Jon G’s Barbecue

Linkdown: 5/17/23 – The Day After National BBQ Day Edition

/ Barbecue Bros / 1 Comment

Featured

Monk: Garren’s turning 40 in late June and throwing a heckuva party at Jon G’s! The Jon G’s Jubilee will bring in town Jake Wood of Lawrence Barbecue in Durham as well as the N. Sea Oyster Co from the Topsail Beach area. Charlotte’s Divine Barrel Brewing will provide the beer with ice cream from Wadesboro’s Brown Creek Creamery, who Jon G’s uses for cheeses in their sausages. Tickets will surely go fast for this so if interested, I’d recommend you act quickly.

Ticket info here

Native News

Hubba Hubba Smokehouse has opened for the season; they close each winter and reopen during the spring

Elliot Moss’s Little Louie’s continues to play with smoked meats

Southern Smoke’s Matthew Register is one of the chefs who weigh in on “Boat Chicken”

A belated Happy National Barbecue Day

Non-Native News

Fork Grove BBQ will open this weekend in Anderson

Hector Garate of Palmira BBQ is heading back to Texas for another collab, this time with Khoi Barbecue on May 21

The Memphis in May Barbecue Fest starts this week; here are 10 teams to watch for

How to trim a brisket, by Jess Pryles

Linkdown: 5/3/23 – The Speedy’s Barbecue is Back Edition

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Featured

Monk: In “news you absolutely love to see,” Speedy’s Barbecue has reopened in Lexington. Undaunted by the NC DOT’s widening of Highway 8 that killed off Smiley’s Barbecue, Speedy’s has moved about a half mile down the road from their longtime location of 60 years into what formerly housed Tricia’s Catering.

In an interview earlier this year owner Roy Dunn stressed that only the location is changing. Speedy’s will have the same menu, same staff, same prices and same motto — “ Quality, Quantity and Quick service.”

Curb service, a staple of classic Lexington barbecue joints, is open with 13 spots available

Merch is available

Speedy’s Barbecue is now open 11am to 8pm Monday through Saturday at 408 Piedmont Dr Lexington, NC 27295

Native News

Congrats to Little Pigs BBQ of Asheville, who celebrated 60 years open last month

Jon G’s Barbecue makes Eater Carolinas’ list of Essential Restaurants in Charlotte

Paste Magazine reviews the Cheerwine-flavored beer from NoDa Brewing

Congrats to Concord-based SnS Grills for being named “The Best Kettle Style Grill” by Food and Wine in a recent rundown of charcoal grills

WRAL’s best barbecue in Raleigh contains one old but mostly newer places

Non-Native News

Congrats to City Limits Q on the announcement of their upcoming brick and mortar in West Columbia

Aaron Franklin’s latest restaurant Uptown Sports Club is more sports bar than barbecue joint, but it does have some chopped brisket and sausage on the menu in various forms

Amy Mills of 17th Street Barbecue was recently honored back in March

Happy belated birthday to “Black Smoke”

Congrats to Wildwoods BBQ on winning last week’s Brisket King NYC

A little history lesson on Big Joe Bessinger, the “pioneer of SC BBQ”

Content ahead of last week’s NFL Draft in Kansas City: Mitchell Schwartz’s favorite barbecue joints in KC

Charlotte Barbecue News from the First Quarter of 2023

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Monk: Most of the first quarter of 2023 was on the quieter side in the land of Charlotte barbecue. It was not until the end of March where a new restaurant was announced (the promising-looking Firehawk Brewpub in Mount Holly) or a restaurant announced closure (the land around BBQ King off Wilkinson Boulevard was put up for sale for $4.2M). Will that be a sign of things picking up – hopefully more on the positive side of things? I’ll be keeping my eye out over the next few months.

January

1/9 – Gastonia’s Ray Nathan‘s celebrated their 4 year anniversary in early January

1/27 – The stacked pitmaster lineup for the second Carolina BBQ festival from Lewis Donald of Sweet Lew’s BBQ is announced

February

2/8 – Actor Eric Wareheim recently filmed at Jon G’s Barbecue for an upcoming project; Jake Wood of Lawrence Barbecue was also in the house

2/25 – Robert Moss reports that the chopped pork trailer that sometimes resides outside Jon G’s Barbecue is “absolutely splendid”


2/28 – Big Tiny’s BBQ in Mooresville gets the Only in NC treatment

March

3/7 – Midwood Smokehouse is doing their spin on birria tacos with pork

3/14 – Noble Smoke‘s Optimist Hall location celebrated one year open in March

3/16 – Firehawk Brewpub, a brewpub with a True ‘Cue barbecue joint attached, is announced to be coming to Mount Holly in early April

3/18 – Fumar comes back from an extended hiatus

3/21 – The land where BBQ King in Charlotte sits is up for sale for $4.2M

Linkdown: 3/29/23 – The Top Piedmont Barbecue Restaurants Edition

/ Barbecue Bros / 2 Comments

Featured

Monk: With the recent closures of Richard’s Bar-B-Que in Salisbury and Rick’s Smokehouse as well as Smiley’s BBQ in Lexington, John Tanner shares his updated list of top 10 Piedmont barbecue restaurants.

Off the top, I haven’t tried Dickie Do’s in Haw River or Real Q in Winston-Salem (though I should remedy that), so can’t comment on those. But the rest of the joints on the list I have no qualms with, though while I enjoyed both I was surprised that he liked Clark’s Barbecue in Kernersville and College Barbecue in Salisbury so much.

The qualm that I do have is the lack of inclusion of The Barbecue Center in Lexington, though John acknowledges he may be in the minority here and links to his story for reference on his experience and thinking. Regardless, John Tanner is a well-trusted source on barbecue and NC barbecue in particular, so head on over and check out his list.

Native News

The land where BBQ King in Charlotte sits is up for sale for $4.2M

The latest Jon G’s pop-up is today at Vaulted Oak Brewing

Lewis Donald of Sweet Lew’s BBQ is one of the pitmasters at the Pinehurst Barbecue Festival

Leroy’s Taco Shop, the taco concept from Jake Wood of Lawrence Barbecue, opened this past weekend

Non-Native News

Houston’s best barbecue restaurants near NRG Stadium for Final Four attendees this weekend

Two big barbecue festivals this weekend: the Houston BBQ Festival and Hogs for the Cause in New Orleans

The history behind Hogs for the Cause, which turns 15 this year

Hurtado Barbecue is bringing brisket birria tacos to Texas Rangers stadium

News you can use: don’t serve a pork butt sitting out accidentally for 12 hours

Robert Sietsema enjoyed Boots and Bones in Jersey City, which features the first pitmaster from Blue Smoke

Buc-ee’s gets a fossil named after it