Daniel Vaughn’s best Texas barbecue bites from joints outside of the TMBBQ Top 50
.@bbqsnob eats and writes about a lot of top-notch Texas barbecue—it’s literally his job. Check out his favorite bites of 2018, from pork belly burnt ends in Bryan to smoked oxtails in Houston. https://t.co/FnmugEJuil
Speaking of Kansas City, I was recently pointed to a new-to-me barbecue blog by BBQ Tourist called Joe’s Barbecue Quest who recently published a review of Jones Bar-B-Que
More Sweet Lew’s coverage, this time from new alt-weekly upstart QC Nerve
Lewis Donald is so proud of the work he's doing in the kitchen at @sweetlewsbbq in the Belmont neighborhood that he wants customers to come back and watch him do it. @CourtneyMiho took him up on that for this week's food feature: https://t.co/FNusiwus6Z
Justin Timberlake joins the ranks of Obama, Hillary, and Bill Murray as patrons of Midwood Smokehouse while in Charlotte. His reported order was burnt ends, collards and beans
While there is certainly good barbecue to be found in Charlotte, I wouldn’t quite say that it’s a barbecue city…yet. However, there are pitmasters out there doing great work, and I hope to spotlight that a little more in this series of posts called “Pitmasters of Charlotte.”
Our second profile (thus making it an actual series, woo hoo!) is Lewis Donald, who along with Laura Furman Grice opened up Sweet Lew’s BBQ in early December. Monk previewed them back in September as well as reviewed the restaurant, and is a big big fan.
How long have you lived in Charlotte and how did you get here? I’ve been here 10 years. I came here to take a job at Charlotte Country Club, after I graduated the apprenticeship program at the Greenbrier in West Virginia.
How did you become a Pitmaster? I don’t really use that term, not for myself. Those that came before me, those that learned the art through family generations, those that defined what we know as bbq today…they’re the pitmasters.
What is your favorite meat to smoke? What type of wood do you prefer? I like the staples, skin-on-shoulder, ribs, chicken, and brisket. It takes being able to cook all of them to offer a good bbq experience to family, friends, and customers. I prefer [smoking over] hickory and pecan.
What are your barbecue influences? Simplicity, scratch cooking, consistency
What is your favorite barbecue joint or style? I like them all, true bbq spot and styles. But I’m not a big sauce guy.
What is your earliest memory of barbecue? Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, it was a gas grill with burgers and dogs. In 2003 is when I was introduced to bbq.
What is the best thing about Charlotte barbecue? I think it’s great that it’s served in restaurants.
What is a weakness or opportunity of Charlotte barbecue? There’s not much of it, so there’s room to grow it!
Chicago barbecue is a less heralded style of barbecue that has origins in the American South but is only found in the southside of Chicago. Primarily rib tips (a remnants of a St. Louis cut rib) and sausage links, they are smoked in a steel and glass “aquarium” smoker that allows for year-round smoking in the harsh Chicago winters. I’ll link to another podcast next week with more on this style of barbecue but for now, here’s a short podcast from the Southern Foodways Alliance’s Gravy podcast.
Barbecue purists from the Carolinas to Texas might balk at the notion that Chicago, Illinois, has a barbecue tradition all its own. But owing to the Great Migration, and to a special piece of equipment called the aquarium smoker, reporter-producer Ambriehl Crutchfield finds that Chicago barbecue has evolved into a style unto itself.
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