Log Cabin Bar-B-Que

Log Cabin BBQ – Albemarle, NC

/ Barbecue Bros / 1 Comment

Name: Log Cabin BBQ
Address: 2322 US-52, Albemarle, NC 28001
Order: Chopped pork tray with red slaw, hush puppies, Cheerwine (link to menu)
Pricing: $

Monk: Albemarle, NC is a small town of less than 16,000 about an hour east of Charlotte on the Pee Dee River and bordering the Uwharrie National Forest. It’s also home to two well-regarded classic NC barbecue joints, each one stemming from the same family.

Lonnie Doby opened Whispering Pines in 1945 and later married Lavada Galloway. Lavada’s sister Edith and brother Darrell worked at Whispering Pines for some time before Edith and Darrell left to open Darrell’s BBQ in nearby Rockwell. Eventually, Edith purchased the building for Wink’s Barbecue in 1991 with one of her sons and renamed it to Log Cabin Bar-B-Que. We’ll get to Whispering Pines soon, but we’ll start with Log Cabin BBQ this week.

Log Cabin is not just a clever name, and dark wood lines the interior of the restaurant which is more or less your classic NC barbecue restaurant setup with waitress-serviced tables where you pay up front.

What wasn’t clear was whether or not Log Cabin was a classic NC joint that still smoked with wood. True ‘Cue lists Log Cabin as an all wood-smoked joint but The Great NC BBQ Map says its a wood-assisted gasser. Out back is a big enclosed smokehouse, however I wasn’t able to place eyes on their setup to confirm which source had their information right. After some digging, it appears that The Great NC BBQ Map had it right (I believe they called each restaurant to confirm cooking method, so makes sense) and Log Cabin uses what looks to be a Southern Pride rotisserie based on the smoker photos I could find.

Nevertheless, the chopped pork that came out had decent smoke and with some dashes of the table vinegar sauce it really sang.

Log Cabin offers both a red and a white slaw though their red slaw curiously came with bits of diced green peppers, something I hadn’t seen before. The freshly-fried hush puppies came in larger orbs and only 3 per tray but were quite good.

While Log Cabin BBQ may not be carrying on the tradition of wood-smoked North Carolina barbecue, they do serve some great pork. Plus, it’s part of a great story of a family’s barbecue legacy that isn’t too widely known from what I can see.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3.5 hogs
Pork – 3.5 hogs
Sides – 3.5 hogs
Overall – 3.5 hogs

Linkdown: 4/10/19

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

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

Linkdown: 9/24/14

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

– Check out our Taste Trekker’s list for Five Unique Barbecue Experiences in Charlotte, North Carolina; it was partially (ok, very) inspired by this list from Marie, Let’s Eat!

– The latest Arrogant Swine post on opening a barbecue restaurant on Serious Eats finds Uncle Ho trying to hire a staff

The saddest moment in any barbecue guy’s professional life is when you realize that the person you’re training to do the cooking just doesn’t give a royal fuck about barbecue. They’d be just as happy making pizza or ramen noodles. The food was coming out awful and Jack couldn’t care. “Just cover it with barbecue sauce and no one will tell the difference,” he once noted.

– More information on the barbecue events at the World of Bluegrass festival in downtown Raleigh on 10/3

– More coverage on the NC BBQ Map from the Elkin Times and TWC News

– Andrew Carter’s column leading up to last weekend’s ECU drubbing of UNC took the pulse of fans at Parker’s Barbecue in Greenville and ends with this choice quote:

Down at Parker’s the lunch crowd had picked up and Parker went out to help work the register. A line began to form, a small version of what is coming Saturday.

“Everybody in this town needs to thank God for East Carolina,” said Parker, whose restaurant had already booked six catering events at the stadium on Saturday. “I mean, really. For the hospital and for East Carolina.

“(Without) those two things — well, Greenville would be Kinston.”

– “The pitfalls of barbecue reportage” examines how barbecue journalists such as Daniel Vaughn attempt to report on pitmasters without romanticizing them

– Boone’s Bar-B-Que Kitchen (our current #1) has posted an updated schedule for their foodtruck and they will be at a few upcoming Charlotte beer festivals starting with this weekend’s Charlotte Oktoberfest

– Marie, Let’s Eat!’s latest barbecue stop is Log Cabin Smokehouse Bar-B-Que in Rome, GA

– Barbecue Rankings had a lot of posts in the last week: Dallas, Seattle, Detroit, Pecos, Albuquerque, and Phoenix

– Aaron Franklin brought his smoked meats to Feast Portland last weekend; TMBBQ has the photos and story

– As is to be expected, barbecue is the signature food of several states including North Carolina