Brandon Belfer

Linkdown: 10/5/22 – The Expansion and Collaboration Edition

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Monk: Expansion and collaboration is the name of the game in several of this week’s links. From smaller stalls from Midwood Smokehouse and Johnny Rogers BBQ & Burgers to various upcoming collaborations involving Brandon Belfer of Fumar, Lewis Donald of Sweet Lew’s BBQ, Garren Kirkman of Jon G’s Barbecue, and Jake Wood of Lawrence Barbecue, hopefully news of this nature will start to become more and more common.

Native News

Fumar (formerly Smokeshow Barbecue) is teasing a Tex-Mex pizza collaboration with Salud

Fumar’s permanent location is in front of Petty Thieves Brewing in North Charlotte

Chef Johnnie Gale is collaborating with Lewis Donald of Sweet Lew’s BBQ on November 3 as part of the Louisiana x Charlotte chef series

Midwood Smokehouse is coming soon to the Charlotte airport

Johnny Rogers BBQ & Burgers is one of the six local vendors opening today at Gibson Mill Market

The revised version of D.G. Martin’s “North Carolina’s Roadside Eateries” is almost ready to go after a 2- year delay, and several barbecue restaurants were lost along the way

The Wood, Fire, Smoke Festival is coming to downtown Lenoir this Saturday: The reimagined festival is a celebration of Lenoir’s furniture heritage and commitment to art, design, and innovation. Skilled craftsmen, artisans, and chefs will converge in downtown to carve with chainsaws, pour molten metal, and cook delicious barbecue.

A short profile on Holy Smoke author John Shelton Reed from Axios Raleigh

Lawrence Barbecue is teasing a “PRETTY RADICAL ANNOUNCEMNT” with Jon G’s

Speaking of which, “Meat Jon G”

Non-Native News

“World of Flavor with Big Moe Cason” season 1 is now on Disney+; read our first impressions here

Adrian Miller accepted the Barbecue Hall of Fame’s “Impact Award” on behalf of the innumerable “Unsung Black Barbecuce Cooks” who never got their due recognition

Charlotte Barbecue News from the Third Quarter of 2021

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Monk: If there was an overarching theme for Charlotte barbecue the past three months, it would be expansion. In the second quarter roundup, I had hoped for new concepts and expansion. While we didn’t necessarily get new concepts (yet), we did get quite a bit in the way of expansion. Mac’s Speed Shop, Midwood Smokehouse, and Noble Smoke all announced new locations, (although only one of which is in Charlotte), and rumor has it another Charlotte barbecue joint may be expanding as well.

Not to mention, Phar Mill Brewing in Harrisburg expanded in a slightly different way. Pharr Mill BBQ is utilizing a Jon G’s barbecue pit and they typically serve some combination of brisket, ribs, and pork Thursdays through Saturdays.

July

7/3 Pharr Mill BBQ starts smoking on their Jon G’s barbecue pit at Phar Mill Brewery in Harrisburg

7/10 Noble Smoke celebrates 2 years in business

7/22 FS Food Group announces a Midwood Smokehouse location for Raleigh later his year

7/29 Smoke Show BBQ pivots to Tex-Mex barbecue

7/31 Charlotte-raised Bryan Furman returns to Charlotte and brings his Bryan Furman BBQ pop-up to Sweet Lew’s BBQ

August

8/9 In a nice nod to its employees, all Mac’s Speed Shop locations closed for the day to fight employee burnout

“Our people have been going way above and beyond to make our carry-out, eat-in and delivery business grow by leaps and bounds”… “I’ve never seen a team so dedicated to bringing fun and good food back into the lives of people pent-up by the pandemic.”

Mac’s President Shang Skipper

8/10 Sweet Lew’s Barbeque introduces the “Carolinas Frito Pie”: Carolina bbq hash, warm pimento cheese and jalapeños

8/14 Mac’s Speed Shop is expanding to Fort Mill

8/26 Secondhand Smoke takes over the Pete’s BBQ legacy in Fort Mill

8/27 Jon G’s gets the Axios Charlotte bump

8/30 The 91st Mallard Creek Barbecue is postponed yet another year

September

9/8 Indian Trail’s 100 Main Beef and Barbecue gets featured in Spectrum News for being both a barbecue restaurant and a country store

9/10 Barvecue, the wood-smoked plan-based barbecue company out of Cornelius, is rolling out to 12 colleges and universities and just signed a deal with Sprouts Farmers Market

9/9 Jon G’s Barbecue make this list of “Best New Barbecue Joints in the South” from Southern Living

9/16 Noble Smoke announced its second location will be a stall at the Optimist Hall food hall

9/16 More coverage on the stall from Axios Charlotte

9/24 K&N BBQ competes against Dan Good Que in Food Truck Rumble CLT

Smoke Show BBQ – Charlotte, NC

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Name: Smoke Show BBQ (pop-up at Crown Station)
Order: 1/2 lb brisket, 4 St. Louis cut rib, 1/4 chicken, potato salad, cole slaw, mac and cheese, baked, beans, banana pudding (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Monk: Ever keeping my eye on new barbecue restaurants or pop-ups in Charlotte, I was caught off guard by a recent Charlotte Magazine article listing 4 pop-ups to know including one Smoke Show BBQ. The pop-up is owned and run by Brandon Belfer, a chef who attended Johnson & Wales culinary school in Charlotte and who according to that article has worked for a lot of great chefs and kitchens in Charlotte including The Stanley with Paul Verica, The Crunkleton, The Asbury under former chef Matthew Krenz and current chef Mike Long, and Kindred and Hello, Sailor under Joe Kindred and Craig Diehl.

Belfer is originally from the town of Pleasanton outside San Antonio, so he grew up around Texas barbecue and that is his focus for Smoke Show. Every 2 weeks or so, he runs his pop-up from a literal pop-up tailgating tent in the parking lot at Crown Station in NoDa (just around the corner from the former Monk residence).

And Belfer’s barbecue shows some promise but did have some issues on this day. The Creekstone brisket had a nice bark but had some issues with consistency and texture and could have used a little more trimming of the fat cap. Brandon eventually introduced himself and mentioned he was breaking in a new smoker. On top of that, for this cook he was delivered larger-than-expected briskets (16 pounds vs. his normal 12 pounders). I could tell those variables affected this particular cook but as I mentioned earlier, there is promise.

The St. Louis cut ribs were best part of the meal and had some real nice flavor, even if the ribs weren’t the meatiest. The smoked chicken was a solid option as well but probably could have benefitted from some direct heat to crisp up the skin (I’m assuming it was smoked on an offset like the rest of the meats but could be mistaken there). Beef ribs were a special, and while I didn’t order on this go round I’ll get to it eventually.

All of the sides were well made and showed off the culinary skill of Belfer; this day we got mac and cheese, potato salad, baked beans, and cole slaw. And to top off the meal, the banana pudding with some sort of caramelized crumble topping was awesome. I’ll be ordering that ‘naner pudding every time I come back.

Smoke Show BBQ is well worth keeping an eye on as a new player in the Charlotte barbecue scene, and I look forward to giving them another shot in a few months.

Ratings:
Brisket – 3 hogs
Ribs – 3.5 hogs
Chicken – 3 hogs
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 3 hogs

Linkdown: 4/14/21

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Featured

Tomorrow night, UNC Press is hosting an online discussion with Adrian Miller, whose book comes out at the end of the month. Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue is my most-anticipated book of the year and I can’t wait to have it in my hands in a few weeks. The cost of the event is $15 and it benefits the Boston Book Festival.

Description: Just in time for the start of barbecue season, we’re eager to sink our teeth into award-winning food historian Adrian Miller‘s new book Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue. In this special pre-publication event, we’ll sit down with Miller—winner of the James Beard Book Award for Soul Food and a consultant on Netflix’s Chef’s Table BBQ—to hear the stories of how Black barbecuers, pitmasters, and restauranteurs helped develop this cornerstone of American foodways and how they’re continuing to influence American cuisine today. And, since Adrian’s book includes more than 20 authentic recipes, we might get some tips on how to make the most of our own adventures with the grill or smoker at home!

Native News

Smoke Show BBQ is a new Texas-style barbecue pop up in the Charlotte area from transplanted Texan chef Brandon Belfer who has worked at fine dining spots The Stanley, Crunkleton, The Asbury, Kindred, and Hello, Sailor

Charlotte-based Mac’s Speed Shop finds itself coming out of the pandemic in a strong position for growth

Roddey’s BBQ has changed their lunch hours in Rock Hill to Fridays only

Olde Mecklenburg Brewing’s Southern Spring Fest will feature smoked pork and brisket in addition to the oyster po boys and crawfish

Christopher Prieto of Prime BBQ in Knightdale has joined the previously announced pitmasters for the Inaugural Pinehurst Barbecue Festival

Non-Native News

Distant Relatives is a new barbecue trailer in East Austin serving “modern African American barbecue” and is already making waves

Beaumont-style links are making a comeback

Speaking of Beaumont, craft barbecue is catching on there

Bourbon + Barbecue = Crazy Delicious