Linkdown: 6/7/23 – The Agent ‘Cue Edition

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Monk: Queen City Nerve goes deep on the roots of the newly opened Firehawk Brewpub in Mount Holly. While I haven’t made it out there myself (and couldn’t make the media opening due to family commitments), I do plan to make the trip very soon. After reading this article about the barbecue restaurant/fish camp/brewery, I’m even more excited.

Native News

Dana Hanson is a Meat Scientist at NC State and runs their annual barbecue camp, modeled after Texas A&M

Sweet Lew’s BBQ and The Smoke Pit are two vendors for this weekend’s Taste of Charlotte

Looks like Christopher Prieto and Prime Barbecue will be on UNC-TV soon

New Sam Jones BBQ merch just in time for Father’s Day

Non-Native News

John Tanner enjoyed Randy’s Ribs , a carry-out place on Route 5 in Maryland

Fresh off retirement from the competition circuit, Melissa Cookston weighs in on 14 barbecue myths

Congrats to Kevin Bludso on the James Beard win for his latest cookbook;

No barbecue pitmasters or chefs won this year and the Carolinas were also shut out, but here’s the full list of winners

Charlotte Barbecue News from the Final Months of 2022

Monk: The biggest news from a mostly quiet past three months was the reopening of Bubba’s Barbecue in north Charlotte after 2+ years closure due to the pandemic. It technically opened over the summer, but that was a quiet reopening and it wasn’t publicized until October.

As noted in the article linked below, the restaurant first opened in 1963 as Jackson and Spoon’s Barbecue (later just Spoon’s Barbecue) on South Boulevard. In 1987, owner Ralph Miller purchased the restaurant and the original recipes. He later renamed the restaurant Bubba’s Barbecue and moved it to Sunset Road, where it has been serving Eastern North Carolina-style barbecue since 1994.

I’ll have a report back in a few weeks, but in the meantime it’s good to have a classic barbecue restaurant back in operation.

October

10/7 Bubba’s Barbecue quietly reopened over the summer, reports the Charlotte Observer

10/9 Jon G’s Barbecue collaborates with Lawrence Barbecue on a taco pop-up in Raleigh at Trophy Brewing

10/11 Mac’s Speed Shop’s latest location in Concord will also feature live music

10/18 Local coverage from WSOC TV on Phar Mill Brewing & BBQ‘s expansion into Concord

10/23 Courtney’s BBQ in nearby Clover opened a brewery that is open every day the restaurant is

November

11/7 The Smoke Pit wins Best Soup for its Smoked Chicken and Dumplings in the 17th Annual Soup Sampling by Cabarrus County’s Meals on Wheels

11/17 Jon G’s Barbecue collaborated with Virtuoso Bread in Waxhaw by smoking a bag of rye berries for 4 hours “in a way that the flavor would come out gentle and not too intrusive”

11/30 The NC F&B Podcast publishes its podcast visit to Jon G’s Barbecue

December

12/19 Midwood Smokehouse’s Raleigh location (opening this month) will have some different items than their current stores, including what looks to be a crunchwrap-type item

12/28 Mac’s Speed Shop has new menu items until the end of February, including this beef rib

Charlotte Barbecue News from July through September of 2022

Monk: Phar Mill BBQ and Brewing has not only recently joined the Charlotte barbecue landscape within the last year or so but has even opened a second location in Concord (it’s original location is in Harrisburg). They are a joint that is smoking it’s barbecue over wood – on a Jon G’s smoker, nonetheless – and I hope to report back soon.

In the next six months, I’d love to see more upstart barbecue joints in Charlotte plus maybe an established, wood-smoking chain like Sam Jones or Rodney Scott or Home Team join the Charlotte barbecue scene because, you know, a rising tide lifts all boats.

Here’s the notable barbecue news from the past three months.

July

7/12 Spectrum 1 checks in on Barvecue, the wood-smoked, plant-based barbecue from Cornelius

7/12 Jon G’s Barbecue makes Yelp Charlotte’s list of 25 places to eat in Charlotte

7/15 Lewis Donald is no longer involved with Dish and will be focusing his efforts on Sweet Lew’s BBQ and the Carolina Barbecue Festival going forward

August

8/3 HopFly Brewing Company releases Go Time Smoked Pilsner, brewed in collaboration with Jon G’s Barbecue:

We put this recipe together with our friends from the renowned @jongsbbq in Peachland, NC. In addition to our favorite pilsner malt, we filled this beer out with a healthy quantity of wheat smoked by Jon G himself down in Peachland. This beautiful golden lager has a round, malty sweetness complemented nicely with overtones of the BBQ pit. It’s the perfect accompaniment to a slab of smoked brisket, or while you’re at home standing next to the grill. 4.0% ABV

8/3 Jon G’s also makes the News & Observer’s favorite NC barbecue joints

September

9/3 Jon G’s Barbecue shares some photos of their involvement in the wedding of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Afflect in Savannah

9/9 Phar Mill Brewing and BBQ opens its Concord location

9/14 Noble Smoke, Jon G’s, Midwood Smokehouse, and The Smoke Pit are included in this Texas-style barbecue restaurant roundup from Kevin’s BBQ Joints

9/16 Phar Mill Brewing and BBQ announces its new chef, Chef Eric

9/17 Midwood Smokehouse made it to the finals of the News & Observer Barbecue Bracket but ultimately lost to Wilber’s Barbecue

Linkdown: 4/27/22

Native News

At Port-A-Pit BBQ in Statesville, they serve the public as well as help the community fundraise

BBQ King gets a segment on Spectrum News 1

Old Colony Smokehouse looks like it should be added to my list

The Smoke Pit is one of the recommended places to eat when in Concord just north of Charlotte

The best barbecue places in Eastern NC according to WNCT’s analysis of TripAdvisor data

Get tickets to the Carolina BBQ Festival while you can

Non-Native News

The first in a series of articles from the great Hanna Raskin leading up to the Southern Foodways Alliance Fall Symposium on Barbecue. Can’t wait to read the rest.

John Lewis has brought “border food” to the lowcountry with Rancho Luis

I know nothing about any of these restaurants in NoVa, but here you go

Another national list

The famed Tootsie Tomanetz of Snow’s BBQ celebrated her 87th birthday last Thursday