Monk: Pitt County, NC is home to several classic NC barbecue joints including B’s Barbecue in Greenville as well as Skylight Inn and Bum’s Restaurant in Ayden plus newer ones like Sam Jones BBQ in Winterville. Throw a few breweries in the mix and baby, you got a stew goin’. NC Weekend checked it out 2 years ago when it started and reported back.
Description: Lovers of barbecue and beer can have a field day in Pitt County where you can follow a brew and ‘cue trail, get your tickets stamped, and have a whole lot of fun.
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
Lewis Barbecue officially announces their second restaurant in Greenville, taking over the space previously occupied by Tommy’s Country Ham House. So for folks in the Charlotte area (i.e. me), Lewis’ central Texas-style brisket, hot guts, sausage will be about half the distance you previously had to travel to Charleston. And this is a very good thing. Lewis Barbecue Greenville will open sometime in early 2022.
In addition to the Lewis Barbecue expansion news, it was recently announced that his Juan Luis Tex-Mex concept will take over the former Workshop food hall in Charleston. It was an original food stall tenant at the food hall but recently the trailer had been parked in the courtyard at Lewis Barbecue. Based on these recent moves, Lewis is certainly building the foundation for a food empire in South Carolina.
Charleston’s ‘Border Cuisine’ Spot Juan Luis to Expand into the Workshop Space https://t.co/7Zmj7lkoWH
A sneak peak inside the recently opened Sam Jones BBQ in Raleigh
More than two years in the making, Sam Jones BBQ will soon have its grand opening, kicking off the Triangle’s great barbecue bonanza. https://t.co/89IU5sLOUD
“Under this partnership structure, Mighty Quinn’s licenses Otto’s Tacos name and fulfills orders from it’s kitchen. Customers then receive their digital order from Otto’s Tacos using first- or third-party platforms.”
10 must-read cookbooks by Black authors to buy right now including upcoming barbecue books from Rodney Scott and Adrian Miller, according to the Austin American-Statesman
Texas Monthly interviews Kevin Bludso, who is ready to mentor the next generation of black pitmasters
The most recent barbecue cookbook by a Black author wasn't published this century. For pitmaster Kevin Bludso, that depressing gap is what makes this moment in barbecue so important. https://t.co/Y3FGthZKfV
Met up with Kevin Bludso for a great conversation in Corsicana, which he now calls home. We shared a BBQ meal at K&K BBQ where the chopped beef & sausage sandwich (the Pastor) and the stuffed potato were standouts. pic.twitter.com/1ilQZanbX7
Last week, an article that former Charlotte Observer food writer Kathleen Purvis did for Charlotte Magazine appeared online. It digs into Chef Jim Noble and his complicated stature in Charlotte’s restaurant landscape. On one hand, he is a well-respected and successful chef and restaurateur whose philanthropic pursuits include his King’s Kitchen restaurant that employs people who are under normal circumstances considered unemployable due to poverty, homelessness, or addiction. He is also a reverend who leads bible study at that same restaurant. On the other hand, he has a religiously conservative view on gay rights and was one of only two restaurateurs who officially supported House Bill 2 (or HB2) passed by the NC Legislature in 2015 that required transgender people to use the bathroom that conformed with the gender on their birth certificates, essentially wiping out a nondiscrimination ordinance enacted shortly before by the Charlotte City Council.
From there, Purvis zooms out to explore some of the history of discrimination in the south in both the past and the present. I won’t recap it here, but it’s definitely worth a read.
It should be noted that while Noble declined to be interviewed for Purvis’s story there is no record of Noble’s restaurants discriminating against anyone in the LGBTQ+ community. But that doesn’t mean that potential patrons of his restaurants (which, in addition to Noble Smoke includes two Rooster’s Kitchen locations and Bossy Beulah’s) won’t take his views into account in deciding whether or not to spend money there, regardless of whether they are part of the LGBTQ+ community or not.
I haven’t made a decision either way, but it certainly has been and will continue to be on my mind going forward.
Chef Jim Noble and an Ever-Changing Charlotte: He's one of this city’s most successful, innovative, and philanthropic restaurant owners—and a lot of people won’t set foot in his eateries. Via @kathleenpurvis: https://t.co/Gb2KyO6WdN