Bill Spoon’s Barbecue

Linkdown: 10/19/16

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– 6 years ago, locals saved this BBQ joint. It returned the favor after Hurricane Matthew.

Provenzano credits Southern Soul, along with a number of other local restaurants that stayed open, for helping the recovery effort run smoothly and allowing emergency workers to stay on the island through mealtimes, instead of having to travel to a staging area on the mainland.

– A bbq and slaw egg roll is one of the crazy foods to try at this year’s NC State Fair

– Bill Spoon’s BBQ makes Charlotte Stories’ list of Top 10 Best Comfort Food Restaurants in Charlotte

– Charleston Paper cheekily writes up Arby’s new Smoke Mountain  sandwich: Finally, Charleston has a place for good barbecue

– Tickets for the train to the Barbecue Festival are still on sale:

– Picnic makes the list of Durham stops in this article from Departures

– Also from Departures, the best mail-order barbecue

– Atlanta Magazine: Meet Atlanta’s next great pitmaster  – Bryan Furman of B’s Cracklin’ Barbecue

– More on Furman

– Grant’s latest stops: Sportsman’s BBQ in Chattanooga and Peg Leg Porker in Nashville, their 400th barbecue writeup

– Congrats to Grant and Marie!

Linkdown: 8/31/16

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– The 2nd edition of the Great NC BBQ Map will be available tomorrow

– Charlotte Observer has coverage of it and as well as a release event at the Levine Museum of the New South this Saturday

– Is Virginia the true birthplace of barbecue in the US? This man thinks so, and has written a forthcoming book about it

A mild-mannered technology consultant by day, Haynes, 54, is on a mission to save Virginia barbecue from obscurity. In 2016, he succeeded in getting the Virginia General Assembly to designate May through October as Virginia Barbecue Season. He runs a blog called Obsessive Compulsive Barbecue that’s heavy on Virginia tidbits. He’s trying to market three Virginia-style sauces that he developed. And in September, his book, “Virginia Barbecue: A History” (Arcadia Publishing), is due in stores.

– Here’s a guide to Virginia barbecue regions by sauce

– Bill Spoon’s make a USA Today list of “barbecue restaurants worth a pilgrimage”

– Grant’s first impression of Tennessee barbecue joints along US-27: “pretty good, not great”

– Sweet P’s Barbeque and Soul House in Knoxville, on the other hand, was “downright excellent”

– Looks like Rodney Scott is joining the Charleston barbecue party by the end of the year

– Here’s an exclusive interview from Garden & Gun

– And B’s Cracklin’ BBQ of Savannah, GA is opening an Atlanta outpost this fall

– The more you know:

Best of Charlotte Barbecue: Pork

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Boone’s Bar-B-Que Kitchen
Combo from Boone’s Bar-B-Que Kitchen
Midwood Smokehouse

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

We naturally start with pork, which in North Carolina is synonymous with the word “barbecue”. Because Charlotte is a city of transplants and “other people’s barbecue”, you don’t find much barbecue that you might expect of the region (that is, Lexington-style) and you actually find far more eastern-style restaurants. In fact, two of the three below serve eastern-style barbecue (with Boone’s serving his own family’s style recipe that doesn’t easily  classify in Lexington or eastern).

  1. Boone’s Bar-B-Que Kitchen
  2. Midwood Smokehouse (Original location; Ballantyne location)
  3. Bill Spoon’s Barbecue

Honorable Mention: The Smoke Pit (Concord)

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

Bill Spoon’s Barbecue – Charlotte, NC (RE-REVIEW)

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Bill Spoon's Barbecue
Name: Bill Spoon’s Barbecue
Date: 8/14/15
Location: 5524 South Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28217
Order: Combo plate – Pork and ribs; hush puppies, fried Okra, Collards (link to menu)
Bill: $24, including drink (which was not a Cheerwine, which they do not serve)

Speedy: Recently, on a Friday afternoon, my work team decided to grab some barbecue for lunch. As I hadn’t been since our last review over two years ago, I steered the team towards Bill Spoon’s. Heading in, my memory was to expect good pork, great hushpuppies, and weird slaw.

Monk:…what Speedy means here is that Bill Spoon’s has a mustard-based slaw. But hey, at least it isn’t mayo-based.

Speedy: Not sure how that’s different than what I said… Anyhow, I was expecting a pretty standard meal, but I was thrown a bit of a curveball when we arrived and found out Spoon’s added ribs to the menu.  I thought I owed it to the dear readers to give it a try. Fortunately, there was a combo plate, so I could grab some pork as well. Sides of collards and fried okra rounded out my meal.

Monk: And from the looks of it, a pretty pricey combo plate at that.

Speedy: I don’t want to go into too much detail about the pork (good), hushpuppies (great), or other sides (average), as I really don’t have anything to add to our previous review. So instead, I’ll focus on the ribs. This were big, meaty spare ribs smoked with the membrane on (boo) and served with just a bit of glaze. These ribs were the epitome of “fall off the bone ribs”, which, unfortunately is not a good thing. They were definitely overcooked and I was unable to even take a bite without all of the meat falling off. The flavor was OK, but nothing to write home about.

Monk: Interesting that they added ribs to the menu (or maybe we just missed it the first time around?). I wouldn’t have expected good ribs from a traditional-ish Eastern Carolina joint like this (thinking Allen & Son) so I wonder what the demand was that led to it. They do cook whole hog so maybe they have them leftover anyways.

Speedy: Overall, it was a disappointing experience, especially considering the hefty price tag that accompanied the ribs. Next time, I’ll stick to the pork.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Chopped Pork – 3.5 hogs
Ribs – 2 hogs
Sides – 3 hogs
Overall – 3 hogs
Bill Spoon's Barbecue Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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