Hite’s BBQ

Linkdown: 4/6/22

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Featured

Going into Monday night’s NCAA Championship game, Governor Roy Cooper made a bet with Kansas Governor Laura Kelly as governors tend to do in these types of situations. The wager? Kansas City steaks vs Wilber’s BBQ. You may be aware that UNC lost to Kansas 69 to 72 after leading by 15 at the half, surrendering the largest lead in NCAA championship game history. You absolutely hate to see it.

John Tanner blames UNC’s NCAA Championship loss Monday night on said barbecue bet. Wilber’s gave Kansas players too much motivation!

Meanwhile, a few days earlier, the Duke-UNC Final Four matchup on Saturday night inspired a barbecue bet of its own between Durham County and Orange County sheriffs. No word or photos have surfaced yet of Durham County sheriffs ordering barbecue in UNC gear, but I look forward to that update.

Native News

The latest from the parking lot dispute between Noble Smoke and The Good Life

Sweet Old Bill’s and Biscuit Brisket & Beer are food options when visiting High Point

Seoul Food Meat Co has opened a fast casual Korean wing concept in SouthPark: Bit by Seoul

Non-Native News

Tales from the Pits gives the lowdown on the “rib cut” from Hite’s BBQ in West Columbia

Last week’s Smoke Sheet featured a story from Bryan Suddith on whole hog and Rodney Scott’s BBQ

The State Line Celebration at Carowinds will run on select dates April 9-May 8 and will feature both NC and SC barbecue

Duke’s Barbecue of Beaufort is one of four options to get barbecue in Beaufort County, SC

Houston’s newest barbecue restaurant J-Bar-M BBQ impresses

Ever wonder why barbecue joints are covered in stickers?

Linkdown: 9/9/20

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Featured

Food & Wine Magazine released a huge barbecue blitz last week just in time for Labor Day

From writer Caroline Schnapp reflecting on her childhood in Durham at local institution Bullock’s Bar-B-Q to an unassuming barbecue joint in Alabama between a race track and a Bass Pro Shop

…to tips and recipes for the home smoker from the different types of sauces

…what spices to use to make a rub

…to which cuts of meat to smoke. Plus a whole lot more in the original link.

Native News

Raleigh Magazine has the latest on the still-about-to-be-booming Raleigh barbecue scene; the article notes that Ed Mitchell’s new venture The Preserve hopes to finish its kitchen soon for takeout and that Friendship Barbecue is not moving forward

Sam Jones BBQ’s Raleigh location is on track for a November opening

The Gaston Gazette profiles the Webb family of Red Brides Barbecue Lodge in addition to two other non-barbecue families in the area

Behind The Redneck BBQ Lab in Johnston County is a brother/sister duo with some serious competition barbecue pedigree

The last chance to claim your #SummerofCue t-shirt is today by 3pm

Non-Native News

Fresh off the release of Chef’s Table: BBQ, Rodney Scott’s got a book coming out next year titled “Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ: Every Day Is a Good Day” that is co-written with Lolis Eric Elie; you can pre-order it now (h/t Robert Moss’s The Cue Sheet)

Scott also shares his favorite places to eat in Charleston

The Charleston Post and Courier writes up the SC Midlands barbecue restaurants like Big T Bar-B-Q, True BBQ, and Hite’s BBQ, who were all featured in the Food & Wine 50 states article

RIP Mike Wilson of Saw’s BBQ, who recently passed away unexpectedly; he spent his adult life in the Birmingham area but grew up in Charlotte

Chicago restaurants are also pivoting to barbecue during the pandemic

Birria, a meat stew traditionally made from goat meat, but occasionally made from beef or mutton, is having a moment in San Antonio

I look forward to continuing to follow this story about John T. Edge and how the Southern Foodways Alliance will move forward

Hite’s BBQ – West Columbia, SC

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Name: Hite’s BBQ
Date: 5/20/17
Address: 240 Dreher Rd, West Columbia, SC 29169
Order: Barbecue plate with hash and rice, slaw, and roll (link to menu)
Price: $8

Monk: Back in early 2015, John T. Edge’s article about Hite’s BBQ in Garden & Gun Magazine initially put the joint on my radar. Due to the fact that I don’t make it down to Columbia all that often plus the fact that Hite’s is only open Fridays and Saturdays meant that it would still be over 2+ years before I would be able to finally check it out. Not that I hadn’t tried before unsuccessfully, making the trek down the day before this past New Year’s Eve specifically to check out Hite’s only to find out they were closed. Hite’s is a family operation so I definitely couldn’t begrudge them for not being open before a holiday, but it meant that I would have to wait another 6 months before eventually checking them out.

Hite’s is a takeout only joint run out of a simple cinder block building but does have a few picnic tables overlooking a small lake on the property which apparently has 3 generations of Hite’s living on it.

The menu is very simple, with choice of sandwiches, plates or takeaway pounds of either whole hog, ribs, or chicken. The pork was a tad dry on this day and though mustard will never be my favorite style of barbecue sauce with pork it was still quite good.

Hash and rice comes standard with each plate and was my favorite part of the meal. Not that it’s quite as good as the hash a mile and a half down the road at True BBQ, but it’s still pretty dang good nonetheless.

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There was nothing special about the slaw, which I didn’t feel the need to finish. The rolls that came standard with each plate were fine but in the interest of saving my stomach from the carbs, I saved them for my daughter to have at the beach later that week.

After my meal, I snapped a few photos around the property, including the Hite St sign and the huge stacks of split logs behind the joint before current owner David Hite (grandson of original owner John D. Hite) was kind enough to invite me to check out the pit room. At that point, all of the hogs were off the pits so it was just chicken, so I quickly snapped a few shots when he revealed the pit. I spoke with him for just a few minutes about the family operation behind Hite’s and the requests he sometimes gets from various news outlets (which he isn’t always to accommodate due to the joint’s limited schedule). I certainly appreciated David taking some time to chat with me.

Hite’s BBQ wasn’t necessarily my favorite barbecue of the vacation week (more on that in the coming weeks) but I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it for folks passing through Columbia looking for a taste of true midlands SC-style barbecue.

For more reviews of Hite’s BBQ, check out:
Marie, Let’s Eat!

Ratings:
Atmosphere – 3 hogs
Pork – 3.5 hogs
Sides – 3.5 hogs
Overall – 3.5 hogs
Hite's Bar B Que Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Linkdown: 11/18/15

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– Congrats to Sam Jones on the opening of his new barbecue joint in Greenville, NC last week and continuing the tradition of wood-cooked barbecue

A decade back, those of us who make a living writing about and documenting barbecue were worried. Honest, wood-cooked barbecue was imperiled, we said. Pitmasters who dedicated their lives to firing pits and flipping hogs were atavistic, we worried, wheezing their way toward foregone retirement.

I’m pleased to report that we seers of ‘cue were wrong. We lacked vision. We lacked heart. Evidence of our errors of belief is seemingly everywhere. Traditional barbecue is now in renaissance.

– More on Sam Jones and his role as fire chief in Ayden from the Southern Foodways Alliance and Chicago Tribune writer Kevin Pang

– Food Republic has a guide on where to eat in Columbia, SC that includes a couple of barbecue joints including Hite’s BBQ, True BBQ, and Big Boy’s Original Smokehouse

– Pork ribs in Mississippi changed Adam Perry Lang’s life

– Charlotte Agenda thinks Midwood Smokehouse has one of the best non-traditional tacos in the city

– On so-called “nouveau ‘cue” and the supersizing of barbecue

– Thanksgiving is coming, so here’s a homemade mac and cheese recipe from Midwood Smokehouse