bbq

Best of Charlotte Barbecue: Brisket

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The Smoke Pit – Concord, NC
Brisket from The Smoke Pit
Midwood Smokehouse
Brisket from Midwood Smokehouse
Boone’s Bar-B-Que Kitchen
Pork, brisket, ribs, wings, brunswick stew

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 second in our series. Click here to find the other posts.

Speedy once stated that he was done with brisket in NC. That being said, there are some passable  briskets in the Charlotte region (fantastic, even). The brisket from Midwood Smokehouse was named the sixth best brisket east of the Mississippi by Johnny Fugitt of Barbecue Rankings. But it turns out that we like the brisket at The Smoke Pit (which only opened a little over a year ago) even better. I would put those two at the top tier of briskets in the Charlotte region. At a notch below, Boone’s approach is unique in that he finishes the brisket on the grill and ladles it with a mustard-based sauce. Certainly not the Central Texas way of doing it, but it works nonetheless. After these three, there’s not too much more to be said about brisket in Charlotte.

  1. The Smoke Pit (Concord)
  2. Midwood Smokehouse (Original location; Ballantyne location)
  3. Boone’s Bar-B-Que Kitchen

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

Photo Gallery: Behind the Scenes at The Smoke Pit

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The Smoke Pit
The two Southern Pride Smokers
One of the Southern Pride smokers
Closeup of briskets
Speedy (with the Monkette) speaking to Joey
The Stock Market
The walk in; all of this meat will be gone by tomorow
Boxes
Hickory wood
Still a full dining room and a long line after 1pm
Next door at The Stock Market
Meat at The Stock Market

A few weeks back, Joey from The Smoke Pit in Concord was kind enough to take us on an impromptu behind the scenes tour of it as well as its neighboring butcher shop, The Stock Market. Here’s a few photos.

Check out our review from earlier this week here.

–Monk

Linkdown: 2/17/16

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– An interview with John Lewis ahead of his move  to bring Texas barbecue to Charleston

– Grant writes about fantastic barbecue around SC for Tabelog

– Speaking of Tabelog, Monk also wrote an article for them on underrated barbecue restaurants in NC

– Over on Marie, Let’s Eat! he revisits Old Clinton Bar-B-Q in Gray, GA

– Picnic, Midwood Smokehouse, and The Improper Pig all mentioned:

– Seoul Food Meat Co, a new restaurant with a “traditional BBQ menu…with an asian twist”, is set to open for dinner sometime this week in Charlotte

– EDIA Maps, the folks behind the Great NC BBQ and Beer Maps, is creating a Charlotte Adventure Map

– It’s been too long; I need to get back to Red Bridges

Friday Find: Oral History of Fresh Air Bar-B-Que

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Here’s a recently released oral history from Southern Foodways of the Jackson, GA barbecue joint Fresh Air Bar-B-Que.

Dr. Joel Watkins, a veterinarian, opened Fresh Air Bar-B-Que in 1929 to serve the rabbits and goats he raised and barbecued on the weekends. Dr. Watkins never cooked pork. George “Toots” Caston, a fifth-generation native of Jackson, introduced pork when he bought the place in 1952. His grandchildren remember how his barbecue business “permeated every part of his being.”

Today, the third generation of the Caston family is at the helm.

–Monk