Recently, friend of the blog John Tanner (of John Tanner’s Barbecue Blog) ate his way across the piedmont of North Carolina while making stops on the NC Historic Barbecue Trail in honor of the late Jim Early. Early was the founder of the North Carolina Barbecue Society and driving force behind the NC Historic Barbecue Trail.
Notably, he makes a stop at our friends at Bar-B-Q King in Lincolnton where he delights in the “hollerin’ orders” system and has a great meal. Follow John’s journey below.
After checking out 411 joints for our upcoming Top 50 BBQ List, @BBQsnob can confidently report that our favorite smoked meat is so reliably excellent in all parts of Texas that it no longer feels like an achievement. Texas brisket has peaked. https://t.co/rAIcRCYnv3+
Husk Barbeque in Greenville, SC closed earlier this week
Is the Pivot to BBQ running out of gas (and hickory logs)? Husk Barbeque in Greenville SC, which converted from fine dining to a BBQ format in 2020, has permanently closed.https://t.co/elOWFcqBVD
As of Monday, Robert Moss has officially launched his new digital publication Southeastern Dispatch, a “fresh look at food & drink in the Carolinas.” He has enlisted food journalists from both North and South Carolina, and so far posts have covered the Triangle and Charleston, with surely more cities and regions to be covered soon. I briefly spoke with him about this at Jon G’s Barbecue last month and have been intrigued ever since. I am curious what this mean’s for his weekly Cue Sheet barbecue newsletter, which took a brief hiatus but returned this week post launch.
Jon G’s Barbecue, Lawrence Barbecue, and Prime Barbecue all make this list from Southern Living
I got out this summer and ate a lot of really good barbecue for @Southern_Living, and much of it was at restaurants that opened since 2020 began. Here are my picks for the Best New BBQ Joints in the South https://t.co/nwm8zrykCG
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
On Aug. 30, Barvecue, a Cornelius company that makes wood-smoked plant-based barbecue, announced their expansion into 360 Sprouts Farmers Market locations. The move follows last winter's news that it will open the world’s largest plant-based smokehouse. https://t.co/T3OH8Ad3au
A&G’s Barbecue & Chicken in Carolina Beach to close this week after 33 years in business as owner Angela Stainaker retires; the restaurant will be taken over by Tammy and John Sharpe, who will reopen the location as Butts ‘n’ Such
The Washington Post is also featuring vegan barbecue
“Barbecue isn’t a sauce. It isn’t a meat substance. The definition of barbecue is cooking over an open flame."
For @washingtonpost, I spoke with vegan barbecue chefs in USA's bbq belt. It will also be in next Wednesday’s print Food section. Take a read!https://t.co/H08NwiZ5Eb
Monk: In our first quarter wrap-up, I had optimism as things continued to move in a positive direction with vaccinations and the resulting re-opening of restaurants. That mostly continued, and while Charlotte lost a lot of its classic non-barbecue restaurants (Price’s Chicken Coop, Mr. K’s, Oakhurst Grill, Zack’s Hamburgers, etc), I only tracked one barbecue restaurant that closed during that time: the Tyvola Road location of the Sonny’s BBQ chain.
Charlotte barbecue even got some national attention, both of the good (Texas Monthly BBQ Editor Daniel Vaughn visiting and loving Jon G’s) as well as notorious variety (Charlotte as the #3 best city for barbecue according to chefspencil.com).
While we may never know about the barbecue joints that weren’t started during the past year, hopefully a corner has been turned (and the Delta variant of COVID doesn’t wreak havoc here like it has in other countries; get vaccinated people!) and the Charlotte barbecue scene can experience new concepts as well as expansion and growth of its existing ones.
April
4/9 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
4/26 Adam Richman (of Man vs Food fame) visits Midwood Smokehouse
Woke up & chose savagery. Wanted BBQ because I was in the South, Chose this place because it had the same name as my high school, Decided to crush half the menu! Deeeeeelish! Thank you @midwoodSmokehouse pic.twitter.com/AWQNG6UXpe
4/30 In what was (somewhat embarrassingly) one of the oldest barbecue restaurant’s in Charlotte, the Tyvola Rd. outpost of the Sonny’s BBQ chain closed
— South Charlotte Weekly (@southcltweekly) April 26, 2021
May
5/7 Daniel Vaughn ends his NC barbecue trip at Jon G’s Barbecue, where I was fortunate enough to meet both him and Kathleen Purvis and also share a meal with him
A fitting end for this Texan on a barbecue tour in North Carolina. Fantastic brisket, ribs, sausage and a whole lot more at @jongsbbq. pic.twitter.com/0W3iCAIF8d
Based on the book of the same name by Jessica B. Harris, “High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America” examines the contributions of African American cooking to today’s modern cuisine. The series is four episodes, each lasting roughly an hour, and while the fourth episode focuses on barbecue I won’t be skipping straight to it. This is definitely a series I want to watch as its presented in its entirety.
“High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America” is available to watch now on Netflix.
This is so cool to see: Jon G’s Barbecue getting the highest of praise from the BBQ Snob himself, Daniel Vaughn; Prime Barbecue and Noble Smoke also get mentions for their brisket
Our barbecue editor went looking for brisket in a state that's downright hogmatic about its pork-centric barbecue traditions.https://t.co/Zwes0IZ6UV