Monk: Charlotte FC has taken the town by storm, setting the MLS attendance record in its first home match, and getting folks excited about soccer. A couple of weeks ahead of their first match, they spotlighted Lewis Donald and Sweet Lewβs BBQ in the above video. Sweet Lewβs is one of our favorite places in town, and Lewis is doing far more than barbecue. Heβs serving the Belmont neighborhood
barbeque
Linkdown: 3/16/22
Native News
A couple of the pitmasters for the upcoming Carolina Barbecue Festival in Charlotte on May 22nd: Bryan Furman and Matthew Register
Not to be outdone, the Pinehurst Barbecue Festival has been announcing pitmasters for the Prieto Pitmaster Invitational at its festival, including Brandon Shepard of Shepard Barbecue, Melanie Dunia of The Pit, Ron Simmons of Master Blend Family Farms, and Lewis Donald of Sweet Lewβs BBQ
Noble Smokeβs stall has opened at Optimist Hall as of Monday, 3/14
Jon Gβs will be smoking meat for a barbecue and wine event on the last day of the Charlotte Wine & Food Festival
Pretty cool: actor Eric Wareheim made it all the way from LA to Peachland for a Barbecue Saturday last weekend
Non-Native News
Blakeβs BBQ has its final days in the trailer this week
In Austin for SXSW?
The latest reader-generated list from Southern Living
Fresh Air Bar-B-Que β Athens, GA
Name: Fresh Air Bar-B-Que
Date: 3/5/22
Address: 1110 Hull Road, Athens, GA 30601
Order: Sandwich plate with Brunswick Stew and slaw, single rib (link to menu)
Pricing: $
Monk: Of all the regions of barbecue in the southeast, Georgia barbecue is probably the one Iβm least familiar with. When I have visited the Peach State and tried barbecue restaurants (primarily in Atlanta), they are either heavily Texas-influenced (Fox Bros, DAS BBQ), a fusion-type place (Heirloom Market), or in the case of Bβs Cracklinβ Barbeque, Carolinas whole hog. But, as friend of the blog Grant has passionately defended multiple times on his excellent food blog Marie, Letβs Eat!, there is certainly a Georgia style of barbecue with many sub-regions of its own. On a recent Monk family trip to Athens for a gymnastics competition, I purposefully sought out a more traditional Georgia barbecue joint in Fresh Air Bar-B-Que.
The original Fresh Air Bar-B-Que is in Jackson, about an hourβs drive south of Atlanta, and first opened in 1929. It is (according to their website) βthe oldest pit-cooked barbecue restaurant in Georgia still in its original location,β and since that original location was opened by Dr. Joel Watkins they have expanded to Macon as well as a couple of locations in the Athens area.
Fresh Air has a simple menu of chopped pork, ribs, and chicken that comes in sandwich, basket, or plate form. I went with a sandwich plate with stew and slaw.
Fresh Airβs chopped pork was on the leaner and drier side (as can be the case in this part of Georgia according to the article from Grant above), so I added some vinegar sauce, slaw, and hot sauce. The sandwich was good, if a bit average.
I bought a single rib bone to try it out and it was well cooked with a slightly sweet sauce. I would have gladly had a couple more.
What really set the meal apart was the Brunswick stew, which was in the upper echelon of stews Iβve tasted. Iβm by no means a connoisseur of Brunswick stew, but Fresh Airβs was a thicker stew as opposed to a runnier soup. The greenish slaw was made of finely diced cabbage but Iβd take a Lexington-style red slaw over it any day of the week.
Unfortunately, a lot of the classic barbecue joints in the Athens area have closed in the past few years: Billβs Bar-B-Q in nearby Hull, Paulβs Bar-B-Q, and Hot Thomas Barbecue. Of the ones still open, I would have loved to have also checked out Butt Hutt or Zebβs or Bar-B-Que Shack and tried this chicken mull dish Iβve yet to have. Even after a visit to Fresh Air Bar-B-Que, itβs pretty obvious to me that Iβve barely scratched the surface of Georgia barbecue. Next time.
Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance β 3 hogs
Pork β 3.5 hogs
Sides β 4 hogs
Overall β 3.5 hogs
Friday Find: Dave Grohl on the Beauty of Simple Barbecue Rubs
Monk: Dave Grohl fulfills a bucket list item when he appeared on Hot Ones last month (and crushed it like a champ), and during the cedar-smoked Dawsonβs Hot Sauce wing (7,000 on the Scoville heat unit scale), the question turns to his βdeep and abidingβ love of barbecue. When host Sean Evans asks him what the secret to a great barbecue rub is, Grohl answers βsimplicityβ and opines on the beauty of a simple salt and pepper rub. He also shouts out NC whole hog legend Sam Jones at 5:45.
Description: Dave Grohl is one of the most requested Hot Ones guests of all time. Heβs also a 16-time Grammy Awardβwinning artist whose storied career in music has been immortalized in the Rock Nβ Roll Hall of Fame on two separate occasions. He has a recently released New York Times best-selling book as well, The Storyteller β Tales Of Life And Music, andβget this!βa comedy horror movie starring the Foo Fighters is on the way: Studio 666, which is set to release in theaters on February 25th. But how is he with spicy food? Find out as the rock legend takes on the wings of death and discusses the best drummers of all time, the art of the cover song, and why doing Hot Ones has been on his bucket list.