Linkdown: 4/19/23 – The AI-Generated BBQ Photo Edition

Featured

Monk: Jake Wood of Lawrence Barbecue is launching what he hopes will be a new annual event, called Frankie Lemmon’s Gettin’ Piggy With It in support of the Frankie Lemmon School. By way of background, “Frankie Lemmon School is a NAEYC accredited, 5-star child development center that welcomes children ages 2-6 with and without disabilities.”

For the event, he’s partnering with Trophy Brewing in Raleigh and utilizing their new event venue Maywood Hall & Garden. And he’s bringing with him some heavy hitters in the world of barbecue, not only in North and South Carolina but also one from California. The full list of pitmasters and chefs:

  • Dampf Good BBQ – Cary, NC
  • Jon G’s Barbecue – Peachland, NC
  • King BBQ – Charleston, SC
  • Lawrence Barbecue – Durham, NC
  • Lewis Barbecue – Charleston, SC
  • Locals Seafood – Raleigh, NC
  • Longleaf Swine – Raleigh, NC
  • N. Sea Oyster Co. – Hampstead, NC
  • Shepard Barbecue – Emerald Isle, NC
  • Southern Smoke Barbecue – Garland, NC
  • Wye Hill – Raleigh, NC
  • ZEF BBQ – Los Angeles, CA

Tickets are on sale as of of today for the May 21 event. Tickets and event information available here

Native News

AVL Today profiles two Asheville-area joints on the Historic NC Barbecue Trail: Switzerland Cafe in Little Switzerland and Hubba Hubba Smokehouse in Flat Rock

The Bone Suckin’ Sauce Peak City Pig Fest, a KCBS event, took place this past weekend in Apex

NoDa Brewing and Jon G’s Barbecue have teamed up for a fun event at their OG Taproom on April 27th…but tickets have already sold out

NoDa Brewing’s Cheerwine Ale is getting a can glow-up

Non-Native News

Gear Patrols dives into the best charcoal grills on the market

John Tanner checks out Rodney Scott’s Barbecue to compare it to the original; his findings may surprise you

Speaking of Rodney Scott, he’s teamed up with The Spice House to create a line of spice blends available to purchase now

Swig & Swine owner Anthony DiBernardo shares an update on their upcoming Monk’s Corner location

Pig Beach’s Jeff Michner BBQ Event is coming up on April 29

Goldee’s Barbecue will soon be selling their own smokers, made in partnership with M&M BBQ Company

The caption says it all

Congrats to Daniel Vaughn on 10 years as barbecue editor for Texas Monthly

Linkdown: 4/5/23 – The Carolinas Edition

Monk: An all-Carolinas linkdown this week

Native News

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”

Non-Native News

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”

Linkdown: 2/1/23 – The Barbecue in a Bowl Edition

Featured

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.

Native News

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

Non-Native News

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

Friday Find: Tales from the Pits Post-Charleston Wine and Food Festival

I got major FOMO listening to this podcast of the Tales from the Pit guys rundown of their 5 days in Charleston earlier this month. Total FOMO. I will definitely have to try to make it out next year.

There are so many amazing events that take place during the five day Charleston Wine + Food (CHSWFF) festival and we were fortunate to be granted media access to many of them. From whiskey-centric experiences to barbecue excursions, we did our best to take in all of the sights and sounds of this incredible culinary opportunity.

This episode will give you a rundown of all of the events we covered as well as some food and drink highlights from each. We were fortunate to get to spend time with some amazing barbecue talents such as Rodney Scott, Sam Jones, Jonathan and Justin Fox, John Lewis, Anthony DiBernardo, and many more.

We’ve got some exciting interviews that we’ll be posting in the coming weeks from these events, so stay tuned for those. A special thanks to Alyssa Maute Smith and the entire Charleston Wine + Food team for putting together such an outstanding collection of unbelievable events and excursions. Be sure to follow CHSWFF on social media to get tickets for next year’s events when they are announced!