GA

Linkdown: 3/15/17

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– Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim to receive barbecue and a subscription to Our State Magazine (among other items) for his comments on Greensboro “adding no value” in hosting the ACC Tournament

– A review of the Barbecue documentary film

– TMBBQ has a post about the Texas smokehouses and barbecue pits of the 20th century

– Marie, Let’s Eat! finds Bears Den BBQ in Ocoee, TN to be similar to Herb’s in Murphy, NC

– A short film on Scott’s-Parker’s Barbecue from the Southern Foodway Alliance

– This article from the Washington Post’s Jim Shahin covers Heirloom Market BBQ among others

Old Brick Pit Barbeque – Chamblee, GA

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Name: Old Brick Pit Barbeque
Date: 2/15/2017
Address: 4805 Peachtree Rd, Chamblee, GA 30341
Order: Combination platter (pork, ribs) with brunswick stew, slaw (link to menu)
Price: $13

Speedy: Old Brick Pit Barbeque is an old school joint that is just a couple miles north of where I moved in Atlanta. Despite driving by it many times, I never stopped until a recent February evening. Walking in, Old Brick Pit looks like it would fit right in Lexington, so I definitely felt at home. But would the food stack up?

Monk: I know that Marie, Let’s Eat! is a big defender of this place as a good representation of the definitely-not-a-catchall-term “Georgia barbecue”. As I passed by this place leaving Speedy’s place last August, I realized just how close it was. I’ve been really curious how he’d receive it.

Speedy: Of course I ordered a combination platter so I could taste both the ribs and pork and as a bonus, it came with Brunswick stew. The platter was ready shortly after ordering.

The pork was interesting – it came topped with a red barbecue sauce (with more on the side). But the pork was tender and tasty, and I think the sauce actually added an interesting flavor. This was, by a country mile, the best part of the meal. In fact, if I go back to Old Brick Pit, I’ll stick to a barbecue sandwich – available for only $3.

Monk: Based on your description, this sounds a bit like the late Old Hickory House here in Charlotte, which was a Georgia style joint of the chain which only has one location left in Tucker. I was never a huge fan of the tangy sauce that topped the barbecue, but could appreciate that it was a different style than I was accustomed to.

Speedy: Good call, Monk. It did sort of remind me of Old Hickory House. And I’ve been to the one in Tucker – it was not very good. I thought the Charlotte one (RIP) was much better.

As you might have guessed, the ribs were just not good. They were way, way, way overcooked and seem like they had been boiled prior to smoking. The meat was almost soggy. It had OK flavor, but not good enough to make up for the overcooking.

Monk: Seems like the ribs were the favorite of Marie, Let’s Eat! And Burgers, Barbecue and Everything Else. Odd that it was not so great for your visit. Next you’re going to say that you weren’t a fan of the brunswick stew…

Speedy: The brunswick stew was OK, but a little lacking in flavor. I didn’t try the slaw since it was mayo based.

Monk: Well ok, then.

Speedy: Overall, I was disappointed in the Old Brick Pit. I might return for a quick sammie sometime, but I won’t be taking any out of town visitors over.

For more reviews of Old Brick Pit Barbeque, check out
Marie, Let’s Eat!
Burgers, Barbecue and Everything Else

Ratings:
Atmosphere – 3.5 hogs
Pork – 3 hogs
Ribs – 1.5 hogs
Sides – 2 hogs
Overall – 2.5 hogs
Old Brick Pit Barbeque Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato
Old Brick Pit

Linkdown: 2/22/17

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– Congrats to chef/pit master Elliott Moss on his James Beard nomination for Best Chef: Southeast

– Could he win it like Aaron Franklin did two years ago?

– Marie, Let’s Eat! (the blog) turned 7 so they counted down the best barbecue in East Tennessee since they moved there last year

– Thrillist has a list of the most iconic restaurants in every state (and DC), which includes barbecue restaurants for NC and SC both

– Though Kathleen Purvis from the Charlotte Observer thinks maybe they should have looked past barbecue restaurants for each state

– Nice shot:

– Barbecue (the documentary film) will be the very first film premiering at SXSW

-The True Cue guys are at it again, trying to make the fourth Monday in February a new barbecue-related NC holiday

But Reed and Levine also educate us about the connection between politics and barbecue. Their search for such connections took them all the way back to late February of 1766 when “the Royal Governor of North Carolina, William Tryon, attempted to win the New Hanover militia’s good will by treating them to a barbecue. He did not succeed: citizens of Wilmington threw the barbecued ox in the river and poured out the beer. (This was not an early expression of North Carolinians’ preference for pork; they were upset about the Stamp Act.)”

Reed and Levine explain that this “expression” of discontent with British authority came seven years before “the Boston Tea Party of 1773, when some rowdy New Englanders threw boxes of tea in Boston harbor to protest a British tax.”

– From BBQ Hub

Linkdown: 2/8/17

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– You’ve got two days left to vote in this very important poll

– More on Mobile, AL’s The Brick Pit being saved by both social media as well as faith

– The latest stop for Marie, Let’s Eat! is Spencer B’s BBQ just south of the Tennessee-Georgia line and it contains some of his discussion with Speedy from their visit to B’s Cracklin’ Bar-B-Q on New Year’s Eve (pardon the long block of text)

I suggested that a big reason I’ve been so disappointed with the options around Chattanooga is that barbecue in Georgia can be so radically different everywhere and anywhere you go that it’s impossible to get bored, and incredibly difficult to predict what any new place will be like. The flavor profiles, the sauces, the techniques, these can all vary spectacularly in the same small town.

Speedy wasn’t ready to agree with that. After all, he grew up eating Lexington-style pork and slaw trays in central North Carolina, and it’s certainly true that in my limited experience, not just in Lexington itself but in the whole Greensboro-Salisbury corridor, you don’t see variety with quite the broad brush that I’m talking about there. So it’s certainly possible that what I’m finding in eastern Tennessee is what comes naturally in other places: people who’ve lived here for decades grow up perfecting a style which draws inspiration from what’s in the community already.

The problem, to put it delicately, is that Lexington-style barbecue is a million, billion times yummier than what’s going on in eastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia.

– Charleston Eater takes a sneak peek at Rodney Scott’s BBQ in Charleston, which is so dang close to opening

– Here’s a closer look at the menu from Charleston City Paper; while people may have complained, when it opens Rodney Scott’s pork by the pound price will be right in line with the average in Charleston

– In case you missed Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods, he went to a few barbecue joints in the southeast – including Fox Bros BBQ, Buxton Hall Barbecue, and Shealy’s BBQ

– First We Feast is just asking for a fight from all of the different barbecue factions