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Linkdown: 1/30/25 – The Joy and the Sadness Edition

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Monk: Congrats to the 2025 James Beard Award Semifinalists! They were announced a little over a week ago, and from a barbecue standpoint Christopher Prieto of Prime Barbecue was the only pitmaster from North Carolina nominated. This was his first nomination.

Impressively, Robbie Robinson of City Limits Barbeque in West Columbia was nominated for a second time – perhaps the first time someone from the barbecue world has been nominated two years in an row. That’s big time.

https://twitter.com/EaterCarolinas/status/1882089244937871864

By my count, there were 8 nominations from the barbecue world. The Southeast made up 2 of those, as did Texas. The remaining nominations were from California, Mid-Atlantic, South, and in the Outstanding Restaurateur category. The full list is available here.

  • Outstanding Restaurateur – Daisy Ryan and Greg Ryan, Companion Hospitality (Bell’s, Bar Le Cote, Priedite BBQ, and others), Los Alamos, CA
  • Best Chef: California – Darryl Bell, Stateline Road Smokehouse, Napa, CA
  • Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic – Fernando Gonzalez, 2Fifty Barbeque, Riverdale, MD and Washington, DC
  • Best Chef: South – Jordan Wright, Wright’s Barbecue, Johnson, AR
  • Best Chef: Southeast – Christopher Prieto, Prime Barbecue, Knightdale, NC;
  • Best Chef: Southeast – Robbie Robinson, City Limits Barbeque, West Columbia, SC
  • Best Chef: Texas – Fasicka Hicks and Patrick Hicks, Smoke’N Ash BBQ, Arlington, TX
  • Best Chef: Texas – Evan LeRoy, LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue, Austin, TX

Nominees for the 35h Annual James Beard Award will be announced on Wednesday, April 2, and winners will be announced at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony on Monday, June 16. Will someone from the barbecue world win Best Chef? Stay tuned and we’ll find out in a couple of months.

Native News

On the sad side of things, a trio of stories from the world of North Carolina barbecue:

Kyle Fletcher of Kyle Fletcher’s Barbecue in Lowell passed away earlier this year and leaves behind a “legacy of kindness”

Short Sugar’s in Reidsville has closed after 75 years in business

And to add to the misery, Kepley’s in the Barbecue Bros hometown of High Point will close next month after 75 years open

Linkdown: 9/11/19

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Noble Smoke is now open for lunch every day; ICYMI our review from earlier this week here

The First Recorded Use Of The Word Barbecue Was In 1697 By British Buccaneer William Dampier

Charlotte Magazine includes barbecue joints on a few recent list: Midwood Smokehouse is one of the best restaurants in Plaza Midwood and Sweet Lew’s BBQ is one of the best southern restaurants in Charlotte

Valentina’s Tex Mex gets profiled in Garden & Gun

The NC State Barbecue Champions were crowned at the Blue Ridge BBQ & Brew Festival over Labor Day

JC Reid: “Without cotton, there would be no Central Texas-style barbecue”

John Tanner’s BBQ Blog checks out Payne’s Bar-B-Que and falls in love with that sandwich

Jones Bar-B-Que in Marianna, Arkansas is believed to be the oldest African American-owned restaurant in the US and received a James Beard Award in 2012 despite being a humble 10 seat diner

Wait, what?!

Linkdown: 9/4/19

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Another blow for NC barbecue: Laurinburg, NC barbecue restaurant General McArthur’s was completely destroyed in a fire on Sunday; a follower on Twitter tweeted this at us

John Tanner’s BBQ Blog has recently been posting reviews from his Great Memphis Region Barbecue Sandwich Tour, with entries from Abe’s in Clarksdale, Central BBQ, The Dixie Pig and The Kream Kastle in Blytheville, Chubby’s in Hayti, Helen’s in Brownsville, B.E. Scott’s in Lexington, and Ramey’s in Parsons

Bourbon + Barbecue = Crazy Delicious (applicable for any day, not just Labor Day)

Roegel’s Barbecue in Houston will be doing whole hog once a month

Jess Pryles walks Popular Mechanics through 6 smokers in this article:

Matthew Odam sees how the sausage gets made at Franklin Barbecue

Give Adrian Miller a follow on Twitter if you think you might be able to help him out with any barbecue research questions this fall

Linkdown: 8/7/19

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A “Carolina Mustard” colorway Saucony Jazz from Sneaker Charleston

I’ve got a few quibbles with Charlotte Agenda’s 5 best barbecue spots in Charlotte; specifically 6 of the 10 barbecue spots mentioned between the top 5 and the honorable mentions

Here’s what’s next for the “Noble Smoke Campus”

Another article on Jones Bar-B-Que in Marianna, AR, which has been open since 1910

https://twitter.com/soulphoodie/status/1158566365705453569

Delta Blues BBQ is a new Memphis-style barbecue truck in Oakboro that will soon open a store at an old 1930’s service station

LeAnn Mueller and Ali Clem of la Barbecue get profiled in Austin Monthly

https://twitter.com/paulaforbes/status/1155896224953839617

Speaking of Austin, Southside Market & BBQ of Elgin is opening a location in the capital

Some scenes from last weekend’s Pig & Pedals Barbecue Festival in Asheboro

Details on the Blue Ridge BBQ and Brew Festival, which will determine the NC state champion in West Jefferson later this month

A summer NC barbecue bracket pitting western/Lexington-style versus eastern; you can place your votes over at the Carolina Hurricanes blog Canes Country

This isn’t barbecue related (despite the photo below), but is highly recommended 8 minute read, particularly if you have lived in Charlotte in the past 20 years