From this month’s barbecue issue of Charlotte Magazine
Texas Monthly on 2019’s best barbecue books
Houston’s barbecue scene is on fire
Several Lexington barbecue joints are featured in this blog post from Bites of the Bull City
Robert Sietsema on the history of barbecue in NYC from the 80’s to the present
Sam Jones will be doing a book event at the downtown Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint in Nashville on June 25
Congrats to The Smoking Ho on 6 years
Sweet Lew’s BBQ is hosting a benefit for B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque later this month in Charlot
Photos of Truth BBQ‘s new Houston location courtesy of The Smoking Ho
Houston Food Finder on where to eat the best brisket in Houston
J.C. Reid has more from Houston with a profile of Southern Q BBQ
Dr. Howard Conyers, who attended NC A&T and got his masters and doctorate from Duke University, is reclaiming barbecue for black pitmasters
The first ever Gold Mine Barbecue Festival is this Saturday and several Charlotte-area restaurants are participating
Albemarle, NC has their own branch of the NC barbecue family tree via the Galloway family who have opened three barbecue restaurants over he years in the small town: Log Cabin, Whispering Pines, and Darrell’s Bar-B-Que in nearby Rockwell
Hogs for the Cause is not just a regular barbecue festival
This is not cool
Barbecue Bible profiles Asheville’s Farmhouse BBQ and their use of grass-fed brisket
Jones Bar-B-Q getting the Queer Eye bump:
Sweet Lew’s BBQ’s has added a fried chicken biscuit to their weekend brunch menu and Midwood Smokehouse has a new barbecue rub in Charlotte Five’s fifteen things you must eat (or drink) in Charlotte in April
Blood Brothers BBQ looks to be a must if you’re in the Houston area
See?
Drinking with Hometown Barbecue’s Billy Durney
Filing away for future reference
Congrats to the Tales from the Pits Podcast on their 100th episode
Wilber Shirley of Wilber’s Barbecue vows to reopen
“By cutting costs of operation, our long tradition of serving great eastern North Carolina barbecue and good food will be resumed quickly,” he says, adding, “I hope all our loyal customers will return when our doors are open again.”
Robert Moss on the reader-voted South’s 10 Best Barbecue Joints; Southern Soul BBQ in St. Simon’s Island in Georgia again takes the top spot
Bill Poteat of the Gaston Gazette has his own answer to the USA Today’s 10Best reader’s poll of best barbecue in the state, and he’s put Kyle Fletcher’s BBQ at number one
Leonard Botello of Truth BBQ in Houston is hosting a benefit for B’s Cracklin Barbeque at the end of the month
Houston’s best barbecue joints according to Eater
Congrats to Pitmaster Roy Perez of Kreuz Market
Long Leaf Politics: True North Carolina Barbecue hurting. Would a state law help?
This might be a story in the affirmative and while I never made it there myself, by all accounts Bill Ellis Barbecue in Wilson was an eastern NC institution. It unfortunately closed quietly last week after 55 years in business and follows an unfortunate trend after closures at Allen & Son in Chapel Hill and Q Shack in Raleigh
More on NC barbecue; I’m not sure what prompted this but Stamey’s Barbecue in Greensboro with a mini-thread laying down the truth:
Dream job, and not just because of the barbecue:
Mighty Quinn’s is looking to continue expanding in 2019
HOORAY BRISKET
Yea…just, no
Rien Fertel remembers Douglas Oliver, pitman for Sweatman’s BBQ in Holly Hill, SC, who died in the fall of 2017
More whole hog in Texas; Buck’s BBQ in Houston is doing one on Sunday
Also making its way to Houston is smoked bologna
Midwood Smokehouse’s Roadhouse burger with a patty made of a mix of brisket and chuck lands at #13 on Charlotte Agenda’s best burgers in Charlotte list
Stubbs and Son BBQ in Sanford (no apparent relation to Stubbs BBQ in Austin) makes eastern NC barbecue and has plans to both expand the menu as well as the dining room
Wide Open Country’ list of 18 Texas joints you need to try before you die
A humorous take on the suburban SMOKEBOY dad club
How a Chicago food writer learned to love pimento cheese from the former president of the SC BBQ Association, Lake High
Anyone interested in a t-shirt?
RIP Allen & Son Barbecue in Chapel Hill
Here’s Our State’s last article on Allen & Son’s from 2017, where you can understand why Keith Allen is ready to retire:
In 1971, when Keith was 19, he quit his butchering job at the A&P, sold his landscaping equipment, and borrowed $3,000 to open a restaurant. He gave it the same name as the one his father owned in Chatham County, where Keith worked the barbecue pit from the age of 10. Ever since, he’s gotten to his Allen & Son at 2:30 a.m. five days a week — splitting every piece of hickory, roasting every shoulder, chopping and seasoning every serving. “Nobody’s hands but mine touch my barbecue,” he likes to boast, “until the customer’s do.”
A recipe for collard chowder from Matthew Register of Southern Smoke BBQ in Garland; his cookbook comes out in May but is available for preorder now
The latest from J.C. Reid explores the barbecue explosion in Houston from a geographic standpoint:
Sweet Lew’s gets some coverage in Charleston Eater for 4 new notable Charlotte openings
In memory of Dale Volberg Reed, who
was wife to John Shelton Reed and with him co-authored the best book on NC barbecue, Holy Smoke: The Big Book of NC Barbecue
I figured Dave Grohl would stop into Buxton Hall while in Asheville last weekend for Warren Haynes’ Christmas Jam:
There’s some piggies in the hiway, some piggies in the snow, piggies going faster than they’ve ever gone before
– A piece on Sam Jones helping out in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence
“Everybody can do some good, not just for hurricane relief but in general. You don’t have to be a cook. You ain’t got to be a millionaire or an orator. … Everybody possesses some type of talent or skill. There is something you can do.”
– The Smoking Ho has some photos from the Woodlands BBQ Festival, where some of Houston’s best barbecue restaurants showed out
– Dallas News staff writer Ben Baby provides an uninformed answer about Texas vs Carolina barbecue in this mailbag column
A: As much as I like the Carolinas and the people it produces (like KAGS-TV’s Matt Trent), this isn’t even up for debate.
Carolina barbecue is essentially all about pulled pork and the sauces. Both are enjoyable. But both of those items exist in Texas.
I’m not going to pretend like I’m a barbecue expert, but I know very few places do brisket as well as us. And there’s nothing like ripping apart marbled, fatty brisket and enjoying it with your meal (if you have some homemade tortillas for the brisket like at 2M Smokehouse in San Antonio, it’s a game-changer).
I like Bojangles a lot. I’m sure Cook Out is fine. But when it comes to food from the Carolinas, I draw the line at barbecue.
– Midwood Smokehouse has the best crinkle cut fries in Charlotte, according to Charlotte Agenda
– From last week’s photo, here’s the story behind what Bill Murray actually ate and drank from Midwood Smokehouse
– Hoodline’s list of five best barbecue restaurants in Charlotte is based on Yelp data and contains a korean BBQ restaurant (Let’s Meat) and the just average McKoy’s Smokehouse
– Jim Shahin’s latest is on New Orleans barbecue
Terrific @jimshahin piece on New Orleans’s growing (and singular) barbecue scene. https://t.co/l1v5hy0E6f
— Tim Carman (@timcarman) October 16, 2018
– The Eastern Carolina BBQ Throwdown took place this past weekend in Rocky Mount
– This viral marquee sign at Little Pigs in Asheville is fake news
– Here’s what to expect at The Barbecue Festival later this month
– Say what now?
Plant-based brisket exists. Here’s what @bbqsnob thought of it, and a look at how one of @RiceUniversity’s dining halls is trying to get more students to try plant-based meals. https://t.co/CDUqg8V2au
— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) October 16, 2018
– Brett Martin (for GQ) on how Houston got cool
Here is my attempt to plumb the Mysteries of Houston, how it got cool, and what exactly that means, anyway. https://t.co/SdrgaOSn5j
— Brett Martin (@brettmartin) August 23, 2018
– According to this article (which is about a new Jim Noble fried chicken concept), Noble Smoke is now being targeted to open in March 2019
– You can now vote for the best barbecue joints by state in Southern Living’s “South’s Best 2019” poll
– Texas Monthly on the Barbecue Nation exhibit in Atlanta
The ‘Barbecue Nation’ exhibition in Atlanta covers everything from the Caribbean origins of our barbecue culture to the current state of competition barbecue. It’s an educational experience as well as a nostalgic one. https://t.co/6rHB5og8Tj
— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) August 22, 2018
– According to this list, The Pit is one of Raleigh’s best soul food restaurants
– Yea…I’m gonna need to try this out soon on my own Weber
.@TestKitchen promised @bbqsnob that smoking brisket on a Weber grill would work. So he set out to try it, and was pleasantly surprised. https://t.co/zbfpVKHR1B
— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) August 28, 2018
– A comparison of the two out-of-state whole hog joints coming to Birmingham in the coming months – Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint and Rodney Scott’s BBQ
– Your move, Texas Pete:
At long last, alcoholic hot sauce https://t.co/eWkYuioVYq pic.twitter.com/9NbzAv16AH
— The Takeout (@thetakeout) August 28, 2018
– The origin story of the great Bryan Furman of B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque, the next great pitmaster (who’s already here)
Though he’s been a restaurant owner and full-time pitmaster for just four years, Furman, 37, already sits among the greats. Maybe it’s because he swaps out typical commodity pork for whole heritage-breed hogs he raised himself. (“Nobody else was doing that,” Furman says, “Not in a barbecue restaurant.”) Maybe it’s his unique Carolina-meets-Georgia style sauce, a sweet and tangy blend of mustard and fresh peaches. (“He does everything different,” says Nikki Furman, his wife and business partner.)
Been working on this piece since I was still in #ATL and v excited to finally share it! A look into the indomitable Bryan Furman of @bscracklinbbq — not only imho the world’s best bbq but also “revolutionary” according to @KosherSoul. And there’s a video! https://t.co/qXRtgwgZwF
— Hilary Cadigan (@hilarycadigan) June 25, 2018
– B’s Cracklin Barbeque and a few other Barbecue Bro faves are on this Eater list of best Atlanta barbecue
– Eater’s got a list of barbecue in New York City, too
– Meet the Executive Pitmaster for Midwood Smokehouse’s 4 locations, Matt Berry
Meet the executive pitmaster and the upscale executive chef behind the craft barbecue at Midwood Smokehouse. https://t.co/xFIeLzsQ4d #Partner #CLT5 @MidwoodBBQ @aliciarthomas pic.twitter.com/ixVeWwu42F
— CharlotteFive (@CharlotteFive) June 26, 2018
– Noble Smoke is one of Charlotte Agenda’s 9 most-anticipated restaurants and bars opening in Charlotte by the end of 2018 (wow that’s not a brief title)
– The Takeout has a crash course on Chinese barbecue, which isn’t wood-smoked like American barbecue
– Houston foodwriter J.C. Reid on the expanding role of the pitmaster
Another responsibility is that of barbecue ambassador. Pitmasters are asked to travel to distant locations to cook for an event or speak on a panel. In this case, the pitmaster isn’t just drawn away from working the pits — he’s often absent from his barbecue joint for days at a time.
– 8 Austin barbecue sandwiches that break the mold
– This Travel + Leisure list of the 25 best places for barbecue in the U.S. is based on Yelp and is…certainly a list
– Reminder: Daniel Vaughn’s Smokelandia airs its pilot episode tonight
– Registration is now open for October’s Tour de Pig in Lexington
Ready. Set. Ride! 27th Annual Tour de Pig-Saturday, Oct. 13th
Registration is OPEN! #letsride🚲#tourdepig #bicyclesandBBQ #100K #50k #35k #20k https://t.co/i8efjVs2SE
— Tour de Pig (@tourdepig) June 26, 2018
