Monk: Rog from Men in Blazers visited the Queen City earlier this year to explore its burgeoning soccer culture, but shortly after landing he stopped at the “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives”-approved Bar-B-Q King for some pork, barbecue fried chicken, and homemade onion rings and hush puppies.
He met with owner Gus Karapanoa, whose uncle originally started the restaurant, and longtime server Davidto talk about the “Triple D” effect and how they still do things the same way they did when the restaurant started in 1959.
In the video below, the Bar-B-Q King content starts at 3:04.
Featured: In case you missed it, Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge in Shelby experienced a fire in their pit room late last week. It reportedly took 15 minutes to put out the fire but thankfully, the fire was contained by the firewall between the pitroom and the restaurant.
While in the immediate aftermath of the fire, the restaurant announced that it would be closed “indefinitely,” I’m happy to report that they are utilizing exterior pits and will reopen for their normal hours starting Wednesday (today!).
Eventually, Red Bridges will redo their pit room once they get through the insurance process. Thank goodness for that firewall, else we would’ve potentially lost an iconic barbecue restaurant that’s been around for nearly 80 years.
Native News
According to Edmar Simoes‘ Instagram, he has left Resident Culture and joined Flour Shop, a new American restaurant in the Montford neighborhood of Charlotte that utilizes a wood burning oven and emphasizes “a traditional style of cooking with fire while using the freshest, locally sourced ingredients.”
I reached out to Edmar and he confirmed the move and mentioned that he will be working on some sort of smoke special soon. So stay tuned.
Congrats to Longleaf Swine, who took home some awards in the recent News & Observer Raleigh’s Best List: Gold for Best Barbecue and Silver for Best Ribs & Best Chicken Wings
The Pik N Pig stall at the NC State Fair in Raleigh is always a popular stop
A recap of this past weekend’s Barbecue Festival in Lexington
In the afterglow of last weekend’s Concert for the Carolinas in Charlotte, here’s a great story on Eric Church’s early days playing at the old Woodlands Barbecue & Pickin’ Parlor in Blowing Rock from The State You’re In
Non-Native News
A couple of recent reviews from the ever-prolific friend of the blog, John Tanner, starting with smoked pastrami at ZZQ
…then he tried the Fletcher’s BBQ food truck that serves the Richmond area
…his most recent review is of Redemption BBQ in Short Pump, VA, which he proclaims may have the best pork in all of Virginia but don’t sleep on the Brunswick stew
Monk: Panther City BBQ in Fort Worth, Texas opened in 2014 and is a shining example of bringing Tex-Mex flavors into craft barbecue. Jalapeno sausages and brisket elote cups rub elbows with the brisket and pork spare ribs that you would expect from a craft Texas barbecue restaurant (albeit with some additional flavors).
In this recent video from Eater’s Smoke Point, they follow owners and pitmasters Chris Magallanes and Ernest Morales through a day of prep. Both at the original Panther City location as well as a second restaurant they opened, Fort Worth Barbecue Company, in the former location of Bailey’s Barbecue which had occupied a small building since 1931. While they did change the name, they kept the feel of the building, which is old school, no frills barbecue. Take a look.
“Charlotte is not really in either part of North Carolina, it’s a city of newcomers and we have other people’s barbecue.“
Monk: When I think of Charlotte barbecue, more often than not I tend to have the above quote in my head from Tom Hanchett, the former historian at Charlotte’s Levine Museum of the New South. Charlotte’s barbecue scene has grown steadily in the twelve years since Barbecue Bros started but that growth has not typically been because of restaurants that are serving strictly traditional North Carolina barbecue.
In the spirit of the official slogan of Charlotte’s Regional Visitor’s Authority (“Charlotte’s Got a Lot”), here are the styles of other people’s barbecue you can find in the Queen City.
Texas Barbecue: Jon G’s Barbecue
Jon G’s Barbecue still remains the best barbecue available in Charlotte, and Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn thinks its even one of the top 10 Texas barbecue joints in the country (outside of Texas). I have always found Garren and Kelly Kirkman’s barbecue joint to be remarkably consistent, whether I’m at one of their weekly food truck services around the greater Charlotte area or at the restaurant in Peachland, where they’ve turned Barbecue Saturdays at their restaurant into a destination-worthy event for travelers from all across the southeast and even United States. 116 Glenn Falls St, Peachland, NC 28133jongsbarbecue.com
Tex-Mex Barbecue: Union Barbecue
Earlier this year, Chefs Holden Sasser and Chase Young burst onto the Charlotte barbecue scene with “new school barbecue” and “Mexican flavors” in the form of their Union Barbecue food truck. Sasser is actually a Charlotte native who recently relocated back from San Francisco, where he worked in food technology and did barbecue pop-ups in his free time. Meats range from beef cheek barbacoa to pork carnitas to brisket (all served with house made tortillas) and they’ve got some seriously awesome, inventive sides. unionbarbecue.com
Midlands South Carolina Barbecue: Sweet Lew’s BBQ
In late 2023 Sweet Lew’s BBQ celebrated 5 years open, a nice milestone for the ever-changing Belmont neighborhood restaurant. One thing that’s been on the menu for a few years now is the Midlands, South Carolina specialty hash and rice (or barbecue hash or, simply, hash). There’s a lot to like about the other meats on the menu, but definitely don’t sleep on the hash. 923 Belmont Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205 sweetlewsbbq.com
While Midwood Smokehouse is more of what barbecue author John Shelton Reed calls an “international house of barbecue” with multiple styles on their menu, they were one of the first restaurants in Charlotte to offer burnt ends smoked out of their Oyler smoker when they opened in 2011. Multiple locations midwoodsmokehouse.com
Lexington Barbecue: Resident Culture Brewing
Another recent entrant to the Charlotte barbecue scene is Resident Culture Brewing, who last year brought on Chef Edmar Simoes (previously of Noble Smoke and Saucemans) to start their barbecue program out of the South End location of the brewery in late 2023. Simoes is actually Brazilian-born but has taken to American barbecue (as evidenced by his Instagram handle “american_bbq”) and learned the ways of Lexington-style barbecue from his time at Noble Smoke. Throw some barbecue slaw and some vinegar sauce onto a bit of barbecue, and you might as well be 60 minutes north on I-85. 332 W Bland St. Suite C Charlotte, NC 28203residentculturebrewing.com
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