Linkdown: 5/10/23 – The Barbecue Hall of Fame Semi-Finalists Edition

Featured

Congrats to Steve Grady of Grady’s BBQ (as well as the rest of the top 10) for making the semi-finalist list for this year’s Barbecue Hall of Fame class! The inductees will be announced later this month on May 24th.

Native News

WRAL is a fan of Midwood Smokehouse‘s latest location in Raleigh

Midwood Smokehouse has some new barbecue taco specials Thursdays through Sundays in May for National Barbecue Month

Winners from this year’s Jiggy with the Piggy Challenge in Kannapolis

Congrats to Longleaf Swine for being named Readers’ Choice Awards winner for Best New Restaurant by Wake Living’s readers

Congrats to Prime Barbecue on 3 years open

Panther City BBQ out of Texas will be joining Christopher Prieto in an upcoming Latin-inspired barbecue class

Check out John Tanner’s updated list of best barbecue in Eastern NC

The Lexington Pit Stop Event Combines NASCAR and Barbecue this Memorial Day weekend; it’s a celebration of Lexington’s stock car racing teams and the pit-cooked Lexington-style barbecue for which the town is famous

Non-Native News

Scotty’s Whole Hog Barbecue is switching to a “once and month” pop-up schedule in Minnesota this year, and the next service will be on May 20

Aaron Franklin’s latest book, Smoke, from him and his photographer/collaborator Jordan McKay is now out

John Tanner’s out of state travels takes him to B. Cooper Barbecue in Austin, Pig Beach in West Palm Beach, and Pig and Pint in Mississippi

Report from the field on Kolacny BBQ House by Bryan from Tales from the Pits

Linkdown: 3/8/23 – The “Cooking with Gas” Edition

Featured

Monk: Southern Living readers pick their favorite barbecue in each state in the South for the annual “Best in the South” issue. While Robert Moss provides a foreword, please remember that this is a reader chosen list and not his South’s Top 50 Barbecue Joints list. So address your ire at the masses and not Moss’ inbox.

Moss does note that half of the 14 are repeat, with the other half being new to the list. For North Carolina, the reader’s pick this year was Lexington Barbecue but it was not a repeat winner as last year’s choice was Buxton Hall Barbecue.

Check out the Southern Living reader’s pick at the link below.

Native News

Steve and Gerri Grady get profiled in the local paper, the Mount Olive Tribune

Eat Raleigh checks in at Longleaf Swine and they are also a fan

Congrats to Black Powder Smokehouse on their Asheboro location, their second store

Midwood Smokehouse is doing pork versions of birria tacos

Tickets are now on sale for the Pinehurst Barbecue Festival taking place Labor Day weekend

Non-Native News

Hector Garate of Palmira BBQ is headed to Austin later this month for a collaboration with Interstellar BBQ

Sweatman’s Barbecue in Holly Hill has made the switch to gas

Howard Conyers is hosting The Roots of BBQ Invitational Memorial Day weekend in Paxville, SC (ticket link)

NYC BBQ checks out the relocated Pig Beach in Queens and found that “the quality has not declined a bit even with the big changes the past few months”

Memphis in May will be back at Tom Lee Park for this year’s event

Linkdown 11/16/22 – The BBQ Bowl Victory Tour Edition

Monk: The second edition of the NC East/West BBQ Bowl took place this past weekend between Gardner-Webb University and Campbell. And Gardner-Webb Bulldogs held on just enough to come out victorious with a 42-35 dub.

GWU QB Bailey Fisher had a monster game, throwing for 3 TDs as well as running for another one, and was named BBQ Bowl MVP.

Fisher was also named the Big South Conference Offensive Player of the Week.

…and WR Caleb Borders was named Freshman of the Week

On their way back to Boiling Springs, the trophy made a few Western NC barbecue stops. First stop: a chopped plate at Lexington Barbecue.

Back in Cleveland County, they made one final stop at Red Bridges after hours.

As mentioned above, the BBQ Bowl win means that Gardner-Webb has the honors of playing for the Big South Football Championship this weekend in Boiling Springs against NC A&T. Good luck to the Bulldogs!

Native News

Barbecue Center‘s winter hours are as follows:

The BBQ Lab – the more civilized cousin of Benson’s Redneck BBQ Lab – is now open in Raleigh’s North Hills

Raleigh’s had two major barbecue openings in as many weeks with Longleaf Swine opening earlier in the month

John Tanner on The Holy Barbecue at the Barbecue Church in Barbecue, NC

Non-Native News

John Tanner checks out the pork from Robertson’s BBQ in Ralph-Fosters, AL and a saucy chopped brisket sandwich at the Buc-ee’s in Leeds

Big upset in Intercollegiate Meat Judging

Friday Find: The News & Observer’s Favorite NC Barbecue Joints

Monk: The News & Observer presents a video slide show of some great photos of their favorite barbecue joints across the state, from classic whole hog joints to new school places that feature brisket and a Texas influence. Restaurants included:

  • B’s Barbecue in Greenville
  • Grady’s Barbecue in Dudley
  • Jon G’s Barbecue in Peachland
  • Lawrence Barbecue in Durham
  • Longleaf Swine in Raleigh
  • Picnic in Durham
  • Prime Barbecue in Knightdale
  • Redneck BBQ Lab in Benson

Description: Barbecue is the hottest trend in food right now. And in tradition-rich North Carolina, a new generation of pitmasters is making new traditions of their own. Here are a few of our favorites. Video by Kevin Keister / The News & Observer.