3.5 hogs

Herb’s Pit BBQ – Murphy, NC

/ Barbecue Bros / 11 Comments

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Name: Herb’s Pit B-B-Q
Date: 5/29/14
Address: 15735 U.S. 64, Murphy, NC 28906
Order: Chopped Bar-B-Q plate with fries and hush puppies (link to menu)
Price: $9.99

Speedy: Monk and I have been talking for a while about trying to hit up every spot on the Historic NC Barbecue Trail. It’s a lofty goal, but one made even more difficult by the presence of Herb’s Pit BBQ, which sits just outside of Murphy, NC, which is literally as far west as you can go in the state. So when a six hour drive to Nashville popped up on my schedule, I couldn’t resist the urge to make it an eight hour drive in order to check out Herb’s. So first things first – if you want to go to Herb’s, you will be driving two hours out of the way. It is in the middle of nowhere.

Monk: What a soldier for the cause. Mad props to you, Speedy. I thought this would be the last place we would get to on the trail. And that it would be in like 2018.

Speedy: Anything for our readers, Monk. I knew this barbecue was going to have to blow me away for me to ever eat it again. Spoiler alert: it didn’t.

When you walk in to Herb’s, it’s set up sort of like a Cracker Barrel, with a small country store in the room with the register. When I got there, the restaurant was basically empty, so I went and sat myself. The dining room is large and would seat plenty, and the tables are fairly nice. Herb’s also has a salad bar, which is a first for me at a ‘cue joint. I didn’t bother to peek at the salad bar, and if you want to know how it is, you’re reading the wrong site.

Monk: …or are Mrs. Monk.

Speedy: Monk – you and I both know she doesn’t read the site.

Monk: True… *sigh*

Speedy: Anyhoo, opening the menu, I saw quite a few other food options – steaks, burgers – as well as a variety of barbecue goodness. Surprisingly, Herb’s cooks brisket, ribs, and chicken in addition to the standard pork. Normally, I would’ve ordered everything, but I was by myself and was not super hungry (a poor excuse, I know),

Monk: Hey, that’s called pulling a Monk!

Speedy: …so I stuck with the staple – the chopped BBQ plate. I asked the waitress whether the slaw is mayo based, and it is, so I didn’t bother to order it. Let’s just assume I tried it and found it to be terrible. Instead, I went with fries and hush puppies, which is fairly standard for me.

I was surprised by the amount of time it took for the meal to arrive. I actually took this as a good sign, thinking it means the ‘cue was reheated over fire as opposed to sitting in a warmer all afternoon (I was eating around 2:30, so missed the lunch rush).

Monk: Or as opposed to being reheated in a microwave.

Speedy: I was served a generous portion and was excited to dig in. The pork was actually quite good. It had great smoke flavor, was very tender, and included plenty of bark. It was not dry at all (read: no heat lamp) and probably didn’t need any extra dip. However, in an effort to try the dip provided on the table, I did add a generous portion about halfway through my meal. This was a mistake. The dip was just too sweet. It definitely could have used more vinegar and something to give it some heat (I’d prefer red pepper, but just throwing some Texas Pete in there would’ve done wonders). I don’t want to say it ruined the pork, but it was not an improvement. Overall, though, I was impressed with the pork on the plate.

Monk: The pork sounds good (sans dip of course) and based on your description, I can see why Herb’s was included on the Historic NC BBQ Trail (even if it is in BFE NC). You get that smoke by cooking over wood.

Speedy: The hush puppies were another story – they were not good. Maybe it was due to over-frying, but I just didn’t think the flavor was there. The fries were pretty good – thick cut steak fries – but overall, the sides were not impressive.

The pork was very good, and if you do happen to be passing through Murphy, Herb’s is worth a stop. I’m curious whether their other meats are as good as the pork – I suspect they are, as Herb’s seems to cook things the right way. However, the inconvenience of the location likely means this will be my one and only visit to Herb’s.

(For another review of Herb’s, check out Marie, Let’s Eat!)

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Pork – 4 hogs
Sides – 2 hogs
Overall – 3.5 Hogs

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Herbs Pit Bar-B-Que on Urbanspoon

Richard’s Bar-B-Que – Salisbury, NC

/ Barbecue Bros / 2 Comments

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Name: Richard’s Bar-B-Que
Date: 2/14/14
Address: 522 N Main St, Salisbury NC 28144
Order: Chopped barbecue plate with hush puppies, slaw, macaroni and cheese, and Cheerwine (link to menu)
Price: ~$8

While not exactly known for being a barbecue town, Salisbury is home to not one but two barbecue joints on the NC Historical Barbecue Trail (as well as M&K Barbecue in nearby Granite Quarry). It is also the original home to the finest (non-alcoholic) beverage to enjoy with barbecue, Cheerwine (sorry, sweet tea).

Richard’s is in an unassuming building tucked on Main Street in downtown Salisbury. Inside, Richard’s smallish interior nearly smacks you in the face with its southern country decor while old school country music plays in the background (well, before the switch to the 70’s station for the lunch hour, anyways).

The pork was a nice mix of bark and shoulder that was slightly coarsely chopped (apparently due to being hand chopped). My serving had good tenderness and moistness with a fair amount of smoke. The table sauce was more of a spicy thin sauce than you would expect to find in the Piedmont but complemented the barbecue just about perfectly.

The hush puppies were some of the largest ones I’ve seen at a NC joint but also some of the best. Several of them had visible onions when you bit into them which might have normally turned me off a little bit except for the fact that they were an almost perfect mix of savory and sweet. The slaw had visible diced tomatoes, a first that I’ve noticed, but otherwise was a classic red slaw. The less said about the mac and cheese the better.

I previously stated that despite doing things the right way, fellow Salisbury joint Wink’s was not quite worth pulling off 85 and you should continue onto Lexington if you have a hankering for real barbecue. While Richard’s Bar-B-Que certainly doesn’t match Lexington, I would be more inclined to stop over there than I would Wink’s. They both cook barbecue over wood, but Richard’s has the red slaw and the slightly spicy thin sauce, giving it the edge in my mind if you want barbecue in Salisbury.

-Monk

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 4 hogs
Pork – 3.5 hogs
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 3.5 Hogs

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Richard's Bar-b-que on Urbanspoon

Stiles Switch BBQ – Austin, TX

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Name: Stiles Switch BBQ
Date: 5/11/13
Location: 6610 N. Lamar, Austin, TX, 78757
Order: Speedy: ½ pound brisket, 1 link Thorndale (mild) sausage, 1 link Switch original (spicy) sausage, lemon vinaigrette coleslaw
Rudy: Combo plate with brisket and jalapeno cheddar sausage, corn casserole, mac & cheese, beef rib (link to menu)
Bill: Speedy: $20, Rudy: $20

Speedy: A bit of news in the Barbecue Bros family, as Rudy welcomed a new junior Barbecue Bro into the family and Monk welcomed a new junior Barbecue Bro-ette. Congrats, Bros! So I used meeting Rudy’s new son as an excuse to go visit Austin and eat some barbecue Texas style.

Monk: Thanks! Of course, with a 2 month old I unfortunately wasn’t able to make the trip with Speedy to Austin for a Barbecue Bros reunion but at least I get to live the trip vicariously through this review.

Rudy: With Speedy in town I had to try and show off our great selection of barbecue, so the pressure was on to choose a good spot and I think that I picked a winner. When choosing the right place, it came down between LA BBQ and Stiles Switch, which I had seen some really good reviews of lately. I would have taken him to Franklin, but a 3 hour wait with a little one was not a good choice. Also, LA BBQ (which I hope to visit soon) is a food trailer, and you never can really tell about the wait. So we went with Stiles Switch.

Speedy: I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to eat Texas barbecue, so I was definitely excited to visit Stiles Switch. My excitement only grew when I got out of the car and could smell the wood burning smoker working its magic. Walking inside, my excitement did not wane. Stiles Switch has a great atmosphere. You order at the counter, and the food is cut and weighed for you then and there and you go down almost a cafeteria style line to get your sides and drink. There’s plenty of seating indoors, but also an outdoor patio with several picnic tables.

Rudy: There were so many options, especially with the sides, that I had a hard time determining what I wanted. I always go with brisket because that is what every place should be judged on, and I also typically go with a sausage. I had not tried a beef rib yet, even though I have been dying to, because it is usually hit or miss if a place will offer a beef rib (also known as dinosaur ribs at some places because of the size). Since I saw it on the menu here, I figured it was as good a time as any to dive right in.  

Speedy: I decided to move away from the combo plate, mainly because none of the sides really excited me.

Monk: So this is like basically the opposite of going to a barbecue restaurant and ordering a salad a la Mrs. Monk, right?

Speedy: Exactly. I wanted to try the spicy and mild sausage, as well as the brisket, of course. As we all know, white slaw is my biggest pet peeve at a barbecue joint, so I was happy to see that Stiles Switch offered lemon vinaigrette slaw as well. And to top it off, of course I had to have a Lone Star!

Monk: Man, I could go for one of those right now…

Rudy: I thought the brisket was pretty good and had a great rub which provided a great bark. The only issue that I had with it was that I thought it might not have been prepared that day because the bark was not crisp, but instead was a little mushy. It still had great flavor though. I was not a huge fan of the sides that I got or the sausage. In the sausage’s case, I think it was because I was getting full on all the rest of my order, so I am not going to knock it too much. The best part of the meal was the beef rib. It wasn’t as big as I had seen in other places, but the flavor was amazing. The bark on it was crispy and melted in your mouth.  While the taste was great, the only deduction that I will make is because of the size of the rib.

Speedy: To me, the brisket was good, but not great. It had a good pull, but I didn’t really like the sauce that came with it (on the side). It tasted more like gravy than barbecue sauce to me. The sausage I thought was very good – particular the Switch original link. It had a definite kick and great flavor. To me, it was just the right amount of spice. The slaw was good, though I still prefer true red slaw.

Rudy: Overall I thought it was a great place that served excellent barbecue, and now with a little one in tow, the shorter lines and the inside dining make it a great place to go.

Monk: I can fully appreciate that concern now when picking a place to eat, barbecue or not. I’m not trying to waste time standing in line when there are potential dirty diapers to change and feedings to be given.

Rudy: A couple of days later, my selection was confirmed when Switch Stiles was named one of the Top 50 Barbecue Restaurants in Texas by Texas Monthly magazine. I’m glad Speedy was able to come and experience some of the best we have to offer.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance: 4.5 hogs
Brisket – 3 hogs
Sausage – 4 hogs
Beef rib – 3.5 hogs
Sides – 2.5 hogs
Overall – 3.5 hogs

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Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew on Urbanspoon

Country Barbeque – High Point, NC

/ Barbecue Bros / 2 Comments

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Name: Country Barbeque
Date: 5/10/13
Location: 3921 Sedgebrook St., High Point, NC
Order: Chopped barbecue plate (with red slaw, hush puppies, fries) (link to menu)
Bill: ~$7

Speedy: Recently, I’ve been doing a fair amount of work in Greensboro, NC. As this is “home turf” for the Barbecue Bros, I look forward to eating ‘cue in the area because the places in the area are where I learned the way and the truth of barbecue. So imagine my surprise when I see Country Barbeque nestled on Highway 68 (note: there’s also one on Wendover) just a couple of miles from my client site. Of course I had to give it a try.

Monk: I believe that I’ve been to the Wendover location, and remember being pleasantly surprised considering I believe that it was a gas/electric joint.

Speedy: When you walk into Country Barbeque, it looks the part of a true ‘cue joint. You sit where you like, and a waitress comes up to take your order. Of course I went with the chopped barbecue plate – a standard for any Lexington style barbecue restaurant. Service was super quick, which I’ve come to expect at places such as this, and the volume of food brought was more than I could eat for a very reasonable price.

The pork itself was good, but not great. It wasn’t dry, but I did find myself adding more dip, which was provided on the table. I also couldn’t really taste the smoke, and I generally like a little hint of it on my ‘cue. However, it was tender, chopped fine, and more than passable. I would’ve liked a little more outside brown mixed in (though I didn’t ask for it), but overall, I was pleased. The slaw was very good, and tasted like a typical red slaw should. There wasn’t really any spice, so I added some Texas Pete (also provided on the table) to cure that. The hush puppies were good, though they could have been a little sweeter, and the fried were your standard crinkle fries.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal, though there wasn’t anything to distinguish Country Barbecue from some of the other restaurants around. I definitely prefer Stamey’s and probably Carter’s in the area, and it doesn’t compare favorably to most places in Lexington (and doesn’t hold a candle to #1).

Monk: So the real question is, should I think about heading there next time I am back in town visiting my folks?

Speedy: I would say it’s worth checking out, though I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat there. It’s convenient location (close to the 68/I-40 intersection) is a big draw that means it will probably serve as a quick, convenient meal for me sometime in the future.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3.5 hogs
Pork – 3.5 hogs
Sides – 3.5 hogs
Overall – 3.5 hogs

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