Charlotte Barbecue News from the Third Quarter of 2021

Monk: If there was an overarching theme for Charlotte barbecue the past three months, it would be expansion. In the second quarter roundup, I had hoped for new concepts and expansion. While we didn’t necessarily get new concepts (yet), we did get quite a bit in the way of expansion. Mac’s Speed Shop, Midwood Smokehouse, and Noble Smoke all announced new locations, (although only one of which is in Charlotte), and rumor has it another Charlotte barbecue joint may be expanding as well.

Not to mention, Phar Mill Brewing in Harrisburg expanded in a slightly different way. Pharr Mill BBQ is utilizing a Jon G’s barbecue pit and they typically serve some combination of brisket, ribs, and pork Thursdays through Saturdays.

July

7/3 Pharr Mill BBQ starts smoking on their Jon G’s barbecue pit at Phar Mill Brewery in Harrisburg

7/10 Noble Smoke celebrates 2 years in business

7/22 FS Food Group announces a Midwood Smokehouse location for Raleigh later his year

7/29 Smoke Show BBQ pivots to Tex-Mex barbecue

7/31 Charlotte-raised Bryan Furman returns to Charlotte and brings his Bryan Furman BBQ pop-up to Sweet Lew’s BBQ

August

8/9 In a nice nod to its employees, all Mac’s Speed Shop locations closed for the day to fight employee burnout

“Our people have been going way above and beyond to make our carry-out, eat-in and delivery business grow by leaps and bounds”… “I’ve never seen a team so dedicated to bringing fun and good food back into the lives of people pent-up by the pandemic.”

Mac’s President Shang Skipper

8/10 Sweet Lew’s Barbeque introduces the “Carolinas Frito Pie”: Carolina bbq hash, warm pimento cheese and jalapeños

8/14 Mac’s Speed Shop is expanding to Fort Mill

8/26 Secondhand Smoke takes over the Pete’s BBQ legacy in Fort Mill

8/27 Jon G’s gets the Axios Charlotte bump

8/30 The 91st Mallard Creek Barbecue is postponed yet another year

September

9/8 Indian Trail’s 100 Main Beef and Barbecue gets featured in Spectrum News for being both a barbecue restaurant and a country store

9/10 Barvecue, the wood-smoked plan-based barbecue company out of Cornelius, is rolling out to 12 colleges and universities and just signed a deal with Sprouts Farmers Market

9/9 Jon G’s Barbecue make this list of “Best New Barbecue Joints in the South” from Southern Living

9/16 Noble Smoke announced its second location will be a stall at the Optimist Hall food hall

9/16 More coverage on the stall from Axios Charlotte

9/24 K&N BBQ competes against Dan Good Que in Food Truck Rumble CLT

Linkdown: 10/23/19

The 90th Annual Mallard Creek Barbecue is this Thursday

Last weekend’s Smoke on the Water barbecue competition in Washington, NC raised $30,000 for local charities

The Barbecue Festival will bring in over $6.5 million dollars to the area

Matthew Odam’s list of top 50 Austin restaurants is now out and includes 3 barbecue restaurants – Franklin, Interstellar, and La Barbecue

A new contender enters the barbecue drink ring: sweet tea, Cheerwine, or champagne?!?

Robert Moss’s 7 Memphis joints to visit in next month’s Southern Living

NC Tripping’s list of best restaurants in Cleveland County includes several barbecue restaurants including Bridges Barbecue Lodge, Alston Bridges, and The Honey Hog

Linkdown: 10/16/19

Speaking of Montreal smoked meat, Fox Bros BBQ in Atlanta has you covered if you have a hankering for it in the States; its been a Tuesday special for nearly 5 years now

If you want to smoke your own pastrami, which is not the same as Montreal smoked meat but is close:

The Smoke on the Water whole hog competition event is this weekend in Washington, NC

The Eastern Carolina BBQ Throwdown was last weekend in Rocky Mount; clearly BBQ Festival Season is in full swing

Wood’s Chapel BBQ is a new, worthy entrant into the Atlanta barbecue scene and not just be

Roegels Barbecue Co. in Houston has joined the whole hog movement in Texas

Barbecue-flavored vodka?

The menu for next week’s 90th Mallard Creek Barbecue

Linkdown: 10/24/18

– WSOC Charlotte: Organizers plan to cook more than 14,000 pounds of pork for annual Mallard Creek Barbecue

– This weekend is the Barbecue Festival in Lexington; here’s 10 things you may not have known about barbecue in Lexington

– Jim N Nick’s Bar-B-Q is one of several barbecue restaurants in Birmingham’s Restaurant Hall of Fame

– Next time you are in Atlanta:

 
– Dr. BBQ’s restaurant, Dr. BBQ, opened last week in Tampa

– Robert Stegall began smoking turkeys after he returned from WWI after serving with the 82nd Airborne and passed the family recipe to his kids, who run Rock Store Bar-B-Que and Stegall Smoked Turkey

– Great stuff as always from Kathleen Purvis on Greek immigrants who started restaurants in Charlotte, several of which were barbecue and none were Greek