Author: Barbecue Bros

Linkdown: 10/30/24 – Thank Goodness for a Firewall edition

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Courtesy of WFAE

Featured: In case you missed it, Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge in Shelby experienced a fire in their pit room late last week. It reportedly took 15 minutes to put out the fire but thankfully, the fire was contained by the firewall between the pitroom and the restaurant.

While in the immediate aftermath of the fire, the restaurant announced that it would be closed “indefinitely,” I’m happy to report that they are utilizing exterior pits and will reopen for their normal hours starting Wednesday (today!).

Eventually, Red Bridges will redo their pit room once they get through the insurance process. Thank goodness for that firewall, else we would’ve potentially lost an iconic barbecue restaurant that’s been around for nearly 80 years.

Native News

According to Edmar Simoes‘ Instagram, he has left Resident Culture and joined Flour Shop, a new American restaurant in the Montford neighborhood of Charlotte that utilizes a wood burning oven and emphasizes “a traditional style of cooking with fire while using the freshest, locally sourced ingredients.”

I reached out to Edmar and he confirmed the move and mentioned that he will be working on some sort of smoke special soon. So stay tuned.

Congrats to Longleaf Swine, who took home some awards in the recent News & Observer Raleigh’s Best List: Gold for Best Barbecue and Silver for Best Ribs & Best Chicken Wings

The Pik N Pig stall at the NC State Fair in Raleigh is always a popular stop

A recap of this past weekend’s Barbecue Festival in Lexington

In the afterglow of last weekend’s Concert for the Carolinas in Charlotte, here’s a great story on Eric Church’s early days playing at the old Woodlands Barbecue & Pickin’ Parlor in Blowing Rock from The State You’re In

Non-Native News

A couple of recent reviews from the ever-prolific friend of the blog, John Tanner, starting with smoked pastrami at ZZQ

…then he tried the Fletcher’s BBQ food truck that serves the Richmond area

…his most recent review is of Redemption BBQ in Short Pump, VA, which he proclaims may have the best pork in all of Virginia but don’t sleep on the Brunswick stew

Fumar brings more Tex-Mex flavors to Charlotte barbecue

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Name: Fumar
Date: 9/22/24
Address: Pop up at Divine Barrel Brewing
Order: Smoked brisket torta, Texas-sized Frito pie (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Monk: Fumar is the retooled barbecue pop-up concept from Brandon Belfer after the more traditional Texas barbecue of his previous concept, Smoke Show Barbecue. I tried Smoke Show in 2021 and thought it showed promise and hoped to check them out again. That unfortunately never happened and a little over a year later, Fumar was born out of a desire to bring the flavors of South Texas that Belfer grew up around outside of San Antonio into his brand of Texas barbecue.

That manifests in menu items like brisket torta sandwiches, Frito pies made with smoked chorizo, and taco packs with beef cheek barbacoa in addition to the more traditional Texas-style brisket and ribs. On this day at Divine Barrel Brewing mere steps from the old Monk condo, I tried the brisket torta and Frito pie while listening to a pretty solid Grateful Dead cover band, Grateful Dudes. Here’s a photo of them jamming out with a groovy fan.

As for the torta and specifically the smoked brisket inside the torta, I found it to be well a fairly well-smoked slice of fatty that perhaps gets lost in all the bread, pickled red onions, and guac. Admittedly, I am a newbie when it comes to tortas and with this being my second sandwich ever my feedback would be the same for both: too much bread. The bread-to-meat ratio in this sandwich was a little off for me and perhaps its a super gringo thing for me to say, but maybe if there was more of a “thinwich” style of the torta bread I would enjoy the experience more. Apologies for any blasphemy.

I loved the “Texas-sized” Frito topped with smoked chorizo, queso, pickled onions, and avocado crema. The cardboard boat that it came in was truly “Texas-sized” and is very much a shareable item. They do have a kid’s version that comes in a smaller boat and is just chorizo and queso. Either way, I think this is a must order item when checking out Fumar.

I can tell that the Tex-Mex concept of Fumar has a more focused menu that is near and dear to Belfer’s heart, and the execution shows. I look forward to trying again soon (for real, this time) and continuing to track its progress.

Ratings:
Brisket Torta – 3.5 hogs
Frito Pie – 4 hogs
Overall – 3.5 hogs

How a Texas BBQ Joint Fused Tex-Mex and Craft Barbecue

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Monk: Panther City BBQ in Fort Worth, Texas opened in 2014 and is a shining example of bringing Tex-Mex flavors into craft barbecue. Jalapeno sausages and brisket elote cups rub elbows with the brisket and pork spare ribs that you would expect from a craft Texas barbecue restaurant (albeit with some additional flavors).

In this recent video from Eater’s Smoke Point, they follow owners and pitmasters Chris Magallanes and Ernest Morales through a day of prep. Both at the original Panther City location as well as a second restaurant they opened, Fort Worth Barbecue Company, in the former location of Bailey’s Barbecue which had occupied a small building since 1931. While they did change the name, they kept the feel of the building, which is old school, no frills barbecue. Take a look.

Charlotte’s Got a Lot (of Barbecue Styles)

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“Charlotte is not really in either part of North Carolina, it’s a city of newcomers and we have other people’s barbecue.“

Monk: When I think of Charlotte barbecue, more often than not I tend to have the above quote in my head from Tom Hanchett, the former historian at Charlotte’s Levine Museum of the New South. Charlotte’s barbecue scene has grown steadily in the twelve years since Barbecue Bros started but that growth has not typically been because of restaurants that are serving strictly traditional North Carolina barbecue.

In the spirit of the official slogan of Charlotte’s Regional Visitor’s Authority (“Charlotte’s Got a Lot”), here are the styles of other people’s barbecue you can find in the Queen City.

Texas Barbecue: Jon G’s Barbecue

Jon G’s Barbecue still remains the best barbecue available in Charlotte, and Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn thinks its even one of the top 10 Texas barbecue joints in the country (outside of Texas). I have always found Garren and Kelly Kirkman’s barbecue joint to be remarkably consistent, whether I’m at one of their weekly food truck services around the greater Charlotte area or at the restaurant in Peachland, where they’ve turned Barbecue Saturdays at their restaurant into a destination-worthy event for travelers from all across the southeast and even United States. 116 Glenn Falls St, Peachland, NC 28133 jongsbarbecue.com

Tex-Mex Barbecue: Union Barbecue

Earlier this year, Chefs Holden Sasser and Chase Young burst onto the Charlotte barbecue scene with “new school barbecue” and “Mexican flavors” in the form of their Union Barbecue food truck. Sasser is actually a Charlotte native who recently relocated back from San Francisco, where he worked in food technology and did barbecue pop-ups in his free time. Meats range from beef cheek barbacoa to pork carnitas to brisket (all served with house made tortillas) and they’ve got some seriously awesome, inventive sides. unionbarbecue.com

Midlands South Carolina Barbecue: Sweet Lew’s BBQ

In late 2023 Sweet Lew’s BBQ celebrated 5 years open, a nice milestone for the ever-changing Belmont neighborhood restaurant. One thing that’s been on the menu for a few years now is the Midlands, South Carolina specialty hash and rice (or barbecue hash or, simply, hash). There’s a lot to like about the other meats on the menu, but definitely don’t sleep on the hash. 923 Belmont Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205 sweetlewsbbq.com

Kansas City Barbecue: Midwood Smokehouse

While Midwood Smokehouse is more of what barbecue author John Shelton Reed calls an “international house of barbecue” with multiple styles on their menu, they were one of the first restaurants in Charlotte to offer burnt ends smoked out of their Oyler smoker when they opened in 2011. Multiple locations midwoodsmokehouse.com

Lexington Barbecue: Resident Culture Brewing

Another recent entrant to the Charlotte barbecue scene is Resident Culture Brewing, who last year brought on Chef Edmar Simoes (previously of Noble Smoke and Saucemans) to start their barbecue program out of the South End location of the brewery in late 2023. Simoes is actually Brazilian-born but has taken to American barbecue (as evidenced by his Instagram handle “american_bbq”) and learned the ways of Lexington-style barbecue from his time at Noble Smoke. Throw some barbecue slaw and some vinegar sauce onto a bit of barbecue, and you might as well be 60 minutes north on I-85. 332 W Bland St. Suite C Charlotte, NC 28203 residentculturebrewing.com