BBQ snob

Daniel Vaughn trains David Farrier how to be a barbecue reviewer on the Flightless Bird Podcast

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Monk: Flightless Bird is a podcast where journalist David Farrier, the New Zealand-born host the podcast is named after, explores various American customs through the lens of a curious outsider.

In this episode from March 2023, David meets up with Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn to live a day in the life of a barbecue reviewer. That means a barbecue road trip to 4 of Vaughn’s favorite barbecue joints. Starting in Austin, David and Daniel visit Micklethwait Craft Meats before heading on to City Market in Luling, Smitty’s Market in Lockhart, and finally Distant Relatives back in Austin.

Along the way, David gets a primer on American (and specifically Texas) barbecue, learns what it means to be a pitmaster, and even dispels the myth that Texas don’t like barbecue sauce. And after a full day of barbecue where he experiences profuse meat sweats and almost gets sick, he ultimately earns the respect of Vaughn due to his “intestinal fortitude.” Which is just about the highest of praise coming from a professional barbecue eater.

Note: the barbecue part of the episode starts at 27:00 after some introductory discussion on New Zealand food customs.

Description: In this week’s Flightless Bird, David Farrier travels to Austin, Texas to investigate America’s love of BBQ. Why do 7 out of 10 adults in America own some kind of BBQ device, and why is there so much BBQ in Texas? David meets up with the BBQ editor of Texas Monthly, Daniel Vaughn. David discovers that Daniel has eaten at over 2,000 barbecue spots all over the planet… 2,119 to be precise – many of them in Texas. Daniel agrees to take David on a day of BBQ eating, from Austin to Lockhart to Luling – shoving brisket and sides town their gullets in a feeding frenzy of epic proportions.

Linkdown: 4/19/23 – The AI-Generated BBQ Photo Edition

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Monk: Jake Wood of Lawrence Barbecue is launching what he hopes will be a new annual event, called Frankie Lemmon’s Gettin’ Piggy With It in support of the Frankie Lemmon School. By way of background, “Frankie Lemmon School is a NAEYC accredited, 5-star child development center that welcomes children ages 2-6 with and without disabilities.”

For the event, he’s partnering with Trophy Brewing in Raleigh and utilizing their new event venue Maywood Hall & Garden. And he’s bringing with him some heavy hitters in the world of barbecue, not only in North and South Carolina but also one from California. The full list of pitmasters and chefs:

  • Dampf Good BBQ – Cary, NC
  • Jon G’s Barbecue – Peachland, NC
  • King BBQ – Charleston, SC
  • Lawrence Barbecue – Durham, NC
  • Lewis Barbecue – Charleston, SC
  • Locals Seafood – Raleigh, NC
  • Longleaf Swine – Raleigh, NC
  • N. Sea Oyster Co. – Hampstead, NC
  • Shepard Barbecue – Emerald Isle, NC
  • Southern Smoke Barbecue – Garland, NC
  • Wye Hill – Raleigh, NC
  • ZEF BBQ – Los Angeles, CA

Tickets are on sale as of of today for the May 21 event. Tickets and event information available here

Native News

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The Bone Suckin’ Sauce Peak City Pig Fest, a KCBS event, took place this past weekend in Apex

NoDa Brewing and Jon G’s Barbecue have teamed up for a fun event at their OG Taproom on April 27th…but tickets have already sold out

NoDa Brewing’s Cheerwine Ale is getting a can glow-up

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Gear Patrols dives into the best charcoal grills on the market

John Tanner checks out Rodney Scott’s Barbecue to compare it to the original; his findings may surprise you

Speaking of Rodney Scott, he’s teamed up with The Spice House to create a line of spice blends available to purchase now

Swig & Swine owner Anthony DiBernardo shares an update on their upcoming Monk’s Corner location

Pig Beach’s Jeff Michner BBQ Event is coming up on April 29

Goldee’s Barbecue will soon be selling their own smokers, made in partnership with M&M BBQ Company

The caption says it all

Congrats to Daniel Vaughn on 10 years as barbecue editor for Texas Monthly

Charlotte Barbecue News from the Second Quarter of 2021

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Monk: In our first quarter wrap-up, I had optimism as things continued to move in a positive direction with vaccinations and the resulting re-opening of restaurants. That mostly continued, and while Charlotte lost a lot of its classic non-barbecue restaurants (Price’s Chicken Coop, Mr. K’s, Oakhurst Grill, Zack’s Hamburgers, etc), I only tracked one barbecue restaurant that closed during that time: the Tyvola Road location of the Sonny’s BBQ chain.

Charlotte barbecue even got some national attention, both of the good (Texas Monthly BBQ Editor Daniel Vaughn visiting and loving Jon G’s) as well as notorious variety (Charlotte as the #3 best city for barbecue according to chefspencil.com).

While we may never know about the barbecue joints that weren’t started during the past year, hopefully a corner has been turned (and the Delta variant of COVID doesn’t wreak havoc here like it has in other countries; get vaccinated people!) and the Charlotte barbecue scene can experience new concepts as well as expansion and growth of its existing ones.

April

4/9 Smoke Show BBQ is a new Texas-style barbecue pop up in the Charlotte area from transplanted Texan chef Brandon Belfer who has worked at fine dining spots The Stanley, Crunkleton, The Asbury, Kindred, and Hello, Sailor

4/12 Charlotte-based Mac’s Speed Shop finds itself coming out of the pandemic in a strong position for growth

4/13 Roddey’s BBQ has changed their lunch hours in Rock Hill to Fridays only

4/19 Jon G’s Barbecue gets in the pit fabrication game

4/26 K&N BBQ makes Axios Charlotte’s list of best food trucks; and they recommend you try the pork and brisket

4/26 Adam Richman (of Man vs Food fame) visits Midwood Smokehouse

4/30 In what was (somewhat embarrassingly) one of the oldest barbecue restaurant’s in Charlotte, the Tyvola Rd. outpost of the Sonny’s BBQ chain closed

May

5/7 Daniel Vaughn ends his NC barbecue trip at Jon G’s Barbecue, where I was fortunate enough to meet both him and Kathleen Purvis and also share a meal with him

5/12 Charlotte is obviously the number 3 Top City for BBQ in the US. No objection here.

5/19 Jon G’s Barbecue gets the highest of praise from the BBQ Snob himself, Daniel Vaughn; Noble Smoke also gets a mention for their brisket

5/25 Phar Mill BBQ introduces itself to the world and will be using a Jon G’s offset smoker

June

6/3 Sweet Lew’s Barbeque announces its new food truck

6/3 Noble Smoke announces details on its 2 year anniversary

6/8 Mac’s Hospitality Group, parent company of Mac’s Speed Shop, adds Rare Roots alum Jay Spungin as Director of Operations

6/19 Congrats to Jon G’s Barbecue on one year open

6/26 Charlotte-based EDIA Maps, makers of The Great NC BBQ Map, ends operations

6/29 And the name of the Sweet Lew’s Barbeque food truck is…Sweet Lucille

Linkdown: 5/26/21

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Based on the book of the same name by Jessica B. Harris, “High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America” examines the contributions of African American cooking to today’s modern cuisine. The series is four episodes, each lasting roughly an hour, and while the fourth episode focuses on barbecue I won’t be skipping straight to it. This is definitely a series I want to watch as its presented in its entirety.

“High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America” is available to watch now on Netflix.

Native News

This is so cool to see: Jon G’s Barbecue getting the highest of praise from the BBQ Snob himself, Daniel Vaughn; Prime Barbecue and Noble Smoke also get mentions for their brisket

Woodard Family BBQ is a “Hidden Gem of Fayetteville” (though its closer to Sanford) in this new series from the Fayetteville Observer

Non-Native News

Everything old is new again

Home Team BBQ continues its expansion

Behold, the predecessor to True Cue