Charlotte Barbecue News from the Fourth Quarter of 2021

Monk: We enter the new year with cautious optimism, both on the real world as well as barbecue world fronts. My hope for 2022 is that we can regain any Charlotte barbecue momentum that has largely been on pause for the past two years and see some new players enter the game.

Bring it on, 2022.

October

10/12 At Mac’s Speed Shop, beef ribs and bacon-wrapped jalapenos are two of the prep-intensive items that are being taken off the menu for now

10/21 Jon G’s was featured in the Fall 2021 Issue of QC Exclusive

10/28 Lewis Donald and Sweet Lew’s BBQ raised funds to help the family of a young girl who tragically took her own life at the age of 11

November

11/8 Mac’s Speed Shop is closing its Cornelius restaurant but opening a new one in Mooresville

11/8 A new live-fire cooking restaurant called Cinder is opening in Charlotte from Husk veteran Duke Kroger (who identifies himself as a pitmaster in his Twitter profile)

11/17 After announcing that its Lake Norman location was going to close, Mac’s Speed Shop announced plans for the restaurant to stay open as a smaller location after an outpouring of love from the community

11/29 Jon G’s Barbecue and Salud Beer Shop team up for a pizza collaboration for the month of December

December

12/6 Sweet Lew’s BBQ celebrated 3 years open

12/8 Jon G’s Barbecue is named “Barbecue Restaurant of the Year” by Eater Carolinas

12/9 Tony Salerno Named Vice President of Operations for Mac’s Hospitality Group

12/13 Local coverage of Jon G’s being named “Barbecue Restaurant of the Year” by Eater Carolinas

12/13 With it’s upcoming stall at Optimist Hall, Noble Smoke is one Charlotte-area restaurant in expansion mode in 2022

12/29 Jon G’s and Salud Beer Shop announce they will continue their pizza collab in the new year for the first part of January

See you in 2022!

Monk: The Barbecue Bros are going to take the rest of 2021 off to come back strong in 2022. As we close the book on the rollercoaster that was 2021, let’s first look back at the past year.

We posted 21 new reviews across 6 states, most of them predictably in the southeast. Maybe 2022 will allow for more barbecue travels, and I’m in particular looking forward to finally spending some time in eastern NC in spring 2022.

The breakdown of reviews by state were as follows:

  • 12 North Carolina
  • 3 South Carolina
  • 2 Georgia
  • 2 Tennessee
  • 1 Florida
  • 1 Missouri

In addition to our usual cadence of restaurant reviews, linkdowns, and Friday Finds, I tried to branch out when to came to original content.

Notably, over the summer I took a break from collecting news for the weekly linkdowns to instead do weekly recaps of “BBQ Brawl” Season 2 from June until August, complete with screencaps. After that experience, I gotta say I don’t envy those that have to recap TV for a living but it was a fun diversion from the usual. I might even consider doing again if there’s a season 3.

Additionally, we had some great original content:

I hope to continue scratching some different itches next year, and I welcome any requests or suggestions in the comments.

See you in 2022!

The Barbecue Bros Holiday Gift Guide 2021

Monk: Back for another year is our annual holiday gift guide. For you or the barbecue-obsessed person in your life, these are some of the best gifts available whether it be sauces or rubs or books or shirts.

Am I missing something? Comment below or email me at barbecuebros@gmail.com

Note: items in bold are personally recommended

Updated: 12/20/21

Charlotte-area Barbecue Gifts

The Original Slow ‘N Sear from SnS Grills (link)

Rub and Sauces from Fire of Coals (link)

T-shirts, hoodies, Matt’s Rub, sauces, and gift cards from Midwood Smokehouse (link)

Rub, sauce, gift cards, swag from Sweet Lew’s BBQ (link)

Rubs from Roddey’s BBQ (DM on Instagram)

North Carolina Barbecue Gifts

Books

Hats, T-Shirts, Apparel

Accessories, Stocking Stuffers, etc.

Non-Native Barbecue Gifts

Books

Cookbooks, from pitmasters and food writers alike

Food History, Cultural Writing, and Photography

Hats, T-Shirts, Apparel

Accessories, Stocking Stuffers, etc.

Happy Shopping!

Charlotte Barbecue News from the Third Quarter of 2021

Monk: If there was an overarching theme for Charlotte barbecue the past three months, it would be expansion. In the second quarter roundup, I had hoped for new concepts and expansion. While we didn’t necessarily get new concepts (yet), we did get quite a bit in the way of expansion. Mac’s Speed Shop, Midwood Smokehouse, and Noble Smoke all announced new locations, (although only one of which is in Charlotte), and rumor has it another Charlotte barbecue joint may be expanding as well.

Not to mention, Phar Mill Brewing in Harrisburg expanded in a slightly different way. Pharr Mill BBQ is utilizing a Jon G’s barbecue pit and they typically serve some combination of brisket, ribs, and pork Thursdays through Saturdays.

July

7/3 Pharr Mill BBQ starts smoking on their Jon G’s barbecue pit at Phar Mill Brewery in Harrisburg

7/10 Noble Smoke celebrates 2 years in business

7/22 FS Food Group announces a Midwood Smokehouse location for Raleigh later his year

7/29 Smoke Show BBQ pivots to Tex-Mex barbecue

7/31 Charlotte-raised Bryan Furman returns to Charlotte and brings his Bryan Furman BBQ pop-up to Sweet Lew’s BBQ

August

8/9 In a nice nod to its employees, all Mac’s Speed Shop locations closed for the day to fight employee burnout

“Our people have been going way above and beyond to make our carry-out, eat-in and delivery business grow by leaps and bounds”… “I’ve never seen a team so dedicated to bringing fun and good food back into the lives of people pent-up by the pandemic.”

Mac’s President Shang Skipper

8/10 Sweet Lew’s Barbeque introduces the “Carolinas Frito Pie”: Carolina bbq hash, warm pimento cheese and jalapeños

8/14 Mac’s Speed Shop is expanding to Fort Mill

8/26 Secondhand Smoke takes over the Pete’s BBQ legacy in Fort Mill

8/27 Jon G’s gets the Axios Charlotte bump

8/30 The 91st Mallard Creek Barbecue is postponed yet another year

September

9/8 Indian Trail’s 100 Main Beef and Barbecue gets featured in Spectrum News for being both a barbecue restaurant and a country store

9/10 Barvecue, the wood-smoked plan-based barbecue company out of Cornelius, is rolling out to 12 colleges and universities and just signed a deal with Sprouts Farmers Market

9/9 Jon G’s Barbecue make this list of “Best New Barbecue Joints in the South” from Southern Living

9/16 Noble Smoke announced its second location will be a stall at the Optimist Hall food hall

9/16 More coverage on the stall from Axios Charlotte

9/24 K&N BBQ competes against Dan Good Que in Food Truck Rumble CLT