Linkdown: 3/22/23 – The Kings of BBQ Edition

Featured

Monk: A brewpub with a True ‘Cue barbecue joint attached is coming to Main Street of Mount Holly in early April. Owner Scott Blackwood is combining craft beer with traditional NC wood-smoked barbecue in what he’s calling Firehawk Brewpub. That means pork, ribs, and chicken smoked over a mix of oak, hickory, and pecan in a reverse-flow offset smoker cooked by “BBQ Don” Trevor Seifts.

“Being in the fire department, it seemed logical that we cook our food on live, wood-fired grills,” Blackwood told CharlotteFive. Couldn’t agree more, and I hope to report back on it before too long.

Native News

John Tanner and company (including John Shelton Reed) devoured their try of barbecue at Old Colony Smokehouse in Eden

Southern Fire Pit has closed due to building expenses. It replaced Arcadia Q, which itself closed in late August 2022. Toni London had been the manager of Arcadia Q before opening this restaurant.

The latest (perhaps final?) chapter of the Cafe 71 Smokehouse saga sees the former owner Newlan Otto Spears Jr. charged with writing bad checks

Non-Native News

Anthony Anderson and Cedric the Entertainer have launched a barbecue company called AC Barbeque and will film a series for A&E called “Kings of BBQ”

John Tanner made it back to Smokecraft Modern BBQ in Arlington and found it worthy of recommendation

Today, Adrian Miller is at the History Colorado Center to take “an informative and entertaining look at people and places that shaped Colorado’s barbecue traditions”

Daniel Vaughn talks with The Texas Standard on the Egyptian-influenced KG BBQ in Austin

Roundup Rodeo BBQ is the newest barbecue restaurant at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios

Dave Grohl on how to properly slice a brisket

Phil Does a Barbecue Crawl on the Austin Episode of Netflix’s “Somebody Feed Phil”

Monk: I can’t say that I’m all too familiar with Phil Rosenthal outside of work on “Everybody Loves Raymond.” But he’s turned into a sort of Anthony Bourdain travel docuseries guide in his most recent career turn (albeit a less-knowledgeable-but-more-agreeable version of Anthony Bourdain). The show’s clearly been a success for Netflix, as it somehow just released its sixth season of episodes, including one that focuses on the Austin food scene.

Phil starts the episode in a studio talking directly to camera relaying anecdotes from when he was shopping his show to various networks including Travel Channel and Food Network. According to them, barbecue was apparently all that anyone wants to watch these days. So when he finally visited Austin in season six, Phil obliged.

Along for the ride is Daniel Vaughn, BBQ Editor of Texas Monthly Magazine, and together they embark on a barbecue crawl across Austin. But their goal is not to hit the obvious spots in the Franklins or the La Barbecues, but rather to visit the newer joints.

At LeRoy & Lewis (3:55), Phil and Daniel of course get the standard Texas platter but with LeRoy & Lewis’s “new school barbecue” including beef check, sausage, bacon rib (aka pork belly on the bone), smoked burger, and cauliflower. LeRoy & Lewis is located in a food truck park in South Austin and has reached must-visit status for any serious barbecue fans, as evidenced by it #5 ranking in 2021’s Texas Monthly Top 50 list. And word on the street is that a brick and mortar is in the works.

Next on the trail is Distant Relatives (8:30), where traditional southern barbecue is influenced by sauces and spices from Africa in addition to the usual southern traditions. Owner and pitmaster Damien Brockway currently serves at Meanwhile Brewing in an industrial park in south Austin and was recently named to the most recent Texas Monthly Top 50 list as an honorable mention.

Fast forward to 15:38 where Phil and Daniel visit Interstellar BBQ and before eating we get a little bit of Vaughn’s backstory and how he got into Texas barbecue from his former life as an architect from Ohio. At Interstellar, Chef Jon Bates serves a typical central Texas platter of typical barbecue meats including turkey, which Jon jokingly considers a vegetable at his place. Bates honors Texas barbecue with some fine dining touches here and there. While I’m sure its all good (after all, it was #2 on last year’s Top 50), this is the most classic Texas barbecue of the places featured on this episode.

After taking a break from barbecue Phil treats the friends he’s met along the way in Austin to a family meal at Salt Lick Barbecue (43:30). The famed restaurant and winery is located just outside of Austin proper and while its not going to a show up on a Texas Monthly Top 50 list anytime soon, it certainly seems to hold a soft spot in the hearts of many barbecue snobs in Texas. It was one of our first stops as the Barbecue Bros in 2012, and I can understand why.

The Austin episode of “Somebody Feed Phil” was my first exposure to the series, and I will certainly be on the lookout for any more barbecue-related content in future seasons. While no Anthony Bourdain, Phil’s likable nature makes it an easy watch.

Friday Find: Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn on the Tales from the Pits Podcast

Monk: Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn joins the Tales from the Pit guys for a wide-ranging conversation from his origin story with Texas barbecue to the early days of his blog to the construction of Top 50 lists and how they may or may not affect relationships with barbecue restaurant owners. A good, frank discussion between barbecue aficionados.

Description: Five years ago we launched Tales from the Pits to help tell the stories behind the people in barbecue. Daniel Vaughn’s writing and documenting of Texas barbecue has been one of our (and everyone else in the state’s) biggest resources in seeking out new places and visiting the classic joints.

We were excited to have Daniel join us on this episode to discuss all things barbecue past, present and future, lists, Texas Monthly, and more. A big thanks to Daniel for sitting down with us and to everyone who’s tuned in over all these years!

Linkdown: 12/8/21

Native News

Congrats to Brent Little, fellow North Carolinian and Wolfpacker, on winning the Johnsonville Titanium Tongsman Contest!

These Pitt fans surely left Charlotte happy, both from the Panthers ACC Championship win over Wake Forest but also the Sweet Lew’s

Non-Native News

Kevin’s BBQ Joints recently released his 2nd annual holiday gift guide

…as has Beef Loving Texans

Speaking of gifts, might need a few of these in the Monk household

Roegels Barbecue in Katy is adding a new smoke pit

Barbecue writer Derrick Riches and cookbook author Sabrina Baksh recently released “The Complete Guide to Smoking Meat”

Hogs for the Cause releases its music lineup for next April

The latest on the future Blake’s BBQ

Daniel Vaughn’s favorite barbecue bites of 2021

And finally, in college football news: