Linkdown: 11/4/15

– Kathleen Purvis thinks up humorous potential food history landmarks for Charlotte:

13 S. Church St.: Charlotte’s first documented barbecue restaurant. According to a clip in an April 1899 Charlotte Daily Observer, Katie Nunn opened a grocery and barbecue stand, with meat cooked by her husband, Levi, in a pit behind the store. The address no longer exists, but it would have been on the east side of South Church Street just north of Fourth Street.

Marker needed: The last barbecue joint to charge less than $12 for a chopped plate.

– In Monroe County, Kentucky, pork shoulder means something completely different

– Marie, Let’s Eat! checks out Briar Patch Bar-B-Que in Hiram, GA again 4 years after his first visit

– Photos from last Sunday’s TMBBQ Festival

– A couple of sites react to Calvin Trillin’s New Yorker piece on NC barbecue: Triangle Business Journal, TWC News

– Last week, Howard Conyers (originally from Manning, SC) brought whole hog to New Orleans

– Speaking of whole hog, the Whole Hog Championship will be Nov 20-21 in Raleigh

Linkdown: 10/28/15

– Calvin Trillin of The New Yorker heads down to NC with John Shelton Reed and Dan Levine in search of true ‘cue

For some years, I’m now prepared to admit, I somehow labored under the impression that Rocky Mount is the line of demarcation that separates the two principal schools of North Carolina barbecue. Wrong. The line of demarcation is, roughly, Raleigh, sixty miles west. The Research Triangle—the area encompassing Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill—is a sort of demilitarized zone, where someone who’s been concentrating on the barbecue scene, as I was on my most recent visit, half expects to see the distinctive blue helmets of United Nations peacekeepers.

– Frank Scibelli of Midwood Smokehouse is going fast casual with Midwood Smokeshack in a TBD location

– Charlotte Business Journal has a few more details on the new venture:

Scibelli says Midwood Smoke Shack would offer 70% of Midwood’s menu that features hand-pulled pork and chicken as well as brisket, ribs, sandwiches and burgers, plus side items such as mac-and-cheese and BBQ baked beans, and for dessert, peach cobbler and banana pudding.

– A couple more barbecue reviews from Marie, Let’s Eat!: Dave Poe’s in Marietta and the Dunwoody outpost of the Memphis Barbecue Company chain

– Harold Conyers is bringing SC whole hog barbecue to Nola

– Some photos from the 86th annual Mallard Creek Barbecue; we’ll have a few of our own in a post on Friday

– Does Lexington want to brand Lexington-style barbecue to prevent other restaurants outside of the city from diluting the brand?

– Queen City Q keeps on rolling, announcing a fourth location in the old Elwood’s BBQ & Burgers spot

– Chef Rick Bayless doesn’t like tv barbecue

Linkdown: 10/21/15

– In honor of tomorrow’s Mallard Creek Barbecue, here’s Kathleen Purvis’s story from last year on the history behind its famed brunswick stew

– Charlotte  Agenda thinks Smoke Modern Barbeque is a “good bet to be Charlotte’s next breakout restaurant brand”; I’m not so convinced based on their Huntersville restaurant (currently #19 on our big board) that was decent, but overpriced with small portions – though I will say that I plan to check out the new Stonecrest location at some point

– TMBBQ’s top25 new and improved barbecue joints in Texas, plus photographer Wyatt McSpadden’s photos from each

It’s been two years since Texas Monthly published its last Top 50 BBQ Joints list. It was a feat of reporting that took me and my barbecue-eating cohorts across the state to eat at countless legendary restaurants, holes-in-the-wall, out-of-the-way joints. The work didn’t end when the issue went to press. My job since then has essentially been one giant scouting mission for the next list slated for the summer of 2017.

– Marie, Let’s Eat! has more barbecue in Florida at Harry and Larry’s Bar-B-Que, this time in a revitalized downtown Winter Garden

– Fayetteville, NC is getting the third NC location of Mission BBQ

– Charlotte Agenda previews new food available at Hornets games this year, including the expanded Queen City Q outpost

– Ever wonder where folks who smoke meat for a living get their barbecue? This is the article for you

– B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque has returned from a fire and reopened in a new location in Savannah

– Daniel Vaughn has tips for ordering barbecue like a pro in First We Feast

Linkdown: 10/14/15

– True Cue expands to South Carolina

You can no longer be paid to wait in line at Franklin Barbecue

– Q Dogs in Tarpon Springs, FL serves a hot dog with barbecue and Midlands SC mustard on it,  but you might just want to order them separately instead

– Queen City Q keeps on rolling, announcing a partnership with the Charlotte Checkers as the official barbecue of the team while opening a new stand on the main concourse of Bojangles Coliseum

Queen City Q first opened in uptown Charlotte in February 2012 and opened a second location in Matthews at the Plantation Market Shopping Center in July. The restaurant also recently said it is adding a Concord location that will open in early winter.

The barbecue joint also operates two stands inside BB&T Ballpark and recently said it will open two concession stands in the Time Warner Cable Arena this fall.

– Elwood’s Burgers & BBQ has closed in Ballantyne

– Charlotte Agenda wonders if Ballantyne in south Charlotte has reached a barbecue saturation point, though of all of the barbecue restaurants in Ballantyne (including a Dickey’s, Shane’s Rib Shack, 521 BBQ, and the now-open location of Smoke Modern Barbecue) only Midwood is really worth a damn

– Joe Ovies of WRAL has a sneak peak to all the friend foods at this year’s NC State Fair, including a behemoth of a sandwich with a fried pork chop topped with barbecue, bacon, pickle, and slaw; behold the High on the Hog: