4 hogs

Q39 – Kansas City, MO

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Name: Q39
Date: 6/8/21
Address: 1000 W 39th St, Kansas City, MO
Order: Beef brisket plate (with burnt ends), add pulled pork, side of white bean cassoulet (link to menu)
Pricing: $$$

Speedy: I recently embarked on a cross-country roadtrip with my brother (same parents variety, not blog-about-barbecue-with variety), which took us through Kansas City. Of course we had to find a place for ‘cue in the burnt ends capital. After a bit of research, we settled on Q39, a more up-ish-scale restaurant that is (relatively) new on the scene, opening in 2014.

We walked in on a Tuesday night, and the place was packed, but after a short wait, we were seated. Q39 has tables and a wait staff, and a large bar area, as well as outside seating. It’s decorated in a rustic fashion, and overall, was a nice atmosphere.

My order was easy – the beef brisket plate (which comes with burnt ends and slices), but I did add on some pulled pork and the Bro went with the housemade chipotle sausage plate, as well as the onion straw appetizer.

While service was good overall, the wait was a bit longer than normal for a barbecue joint (perhaps due to the crowd), but still, our food was out shortly.

Let’s not bury the lede. In Kansas City, burnt ends are king, and Q39’s burnt ends were the star of the show. Tender but not too fatty, with a nice sauce that had a hint of sweetness, every bite was flavorful and a real treat. At Q39, there is a burnt ends appetizer (which they were not serving that night), but otherwise, you cannot order the burnt ends alone – only with the brisket plate. This is too bad because the slices on the brisket place were not too exciting. They were served with sauce already applied, which was necessary on the lean brisket that was on the dry side. It still had decent flavor, but paled in comparison to the burnt ends.

Monk: Interesting that you can’t get the burnt ends without ordering the brisket. I wonder if this is the norm in Kansas City, or a case where Q39 is looking to save costs.

Speedy: Hard to know, Monk. I assume they’re cooking full briskets, so trying to sell at the same rate. I think this also explains why your brisket just comes lean – the point has already been used. The pork was also served sauced, which I felt was a mistake. The “zesty” sauce does have a vinegar base, but is also loaded with sugar, favoring sweetness over tang. The pork was cooked well and had decent flavor, but the sauce took away from the flavor for me.

Monk: I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a KC barbecue joint uses a sugary sauce on their pork.

Speedy: The Bro’s sausage was my second favorite part of the meal. The homemade sausage had good flavor, nice snappy casing, and was not greasy at all. Overall a good effort. 

The white bean cassoulet is a side I’ve never seen our heard of, but from a taste standpoint, it was basically Brunswick stew. It was very hot out – so not stew weather – but I would order it again. The Bro loved his baked beans (I didn’t try any), and the onion straws (with barbecue remoulade) were really good, and worth ordering.

Overall, I would recommend a visit to Q39 to anyone in Kansas City, especially if you focus your attention on the burnt ends. 

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3.5 hogs
Burnt Ends – 4.5 hogs
Brisket – 3 hogs
Pork – 3 hogs
Sausage – 4 hogs
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 4 hogs

Whispering Pines BBQ – Albemarle, NC

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Name: Whispering Pines BBQ
Address: 1421 US-52, Albemarle, NC 28001
Order: Chopped pork tray with red slaw, hush puppies, Cheerwine (link to menu)
Pricing: $

Monk: After lunch at Log Cabin BBQ and a short hike with the Monkettes at Morrow Mountain State Park, the plan was to hit up Whispering Pines on the way out of town back to Charlotte and maybe get the girls some dessert or ice cream. That is, until we pulled into the parking lot and I sadly realized it was drive through or curbside service only.

Nevertheless, once I realized the situation I got in one of two drive through lines and snapped a photo of the woodpile while waiting in line. That’s right, because while Log Cabin BBQ utilizes a gas assist wood smoker, Whispering Pines is all wood and deserved of their place on True Cue’s list of wood-smoked NC barbecue joints. Read a little more about the family behind both joints in my Log Cabin review linked above.

I ordered my tray, paid for it in cash (no cards accepted here), and headed to a Dairy Queen 20 minutes down the road in the town of Locust, NC. There, I ordered the Monkettes a Blizzard and cone and had some bites in the front seat of my car.

While the pork had less bark than what Log Cabin served, there was definitely a more pronounced wood smoke flavor. I wished I had eaten here first, and that I had been able to eat it inside the restaurant. I feasted off the leftover pork for a few more meals at home over the next few days, putting it on Martin’s potato rolls which made for a fantastic sandwich.

The slaw was a little too coarsely chopped for me, and maybe even a little on the sweet side. The hush puppies were standard.

Overall, a good experience (albeit takeout) from Whispering Pines BBQ. I will definitely try to make it back once they reopen inside dining.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – N/A
Pork – 4 hogs
Sides – 3.5 hogs
Overall – 4 hogs

Roddey’s BBQ – Rock Hill, SC

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Name: Roddey’s BBQ
Address: 250 S. Cherry St, Rock Hill, SC 29732
Order: Brisket and barbecue sandwich combo (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Monk: Roddey’s BBQ is the barbecue venture of Seth Roddey and his dad Ken in Rock Hill, South Carolina just south of the border from Charlotte. While Ken has been smoking barbecue for 25 years, the duo began catering in 2014. However, it wasn’t until about a year ago that Seth bought a food truck and started regular service in Rock Hill. Not the most fortunate timing during the pandemic and whatnot, but they have stuck it out.

Roddey’s BBQ smokes their pork, brisket, and ribs on an Ole Hickory pit at a commercial kitchen at their house using hickory splits. They then set up at a vacant lot for service every week off S. Cherry Street across from District Three Stadium, the home stadium to local football powerhouse Northwestern High.

The USDA prime brisket was well smoked and had good flavor, but was not overly peppery in the style of a central Texas brisket. Orders came with a mix of both fatty and lean, and I preferred the fattier cut though the lean made a nice foldover.

The pulled pork sandwich had good bark mixed in but was not overly smoky. Both combos came with a peppery mayo-based coleslaw and when the sandwich was topped with the slaw and the Roddey’s vinegar-based sauce, it made for a darn fine bite.

I like that Roddey’s is a family affair, and the barbecue is certainly worth keeping an eye on and seeking out. You can find Roddey’s BBQ Wednesdays through Fridays at 250 S. Cherry St in Rock Hill.

Ratings:
Brisket – 3.5 hogs
Pork – 4 hogs
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 4 hogs

The Smoke Pit – Gastonia, NC

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Name: The Smoke Pit
Address: 421 Cox Rd, Gastonia, NC 28054
Order: Tres Amigos combo (brisket, pork, and ribs) with turkey, sausage, hush puppies, fried okra (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Monk: Since the last time Speedy and I visited The Smoke Pit’s original location in Concord four years ago, they’ve steadily expanded into other cities across the Piedmont of NC. I visited the downtown Salisbury location in early 2017 and they’ve since opened up in Monroe and more recently Gastonia about a year ago. I’ve always enjoyed my visits to The Smoke Pit but for whatever reason tend to forget about them a little bit. However, with BIll Spoon’s closing in September and Speedy in Charlotte for the day, it was time to figure out if The Smoke Pit was worthy of a top 5 spot on our Charlotte Big Board.

Speedy: Well if we must eat more delicious barbecue, Monk, then we must. We pulled up to The Smoke Pit Gastonia, which was a stand-alone building in a larger shopping center. Barbecue in commercial shopping centers always worries me, and this was a pretty ugly building, so the real question was whether this incarnation of The Smoke Pit could overcome these challenges. So Monk and I entered, waited in line for a few minutes, and placed our order to find out.

Let’s start with the star of the show: the St. Louis-style ribs. When tasting ribs, you always hope and pray, but rarely receive, the perfect bite. Tender meat that is easy to bite through but doesn’t fall off the bone. That’s what we got at The Smoke Pit. Monk and I ordered the dry ribs, which were meaty, well seasoned, and flavorful. A truly outstanding effort.

Monk: Definitely glad we went for dry over sauced. One of the better pork ribs I’ve had recently, and agree that it did have that perfect bite. 

The brisket came out a little on the dry side and was mostly lean even though we asked for a mix of both lean and fatty. Still, it had a nice bark and a good taste. The sausage at The Smoke Pit appears to rotate regularly and on this day they had a solid jalapeno cheddar version, which Speedy sadly couldn’t partake in. All in all, I think what he did miss out on was a solid but unspectacular sausage.

Speedy: The chopped pork was cooked well and had a bit of smoke flavor, but was a little dry. Adding some Lexington style sauce quickly remedied this, but I would have liked a little more bark chopped in. Still, the pork was quite good and worth ordering. Not to jump the gun on the sides, but Smoke Pit also has a good red slaw, so the pork sammie would make for a strong order.

On the drive over to The Smoke Pit, Monk and I had a conversation about how smoked turkey tends to be a little underrated at the best ‘cue joints, and can be incredibly flavorful. So we decided that if Smoke Pit had turkey, we’d order it, and sure enough, it was listed as a new menu item. It was worth it. You always worry about turkey being dry, but that was not the case at Smoke Pit. Their turkey is cajun seasoned, which is a nice touch. My one complaint is that I wish the seasoning penetrated the meat a bit further, as there were some bites where I wasn’t able to taste the seasoning. 

Monk: Speedy already touched on the red slaw, which complimented the slightly dry pork perfectly. We also got hush puppies (of course) and fried okra, which was a bit of a last minute audible. Both were above average, though I was unable to tell if they were scratch-made or not.

Speedy: The meal at The Smoke Pit’s Gastonia location was solid all-around. There wasn’t a single item that I wouldn’t order again, and we had a standout meat in the ribs. For my money, it’s worthy of the big board.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Brisket – 3 hogs
Pork – 3.5 hogs
Ribs – 4.5 hogs
Sausage – 3 hogs
Turkey – 4 hogs
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 4 hogs