Hookerton

Linkdown: 1/24/24 – The Buc-ee’s Coming to Mebane Edition

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Featured

Monk: Daniel Vaughn (aka BBQ Snob), Barbecue Editor for Texas Monthly, made a trip to North Carolina last week (with a jag up to Norfolk) to taste what the Old North State has to currently offer in terms of Texas barbecue. Long story short, he was “blown away” by the “staggeringly good” barbecue he tasted on this trip. The stops he called out:

  • Jon G’s Barbecue – Peachland
  • Dampf Good BBQ – Cary
  • Old Colony Smokehouse – Edenton
  • Lawrence Barbecue – Durham
  • Sweet Lew’s BBQ – Charlotte
  • Union Barbecue – Charlotte
  • Redwood Smoke – Norfolk, VA

For the Charlotte area, no surprise that he remains a fan of Jon G’s, but good to see Sweet Lew’s gets a shoutout as well as newcomer Union Barbecue, whom I haven’t had a chance to try yet. Dampf Good and Old Colony are on my list as well for NC.

You may recall that Vaughn did a similar trip through South Carolina and Georgia last summer where he praised City Limits Barbeque in West Columbia and Fork Grove Barbecue in Anderson among others. I would expect a similar story in the next week or so about North Carolina, and I can’t wait to read it.

Native News

At Morris Barbeque in Hookerton in the 60s, Joe the Monkey was a regular fixture

Firehawk Brewpub is hosting a 5 course, family-style dinner featuring the smoked specialties of Chefs Scott Blackwood and Chris Coleman as well as cocktails from Mixologist Bob Peters; tickets available here

New hours for Clyde Cooper’s in Raleigh

ICYMI Buc-ees is coming to Mebane

Non-Native News

Daniel Vaughn remembers John Brotherton

City Limits Barbeque is selling their own pimento cheese now

Direct-heat ribs vs smoked ribs: who you got???

Linkdown: 10/4/23 – The Texas BBQ Bubble About to Burst? Edition

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Monk: Is the Texas barbecue bubble about to burst? Daniel Vaughn reports slowdowns at a few barbecue joints in Texas due in part to the sheer number of joints that have opened in recent years, the intense heat wave that rocked Texas over the summer, and the skyrocketing price of brisket.

As a result, joints are struggling to make the economics work and are trying to lure casual customers in with lower cost items or specials.

From an outsider’s perspective it does seem as if the growth was unsustainable but despite that, Vaughn lists his reasons why he thinks the barbecue bubble isn’t quite yet about to burst. A fascinating read.

Native News

GGCC Smokehouse, an all-wood smoked barbecue food truck, is in the final four of the CharlotteFive Reader’s Choice Poll

The Lexington Barbecue Festival is featured in CLTure’s fall festival guide

Don’t forget you can take the train to the Barbecue Festival

I wonder if you will see any of these shirts at the festival…

A short video on Cook Out on Insider Food

Smoked chicken and dumplings at Pik N Pig

ICYMI, The Smoke Sheet recently profiled Morris Barbeque in Hookerton

Non-Native News

Congrats to Chef J BBQ for being named #1 barbecue in Kansas City; that’s high praise!

Zavala’s Barbecue is voted best brisket in Dallas

The town of Spring is home to Corkscrew BBQ

Also ICYMI, John Tanner dropped his best barbecue places in DC list

Now that’s a great barbecue sign

Friday Find: Morris Barbeque on The NC F&B Podcast

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Morris Barbeque is a Saturday-only barbecue restaurant in the eastern NC town of Hookerton. It’s Saturay-only because owner William Morris and his daughter Ashley and her husband Ryan work Monday to Friday jobs and do barbecue in their spare time Friday night and Saturday. Interesting fact: they smoke their pigs at 400 degrees in 7-8 hours, which is a much higher temp than I’ve heard of folks smoking at before.

To pick a huge nit, it seems like for most of the conversation, the Morris Barbeque crew are bystanders to the conversation between the hosts and their “special” barbecue guest, who even does an impromptu commercial for his smoker company towards the end of the conversation. When you already have 5 people in a conversation (the two hosts plus the three guests), it seems silly to add another voice into the mix. Particularly when half the time the hosts are doing soliloquies instead of asking questions. Unfortunately, I think that Ashley gets lost in the mix. I hope the NC F&B guys do a lot more asking and a lot less talking next time they have another barbecue guest on the podcast.

Mail Order Barbecue Options in North and South Carolina

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Monk: Previously on the blog, I’ve featured how to order takeout from our favorite places in Charlotte, the western part of the state, and the eastern part of the state. But perhaps you don’t live in NC and can’t easily get to any place I featured in those lists. Here’s a list of the barbecue places in North Carolina (and South Carolina for reasons that will become obvious) that will mail order barbecue to you. Unfortunately, it is not a big list, and I can’t personally vouch for any of the NC restaurants. So take that for what you will.

Have I missed any place out there? Email us at barbecuebros@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

North Carolina

Kings BBQ (Kinston)
Link to order online
Our review

Morris Barbeque (Hookerton)
Link to order online

Parker’s Barbecue (Greenville, not Wilson)
Link to order online

White Swan BBQ (various locations in Eastern NC)
Link to order online

South Carolina

Caroline’s BBQ (Spartanburg)
Link to order online

Lewis Barbecue (Charleston)
Link to order online
Our reviews: Monk, Speedy

Maurice’s Piggie Park (Various locations around Columbia)
Link to order online
Our review
Bonus: Here’s an excellent article from Kathleen Purvis entitled “Can a S.C. barbecue family rise above ther father’s history of racism?”

Have I missed any place out there? Email us at barbecuebros@gmail.com or leave a comment below.