Lewis Barbecue

Linkdown: 9/29/21

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The Barbecue Festival in Lexington announces its 2022 date: October 22, 2022. For the second year in a row, it was cancelled due to staff shortages and safety concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In normal times, The Barbecue Festival is the region’s largest one-day street festival and draws near 100,000 people every year.

The Mallard Creek Barbecue, which usually takes place the Thursday before The Barbecue Festival, also cancelled for the second year in a row earlier this year. It 91st edition will hopefully take place the fourth Thursday of October in 2022.

Other festivals are able to take place, such as euphoria Greenville last weekend and the inaugural Holy Smokes Barbecue Festival in November. Just a reminder that while things are in some ways better than 2020, we may still be between 6-12 months away from true normalcy.

Native News

BBQ BOWL

Cary Magazine checks out Lawrence Barbecue

Lawrence Barbecue also gets some love from Eater Carolinas

Food truck Rumble CLT: K&N BBQ vs Dan Good Que

Lawrence Ellis, son of legendary Bill Ellis and owner of longtime Wilson restaurant Marty’s BBQ, passed away last week

Non-Native News

JL’s Southwest Brisket Burgers, the newish trailer at Lewis Barbecue in Charleston that replaced Juan Luis, gets a pop-in from Southeastern Dispatch

Palmira Barbecue will be opening in the Port of Call food and brew hall in the old Bubba Gump space in downtown Charleston

Heirloom Market is featured in “Unique Eats and Eateries of Atlanta” by Amanda Plumb

Last week, The Smoke Sheet recapped the American Royal World Series of Barbecue

Checking In: Breakfast Tacos at Juan Luis

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If you’re reading this, its unfortunately too late to grab a breakfast taco from the Juan Luis trailer in front of Lewis Barbecue in Charleston.

Before it changed over to “JLs” after August 2, Juan Luis served delicious breakfast tacos with homemade tortillas made in the trailer unlike anything I’ve had. Of course, Charlotte and NC doesn’t have the breakfast taco culture that Austin or the Southwest has.

I had both the migas (crispy corn tortillas strips, avocado, pico de Gallo, eggs, cheese) and the toro (green chile beef, pintos, onions, egg, cheese) on my one and only visit and these tacos were life-changing. Particularly the migas, which I still think about to this day.

After a quick refresh, JLs will serve green chile cheeseburgers, green chile cheese dogs, frozen custard sundaes and margaritas. I imagine it will be worth checking out.

The Juan Luis concept will be transferred to Rancho Lewis, which is coming soon to the former Workshop food hall at 1503 King St in Winter 2022. For me, it will be a must stop next time I’m in Charleston.

Linkdown: 5/12/21

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In one of the latest signs of a return to normalcy, 60 teams participated in last weekend’s 40th Annual BBQ on the Neuse Festival, the world’s largest whole hog competition. Attendance was larger than expected, with upwards of 15,000 attendees (vs an expected 5,000) coming to downtown Kinston to enjoy barbecue, music, and a little rainy weather (at least on Friday night).

In terms of winners, contestant Amy Bell had a good year, winning first overall in product quality and sauce. The rest of the winners here:

Next year’s event will be held on May 6-7.

Native News

Indy Week reviews the Raleigh location of Sam Jones BBQ, which doesn’t even have a freezer on site

Daniel Vaughn spent a little over a week in NC and ended his tour at Jon G’s Barbecue this past Saturday where I was fortunate enough to meet up with him

Non-Native News

Congrats to Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ on their new space in Buda, about 15 minutes south of their current location in South Austin

Juan Luis from John Lewis of Lewis Barbecue makes this list

A few shows with barbecue-focused episodes – Ugly Delicious, Cooked, Taco Chronicles, The Chef Show – are on this list from The Manual

Bon Appetit has an essay from Black Smoke

But of course Texas has a state high school barbecue championship

It’s not everyday that a barbecue restaurant gets featured in Architect Magazine; in this case its Black Hog BBQ in Ashburn, VA

Friday Find: How Pitmaster John Lewis Brought Texas Barbecue to South Carolina

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John Lewis gives some insight into his process for his brand that he’s brought to the lowcountry of South Carolina. From his famous hot guts smoked in a vertical smoker to his pastrami brisket, ribeyes, and oxtails smoked in his custom offset. He then uses those meats in inventive sandwiches like their version of an Arby’s beef and cheddar or a pastrami brisket reuben as well as his smoked prime rib special and a Tex-mex inspired oxtail dish. Lewis even gets into his love of hatch green chiles and how they are incorporated into a lot of his dishes as well as how makes his own tortillas because there are not tortillerias in SC that meet his standards. Recently, Lewis announced that his Juan Luis concept is taking over the entire food hall space formerly occupied by Workshop.

For more Smoke Point, click here.

Description: Pitmaster John Lewis is known not only for his mouthwatering South Carolina brisket, sausages, and ribs, but also for his dedication to “perfecting” the art of barbecue by customizing his own smokers. He’s also known for getting creative with brining, rubbing, and smoking techniques.