Monk: In a recent podcast interview, Kevin’s BBQ Joints finally managed to interview Garren and Kelly Kirkman from Barbecue Bros favorite Jon G’s Barbecue. It covers a wide range of topics from Garren growing up on a beef farm in NC to their beginnings as a pop-up to quitting their fulltime jobs to open a restaurant during COVID. A great primer for folks who may be new to Jon G’s.
Monk: Drew Jackson has done a great job covering barbecue the past few years for the News & Observer, and earlier this month came out with the 2023 edition of his list of the 64 best barbecue restaurants in the state.
Here are the links to the various stories around barbecue from early October, but be warned that they are behind a paywall once you hit a certain number of articles:
After years of eating ‘cue across the Triangle, Jackson ranks the 20 best barbecue joints in the area.https://t.co/Pa5rwmWDJ9
Description: Mention barbecue in North Carolina and the conversation quickly becomes divided on its definition and all depends on location, location, location. There’s a west and east BBQ divide. Drew Jackson with the News and Observer explains.
Name: Seoul Food Meat Company Mill District Date: 10/7/23 Address: 421 E 26th St, Charlotte, NC 28205 Order: Hickory pulled pork, brisket, beef rib bao bun slider, baked ram and cheese, doenjang collard greens, fries (link to menu) Pricing: $$$
Monk: Seoul Food Meat Company opened their second Charlotte location in the “Mill District” near NoDa and Optimist Park roughly one year ago in October 2022. That location in a former industrial part of town allows them to spread out a little more than their original South End spot, and they’ve taken advantage with a huge patio that includes a splash pad, playground, and dog park in addition to their large restaurant that includes 5 karaoke rooms.
On a nice day, its certainly a destination-type place where families, dog owners, and childless millennials and zoomers can spend multiple hours. That is certainly the hopes of the owners, between Seoul Food and the Urban District Market food hall just across the greenway.
In terms of the barbecue, I found both my pulled pork and the brisket lacking. The pork had some smoke on it but did not taste fresh. But even with its shortcomings, it was far more palatable than the brisket.
The brisket was covered in a ton of their house barbecue sauce, which I would describe as an Asian fusion barbecue sauce. This covers up the poor trim job of the brisket, and if you flip over the slices of meat you’ll see that a good portion of each slice is unrendered fat. Quite unappetizing.
The Asian fusion dishes I tried were more successful than the barbecue. The beef rib bao bun slider was again slathered with the house barbecue sauce but was a satisfying bite. The baked ram n’ cheese is a ramen noodle take on mac n’ cheese and while the youngest Monkette did not take to it (no huge surprise there) I ate it up.
The collards were labeled as “doenjang” which apparently is “a type of fermented bean paste made entirely of soybean and brine.” That did not come through in the bland, nearly flavorless collards.
If I’m back at Seoul Food Meat Company Mill District enjoying a nice day on their patio, I’ll be leaving the barbecue dishes alone and exploring more of the Asian fusion in the forms of the bao buns, Korean fried wings, or tacos.
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