Lexington

Linkdown: 7/27/20

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“Black Smoke” by James Beard Award-winning “Soul Food Scholar” Adrian Miller is officially a go for Spring 2021. Very excited to read this next year.

A short interview with Derrick Walker of Smoke-A-Holics BBQ on “Tex-Soul” and being a black pitmaster

This year’s Barbecue Festival has been canceled, which should surprise no one

John Tanner’s Barbecue Blog stops by a few eastern NC barbecue restaurants on his way to the beach: Boss Hog’s Backyard Barbecue in Washington, Stephenson’s in Willow Spring, Marty’s in Wilson, the rebooted Wilber’s in Goldsboro, and Southern Smoke in Garland:

City Limits Barbeque gets a shout out in this feature on Columbia

22% of Americans say Texas style is their favorite regional style of barbecue, according to a recent HuffPost/YouGov poll

Steven Raichlen has some tips for barbecued ribs, which he calls”barbecue at its most primal and unadorned”, in the New York Times

The “Ultimate Guide to Barbecue,” from The Wall Street Journal

Pig Beach is heading south, but not just for the winter; it plans to open a Florida location in West Palm Beach by the end of the year

“Carolina-style” BBQ cauliflower? C’mon man…

Linkdown: 7/22/20

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Welcome Back, Wilber’s!

Barbecue occupies several spots on GQ’s list of 53 Things You Should Eat Before Summer is Over

The California barbecue scene is on the upswing

Smorgasburg has reopened

RIOT RIBS

Barbecue Center is closed this week due to vacation

Noble Smoke is celebrating one year open this Saturday

Introducing: The Lexington Big Board

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Monk: Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that I quietly posted my Lexington rankings a few months back through the top navigation bar. Before the pandemic hit, it was my pet project to hit all of the current Lexington-area barbecue restaurants for my definitive* Lexington rankings. I’ve been a longtime fan of Lexington Barbecue and in recent years, The Barbecue Center. But as the self-proclaimed “Barbecue Capital of the World” (one of many cities claiming that title, it should be noted) boasting at times one barbecue restaurant per 1,000 restaurants (though this is not currently the case), I needed to explore the others to understand the quality and depth of the other restaurants.

I’ve broken the 14 restaurants I’ve reviewed thus far into three tiers. Someday I will get to the curiously named Lexington Trimmings for completeness sake but in the meantime, here is the most definitive list of Lexington-area barbecue restaurants on the internet*. Ladies and gentlemen, the Lexington Big Board.

*one man’s opinion
**that I know of

Tier 1

  1. Lexington Barbecue
  2. Bar-B-Q Center
  3. Rick’s Smokehouse
  4. Speedy’s Barbecue
  5. Smiley’s Lexington Barbecue
  6. Backcountry Barbeque

I need to revisit both Smiley’s and Speedy’s asap, as they may no longer be in business for too much longer as a result of the NC Department of Transportation widening Highway 8 that they both sit on. Also, both were reviewed very early in this blog’s life and while I really enjoyed both, I’ve had a lot of barbecue since.

Tier 2

  1. Speedy Lohr’s Barbecue
  2. Smokey Joe’s Barbecue
  3. Tarheel Q
  4. Cook’s Barbecue
  5. Arcadia Q

To my knowledge, all of these places smoke over wood with no gas or electricity but are just a notch below the best of the best in Lexington.

Tier 3

  1. Stamey’s Barbecue of Tyro
  2. Kerley’s Barbecue
  3. Randy’s Restaurant

Of the bottom tier, Kerley’s and Randy’s don’t smoke over wood and it shows in the actual barbecue.

Still to try

Lexington Trimmings

Have I missed anything? Let me know in the comments or email us at barbecuebros@gmail.com.

Linkdown: 4/22/20

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Congrats to Midwood Smokehouse on their Charlotte Magazine Best of the Best Voter’s Choice Award for “Best BBQ”; Sweet Lew’s BBQ was the runner up

Another mail order barbecue list, from Robert Moss in Southern Living

Congrats to AmazingRibs.com on turning 15

Noble Smoke is now delivering in Charlotte

The folks behind Hubba Hubba Smokehouse opened up a “neighborhood bar and grill” called Campfire Grill that has Hubba Hubba barbecue on the takeout menu and plenty of live fire cooking

Evan LeRoy of LeRoy and Lewis argues that “barbecue is the perfect pandemic food” because you can “[o]rder extra and cook it all week.”

Peg Leg Porker reopens on May 1 for curbside to go and delivery

Happy belated birthday to Tootsie!