Going into Monday night’s NCAA Championship game, Governor Roy Cooper made a bet with Kansas Governor Laura Kelly as governors tend to do in these types of situations. The wager? Kansas City steaks vs Wilber’s BBQ. You may be aware that UNC lost to Kansas 69 to 72 after leading by 15 at the half, surrendering the largest lead in NCAA championship game history. You absolutely hate to see it.
John Tanner blames UNC’s NCAA Championship loss Monday night on said barbecue bet. Wilber’s gave Kansas players too much motivation!
Meanwhile, a few days earlier, the Duke-UNC Final Four matchup on Saturday night inspired a barbecue bet of its own between Durham County and Orange County sheriffs. No word or photos have surfaced yet of Durham County sheriffs ordering barbecue in UNC gear, but I look forward to that update.
We love a little friendly competition so @cf_birkhead & @OCNCSheriff Blackwood will be putting some NC BBQ on the line on Saturday. Who will be buying lunch in their rivals gear after CoachK's final showdown w/ UNC? All we'll say is #GoDuke! 🏀🏆 pic.twitter.com/4S10ncoXzW
The latest from the parking lot dispute between Noble Smoke and The Good Life
The latest update in the parking dispute between 2 Charlotte businesses: The owner of The Good Life was arrested last week after a Freedom House pastor got involved via Instagram.
Robbie McNair asks, “Why am I here? I didn’t put my hands on anyone.”https://t.co/jtbTRftD6Y
An upstart couple in the kitchen teams up with a nonagenarian owner for a restaurant that doesn't miss a beat, from sides to meats to desserts.https://t.co/cocWAfVi4v
Monk: This season of Top Chef is taking place in Houston, so we all knew a barbecue episode would be coming. That came last Thursday, so in a one-off here’s a recap of the episode much like we did with last summer’s “BBQ Brawl.”
Immediately after last week’s judging, Padma lets the cheftestants know that they will be meeting Brooke Williamson the next morning. Their collective antennae are raised and they immediately start to dread the next challenge. Otherwise, why would Padma talk to them immediately after judging?
The next day, the cheftestants meet Brooke at J-Bar-M Barbecue, one of the newer joints in Houston thats made an impression in Houston’s very crowded and competitive barbecue scene. Brooke takes them back to the pit room where the huge Moberg smokers are housed.
You may recall that Brooke was a judge on BBQ Brawl, so she is the natural choice to lead them through this week’s episode. The Elimination Challenge is to create a dish highlighting brisket, and Brooke calls out such barbecue fusion dishes such as brisket fried rice, brisket hand rolls, and brisket pho. The next day they will serve their dishes to this week’s guest judge, famed pitmaster Greg Gatlin, as well as 20 of Texas’ best pitmasters. Today, the chefs will have until midnight to finish their dish and are relieved that they can focus on this challenge without the stress of a quickfire.
The cheftestants start off by prepping their briskets and loading them into the smokers before heading off to Whole Foods Market to get their provisions for their dishes. Once they get back from Whole Foods, they are ambushed by Tom and Brooke with a Quickfire Challenge. Technically, Brooke never said there wasn’t a Quickfire and they are challenged to make their finest Texas Toast for immunity and $10,000. She mentions Texas Toast as a barbecue side, but that seems like a bit of a stretch to me.
A few miss the point of the challenge (Buddha and Monique go French, for instance) but Nick’s BLT Texas Toast with pancetta and cheese, Jo’s mushroom and arugula Texas Toast, and Jackson’s shrimp toast with balsamic chili jam are named as the top 3. Nick takes home top honors and gets the aforementioned immunity and $10,000.
From there, the focus shifts back to the brisket challenge. The briskets are starting to take shape and Pitmaster Willow Villareal is there to guide them along the way and give pointers. As the clock nears midnight, the cheftestants are treated to a barbecue spread from J-Bar-M before wrapping their briskets and finishing up for the night. Damarr is a little anxious not knowing how his brisket will turn out until they walk in tomorrow morning. Welcome to the life of a barbecue pitmaster, Damarr!
The next day they have 1.5 hours to finish their dish and each are mostly relieved that their briskets turned out well. A few do have concerns, however: Monique only tastes the salt and pepper from her rub and not the cardamom and other spices and Ashley’s brisket is a little under-salted, so her broth will have to be “full of flavor.”
As the pitmasters walk into the J-Bar-M dining room, the chefs began to put their final touches on their dish. Speaking of pitmasters, here are the ones I spotted in addition to Greg Gatlin: Richard Orozco of Piper’s BBQ, Ara Malekian of Harlem Road Texas BBQ, Scott Moore of Tejas, Robin Wong and Quy Hoang of Blood Bros BBQ, Don Nguyen of Khoi Barbecue, Sloan Rinaldi of Texas Q, and Russell Roegel of Roegel’s BBQ.
In the top 3 are Buddha’s barbecue beef bourguignon with “barbe-jus,” beef fat potato croquete, onion jam and beet petals, Evelyn’s “Texas-style brisket curry” with aromatic rice, pickled veggies, and burnt ends crumble, and Jackson’s brisket-stuffed carpinocc pasta with cornbread crumbles and a “buerre-becue sauce” made with “North Carolina gold barbecue sauce (huh?).” Evelyn takes home the crown and the Houston chef wins on two fronts: winning the brisket challenge in Texas as well as making a curry that Padma actually loves. Very impressive, and hard to tell which one she is more pleased with.
The bottom 3 are Monique’s basic brisket, potatoes, and homemade brioche roll, Ashley’s brisket soup with creamed corn and collards where she “tried to bring Carolina barbecue into the dish,” and Jo’s “whelming” brisket pappardelle with harissa cabbage and corn that didn’t showcase the brisket enough.
In the end, Ashley goes home for her muddled mess but in my opinion Monique is very fortunate. Ashley will have another shot in Last Chance Kitchen but for now, her time is up.
If there’s any other barbecue episodes of “Top Chef” I’ll be back for a recap but that does it for now. What do you think, do you want to see another barbecue-focused episode of “Top Chef” this season?
This morning, Axios Charlotte brings details on the upcoming Carolina Barbecue Festival to be held May 22 at Camp North End in Charlotte. I’ve heard rumors of a Charlotte barbecue festival starting last summer from Donald himself and more recently from Garren Kirkman of Jon G’s. But this festival is shaping up to be quite the event, with a roster of notable pit bosses from Barbecue Bros favorites from all over the Carolinas including Bryan Furman of B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque (who grew up in Charlotte), Elliot Moss of Asheville’s Buxton Hall Barbecue, Nathan Monk of Lexington Barbecue, Matthew Register of Southern Smoke in Garland, Tay Nelson of Bobby’s BBQ in Fountain Inn, SC, and Brandon Shepard of Shepard’s Barbecue in Emerald Isle. Master Blend Family Farm, a family-owned farm in Kenansville, N.C., will contribute the hogs for the event.
The day looks to be full of Carolina barbecue (be it east, west, or South), beer, local music, and charity, with the proceeds going to nonprofits Piedmont Culinary Guild, World Central Kitchen and Operation Barbecue Relief. And I’m here for it.
Now’s your chance to get your barbecue story featured on the Southern Foodways Alliance’s Gravy Podcast
Calling all podcast reporters & producers—@thegravypodcast wants your barbecue stories! Until March 15, SFA is accepting pitches for fresh, unexpected episodes about barbecue of, from, or culturally connected to the American South. Find out how to pitch: https://t.co/vH7cRDWUj6pic.twitter.com/juF4G7GbSr
Monk: Eater’s Smoke Point heads to Houston to visit Leo Botello IV at Truth BBQ, who is one of a few Texas pit bosses differentiating themselves with whole hog barbecue.
Description: Truth BBQ is one the busiest barbecue restaurants in all of Texas. The restaurant is known for its popular brisket, but now pitmaster Leonard Botello IV is expanding his menu to bring Carolina whole hog barbecue to Houston.
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