs
Hash – 4.5 hogs
Sides – 3.5 hogs
Overall – 4.5 hogs