bbq

Linkdown: 4/1/15

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– It’s Saw’s BBQ in Birmingham, AL vs Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge in Shelby, NC for the championship in Garden and Gun’s Ultimate Barbecue Bracket Challenge; vote until 10pm ET Thursday

– RIP Old Hickory House – it is closing in large part due to the light rail blue line extension construction slowing down business but could reopen somewhere else; CBJ’s article on the closing

Old Hickory House BBQ will close its doors for good on April 4. The well-known, family-run barbecue joint has been in business since 1957, and has operated at its current spot at 6538 N. Tryon since 1972.

– Ed Mitchell’s whole hog barbecue is now available at Midwood Smokehouse as of 5pm on Monday:

– Speaking of Midwood, looks like things are starting to take shape at their forthcoming Ballantyne location

– A few barbecue terms you may not be aware of, including “dip” and “outside brown”

– More on the recently uncovered Lexington barbecue pits from Our State Magazine

Sure, the halls of City Hall are lined with Barbecue Festival posters going back to the first one, in 1984, and there’s a little pig statuette across from the municipal cashier’s desk, but the outside is just boring, a squat one-story yawn of an office with a pointed gray roof and white stucco that sounds hollow when you tap it. And even here there is barbecue, archaeologically speaking. “They found the pit,” Vinson says, really punching the last word.

– Marie, Let’s Eat! takes in Bama Boys BBQ in Henagar, AL and Sugar’s Ribs in Chattanooga, TN

– From the sports world, the latest in the “bbq”/”barbecue” vs “cookout” debate

Linkdown: 1/7/15

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– More on the closing of Jimmy’s Barbecue, whose closing “signals change with barbecue” in the Lexington area

The closure of Jimmy’s continues a change in the local barbecue scene. Five years ago, seven restaurants participated in the annual Barbecue Festival. The closing of John Wayne’s Barbecue and Whitley’s Barbecue dropped the number to five, and now it will fall to four. The remaining restaurants and festival organizers may want to consider adding some of the county’s other barbecue restaurants to gain more manpower and food for the annual event.

– Yahoo! Travel calls The Barbecue Festival in Lexington the “can’t-miss event” in North Carolina

– Red, Hot, and Blue is opening a second RDU location, this time in Cary

– A look back at the Kansas City bbq scene in 2014 (h/t @mossr)

– A Reuter’s article on Daniel Vaughn, BBQ snob, from a few week’s back

“When I saw him walking up, I was a bit nervous. He can make or break a business,” said Matt Proctor, the pit master and owner of Stillwater.

– Is this guy (the so-called “brisket bandit”) kind of like the Robin Hood of brisket? Update: looks like he’s been caught as of Monday

– Speaking of brisket, it is more expensive than ever

– Our review posted earlier this week, but here are 8 things you need to know about The Improper Pig from Charlotte Five

– The SC BBQ Trail now has an interactive map:

– File this under “The More You Know”:

Linkdown: 12/3/14

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– How Do You Spell Barbecue? Personally, I go with “barbecue”

Back in the 18th century, there were almost as many ways to spell barbecue as there were people cooking it: barbacue, barbicu, borbecue. In his diary entry for September 18, 1773, George Washington recorded that he attended, “a Barbicue of my own giving at Accotink.”

He may have been the Father of our Country, but Washington’s spelling didn’t stick. By the time of the Civil War, Americans had settled on two primary versions—barbecue and barbeque—and that’s as close as we’ve come to consensus. The North Carolina Barbecue Society has come down on the side of the “c”, but their neighbors in the Palmetto State, home of the South Carolina Barbeque Association, are more prone to go with the “q,” as are the folks out in Missouri in the Kansas City Barbeque Society.

– Southport has a new barbecue restaurant in Terry’s North Carolina Bar-B-Que & Ribs

– Zagat: Arrogant Swine brings Carolina ‘Cue to Brooklyn

– Speaking of Arrogant Swine, I haven’t linked to a Tyson Ho blog entry on SeriousEats in a few weeks, but here’s a link to his latest, on changing his menu and taking feedback; if you haven’t read the whole series, do yourself a favor and catch up asap

We’ve already cut two items from the menu: turkey legs and corn pone. There’s a certain amount of market efficiency when it comes to a barbecue menu. Certain items appear everywhere because they’re guaranteed hits: brisket, ribs, pulled pork, and chicken are time-tested and reliable. Sometimes you win big when you go against the grain, but for the most part one would do well to heed the wisdom of crowds.

– The SC Barbecue Trail marketing campaign (specifically the web series) wins some accolades by highlighting the state’s barbecue tradition

– An Army veteran has opened a NC barbecue restaurant in Tampa, Three Brothers BBQ Smokehouse

– Austin writer Matthew Odam picks apart a recent WSJ article on Austin barbecue that just plain got some things wrong

– Marie, Let’s Eat! begins their 12 chapter (!!) circumnavigation of barbecue restaurants in South Carolina and eastern North Carolina with Maurice’s in Columbia, some less than great places around Florence, and Parker’s in Wilson