2.5 hogs

The Original Q Shack – Durham, NC

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Name: The Original Q Shack
Date: 3/4/15
Address: 2510 University Drive, Durham, NC
Order: 3 meat combo (pork, brisket, ribs), collards, fried okra (link to menu)
Price: $16

Speedy: Oftentimes, when my co-workers hear about the blog or my love of great ‘cue, they make suggestions of places I “have” to try. Some have been great, but in general, I’m skeptical until I know someone has legit barbecue taste.

Monk: Quick question just because I’m curious – how many have you found to have legit barbecue taste?

Speedy: There are a couple – generally people who grew up in a ‘cue mecca. It only takes a short conversation to figure out who to trust.

Since I starting working relatively frequently in the research triangle area (over a year ago), I’ve been hearing that I need to check out The Original Q Shack. After checking out the similarly named (and themed) Q Shack in Raleigh, I was avoiding at all costs; however, I’ve heard that there may not be much (or any) connection, so a trip to Cameron Indoor to attend the execution of my beloved Demon Deacons basketball season seemed like a good excuse to check it out.

Monk: From what I can tell, The Original Q Shack is not officially affiliated with the North Hills Q Shack you visited or The Q Shack in south Charlotte, which is part of the same chain as North Hills. I’m guessing that also makes it a 0% chance you and I ever visit the south Charlotte location.

Speedy: Thanks for doing the research, Monk. He’s not the best in the business for nothing, folks.

The Original Q Shack looks like an old-timey joint with outdoor (covered) seating and a small space indoors. The night I was there, there was a bluegrass quartet playing, which really added to the atmosphere. Similar to the Raleigh abomination, you order cafeteria style, and the meat is cut in front of you. To maximize coverage, I, of course, went with the three meat sampler.

At $16, this combo plate is not too overpriced, considering the portions. I think it could easily serve as a meal for two people. I was a little disappointed that it came with white bread instead of hush puppies or cornbread, but what can ya do?

The pork was decent. It was plenty tender and had decent flavor, though it could’ve used a little more smoke. It didn’t seem like the pork was sauced at all – I think chopping it and adding a little dip would do wonders. I also didn’t get any bark mixed in with mine – not sure if that was by design or if I got unlucky, but it was disappointing. I wouldn’t call this the best pork I’ve had, and certainly there are better options not too far away, but I wasn’t upset with it.

The ribs were actually quite good. The Original Q Shack serves spare ribs, pre-cut and lightly glazed. They were cooked almost perfectly – tender but not falling off the bone, with a good combination of sauce and a dry rub taste. This is the meat I would recommend and would have if I ever find myself back.

The brisket, unfortunately, was just plain bad. I got a mix of fatty and lean and the piece I had was way, way overcooked. My slices had minimal bark, were dry, and any flavor had long since left the meat. Overall, it was very, very disappointing. Hopefully this was just a case of one bad brisket, but I won’t be trying it again.

Monk: The owner of The Original Q Shack in Durham apparently has Texas roots (again, from my quick research). Which makes it a little odd that the brisket was the worst meat of the three you had that night.

Speedy: I have been told that their brisket is generally good, so maybe I caught it a bad day, but it’s not worth another try for me.

From a sides perspective, the collards were fine and the fried okra was outstanding. This was probably the best fried okra that I’ve had. Unfortunately, when the fried okra is the best part of the meal, there are larger problems afoot.

Overall, The Original Q Shack is way, way, way, way better than The Q Shack in North Hills, but it’s still an average (at best) barbecue meal.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3.5 hogs
Pork – 2.5 hogs
Ribs – 3.5 hogs
Brisket – 1 hog
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 2.5 Hogs
Original Q Shack on Urbanspoon

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Smoke Modern Barbeque – Huntersville, NC

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Name: Smoke Modern Barbeque
Date: 2/28/15
Address: 16710 Birkdale Commons, Pkwy #103, Huntersville, North Carolina 28078
Order: Two meat Smokin Q Combo (pork and brisket) with slaw and soda (link to menu)
Price: $20

For a state with a, shall we say, lacking barbecue tradition, Colorado at least kinda seems to know what its doing when it comes to barbecue chains. First, Moe’s Original Bar-B-Que expanded into the Charlotte area with its Matthews location a few years back and now Smoke Modern Barbeque has opened a restaurant in Huntersville. Another one is planned in the Ballantyne area of south Charlotte this summer, taking over for the old City Tavern at Stonecrest.

Smoke is nice inside. Like, probably too nice looking. The servers are dressed in all black and the decor is all modern, straight lines (hence the “modern” in the name, I assume). Based on that description, this has to be too nice of a place to actually serve decent barbecue, right?

Well, after my two meat combo I’d say yea, that’s more or less the case. The small-ish serving of coarsely pulled pork had minimal bark and was not all that smokey. Mrs. Monk’s pork sandwich had several huge strands of pork (as well as some unwanted grizzle) that made it tough for her to chrew at times. I will say, at least the bun was a nice substantial potato bun that held up under the weight of the sandwich and slaw. My recommendation to Smoke would be to utilize cleavers to chop up the pork a little more before serving.

The brisket was a little better, if not stellar. It was a bit more thinly sliced than I like but it did have a nice peppery bark, reminiscent of a central Texas-style brisket. My portion came with a mix of lean and fatty, and I would recommend it if you found yourself there. In fact, if I were to go again (likely at the south Charlotte location to try it out once it opens), I’d probably get the brisket but would also try the jalapeno beef sausage which is actually imported from Kiolbassa Meats in San Antonio.

For a nearly $17 combo, its a bit disappointing that you only get one side but I guess that’s to be expected from upscale, yuppie ‘cue. The cider slaw was fine, but I found it odd that Smoke didn’t have any cornmeal options. Neither cornbread nor hush puppies were anywhere to be seen on the menu.

Smoke seems to emphasize their house made sauces available at each table, with our waiter taking us through a “tour of the sauces” since it was our first time there. They had a red vinegar sauce that wasn’t really Lexington style, a thicker sauce recommended for brisket, an even thicker KC Masterpiece-style sauce, and finally a “Georgia Gold” mustard-based sauce. How they came up with that name is a mystery – if Georgia has a mustard sauce tradition that’s news to me.

You might be tempted to check out Smoke Modern Barbecue on a date night because of its modern decor and upscale-iness, however I just can’t recommend it due to its high prices and small portions, not to mention the barbecue itself is a little lacking. Plus, they spell barbecue with a “q” so they obviously can’t be trusted.

–Monk

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Pork – 2 hogs
Brisket – 3 hogs
Sides – 3 hogs
Overall – 2.5 hogs
Smoke Modern BBQ on Urbanspoon

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Brooks’ Sandwich House – Charlotte, NC

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Name: Brooks Sandwich House
Date: 11/7/14
Address: 2710 N Brevard St, Charlotte, NC 28205
Order: Barbecue sandwich with slaw on side and fries (link to menu)
Price: $6

Brooks Sandwich House has the best burger in Charlotte. Period. End of story. But despite being located not much more than a mile from my house, I have been there a shockingly limited amount of times in the eight years I’ve lived in my neighborhood. This more than likely has to do with their operating hours – 7am to 3pm, Monday to Friday only. In other words, when I’m typically at work (well, not so much the 7am part). The last time I did manage to go some months back I saw that they have barbecue sandwiches on the menu, but they are only available in the fall. So I made a mental note and the first time I could make it on a Friday afternoon, I seized the opportunity.

Now, despite their burger’s sterling reputation I was not really sure how their barbecue would turn out. They don’t appear to have a smoker on site, so I am not sure how and where it is cooked. As far as their atmosphere goes, there is only an order counter inside while outside has some standing covered tables. It really is a take out or eat in your car kinda place, so I won’t deduct hogs for its lack of atmosphere. Even after having eaten lunch that day, I stopped by for an early afternoon snack of a barbecue sandwich and fries.

And for a burger place, the barbecue was…passable. I mean, it would do in a pinch as it actually does have some bark mixed in and I even spotted some red pepper flakes (though the sandwich itself didn’t have much of a kick). But it’s not going to make any barbecue joints stand up and take notice.

The fries are great at Brooks, and I asked for the slaw that comes with the sandwich on the side. It turned out to be a mustard/mayo slaw and after trying the sandwich by itself I scooped on the slaw. Honestly, it neither added nor subtracted from the sandwich, simply giving it a slightly different texture.

So the moral of the story when you find yourself at Brooks Sandwich House in NoDa (and I would absolutely recommend it if you are in the area), is to go with the burger or even the dog. You will be much happier that you did.

–Monk

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – N/A
Pork – 2.5 hogs
Sides – 3 hogs
Overall – 2.5 Hogs
Brooks Sandwich House on Urbanspoon
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Lancaster’s Bar-B-Que – Mooresville, NC

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Name: Lancaster’s BBQ
Date: 7/12/14
Address: 515 Rinehardt Rd, Mooresville, NC 28115
Order: BBQ tray with bbq slaw and Sweetwater 420 (link to menu)
Price: ~$13

In my review of the Lancaster’s BBQ in Huntersville, I ended by saying I wouldn’t be rushing to the Mooresville location any time soon. Well as it turns out, less than 4 months later I just so happened to find myself there. But not because I necessarily sought it out.

Right before I came here, I tried the sub par barbecue at Carolina Ribs on the Run after I dropped my wife off at a baby shower in town. After I left, I still had a little more time to kill and was so disappointed with my previous meal that I decided to stop by Lancaster’s BBQ to try and salvage my lunch that day. But mainly because I knew they had beer and that sounded good at the moment.

Seeing as how I had already tried the Huntersville location, I knew more or less what to expect. And Mooresville basically matched up to that, though I did rate the pork a little higher this time around. But I suspect that may be due to having it directly after the bland meal at Carolina Ribs on the Run (ok, I’ll stop piling on starting…now). At least this pork had some smoke and spice. It still wasn’t great.

The slaw was the same mustard/mayo slaw as the other location. I was already pretty full so no hush puppies for me, which was too bad because they were the best part of my meal at the other location.

In terms of decor, the Mooresville location takes the NASCAR theme and cranks it to 11 (after all, Mooresville is the “Official Stock Car Capital of the World”). And they have a bus in the middle of the restaurant in which diners can sit in. So there’s that. Unfortunately, the barbecue is still pretty average.

–Monk

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 2.5 hogs
Pork – 3 hogs
Sides – 2.5 hogs
Overall – 2.5 hogs
Lancaster's BBQ & Wings on Urbanspoon
Lancaster's BBQ & Wings on Foodio54
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