Charlotte

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.

Linkdown: 2/3/16

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– The New York Post: “Carolina barbecue is the best barbecue”

North Carolina is where you go to get the best barbecue in our defiantly local, my-barbecue-is-the-best-barbecue-of-all land of ours. You prefer Texas, or Kansas City, or Memphis? You are entitled. And I will not throw you out of my house if you bring any of them over. But Carolina barbecue is the best barbecue.

– Speaking of NC barbecue, there’s now an app for that courtesy of Our State Magazine

– Missed this from December, but Travel  Addicts made a barbecue pilgrimage to Lexington #1

– From Garden & Gun Magazine:

– The Ballantyne location of Queen City Q is now open for dinner

– Speaking of Queen City Q, managing partner Bryan Meredith, was a guest on Charlotte Talks to discuss the local craft beer scene and why Queen City Q is boycotting Anheuser Busch InBev

– Grant of Marie, Let’s Eat! visits Saucehouse Barbecue in Athens, GA, the newest barbecue restaurant to open in town

– Kathleen Purvis from The Charlotte Observer and William Porter of The Denver Post swap notes on the cuisines of the respective cities, including barbecue

– Also, the editors from those two papers have made a beer and bison or barbecue bet on the big game

-The insurance commissioners from each state have made a similar bet as well

“If we lose, we’ll treat you to the No. 1 India pale ale in America (NoDa Brewing’s ‘Hop, Drop ’n Roll’), brewed right here.” She also agreed to send barbecue if Denver wins the Super Bowl.

– Midwood Smokehouse has a Big Game Smoker package if you don’t want to  smoke your own barbecue this Super Bowl

Linkdown: 1/27/16

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– A sneak preview of the February barbecue issue of Our State Magazine from the Red Bridges Facebook page

Our State Magazine - February 2016 Barbecue Issue

– The issue will be on newstands next Tuesday and here’s a sneak peak

– CrossTies Barbecue in Carrboro is an upcoming restaurant that will be a full-service barbecue restaurant “specializing in authentic Carolina barbecue and a variety of smoked meats, including fresh-made sausages and bacon”; it is slated to open in May

– This person’s “best things I ate in Charlotte in 2015” list includes barbecue from Mac’s Speed Shop and I can’t give the rest of the list any credence (also: mozzarella sticks? Really?)

– For Southern Living’s 50th Anniversary, Robert Moss profiles the South’s legendary joints

– Ole Time BBQ in Raleigh (a semi-decent joint where I ate a lot in college) is closed until further notice after a car crashed into it Saturday night

– Jess Pryles has made recent updates to her guide to Austin Barbecue

– Lewis Barbecue is doing a pop-up tour of Charleston breweries the first three Saturdays of February

– Queen City Q’s Ballantyne location (in the old Elwood’s) is open for lunch and to-go orders as of Monday

Linkdown: 1/20/16

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– The continuing trend of American barbecue’s growing popularity abroad

But it’s not just Paris. Barbecue, that onetime fiercely regional American food, has gone global. American-style barbecue restaurants have opened in Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, London, Vienna, Mexico City, even Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Last year, Wayne Mueller, the third-generation owner of Louie Mueller Barbecue, went on a State Department-sponsored world tour, during which he cooked barbecue and discussed its culture and history at the Milan Expo in Italy.

– Yet another 10 best BBQ restaurants in America list, though this one includes a couple of unique ones like  Henry’s Smokehouse in Greenville (our review here) and Fox Brothers in Atlanta

– Understanding the barbecue ratings game and whether you can judge a barbecue restaurant on the same scale as a French restaurant

– Garden & Gun examines the sauces of the teams that played in last week’s National Championship Game

– Grant visits the new Puckett’s Grocery & Restaurant outpost in Chattanooga

– Big Wayner’s got a Five for Friday full of barbecue links

– Two of the 10 most anticipated Charlotte restaurant openings according to Charlotte Agenda have barbecue in their DNA: Kid Cashew (a Mediterranean smokehouse) and Seoul Food Meat Co (Korean flavors with American meats)

– An upcoming Atlanta joint hopes to help define what Georgia barbecue means