Linkdown: 2/9/22

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I covered this on the Facebook page briefly a few weeks back, but Smiley’s Lexington BBQ has officially announced its closing due to the NCDOT widening of Winston Road in Lexington. This widening was first announced in 2018 with a start date in summer 2020 but had likely been delayed due to the pandemic.

While owner Steve Yountz is not ready to retire just yet, per him “right now there is no definite plans on relocating as far as availably and affordability.” Patrons will have until February 26 to dine at the current location of Smiley’s before it closes its doors for good.

Nearby barbecue restaurant Speedy’s is also expected to close as a result of the road widening, however they are more optimistic about reopening in a new location and plan to rebuild and relocate, depending on the compensation they receive from DOT.

While the optimist in me hopes that both restaurants are able to relocate and continue business in due time, I worry that by next month we will be down two more classic NC barbecue joints.

Native News

A helpful post from Grady’s

Non-Native News

Applications for the Preserve the Pit fellowship are due March 1st

Tim Carman of The Washington Post comes out with his annual barbecue list, with the wrinkle of releasing it in the winter time when some joints are closed

Carman also mourns the loss of pitmaster Corries Hardy

Rodney Scott and Eric Church getting into the honkey tonk game, and bringing whole hog to Broadway at Chief’s

Loro’s second location opens in Houston later this month

J.C. Reid on the evolution of the “Texas Trinity”

Roegels Barbecue opened their Katy location last week

Eater NY critic Robert Sietsema finds Myron Mixon’s Hoboken restaurant to be mixed in quality

Product Review: Slow ‘N Sear® from SnS Grills

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Monk: SnS Grills is a grill and accessories company headquartered in Concord, NC. The story of the company and its founder David Parrish is covered in detail on their website but long story short Parrish got hooked in with the Amazing Ribs website and its community of amateur pitmasters and grillers before eventually deciding to tackle the riddle of how to turn a kettle grill into a legit smoker. The Slow ‘N Sear is the product of him using his physics degree for the good of barbecue and grilling.

And it’s won the company some acclaim, with Meathead Goldwyn of Amazing Ribs proclaiming it “the single best accessory for the Weber kettle ever” and Steven Raichlen calling it the “best new barbecue product of 2018.” Having re-ignited my love for my now-16-year old Weber kettle during the pandemic, I had to give it a try for myself.

Made of heavy duty steel (listed on the site as “18-gauge 430 stainless steel”), the Slow ‘N Sear is a charcoal basket that sits directly on the bottom grate of my Weber kettle grill. Where it differs from the Weber Char-Baskets is that it is made larger to fit more charcoal without needing to constantly refill but more importantly it has a built-in water reservoir to help evenly cook the meat.

I tried it out with a small chuck roast and the Slow ‘N Sear worked like a charm. The basket promoted airflow and burned the charcoal cleanly. While the website says the reservoir will get you 5+ hours of steam from the water reservoir, I refilled it once during the cook. I may have cooked the meat just a tad over but through no fault of the basket. And while this chuck roast was too small, had it been a steak or other piece of meat I could have flipped it directly above the charcoal for searing.

There are actually two models of this insert – this original and the Deluxe which has a removable water reservoir and a ventilated plate for $30 more.

SnS Grills has expanded into making a ton of other grill accessories along with their own line of kamado smokers and kettle grills and I will give serious consideration to the kamado next time I’m in the market for a smoker. However, if you are still rocking an old-school Weber kettle grill like me, the Slow ‘N Sear is an easy way to turn it into a legit offset smoker.

Linkdown: 2/2/22

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Barbecue fests are back, baby! Earlier this week, both the BBQ Fest on the Neuse in Kinston, NC and the Houston Barbecue Festival announced separately that they were both back in spring 2022.

This is after other festivals announce plans to come back strong in 2022, notably Memphis in May, Hogs for the Cause, Jiggy with the Piggy, and Aaron Franklin’s Hot Luck Festival.

Plus the successful debuts of the Pinehurst Barbecue Festival and Holy Smokes in 2021. And finally, it looks like The Barbecue Festival should be back in 2022 as well.

Fingers crossed that we get on the other side of the omicron variant and things can finally go back to relative normalcy.

Native News

Lawrence Barbecue renames their most popular sandwich in honor of American Aquarium, with proceeds in the month of February going to the Jimmy V Foundation (a favorite charity of hardcore NC State fan and lead singer BJ Barham)

Jiggy with the Piggy seeks vendors and sponsors

Non-Native News

Introducing, the concept of a “Texatarian”

More on the wood issues facing Texas pitmasters

Former Texas A&M Defensive Lineman Jay Arnold is starting a new substack newsletter

https://twitter.com/JArnoldTAMU85/status/1488276965496803328

Heim Barbecue has scheduled another BBQ class at their River location

RIP Danny Edwards of Lil’ Jake’s in Kansas City

JD’s Smokehouse – Rutherford College, NC

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Name: JD’s Smokehouse
Date: 12/10/21
Address: 500 Malcolm Blvd, Rutherford College, NC 28671
Order: Pork and brisket combination (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Monk: Coming back from a quick overnight trip to Asheville, with Buxton Hall not open until 11:30am, I got out of town and headed towards Charlotte east on I-40. That would put me in the Connelly Springs/Rutherford College area right at lunchtime, in time to finally catch JD’s Smokehouse where “[i]t’s a weekend celebration.”

That means its only open from Thursdays to Saturdays, and JD’s Smokehouse was packed on a Friday lunch this past December. Now that may be because they have a loyal local fanbase but perhaps it also in some part due to being voted best barbecue in NC by the readers of “Strange Carolinas” in 2021. It was a recommendation on our Facebook page in the early days of this blog, so my visit was long overdue.

Visitors are greeted with the welcome sight of a couple of racks of firewood as they enter the restaurant. Just off to the left of this shot is the entrance to the smokehouse. It all looked so promising.

I went with the pork and brisket combo, but for only $0.50 more I could have gotten ribs as well. An amateur mistake on my part. Though if the ribs were more like the brisket than the pork, I made the right choice.

Which is to say that that pork was my favorite of the two meats that day. Fresh and smoky, it was a solid serving of barbecue. Dashes of table sauce didn’t hurt it, and I was satisfied at that point in my meal.

The brisket, on the other head was overcooked and on the bland side of things. It didn’t have the peppery bark of a Central Texas-style brisket (which is fine) but it didn’t wow me with what it was trying to do either.

As for sides, the red slaw came spicy, there was a dinner roll instead of any sort of cornmeal, and the plate was served with a side of pickled jalapenos. Just what exactly they were going for is anyone’s guess, but it appears to me to be a mish-mash of several different styles.

And that is ultimately my issue with JD’s Smokehouse: they didn’t have a clear identity, or at least not one that was immediately discernable by me. They smoke with wood coals, which should be applauded, but is ultimately one restaurateur’s take on an “international house of barbecue” model. As has been the case for a couple of recent reviews, should you find yourself here, my suggestion is to stick with the pork.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Pork – 3.5 hogs
Brisket – 2 hogs
Sides – 2 hogs
Overall – 3 hogs