Author: Barbecue Bros

Charleston’s Palmira Barbecue has made the smooth transition to restaurant

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Name: Palmira Barbecue
Date: 2/4/24
Address: 2366 Ashley River Rd Building 1, Charleston, SC 29414
Order: Whole hog barbecue, hash and rice, beef cheek, slaw, and collards (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Note: a version of this review originally appeared earlier this year in The Smoke Sheet, a great national barbecue newsletter that I regularly contribute to. For more information on how to subscribe, visit bbqnewsletter.com.

Monk: From the moment I first tried Palmira Barbecue at the former Port of Call food hall in Charleston in 2022, I knew pitmaster Hector Garate and Palmira were destined for bigger things than simply being one stall in a small-ish food hall (which has since closed and converted to event space). Garate was doing whole hog from locally sourced pigs, and it compared so favorably even after trying it right after spending time in Pitt County, NC. And just in case you aren’t familiar, Pitt County is home to such heavy hitter whole hog restaurants as B’s Barbecue, Skylight Inn, and Sam Jones Barbecue, all of which I tried mere days before Palmira. And yet, I continued to look back fondly on what I ate from Palmira Barbecue after that trip.

So it was no surprise to me when it was announced in late summer of 2022 that Palmira (named for Garate’s grandmother) would be moving to a permanent location in West Ashley. The original targeted opening date of March 2023 didn’t happen and in the meantime Garate went back to pop-up mode, both around Charleston as well as travelling across the country and collaborating with folks like Interstellar Barbeque in Austin, Khoi Barbecue in Houston, Bark Barbecue in Brooklyn, and Tropical Smokehouse in West Palm Beach, among others. He also helped out Khoi in the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest in Lockhart last fall. Needless to say, Hector Garate stayed busy while the build out of the restaurant dragged on.

As luck would have it, I happened to be in Charleston on opening weekend in early February and was able to check out the new building on that Sunday before heading back to NC. In short, I’m happy to report that the transition from a pop-up to a brick and mortar is going smoothly from a consumer’s perspective.

Whole hog barbecue is a “standard” at Palmira, meaning its always on the menu (unless of course they have run out for the day). Garate partners with fifth-generation farmer Marvin Ross to source heritage hogs from Peculiar Pig Farms located an hour away in Dorchester. That quality certainly shines through in the meat.

Beef cheeks are another standard, and they were not available for my first trip. This is not something you typically see even in new school Texas-style barbecue joints in the Carolinas. This tender cut of meat reminds me of brisket in the way they are aggressively rubbed with salt and pepper, but they are much smaller, much more tender, and have a richer beef flavor. At Palmira, they are a must order.

In terms of other meats, barbacoa, house sausage, and ribs are the other standards with brisket, pork steaks, chicken, and beef ribs rotating in and out of the menu depending on the day.

Garate told me in 2022 that he ate hash and rice daily and while I’m not sure if that is still the case, his version continues to be one that is worthy of that distinction. Next time I stop in I will be sure to try more of the rotating sides, many of which are heavily influenced by Garate’s Puerto Rican and Cuban heritage.

On this Sunday of opening weekend, the line was out the door well before opening but the line moved at a nice clip through the meat and sides line. The restaurant itself looked great, and a beautiful mural greets you on the side of the building as you enter.

For me, Palmira Barbecue was the biggest barbecue restaurant opening this first half of the year in the Carolinas and perhaps the entire Southeast. I plan to go back imminently with a bigger appetite. Based on what I experienced, it more than delivers from the jump. Run, don’t walk, to Palmira Barbecue in Charleston.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3.5 hogs
Pork – 4 hogs
Beef cheek – 4.5 hogs
Hash – 4.5 hogs
Sides – 3.5 hogs
Overall – 4.5 hogs

An Appalachian Barbecue Story in the “The Proffitts of Ridgewood”

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Not that we’re anywhere close to being qualified enough to evaluate books but more so as a public service announcement we will periodically discuss barbecue and barbecue-related books.

Note: this article originally appeared earlier this year in The Smoke Sheet, a great national barbecue newsletter that I regularly contribute to. For more information on how to subscribe, visit bbqnewsletter.com.

Monk: The Original Ridgewood Barbecue is an east Tennessee institution, founded 75 years ago by the Proffitt family in the shadows of the famed Bristol Motor Speedway. The Proffitts still own and run the restaurant that was carved into the side of a mountain in Bullock’s hollow, with a third generation of family working there now. In “The Proffitts of Ridgewood: An Appalachian Family’s History of Barbecue,” author Fred W. Sauceman (now there’s a name for a barbecue writer) tells its history as well as the stories of not only the Proffitts but many of the longtime staff many of whom have worked there for decades.

Ridgewood’s barbecue is different from what you’ll find in North Carolina or even a few hours away in Memphis. They smoke just the hams of the hog and then thinly slice them before dressing it with their famous barbecue sauce and a mayo-based slaw. It’s like nothing you’ll likely have ever tasted but it has its fans, many of whom travel from hours away. Even North Carolinians like the late NASCAR driver Junior Johnson or author John Shelton Reed (who is originally from Tennessee and is a friend of Sauceman) sing praises of its barbecue; Ridgewood is the only barbecue restaurant outside of NC mentioned in Shelton’s seminal book “Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue.”

Another NC note: in the preface, Sauceman compares Ridgewood to Red Bridges Barbecue in Shelby not because of similar barbecue styles but because they are roughly the same age and have been traditionally run by strong women: Grace Proffitt at Ridgewood and Lyttle Bridges, Debbie Webb, and Natalie Webb Ramsey at Red Bridges.

In the book, Sauceman chronologically tells the story of the family’s roots in the area – the farm down the road dates back to 1856 – and how the restaurant evolved through the decades, from the building itself to what it served. As the story goes, Ridgewood originally started as a roadhouse bar before being forced to pivot when the county went dry in the 50s to a full service restaurant that served steak and eventually barbecue .

Along the way, we learn the story of how the building was physically expanded using wood from the Proffitt family farm (which also supplies the hickory for the wood-fired pits to this day), how the barbecue came to be hams instead of shoulders or whole hogs (to them, shoulders from hogs were for sausage), and how the famous secret barbecue sauce and its 20 ingredients (which only two people know how to make) was developed over time and through rigorous testing.

For the Proffitts, Ridgewood Barbecue is their legacy, and they are proud of it. And in “The Proffitts of Ridgewood,” Sauceman (who is originally from the area and teaches at East Tennessee University in nearby Johnson City) crafts a love letter to Ridgewood, which he has been visiting for decades. It is a concise but well-written book of 91 pages with plenty of full color photographs from over the decades of the family and restaurant. It makes for a quick but worthy read for any serious barbecue fan wanting to learn about an underrated barbecue joint.

For more information and ordering, visit Mercer University Press

The Smoke Sheet and friends meet for Barbecue Saturday

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Monk: Earlier this month, Ryan (aka BBQ Tourist) and Sean (aka NYC BBQ) of The Smoke Sheet invited myself, Ronald Simmons of Master Blend Family Farms, Michael “Chigger” Willard of the Low and Slow Barbecue Show, and Paige Hogan of Barbecued_ to meet up at Jon G’s Barbecue for a Barbecue Saturday while they were in town from Omaha and New Jersey, respectively.

Not to be outdone, Ronald invited his friend and videographer Paul to video the experience, and this is how it turned out. Enjoy!

Description: The floodgates have opened in Peachland, NC. The Master Blend Gang, The Smoke Sheet, Barbecue Bros, Big Chigger, and Barbecued’s Paige all at Jon G’s, maxing out on a barbecue kick. Sean & Ryan, thank you so much for the honor! Tommy, Paige, and Will, it was incredible meeting you guys! Chigger, you are the man!! Thank you to the Jon G Pit crew for showing us such warm hospitality! Let’s get ready to bring the house down at 2024’s Carolina BBQ Festival. All Gas No Brakes 365!!

Buxton Hall Barbecue’s 2023 closure was the latest blow for NC whole hog barbecue

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Note: A version of this article originally appeared late last year in The Smoke Sheet, a fantastic national barbecue newsletter that I regularly contribute to. For more information on how to subscribe, visit bbqnewsletter.com.

Monk: In late October of 2023, Asheville’s Buxton Hall Barbecue officially announced that it will close for good after service a few weeks later on November 22nd, 8 years after bringing whole hog to Asheville’s South Slope neighborhood. 

This closure came roughly 15 months after Elliott Moss, who was instrumental in the creation and initial branding of Buxton Hall, abruptly left the restaurant as its pitmaster. Chef Nick Barr immediately took over as Executive Chef for Buxton Hall in July 2022 until the restaurant’s closing in late 2023.

Moss started the journey that became Buxton Hall Barbecue in 2013 in what was originally called “Buxton Hill Barbecue” (note the i), which promised to bring “All wood, Pit Smoked, Pastured Whole Hog Barbeque & Heirloom Southern Fare” to Asheville. It was originally announced as a partnership between Moss and Rodney Scott, then of Scott’s Bar-B-Q before starting Rodney Scott Barbecue in 2017, which made sense when you consider that Moss has family roots in the Pee Dee Region of South Carolina where Scott is also from. 

However, that original concept was confirmed as not moving forward a few months later in September 2013 via Twitter, with Moss starting to presumably work with the Chai Pani Restaurant Group on what would eventually become Buxton Hall Barbecue (note the a).

Buxton Hall finally opened in August 2015 to great acclaim, with Moss smoking the local, pasture-raised hogs from Vandele Farm in a North Carolina-made BQ Smoker situated in an open kitchen. In addition to the whole hog, Moss’s influence was seen throughout the menu whether it be chicken bog, a chicken and rice dish from eastern South Carolina, or waffle fries, harkening back to his time working at a Chic-Fil-A in Columbia, SC. The restaurant was an instant success, and soon it was named as a “Best New Restaurant” by Bon Appétit magazine. Moss wrote a barbecue book named “Buxton Hall: Book of Smoke” that was released in October 2016 and continued to be the face of the restaurant, appearing at barbecue festivals from coast to coast under the Buxton Hall Barbecue banner.

The success continued until the entire food industry was hit by the COVID pandemic starting in March of 2020, which began a period of challenges for the restaurant. The dining room was closed from March until July 2020 before a fire forced the restaurant to temporarily close and rethink its approach to smoking whole hogs indoors. It used the period to finish repairs and install new equipment, including a new Texas-style offset smoker designed and built by Moss. The dining room reopened over a year later in August 2021 and less than a year after that Moss announced that he had left the restaurant in July 2022.

Since then, Moss took 13 months to open his next restaurants – Regina’s Westside and a sandwich shop called Little Louie’s – but left those less than 6 weeks after their opening in the summer of 2023. He has since been working barbecue pop-ups under the name Moss and Moore Barbecue and has recently traveled to Texas to collaborate with Fort Worth’s Cattleack Barbecue. He is also utilizing his welding experience and is now building pits and grills as co-owner of the Velvet Moss Company, which recently released a portable grill called “The Priscilla.”

This unfortunately marked another setback for new school North Carolina whole hog barbecue. Wyatt Dickson exited Durham’s Picnic after 7 years and his other concept Wyatt’s Barbecue never opened in Raleigh after pandemic setbacks. Jake Wood has opened Lawrence Barbecue in Durham to great success but opted not to do whole hog and instead focused on a menu featuring all styles of barbecue in addition to oysters. And of course there’s Ed Mitchell, who recently released a barbecue cookbook but whose whole hog barbecue restaurant The Preserve still hasn’t opened in Raleigh. 

In February 2024, the Chai Pani Restaurant Group moved its flagship restaurant Chai Pani into the space formerly occupied by Buxton Hall. With that, it officially closed the book on Buxton Hall Barbecue which for many of the past few years was the westernmost whole hog outpost in the state of North Carolina.

However, not all is lost in terms of whole hog barbecue. In March of 2024, Elliott Moss posted an announcement on his Instagram about his future plans. Unfortunately, after 17 years Moss and his wife Jennifer are leaving Asheville, a city which he’s undoubtedly had a huge impact from a food perspective.

On the bright side, Moss will be continuing in whole hog barbecue. While the details and location are not known at this point and will be shared “a little down the road,” that is extremely promising news because I adamantly feel that the barbecue world is better with Moss active in it.

In the meantime, you can catch him and his food at the Carolina BBQ Festival in Charlotte on April 5-6. Tickets are on sale now and it features a great lineup for the 3rd year running.