Linkdown: 7/26/23 – The Barbycu Edition

Featured

Monk: Congrats to Joseph Haynes on the release of his latest barbecue history book
“From Barbycu to Barbecue,” now available from the University of South Carolina Press.

The central premise of Haynes’ book is that the barbecue methods were not imported from the Caribbean but instead were a collaboration “between Native Americans, Europeans, and free and enslaved people of African descent during the seventeenth century.”

While I’m somewhat familiar with Haynes’ work online, I have not ready any of his books to date. The release of his latest book is reason enough to check him out.

Native News

Digging this new Sam Jones BBQ tee

This week Jon G’s will be at Super Abari Game Bar on Wednesday, 7/26

Noble Smoke has a “Two Napkin BLT” on the menu for the summer

A belated happy birthday to “Papaw Keith” Smith of Bar-B-Q King

Non-Native News

Agreed – this is too pretty not to share

John Tanner welcomes the sight of direct heat true ‘cue in Virginia at Two Drummers Smokehouse in Toano (whole hog coming?!)

A photo of City Limits Barbeque’s sides

Any suggestions?

ICYMI, Franklin Barbecue is taking a well-earned vacation

Linkdown: 7/19/23 – The #woodpilewednesday is a Thing Edition

Featured

Monk: A beautiful ode to B’s Barbecue from a NC-born California-resident in search of the elusive ribs. They sell out early (and I mean really early) so you’ve either got to get there at 6am or have a good friend willing to do the same. Will she get those ribs? Check the story to find out.

Native News

Last week’s issue of The Smoke Sheet featured 10 of the best Eastern NC barbecue joints from friend of the blog John Tanner

Jon G’s will be at Vaulted Oak today

Noble Smoke makes Axios Charlotte’s 25 best restaurants in Charlotte right now at #25

Looks like Red Bridges Barbecue is getting in on the #woodpilewednesday action

Non-Native News

Ahead of opening a brick and mortar, LeRoy and Lewis are selling their food truck

Texas Monthly visits Blake Stoker’s Blake’s at Southern Milling in Martin, TN

The latest John Tanner barbecue stop is in Smokehouse Barbecue Shack, Mechanicsville, Maryland

Charlotte Barbecue News from the First Quarter of 2023

Monk: Most of the first quarter of 2023 was on the quieter side in the land of Charlotte barbecue. It was not until the end of March where a new restaurant was announced (the promising-looking Firehawk Brewpub in Mount Holly) or a restaurant announced closure (the land around BBQ King off Wilkinson Boulevard was put up for sale for $4.2M). Will that be a sign of things picking up – hopefully more on the positive side of things? I’ll be keeping my eye out over the next few months.

January

1/9 – Gastonia’s Ray Nathan‘s celebrated their 4 year anniversary in early January

1/27 – The stacked pitmaster lineup for the second Carolina BBQ festival from Lewis Donald of Sweet Lew’s BBQ is announced

February

2/8 – Actor Eric Wareheim recently filmed at Jon G’s Barbecue for an upcoming project; Jake Wood of Lawrence Barbecue was also in the house

2/25 – Robert Moss reports that the chopped pork trailer that sometimes resides outside Jon G’s Barbecue is “absolutely splendid”


2/28 – Big Tiny’s BBQ in Mooresville gets the Only in NC treatment

March

3/7 – Midwood Smokehouse is doing their spin on birria tacos with pork

3/14 – Noble Smoke‘s Optimist Hall location celebrated one year open in March

3/16 – Firehawk Brewpub, a brewpub with a True ‘Cue barbecue joint attached, is announced to be coming to Mount Holly in early April

3/18 – Fumar comes back from an extended hiatus

3/21 – The land where BBQ King in Charlotte sits is up for sale for $4.2M

Our Favorite Posts from 2022

Monk: 2022 marked the ten year anniversary of the blog and its gone by in a flash. We’re going to take the rest of the year off in order to come out strong in 2023, but before we do we want to 1) wish you all a happy holidays and 2) spotlight one last time some of our favorite original content from 2022.

Without further ado…

Original Content

My summer kicked off with a weekly recap of all 8 episodes of the third season of “BBQ Brawl.” While I was happy to get through those two months mostly unscathed, I also checked out a few other barbecue streaming shows throughout the year featuring notable barbecue personalities like Michael Symon’s “BBQ USA,” “World of Flavor with Big Moe Cason,” and the third season of “BBQuest” which added Hardcore Carnivore’s Jess Pryles as a co-host.

We’ve done some updating of our Lexington rankings sadly due to closures but I already know I need to get back to Lexington to try Cafe 71 Smoke House BBQ, which opened this fall in the old Rick’s Smokehouse space.

I also am trying a new post format with the “best barbecue within an hour of [insert major city here].” I’ve started with Charlotte but will work on posts for both Raleigh as well as the eastern part of the state.

We also went to a few festivals this year! May was a busy month in Charlotte with both the Smoke & Grapes event at the Charlotte Wine & Food Festival as well as the successful first annual Carolina BBQ Festival hosted by Lewis Donald of Sweet Lew’s BBQ.

In November, I went to Charleston for the second annual Holy Smokes Barbecue Festival and had a grand time in the lowcountry.

I can’t wait to see what festivals I’ll make it to in 2023.

Reviews

We’re up to 327 reviews on the site now, and in 2022 we added 23 more. Not quite our most productive year, but still an average of nearly 2 per month.

Rudy got to finally try Noble Smoke in Charlotte in February, and left pretty impressed with a 4.5 hog review.

Speedy loved pretty much everything about the relatively new Bringle’s Smoking Oasis in Nashville, from the space to the bar to of course the food (in particular the beef rib and the brisket). Another 4.5 hog meal.

But from the looks of it, Speedy’s favorite meal of the year was at Prime Barbecue in Knightdale when he was back in North Carolina this summer. He gave it our prestigious 5 hog rating, the first since our most recent Jon G’s Barbecue review from 2021.

I got in on the 4.5 hog action with a couple of joints in the Carolinas: Lawrence Barbecue in Durham and Palmira BBQ in Charleston. At Lawrence, in addition to the fun atmosphere at Boxyard RTP and the Lawrence Barbecue-inspired beer from Trophy Brewing, the pork and brisket were highlights of the meal. At Palmira, I got to chat with owner and pitmaster Hector Garate and both the whole hog barbecue and hash and rice shone through.

And last but not least, I can’t forget my mini whole hog barbecue tour in eastern North Carolina in the spring, where I visited B’s Barbecue, Skylight Inn, and the original location of Sam Jones BBQ.

I did a brief writeup for The Smoke Sheet, which a version of showed up on the site as well.

With that, the 2022 posts are done for the year. But we’ll be back in January with all new content.

Happy Holidays and see you all in 2023!