barbecue

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?

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

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Monk: I’ve never really been one for New Year’s resolutions in my personal life, but for the first time last year I put forth some barbecue-related ones. The thing with resolutions is that some may be kept but some are also forgotten almost the instant they are said out loud (or typed in this case).

With that said, let’s see how I did utilizing our patented 5 hogs scale:

Image via Our State Magazine

Resolution #1: Visit the joints I’ve been putting off
Verdict: 3 hogs

Going into 2025: In addition to Grady’s there are a few other newer joints that I want to check out (funnily enough, all in South Carolina): the James Beard-nominated City Limits Q in West Columbia, Fork Grove BBQ in Anderson, and the soon-to-open Elliott’s Barbecue in Florence from Elliott Moss formerly of Buxton Hall Barbecue. I hope to hit those this year for the first time and maybe revisit a classic NC joint or two in addition.

The verdict on this one is mixed. In 2025 I did finally visit the twice-James Beard nominated City Limits Barbeque in West Columbia plus a couple of NC joints I didn’t identify going into the year (Dampf Good BBQ in Cary and a classic NC barbecue joint in Real Q in Winston-Salem.

But the others I identified in my resolution but did not make it to were Fork Grove BBQ, Elliott’s Barbecue, and Grady’s.

Resolution #2: Attend an Out-of-State Barbecue Festival
Verdict: 0 hogs

Going into 2025: This year, its time to try an out-of-state barbecue festival, perhaps something like the Memphis in May Festival or Holy Smokes in North Charleston, both of which I’ve done in the past and would happily revisit. Or perhaps attend one that haven’t been to such as the Windy City Smokeout in Chicago, Jack Daniel’s World Championship in Lynchburg, TN or one of the many festivals in Texas like the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest in Grand Prairie or Houston, the Red Dirt BBQ & Music Festival in Tyler, or Aaron Franklin’s Hot Luck Festival in Austin.

I did not make it to a single out-of-state barbecue festival this year, and only attended the Carolina BBQ Festival’s Fall Pig Pick’n, which was a great event but decidedly in-town and not out-of-state.

Resolution #3: Smoke my own whole hog
Verdict: 5 hogs

Going into 2025: I’ve thought over the years about doing another one but just haven’t made it happen. Well, that needs to change and this fall I plan to do just that.

I did it! My second ever whole hog was a rousing success last fall, feeding about 350 people and I’m going to run it back this coming October. Ideally, with a little more help. Recap here:

What I Did (or Didn’t Do) Differently For Whole Hog #2

Total: 8 out of 15 hogs

What about my 2026 resolutions, you ask? Check back next week.

At Real Q, Lexington-style Barbecue is on the Menu

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Name: Real Q
Date: 11/28/25
Address: 4885 Country Club Rd, Winston-Salem, NC 27104
Order: Chopped plate with fries, BBQ slaw, and hush puppies; Cheerwine (link to menu)
Pricing: $

Monk: In April 1991, Richard Berrier and two business partners opened the original Little Richard’s BBQ on Country Club Road in Winston-Salem. Twenty-seven years, a couple of business partnership splits, and several restaurant spinoffs later, it changed its name in to “Real Q” in January of 2018 to distinguish itself from the other Little Richard’s in the the area (now Winston-Salem, Clemmons, Yadkinville, Walkertown and Mount Airy). Fortuitously, Berrier is also known as “Q” in the industry, so the name works on a couple of levels.

The Country Club location of Little Richard’s is the one that Speedy visited 5 years before the name change in 2013 and enjoyed quite a bit, rating it 4 hogs. On that visit, he loved the BBQ slaw and hush puppies while enjoying the pork itself a little less, noting that he would have liked more smoke. I had never visited that, or any other, Little Richard’s so this past Thanksgiving in the Triad it was time to check it out the restaurant formerly known as Little Richard’s.

Real Q is a classic Lexington-style joint with Winston-Salem memorabilia lining the walls

Being less than 25 or so miles from Lexington, NC, it’s no surprise that Real Q would take on the shape of a classic Lexington-style barbecue joint. Meaning smokestacks in the back, no frills dining, and red slaw and hush puppies on the menu.

What may be more surprising is the quality and depth of Winston-Salem memorabilia that lines nearly every available wall space. Home to Texas Pete and RJR (formerly the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company founded in 1875), the walls reflect that Winston-Salem heritage in addition to a few, unrelated cigarette and retro cola brands. Behold:

Decor aside, of course I was there for the barbecue. Lack of smoke, which Speedy observed on his 2013 visit, was not an issue for me. A mixture of the barbecue topped with the table dip and mixed with red slaw made for a perfect bite of barbecue.

On his visit, Speedy found the red slaw to be cold and perfectly tangy, offering a nice contrast to the pork and I would agree. The hush puppies were some of the best I’ve had in recent memory, and the youngest Monkette (who normally isn’t a hush puppy fan), agreed as well. She ended up finishing the rest of the basket.

At Real Q their motto is “if it ain’t over wood, it ain’t as good” and they have the wood pile out back to prove that they do just that. And its cue I would rank alongside some of the very best in the town of Lexington. Next time, I’ll be checking out Little Richard’s to see if they stack up well to Real Q.

For more on Real Q, check out a 2021 review from John Tanner’s BBQ Blog

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 5 hogs
Pork – 4.5 hogs
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 4.5 hogs

Order the smoked pork chop at Slow Bone BBQ

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Name: Slow Bone BBQ
Date: 9/9/25
Address: 2234 Irving Blvd, Dallas, TX 75207
Order: Quarter pound brisket, quarter pound sausage (jalapeno cheddar and black pepper), 1 bone smoked pork chop with collards and beans (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Monk: This year, a lot of the places I’ve visited have been on last year’s Texas Monthly United States of Barbecue for best Texas-style places outside of the republic: Dampf Good BBQ, Shotgun Willie’s, Owens & Hull, City Limits Barbeque.

The latest version of Texas Monthly Top 50, the list released every four years for joints within the state, was released earlier this year. I don’t make it to Texas a ton but a work trip brought me to the Dallas area and after a quick scan of places that were open on a Sunday and made the top 50, I headed off to Slow Bone.

The smoked Berkshire pork chop headlines the proteins I tried that day

The Sunday/Monday special is a smoked Berkshire pork chop that takes 3 weeks to prep, from the initial seasoning to sitting uncovered in the walk-in cooler where it cures for two weeks before a light smoking and vacuum sealing for another week.

Then, on the day its being served it is crisped in the oven and then cooked on a flat top once its ordered. That might seem unnecessary to us lay folks, but the results seem to bear out the complex process. It was by far my favorite protein that day, juicy and full of flavor with a kick on the back end. It made me happy that circumstances put me there on a Sunday. Just look at this beauty:

Being solo, I opted to just try a quarter pound of the brisket and sausage in addition to the pork chop. I got each of the two varieties of sausage with the jalapeno cheddar and the black pepper. Both packed a nice kick, and made me wish I had gone ahead and ordered another Lone Star with my meal.

I don’t normally mention brisket last, especially at a Texas joint, but that’s not a knock on the brisket itself and more just a reflection on the quality and depth of the meats I tried at Slow Bone. This was a good, solid Texas brisket.

As for sides and accoutrement, each tray came with a savory hush puppy and a piece of honey cornbread. A nice combo of salty and sweet between the two. I have been on record for the 13+ years of this blog of loving a sweeter cornbread and this was S-tier. The collards and beans were solid but unspectacular compared with the rest of the platter.

Conclusion

Chef Jeffrey Hobbs and his team are doing great things at Slow Bone and based off my one visit their status on the Texas Monthly Top 50 is well deserved. The smoke Berkshire pork chop is in contention for my favorite barbecue bite of the year. Texas certainly does not lack for quality barbecue joints, but you can certainly do worse in the DFW.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 4 hogs
Pork Chop – 5 hogs
Brisket – 4 hogs
Sausage – 4 hogs
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 4.5 hogs