Monk: True BBQ is home to some truly world-class hash and I was recently alerted to the existence of this song named after the West Columbia, SC restaurant from a recent John Tanner post. Opening with a piano riff followed by a searing blues solo, it enumerates all the reasons to come on down to True BBQ including:
Check it out – both the song and the hash and rice.
Header photo credit to John Tanner
Monk: An all-Carolinas linkdown this week
Shepard Barbecue is heading to the Flavortown Festival after getting a boost from Triple D
Laurinburg will host the “Suds and Swine” whole hog competition in mid-April
Green River BBQ in Saluda has recently changed ownership, with the new owners stating they have “big plans”
Beautiful South will be popping-up every Thursday at Lewis Barbecue in Charleston serving southern Chinese food
Fork Grove BBQ in Anderson, SC will soon be a brick and mortar
Palmira BBQ shares an update
John Tanner hits a quartet of barbecue restaurants in SC, starting with Melvin’s BBQ in Mount Pleasant
…at Swig & Swine, the pork belly was even better than the pork, which was “worthy of a ‘wow'”
…at Bessinger’s Barbecue, the hash has a “deep and satisfying flavor”
…finally, the hash and rice at True BBQ in West Columbia is “flat good”
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.
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
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
Monk: The second annual Carolina BBQ Festival is once again bringing some of the best and brightest pitmasters to the Queen City in early May. Lewis Donald has invited many of the same pitmasters from last year’s festival and added a few new faces: Jake Wood of Lawrence Barbecue, Keith Henning of Black Powder Smokehouse, Michael Letchworth of Sam Jones BBQ, and Tank Jackson of Holy City Hog.
The full list of pitmasters and chefs:
Tickets go on sale on Friday, February 10th. More information here.
Backyard BBQ Pit has received nearly $50,000 from its GoFundMe campaign and even got new kitchen appliances donated by an angel donor; now they are paying it forward to other local small businesses
It’s Brunswick stew season
In sad news, Clyde Cooper’s daughter Joyce recently passed but the occasion brought together is grandchildren and great grandchildren
Sweet’s Turkey BBQ is a Greensboro food truck serving chopped turkey barbecue, a healthier alternative to pork and beef
Midwood Smokehouse‘s Raleigh location has gotten their Oyler
The James Beard semi-finalists were announced last week and pitmasters from Moo’s Craft Barbecue in LA, Heirloom Market BBQ in Atlanta, Tropical Smokehouse in West Palm Beach, Distant Relatives and KG BBQ in Austin, Goldee’s in Fort Worth, Curry Boys BBQ in San Antonio, Gatlin’s BBQ in Houston, and Burnt Bean in Seguin make the list
Charleston’s Swig & Swine BBQ is expanding to Myrtle Beach
Adrian Miller’s field guide to US barbecue
Bill Murray recently enjoyed a beef rib at Heritage Barbecue
30 pitmasters will be in Greenville, SC for Southern Roots: A BBQ Reunion on April 15
Episode 3 of Peacock’s “Poker Face” is brisket-focused and actually gets the specifics mostly right