barbecue

Linkdown: 3/16/16

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– John Shelton Reed of True Cue in the New York Times on North Carolina and the Politics of Barbecue

– Thrillist releases the 2016 Best BBQ in America and it includes 4 from NC:  Lexington Barbecue, Allen & Son in Chapel Hill, Red Bridges in Shelby, and Skylight Inn in Ayden; there’s also a bracket contest you can vote in

– Local coverage of Allen & Son making the list

– Thrillist Charlotte’s list of best barbecue restaurants in the city include a closed restaurant (Bobbee O’s), a national chain (Jim N Nick’s), and a few other questionable choices

– Grant visits Carl’s Drive-Inn near Knoxville, which despite some old signage doesn’t actually sell its own pit-cooked barbecue anymore

– Queen City Q’s Whiskey & BBQ event is tonight

– Meanwhile, Midwood Smokehouse’s Wine & Swine Dinner (also tonight) is sold out:

– Speaking of wine and barbecue, the future of barbecue in Charleston after this past weekend’s Charleston Wine + Food Festival

The Charleston Wine + Food events, I think, offered a sort of preview of the future of barbecue in one of the South’s great culinary cities. At least a half dozen new barbecue joints have opened in the city in the past year, and several more are still in the works. Their fare is as diverse and ambitious as the dishes served up at the festival, and in an upcoming installment we’ll take a survey of this evolving Charleston barbecue restaurant scene.

Best of Charlotte Barbecue: Ribs

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Queen City Q
Ribs from Queen City Q

We initially started this blog in order to find the best barbecue restaurant in Charlotte. While we feel pretty comfortable with our current rankings on the big board having visited 40+ restaurants, what more logical next step than to explore the best meats and dishes in the greater Charlotte area? This is the third post in our series. Click here to find the other posts.

Between the two of us in Charlotte, Speedy is much more the rib guy. Not that Monk doesn’t enjoy a quality rack; it’s just not his preferred meat. Plus, its debatable whether or not ribs are really truly considered barbecue in NC. And while Mac’s Speed Shop does offer a beef rib, this list is strictly a pork ribs list.

  1. Queen City Q
  2. Midwood Smokehouse (Original location; Ballantyne location)
  3. Sauceman’s

What do you think? Have we missed the mark? Leave your comments below.

Linkdown: 3/9/16

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– Friend of the blog Sarah Crosland has a couple of pork and cocktail pairings from Customshop and the Ballantyne Hotel’s Gallery Restaurant included in this list of Charlotte’s top cocktail and food pairings

– A London publication’s view on the 32 best barbecue restaurants in the American South

– Sam Jones gets profiled in the Raleigh News & Observer

It’s not as if more upscale barbecue restaurants don’t exist – look at the Pit in Raleigh and Durham or Ed Mitchell’s former ’Que in Durham or just about any barbecue restaurant in New York or other large cities. (Let’s be clear: it doesn’t take much to step up from the linoleum-floor, vinyl-seat charm of the old-school places.) It’s just that in this part of the world, east of I-95, Sam Jones Barbecue is the outlier. He’s changing the definition of what a whole-hog barbecue restaurant can be in the part of the world most identified by the tradition.

– According to John Lewis

– Home Team BBQ opened its new location in downtown Charleston yesterday and Eater has what you can expect

– Barbecue and whiskey event at Queen City Q’s Ballantyne location