Lexington

Linkdown: 3/2/22

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North Carolina has lost another classic barbecue joint; Smiley’s Lexington BBQ officially closed this past weekend as a result of the NC DOT widening of Winston Road. Restaurant owner Steve Yountz and his wife, Tena, have no official plans to relocate the restaurant as of now but are not ruling it out either, depending on how much money they get from the state. For now, they are going to take some time to evaluate their options.

The building housing Smiley’s has been a barbecue restaurant for over 70 years and according to Yountz, ““It’s the oldest pit-cooking restaurant in Lexington. We’re still using the original pits.” Before Yountz opened Smiley’s in 2002, it operated as Southern Barbecue from 1963 to 1998 and started as Dan’s in the 1950’s.

This NC DOT project, first announced in 2018 and not set to begin until July 2023, actually has two victims as Speedy’s Barbecue the next block over is also closing due to the road widening.

Native News

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Non-Native News

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According to Dave Grohl, salt and pepper is all the rub you need for a great brisket

Aaron Franklin’s Hot Luck Festival is back and has added NC band Superchunk to its music lineup

Here’s a list of the chefs that will be at Hot Luck

Should we call this the Memphis Airport Barbecue Challenge?

Friday Find: Roy’s Folks Takes a Trip to Rick’s Smokehouse in Welcome

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Monk: The local Fox affiliate for the Barbecue Bros’ hometown of High Point (where Rudy both interned and worked for a brief time) recently took a trip to the town of Welcome in neighboring Davidson County to visit the underrated Rick’s Smokehouse. Owner Rick Matthews gave Chad Tucker a behind the scenes look as he prepped barbecue chicken.

On my visit to Rick’s Smokehouse back in February 2020, I found them to be admirably carrying on the Lexington barbecue tradition despite being a relatively newer restaurant that opened in 2009. This piece covers the pit fire that burned the restaurant down in 2010 but they thankfully rebuilt and are seemingly thriving. I hope to make it back someday soon.

Friday Find: “A Weekend in Lexington”

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Monk: In this short feature from UNC TV’s NC Weekend, host Deborah Holt Noel traverses across the city, taking in all the tastes and experiences it has to offer. From wakeboarding to donuts to breweries and wineries.

But of course, there’s also barbecue. On that front, she visits the barbecue pit that was discovered during the renovation of City Hall in 2014 (1:01) which also contains all of the posters of The Barbecue Festival (2:00) which brings in 150,000 visitors each October and will continue next year.

No trip to Lexington is complete without actually eating barbecue, and she wraps up the barbecue content in this video by visiting the two most prominent restaurants in Lexington Barbecue (3:19 and Bar-B-Q Center (4:45), which started as an ice cream parlor.

Description: There’s so much to do in Lexington that you can spend an entire weekend there and that’s just what we did with visits to breweries, wineries, restaurants, donut shops, even a wake park! Lexington, NC https://visitlexingtonnc.com/

Linkdown: 9/29/21

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Featured

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