Charlotte

Linkdown: 2/26/14

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– 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: 2/19/14

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– Hillsborough’s Hog Day will be back after all

– Big Wayner’s mini Georgia barbecue crawl hit up three spots in the Atlanta area

– Beef prices are getting a bit ridonkulous and are affecting Texas barbecue as a result

– The Ballantyne Hotel will be hosting weekly $15 barbecue plate specials throughout the month of May (which just so happens to be National Barbecue Month)

– This month’s barbecue photographer is Ken Goodman, who had some nice photos from this year’s Whole Hog Extravaganza at 17th Street Bar & Grill in Murphysboro, IL including this great one of Sam Jones with his double cleavers

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– Thrillist’s “American BBQ Field Guide” doesn’t get the details right, particularly about NC barbecue (via), though their 33 best barbecue joints in the USA post by two different writers is a little better

Linkdown: 2/5/13

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– Salisbury, NC man charged with attempting to steal nearly $600 in bacon from Hendrix Barbecue

– Before Queen City Q was the official barbecue of the Charlotte Knights and their new uptown stadium, they were the official barbecue of the Charlotte Major League Lacrosse team the Hounds; that will continue next season

– Texas’s Louie Mueller barbecue eyes location in Houston (via)

– Inside the pit of the world’s oldest barbecue in Israel

– This Zagat list of “6 Mouthwatering New-School Barbecue Sides” has a distinctly Central Texas feel to it

– So my main takeaway from this New York Times article, “Take the Road Less Traveled; It May Lead to Barbecue”, is that I need to seek out this Ron’s Pig Palace food truck

I’m not familiar with Charlotte, so I asked a few people who were boarding with me if they could recommend the best barbecue place in town. I got a few suggestions, but one really caught my attention. It was a food truck and it was called Ron’s Pig Palace. The gentleman who suggested it said that he goes out of his way to find it every time he is in Charlotte.

– The audio from a NPR’s All Things Considered story on Rodney Scott and his In Exile tour here

Scott smiles. He says whole hog barbecue is more than food, or tradition. It’s about bringing people together.

Ten Park Lanes – Charlotte, NC

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Name: Ten Park Lanes
Date: 1/17/14
Address: 1700 Montford Dr., Charlotte, NC 28209
Order: Speedy: Burnt ends plate with fries and green beans; Monk: Pulled pork plate with slaw and mac and cheese (link to menu)
Price: Speedy: $13; Monk: $11

Monk: You might be asking yourself why the Barbecue Bros would bother reviewing barbecue from a bowling alley. I mean, you think of bowling alley food and you think of greasy pizza and hot dogs that have been cooking on rollers for too long and served on stale buns. Well, we assure you that is not the case here – Ten Park Lanes was actually named one of the best new restaurants in Charlotte in 2012 by Charlotte Magazine and was included in the Charlotte Observer’s Barbecue Bracket last spring, making it to the Elite 8 before being defeated by eventual winner Kyle Fletcher’s.

Speedy: Of course the atmosphere differs from most ‘cue joints, since it’s a bowling alley. Honestly, I wouldn’t go eat at Ten Park Lanes unless I was bowling, but the menu is perfectly suited for the atmosphere. Monk and I were having a guy’s night with a few buddies and the combination of bowling, beers, and barbecue was perfect for the event.

I decided to order the burnt ends, since we don’t often see them here in North Carolina. And I wasn’t disappointed. They were tender and didn’t need any additional sauce, but the flavor was lacking of any smoke or true barbecue taste. I was a little surprised that they were pulled instead of chunked, but it didn’t negatively affect the flavor. Overall, I thought my order was good – I might even order it again – but it doesn’t stack up to the burnt ends at Midwood Smokehouse, which is really the only other place I’ve had them (at least until my Kansas City trip this summer…)

Monk: The pulled pork was very moist and had decent smoke. It didn’t need it, but I did try it with some of the Piedmont Blonde housemade sauce. I mean, this was legitimately solid barbecue coming from a bowling alley (who do smoke their barbecue in house, presumably in a gas smoker). Although the slaw was mayo-based, both it and the mac and cheese were also quite good. Ten Park claims that all of the food is scratch made, and I believe it. The one thing that I do want to try next time is the Que Stacked Mason Jar, which is a jar stuffed with pulled pork, southern slaw, and BBQ baked beans.

Speedy: At the end of the day, you go to Ten Park Lanes for the bowling, but it turns out that the barbecue is a very pleasant surprise. I’m not ready to crown it king of Charlotte barbecue, but it’s a great compliment to rolling a few (in our case, very few) strikes.

Monk: Sorry Speedy, but this is not ‘Nam. This is bowling. There are rules. And you were over the line on those rolls…

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Pork – 3 hogs
Burnt Ends – 3 hogs
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 3 Hogs

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Ten Park Lanes on Urbanspoon