Monk: I’ve previously reviewed Old Hampton Store & Barbeque in early 2024 but if you need a refresher its a true ‘cue joint located in Linville, NC. The mountains aren’t typically a place where you find wood smoked barbecue, but Old Hampton Store is one of the standard bearers.
On a recent November 2025 trip to the NC mountains to get our Christmas tree, we once again stopped for lunch at Old Hampton afterwards and were treated to a side of bluegrass music with our barbecue. First, some photos:
Monk: Closing the book on 2025 with a round up of the best things I ate last year. As it turns out, the list is equally weighted between barbecue from the first half of the year and the second. On to 2026!
6. Smoked brisket burger from Dampf Good BBQ (review)
While there was a lot to like at Dampf Good BBQ earlier this year, the smoked brisket burger took the cake over the brisket, ribs, and sausage. So much so that I forgot to take photos of it until I had taken a few bites of the delicious burger made from smoked brisket trimmings and topped with cheese, pickles, and mayo on a potato bun. It was a special on that day, but be on the look out if you are checking them out in Cary.
5. Chopped Lexington-style barbecue from Real Q (review)
It’s always good to strike a classic style Lexington barbecue off my longtime list. Real Q blends old school Piedmont dining with a decor that is unmistakably Winston-Salem through its depictions of Texas Pete and the tobacco industry that once drove the economic engine of the town. The chopped pork even turned the youngest Monkette into a believer.
4. Smoked Berkshire pork chop from Slow Bone (review)
The smoked Berkshire pork chop from Slow Bone in Dallas is a Sunday/Monday special that takes 3 weeks of prep work from initial seasoning to two separate stints of brining with a smoking between them before being finished on a flat top once they are ordered. While the complexity of that process may be lost on a lot of patrons who enter the door, I’m sure at the very least they can appreciate the juicy, flavorful pork chop placed before them.
I live by a simple rule: if I see beef cheeks on the menu, I’m going to buy it. Maybe I’ve been lucky but the two places I’ve tried – Palmira Barbecue in Charleston and Owens & Hull in Smyrna – have put out some seriously tasty renditions that are must orders at their respective restaurants.
2. Whole hog from Wilber’s Barbecue
A somewhat unexpected pop up brought some delicious eastern NC whole hog from Goldsboro to Charlotte just before Christmas. Wilber’s rented a Penske truck with coolers full of barbecue, brisket, ribs, turkey, slaw, hush puppies, Brunswick stew, naner pudding, and sides and set up a pick up spot behind the old Manor Theatre. For anyone who took advantage, they got a taste of whole hog barbecue that you just don’t get here in Charlotte.
1. Chopped pork with crispy skins from City Limits Barbeque (review)
Robbie Robinson mixes in pork belly with his whole pork shoulders and then chops in some crispy skin to finish it off. As I predicted back in June, it was going to take a lot to knock this sandwich from the West Columbia restaurant off its perch as my favorite bite of barbecue in 2025. And as it turns out, nothing did. Can’t wait to get back to City Limits soon.
#1 Visit the joints I’ve been putting off (evergreen)
Gymnastics travels (for the eldest Monkette, not me) take us to Greenville, NC this spring so this will be a good way to plug in some of my eastern North Carolina holes. I’m planning for some combination of Bum’s, Grady’s, Wilber’s, and Stephenson’s to be in the cards.
I also want to revisit some more classic NC joints closer to home in the piedmont, specifically in the Lexington area. It may be time to refresh my Lexington-area rankings, which I first published in 2022:
Then of course there’s still the SC joints on my list: Elliott’s BBQ Lounge in Florence, Fork Grove BBQ in Anderson, King BBQ in North Charleston, and perhaps a revisit to Palmira Barbecue in Charleston.
Ribs from Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneertown, CA
#2 Getting back into cooking ribs
Now that I’ve conquered whole hog (kidding), I want to get back into regularly smoking ribs and trying to dial in my process. Way back in the dark days of early COVID I pulled out the old Weber kettle from the crawl space underneath my house that I hadn’t touched in about 5 years and haven’t put it back since.
In 2026, maybe I’ll now pull out the Oklahoma Joe’s offset from the garage and between the two figure it all out when it comes to ribs.
#3 Take a barbecue trip
This one may be a little aspirational with all of my other personal travel, but I’d love to figure out a barbecue-specific trip to take in 2026. What does that look like, exactly? Maybe that’s to an out-of-state barbecue festival, something that was on my list last year but not accomplished. Or maybe its a barbecue road trip by car somewhere in the Southeast? Or perhaps its a flight to to another state to explore their barbecue. I’m leaving it open-ended on purpose.
Monk: I’ve never really been one for New Year’s resolutions in my personal life, but for the first time last year I put forth some barbecue-related ones. The thing with resolutions is that some may be kept but some are also forgotten almost the instant they are said out loud (or typed in this case).
With that said, let’s see how I did utilizing our patented 5 hogs scale:
Resolution #1: Visit the joints I’ve been putting off Verdict: 3 hogs
Going into 2025: In addition to Grady’s there are a few other newer joints that I want to check out (funnily enough, all in South Carolina): the James Beard-nominated City Limits Q in West Columbia, Fork Grove BBQ in Anderson, and the soon-to-open Elliott’s Barbecue in Florence from Elliott Moss formerly of Buxton Hall Barbecue. I hope to hit those this year for the first time and maybe revisit a classic NC joint or two in addition.
The verdict on this one is mixed. In 2025 I did finally visit the twice-James Beard nominated City Limits Barbeque in West Columbia plus a couple of NC joints I didn’t identify going into the year (Dampf Good BBQ in Cary and a classic NC barbecue joint in Real Q in Winston-Salem.
But the others I identified in my resolution but did not make it to were Fork Grove BBQ, Elliott’s Barbecue, and Grady’s.
Resolution #2: Attend an Out-of-State Barbecue Festival Verdict: 0 hogs
Going into 2025: This year, its time to try an out-of-state barbecue festival, perhaps something like the Memphis in May Festival or Holy Smokes in North Charleston, both of which I’ve done in the past and would happily revisit. Or perhaps attend one that haven’t been to such as the Windy City Smokeout in Chicago, Jack Daniel’s World Championship in Lynchburg, TN or one of the many festivals in Texas like the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest in Grand Prairie or Houston, the Red Dirt BBQ & Music Festival in Tyler, or Aaron Franklin’s Hot Luck Festival in Austin.
I did not make it to a single out-of-state barbecue festival this year, and only attended the Carolina BBQ Festival’s Fall Pig Pick’n, which was a great event but decidedly in-town and not out-of-state.
Resolution #3: Smoke my own whole hog Verdict: 5 hogs
Going into 2025: I’ve thought over the years about doing another one but just haven’t made it happen. Well, that needs to change and this fall I plan to do just that.
I did it! My second ever whole hog was a rousing success last fall, feeding about 350 people and I’m going to run it back this coming October. Ideally, with a little more help. Recap here:
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