Bob Garner

Linkdown: 3/12/14

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

– So there’s this: The 10 Best Barbecue Chains in America

– Big Wayner checks out Whispering Pines, a hidden jewel of barbecue joint that still cooks over wood in Albemarle

– Fervent Foodie has the lowdown on the new brunch menu at Elwood’s Barbecue & Burger Bar in Ballantyne

– TMBBQ’s Austin barbecue guide for those in town for SXSW (jealous)

– There are two ways to win a ticket to the NC BBQ Map launch party at NoDa Brewing this summer

– Bob Garner is having a book signing for his barbecue book March 19 in Pittsboro

– Taste Trekkers offers up Five Unique Barbecue Experiences in Atlanta and an interesting perspective on barbecue in the city in a post guest-written by Grant from Marie, Let’s Eat!

One of the meanest things that has ever happened in the last forty years of people writing about regional food was somebody, somewhere, up and decided that Atlanta, Georgia was not a barbecue city. Since then, scores of misinformed food writers have made the poor decision to give the Peach State short shrift and focus on barbecue in other places. Make no mistake, I bow to nobody in my admiration of the awesome barbecue traditions of Texas, Memphis, North Carolina, and all points in between. But this nonsense that Atlanta’s not a barbecue town, that Georgia’s not a barbecue state, has gone on long enough.

– The newly-formed NC BBQ Association is hosting a cooking school next Saturday at Mac’s Speed Shop in Charlotte.

image

Linkdown: 2/26/14

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

– Vote for your favorite barbecue restaurant in Charlotte Magazine’s Best of the Best Awards for dining and nightlife here. May we kindly suggest the current Barbecue Bros fave and True ‘Cue approved Midwood Smokehouse.

– The James Beard Award semifinalists were named last week and several Fatback Collective team members were honored

– Speaking of which, the preliminary Rodney Scott In Exile totals are in and approximately $81,000 was raised

– Austin’s La Barbeque is named one of GQ’s best restaurants in America for 2014

– Pride and Joy BBQ’s future NYC location runs into more issues (via)

– South Carolina barbecue chain owner (and noted racist) Maurice Bessinger has died; Southern Foodways has their take on his death

– Firefighters responded to a fire at Old Hickory House in Charlotte earlier today; I haven’t seen anything further about the extent of the damage

– The NC State student paper The Technician had a short profile on Bob Garner, who is currently serving as “minister of barbecue culture” at The Pit in Durham

“My job [as minister of culture] is much more cultural than it is technical,” Garner said. “I do everything from developing new variations of recipes from the original menu, to training staff and taking plates out to the table. Customers faces are shocked to see me and it gives me a conversation starter that allows me to do what I love the most, interact with customers.”

– After not opening in Fall 2013 due to construction issues, Ed Mitchell’s ‘Que (who he is opening along with his son) is now shooting for an April 1 opening in downtown Durham

Linkdown: 12/10/13

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

image
(image via)

– Our State Magazine has been profiling a NC barbecue restaurant a month and this month they turn their attention to Midwood Smokehouse, currently #1 on the Barbecue Bros Charlotte big board

Frank Scibelli just comes right out and says it: If you want good barbecue in Charlotte, you don’t have a lot of options.

But Charlotte is growing, you say. There are more cooks cooking more food, and more varieties of it, than ever before.

“Still not good barbecue,” he says.

Maybe it’s got to do with the smoker. You have to have a smoker, he says. Not many barbecue places in Charlotte have one. He does. He mentions it over and over again. He asks if I’ve seen inside it, where at least one piece of hickory is burning 24 hours a day. He makes sure I know the only thing that powers his smoker is wood.

– The final report on the unfortunate Sandy Plains Baptist Church salmonella outbreak in Shelby in September confirms it was salmonella

– A look inside last weekend’s Garden and Gun Jubilee Made in the South Weekend, in which Rodney Scott had a pig roast on Sunday that had to have been amazing

– Old Carolina Barbecue set to open in Cleveland and appears to be trying to do it the right way

Before entering the business, Schafer toured the Carolinas and visited dozens of eateries to ensure his menu would be as genuine as possible.

“We didn’t invent barbecue, we just wanted to do it right,” he said. “There’s authenticity behind the recipes.”

Key to the barbecued items are large on-site smokers.

– For the uninitiated, a great primer on NC Barbecue (mostly eastern) from a man who clearly knows what he is talking about, Bob Garner (via, tambien en espanol)

– Finally, yet another plug to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter