NC

CHARLOTTE EATS: Old Hickory House

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

In light of the recent fire at Old Hickory House, linking this old blog post from Charlotte Eats, who calls it a “Hall of Fame Eatery.”

One of the best places to get Lexington-style barbecue in Charlotte is the legendary Old Hickory House. The Old Hickory House (originally just called “The Hickory House”) has been run by the Carter family since its inception in 1957. It was originally located on Thrift Rd (near the intersection of Freedom Dr and Morehead St). In 1972, the restaurant was moved to its current location near UNCC. Very little has changed over the years—the dining room still sports the Consetoga wagon lamps over each booth, the wood saws and longhorn-bull horns still adorn the walls, and the famous wood fire pit (that’s part of the dining room) still cooks the meats. Even the turquoise dining room chairs are original.

I disagree with their Lexington-style categorization of the barbecue at Old Hickory House but the history is interesting nonetheless.

There has been no update as far as I can find and as of last week when I drove by, the door still has a sign saying it is closed as of 2/24/14. In any case, hopefully this won’t be the end of Old HIckory House in Charlotte.

-Monk

CHARLOTTE EATS: Old Hickory House

Jake’s Good Eats – Charlotte, NC

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

image

Name: Jake’s Good Eats
Date: 2/28/14
Address: 12721 Albemarle Rd Charlotte, NC 28227
Order: Pit smoked barbeque plate with white slaw, Texas toast, pasta salad, Yuengling (link to menu)
Price: $12

While not a true barbecue joint, Jake’s Good Eats is a southern restaurant that serves barbecue among other southern staples like fried bologna, fried flounder, and meatloaf. It is housed in an old historic Gulf gas station and has been featured on “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,” so there’s that.

Now I don’t normally find myself in east Charlotte outside of 485, but I happened to be buying a bicycle via Craigslist nearby and had 30 minutes to kill. Naturally, I can’t help myself if there’s even a chance of barbecue (just ask my wife), so I stopped in to try it and have a beer.

The barbecue is eastern style with a slight kick but I found it to be too moist, almost as if it was cooked in a crock pot (whatever it was cooked in, its definitely roast pork). It certainly wasn’t cooked in a smoker, because there was zero smoke to it. Other than the slaw (a white slaw at that), the other sides weren’t really barbecue sides but were average.

It may seem harsh to judge Jake’s Good Eats based solely on its barbecue, but that’s kind of what I do. If I were judging it as a whole, I would be much more favorable as it does have a lot of things going for it in a part of Charlotte that (I’m assuming) doesn’t have much of a food scene. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend going solely for the barbecue.

-Monk

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Pork – 2 hogs
Sides – 2.5 hogs
Overall – 2 Hogs

image

image

Jake's Good Eats on Urbanspoon

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Ed Mitchell talks about the menu of his upcoming restaurant ‘Que, opening in Durham on April 1. The farm to table concept will include eastern style whole hog barbecue, ribs, barbecue chicken, brisket, steak, and a full service bar. Really need to make my way up to Durham soon.

-Monk

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

Linkdown: 3/5/14

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

– A little late to the party, the Durham Herald Sun has a story on ‘True Cue and their righteous crusade

– The Lexington Dispatch also has a story on True ‘Cue and highlights several Davidson County joints on the list

Businesses on the list from Davidson County are Speedy Lohr’s Barbecue, Stamey’s Barbecue of Tyro, Speedy Lohr’s BBQ of Arcadia, Smiley’s Lexington Barbecue, Smokey Joe’s Barbecue, Tarheel Q, Troutman’s Barbecue in Denton, The Barbecue Center, Cook’s Barbecue and Lexington Barbecue No. 1.

– More coverage on The Great NC BBQ Map

– Eater: How Franklin Barbecue’s Aaron Franklin Survives SXSW

– Confirmation from Buxton Hill’s Twitter that it is not moving forward. It does state that Elliott Moss’s barbecue restaurant is but no further details at this time: