Name: Buddy’s Bar-B-Que
Date: 3/29/19
Address: 5945 Wilkinson Blvd, Belmont, NC 28012
Order: Pulled pork sandwich, hush puppies, and Cheerwine (link to menu)
Pricing: $

Monk: Buddy’s Bar-B-Que is an unheralded Monday-to-Friday, breakfast-and-lunch-only barbecue joint off Highway 74 in Belmont. I only stumbled upon it within the past year because my parents moved to Belmont, a small town 12 miles west of Charlotte across the Catawba River, about a year and a half ago. But based on its shack-like, no frills exterior, I had hopes that it could be a hidden gem.

Chances are, if you are going to Buddy’s you are going for takeout. They do have one small table inside but otherwise, the building is pretty much all order counter and kitchen. A small smokehouse sits out back, and promisingly has piles of wood littering the area around the building. Husband and wife co-owners Buddy and Debbie Cunningham also run a catering business when the restaurant isn’t open, and based on the army of mobile smokers in the parking lot, a seemingly successful one at that.

In terms of barbecue, Buddy’s only serves a couple items with the rest being burgers, dogs, breakfast as well as some regional specialties like chuckwagon or country ham. The large chopped pork sandwich comes with a choice of red or white slaw, which I always like to see, plus hush puppies. Buddy’s thankfully carries Cheerwine (as well as Sun Drop) so my decision was a pretty easy one to make. After a few minutes wait, I took my bag out to the parking lot and plopped it on my back trunk.

The sandwich was large and perhaps a bit too big as it fell apart under the weight of the red slaw and pork after a few bites. I ended up having to pick up the fallen chunks from the wrapper with my hands, but I shouldn’t complain too much about too much food. Still, what was left of the the intact sandwich was a pretty darn good one, with the wood smoke shining through in the pork. Next time, I’ll opt for the hopefully more manageable small sandwich and just get a second if I’m extra hungry.

I imagine the wait for my food was largely due to the freshly fried hush puppies, and that’s a wait I’ll gladly do again. They were still warm as I took them out of the bag, and there’s not too much better than a freshly fried, perfectly balanced hush puppy.

So after a little more than a year of trying to make it to Buddy’s Bar-B-Que, I ended up pretty satisfied with the meal I had. If you happen to find yourself in the small mill town of Belmont during the week for lunch, give them a try.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Pork – 3.5 hogs
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 3.5 hogs