barbeque

Williamson’s Bar-B-Que & Seafood – Chadbourn, NC

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Name: Williamson’s Bar-B-Que & Seafood
Date: 9/26/21
Address: 1011 N Brown St, Chadbourn, NC 28431
Order: From the buffet: pork, hush puppies, cole slaw, mac and cheese, banana pudding (link to menu)
Pricing: $

Monk: Heading back from the beach on a Sunday, there’s usually just a few options for barbecue. Williamson’s Bar-B-Que & Seafood in Chadbourn is one of them, and a buffet at that. A barbecue buffet (usually including seafood) is a phenomenon I’ve encountered almost exclusively in the sandhills of eastern North Carolina, and I’ve previously checked out Fuller’s in Lumberton (now closed) and Pembroke.

Williamson’s is a small roadside shack off state road 410 near Highway 76 in Chadbourn that has both a dining room and a drive through. If you are dining in, you pay for you buffet at the cash register before grabbing your plate and going through the buffet line with options ranging from barbecue to various fried fish options.

I stuck with typical barbecue fare with their eastern style pork, cole slaw, mac and cheese, and hush puppies. Nothing wowed me but all were solid except for the hush puppies, which were fantastic.

I went back to the dessert bar before I left and grabbed some of their amazing banana pudding, the highlight of the meal.

Williamson’s Bar-B-Que & Seafood does a passable version of eastern NC barbecue but much like Joe’s Old Fashioned Barbecue from earlier on my trip, it was all tang and no smoke.

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

Linkdown: 10/20/21

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Featured

The Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ joint list was published on Monday morning, and predictably it set the Barbecue Twitter world on fire. The list itself was quite a feat, with “32 Texas Monthly editorial staffers and 3 freelancers visited 411 barbecue joints over eight weeks during the spring and summer, driving many thousands of miles in the process.” This was the sixth quadrennial list published by the magazine, and according to Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn, the average age of the barbecue restaurants on the list dropped from 15 years to 10 years form the 2017 list. Number one on the list in particular may surprise many folks, but I won’t spoil it for you quite yet.

Here’s the full thread of content published in the magazine and online. Starting with the list:

Plus the 50 honorable mentions…

How the list was made in the words of the Texas Monthly Editor, Dan Goodgame…

Tales from the brave-but-lucky souls who went on the trail…

Corn was ever-present as a side…

Yes, sauce is no longer a four-letter word…

Non-Native News

Goldee’s BBQ in Fort Worth landed at #1 on the list

Here’s the first review of Goldee’s in Texas Monthly, from August 2020

Houston’s Truth BBQ landed at #3 on the list

Is Houston the state’s new barbecue capital?

Evan LeRoy was pumped that LeRoy and Lewis ended up at #5

The Smoking Ho has a helpful spreadsheet of the Top 50 and the hours of operation

The Texas Monthly BBQ Finder app has been updated, so get on the trail!

Joe’s Old Fashioned Barbecue – Whiteville, NC

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Name: Joe’s Old Fashioned Barbecue
Date: 9/24/21
Address: 500 Green Hill Dr, Whiteville, NC 28472
Order: Small barbecue plate (link to menu)
Pricing: $

Monk: I’ve been fortunate to spend a decent amount of time at Ocean Isle Beach, NC over the years. Coming from Charlotte, I’ve probably passed Joe’s Old Fashioned Barbecue in Whiteville (about an hour away from OIB) roughly a dozen times without stopping. That’s in part because from Highway 701 there’s just a sign, as the restaurant itself is tucked away from the road behind a Lowe’s Home Improvement.

On my latest trip to OIB, I decided to finally make the stop at Joe’s Old Fashioned Barbecue. Or is it Joe’s Barbecue Kitchen? Or just plain Joe’s Barbecue as the restaurant sign says? The restaurant seems to go by a few different names, however on their website they state that “Joe’s Barbecue has been family-owned since it was established in 1964…Currently owned and managed by third generation family, Terri Edmund and Carol Ward.” At the time, I did not realize how long this establishment had actually been open.

Nevertheless, I stopped in for a quick lunch, which ended up being the small barbecue plate, curiously referred to as “Ladies’ Size.” C’mon guys, let’s get with the times. Sometimes a fella doesn’t want to gorge himself and wants to exercise a little portion control. No need to assign a lack of masculinity there.

Regardless, everything was solid but unspectacular; perfectly acceptable for a Friday lunch with co-workers as seemed to be the case for roughly half of the tables that day. The eastern-style barbecue had the vinegar tang you look for, although it wasn’t overly smoky since they apparently smoke with a gasser with wood added. Mixing it with the cole slaw and some table sauce made for quite the nice bite. And the hush puppies were fresh and delicious and my favorite part of the meal.

I was in and out of Joe’s Old Fashioned Barbecue in a matter of 15-20 minutes, which is exactly what I was looking for on this trip. While I wouldn’t suggest anyone go out of their way for it, should I find myself in a similar situation next time I’m headed to the Brunswick Islands of NC, I just may stop back in.

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

Linkdown: 10/13/21

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Featured

Campbell won the inaugural BBQ Bowl against Gardner-Webb this past Saturday, pulling ahead late in the fourth quarter after recovering a muffed punt before scoring the go-ahead touchdown. They would go on to tack on another touchdown making the final score 42-28.

While the initial image of the trophy (which was likely a mockup instead of the real trophy) roused the ire of Iowa fans for allegedly being a copy of the Floyd of Rosedale trophy between Iowa and Minnesota, it turns out that the actual trophy was something much more cuddly.

Initial mockup:

Floyd of Rosedale trophy:

Actual trophy:

Back to barbecue matters…after the game the teams were treated to a post-game dinner of Red Bridges Barbecue as a result of Gardner-Webb losing the barbecue bet. Better than the White Swan that would have been served had Campbell lost.

More details of the game here

Native News

The NC State Fair starts this week

Clark’s Barbecue in Kernersville was the last stop on John Tanner’s barbecue tour of the piedmont

At Mac’s Speed Shop, beef ribs and bacon-wrapped jalapenos are two of the prep-intensive items that are being taken off the menu for now

Non-Native News

Whole-hog continues to catch on in Texas

Tales from the Pits tries to guess the next Texas Monthly Top 50; the list is published later this month

Roegels is expanding to Katy

Hecho in Texas is a Cameron, TX joint trying to feed its locals the best way they know how

Blood Bros. BBQ in Bellaire, TX , Eem in Portland, and Jones Bar-B-Q Diner in Marianna, AR make The New York Times’ Restaurant List