Monk: Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn joins the Tales from the Pit guys for a wide-ranging conversation from his origin story with Texas barbecue to the early days of his blog to the construction of Top 50 lists and how they may or may not affect relationships with barbecue restaurant owners. A good, frank discussion between barbecue aficionados.
Description: Five years ago we launched Tales from the Pits to help tell the stories behind the people in barbecue. Daniel Vaughn’s writing and documenting of Texas barbecue has been one of our (and everyone else in the state’s) biggest resources in seeking out new places and visiting the classic joints.
We were excited to have Daniel join us on this episode to discuss all things barbecue past, present and future, lists, Texas Monthly, and more. A big thanks to Daniel for sitting down with us and to everyone who’s tuned in over all these years!
A fun story from Charlotte Magazine on how Chapel Hill-born fashion designer Alexander Julian got paid in barbecue for designing the original Charlotte Hornets jerseys.
According to Juilian (also known for the UNC Chapel Hill argyle and being the costume designer for Robert Altman’s The Player), “I had this idea: What good is money if you can’t buy barbecue? I call it Carolina caviar. … I said, ‘I’ll give you ownership of the design for five pounds of Carolina barbecue a month.’ A (writer) asked me to sum up the whole experience. I said, ‘Well, George (Shinn) got rich, and I got fat. I traded $10 million worth of royalties for a gut.'”
Getting paid in barbecue, that’s the dream. Well played Alexander Julian, well played.
Native News
Garren of Jon G’s Barbecue featured on the Minsters of Smoke Instagram page
The Texas Monthly BBQ Fest moves to Lockhart for this year’s edition
The best barbecue event around is moving to the BBQ capital of Texas. Mark your calendars for 11/5 & 11/6 in Lockhart for our biggest BBQ Fest ever! Like Texas Monthly BBQ Fest on Facebook to stay in the know. https://t.co/zmORHSkdvx @cityoflockharttx #tmbbqfestpic.twitter.com/b6Nhx3ev17
The first rule of barbecue wood selection? Don't use pine. @BBQSnob lists other important considerations in this experts' guide: https://t.co/3iuvZpXawk
These Pitt fans surely left Charlotte happy, both from the Panthers ACC Championship win over Wake Forest but also the Sweet Lew’s
Saw a bunch of Pitt guys at @sweetlewsbbq this afternoon. Wonder if they made it to the game or just lapsed into a blissful food coma in the parking lot
With the holidays quickly approaching, it can be hard to find the perfect gift. Luckily, we’ve got all the gifts you need for the beef and BBQ-loving Texans in your life. https://t.co/51tIoQxsMv
Speaking of gifts, might need a few of these in the Monk household
If you’re taking a family BBQ road trip, these journal/scrap book/sticker books from @BarbecueWife might be a good idea for the little ones you plan to bring along. pic.twitter.com/bd8NmFCt5w
Roegels Barbecue in Katy is adding a new smoke pit
GW is on its way to its new home. Our new pit is headed to our Katy location. GW stands for Gary Wayne. Gary was the guy who got me into this Barbecue business and we are paying tribute to him.
Hogs for the Cause releases its music lineup for next April
Hot off the grill: Our 2022 lineup! Our last one sold out and broke fundraising records. Let's go even bigger this year! A VERY LIMITED amount of Early Bird tickets on sale now. They will NOT last long, so get them before the price rises » https://t.co/nfaJD7JQmn
Porkstrami, smoked corn dogs, and multiple brisket breakfast biscuits made our barbecue editor's list of superlative dishes this year.https://t.co/sisyCHn0zA
In a collaboration you simply love to see: Jon G’s is collaborating with Salud Beer Shop to create a series of barbecue-inspired pizzas available until all month until December 24. The Monk clan used to live down the street from Salud when we lived in NoDa and I am a huge supporter of what Jason and his wife Dairelyn have built; what started out as a kickass bottle shop soon expanded to a small brewery and coffee shop upstairs before offering creative pizzas more recently. Its long been my favorite beer bar in Charlotte and all of North Carolina. And you don’t have to take just my word for it; they’ve been voted “Best Beer Bar” in the U.S. three years running.
Put together by mutual friend Stephen Philpott, these pizzas look simply delicious:
The Jon: Brisket, Jalapenos, Pickled Red Onions, Jon G’s Barbecue Sauce, Salt and Vinegar chips, Chives, Smoked Sea Salt, Black Pepper.
The Kelly: Cheesey Tex Sausage Link, Mozzarella, Bacon, Chopped Calabrian Chilies, Ham, Crispy Cajun Onions, House Honey Mustard, Chives.
The Philpott: Cheerwine Sausage, House Chimichurri, Salud Kutless Lager Braised Sweet Onions, Bianco Dinapoli Tomatoes, Mozzarella.
The pizzas are available at Salud and I hope to try at least one but hopefully all three this month.
Native News
Jon G’s will finally be at Rhino Market in Wesley Heights tomorrow
Carolina Smoke, a food truck in Morganton, has opened its brick and mortar dubbed Carolina Smoke Barbeque Grill and Copper Still
Barbecue books from Asheville-area Buxton Hall and 12 Bonesmake great gifts
The First Pickles, Pigs, & Swigs Festival in Mount Olive looked to be a success
Non-Native News
More on the reopening of Franklin Barbecue indoor dining
After enduring twenty months of takeout-only service, Franklin fanatics were thrilled to spend hours—up to ten of 'em—in line for Texas's most famous brisket.https://t.co/pXqMHBN0EL+
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.