Farmer’s BBQ – Charlotte, NC

August 29, 2013August 1, 2014 / Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Name: Farmer’s BBQ
Date: 8/21/13
Address: 2700 W Mallard Creek Church, Charlotte, NC 28262
Order: Lexington tray with hush puppies and drink (link to menu)
Price: $8.10

Farmer’s BBQ is located in a Highland Creek shopping center just north of the Charlotte University Research business park. Inside, the restaurant’s utilitarian guts is in stark contrast to its brick facade. With slightly-dated booths and tables on either side, you walk up to a counter to order and the food is brought to you shortly after. Yelpers have noted the restaurant’s “dinginess” in their reviews but I wasn’t bothered by the cleanliness (or lack thereof).

Farmer’s does Lexington-style trays (in addition to other meats not tasted such as chopped chicken, brisket, and baby back ribs), so naturally this is what I ordered. While I was waiting I did see the owner/manager hand-chopping the pork and the food even came in a Lexington-style tray – both positive signs. As for the pork itself, while it was moist and had a good texture it lacked smoke and was ultimately bland. I added some of the eastern NC vinegar sauce and while it was better in terms of flavor, the smoke was still missed. Curiously the eastern sauce was referred to as “dip,” a term reserved for Lexington-style table sauce, of which there was none. The red slaw was also slightly bland while the hush puppies were decent if unspectacular.

At this point in our mission to taste and rank the best barbecue joints in Charlotte, I don’t expect to find anything that will shake up the top of the rankings too much. In any case, you never know when you might be surprised. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case with Farmer’s BBQ so you’ll have to go somewhere else if you are looking for great barbecue in Charlotte.

-Monk

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

Linkdown: 8/28/13

August 28, 2013August 1, 2014 / Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

– In case you missed it, here is Food & Wine’s list of “Best BBQ Cities” which includes Western NC (Lexington and surrounding area) as well as Eastern NC (Raleigh and surrounding area)

In Lexington proper, off Highway 29-70, no-frills Lexington Barbecue has pitmasters who expertly smoke pork shoulder and little else; in Greensboro, Stamey’s Old Fashioned Barbecue makes the best sandwich in town, topped with a pleasantly vinegary slaw and served on paper plates.

– So there’s this: Dallas, TX-based barbecue chain Dickey’s is opening their first Charlotte area restaurant and 15th overall in NC

– ”How much barbecue can Wells Fargo finance?” They have expanded into agricultural lending in eastern NC by adding a team of agricultural lenders in cities like Greenville, Goldsboro, Kinston, Rocky Mount and several others

– The Wine & Swine festival in Corolla makes Our State magazine’s 5 Things Every North Carolinian Should Do In September list

– Speaking of wine, Our State magazine has a wine pairing guide that focuses on the two styles of NC barbecue

– Jester King Brewery and The Salt Lick have collaborated on a pecan wood smoked saison beer called “Censored,” so named because the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission wouldn’t allow them to use The Salt Lick’s name due to some weird restriction which is too bad since the original logo was kind of bad ass:

(image via)

– And finally, with football season about to start, Queen City Q just announced its food truck plans for the season

Hit the Q Truck located in #Panthers Lair before all home games. #cltfood http://t.co/kSw99S9Dvi pic.twitter.com/hvDoQHkLFx

— Queen City Q (@theQclt)

August 27, 2013

Linkdown: 8/21/13

August 21, 2013August 1, 2014 / Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

– The 2013 Q-City Charlotte BBQ Championship (formerly the Blues, Brew & BBQ Festival) was recently announced for October 18-19 and will be the southeast’s largest sanctioned BBQ competition

– Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint, Scott’s, and Skylight Inn make Southern Living’s 100 Places to Eat Now (via)

– Meanwhile in Asheville, James Beard nominated chef Elliot Moss has left Ben’s Tune-Up and is now focusing on his barbecue restaurant, presumably still being called Buxton Hill (though the article mentions he is taking more of a “modernist approach” and the details of which are “still in flux”)

– Boney’s Smokehouse, (review from Speedy and Monk coming tomorrow), gets a 3/4 star review in the Denver Post. Spoiler alert: we didn’t like it as much.

– Myron Mixon has parted ways with his restaurant partners in both Pride and Joy locations – Miami and the soon-to-be-opened New York (via)

– In case you were wondering, you can take Wilber’s barbecue (and presumably any other barbecue) through airport security (although why the typo of “Wilbur’s” made it through the editing process at the N&O is a mystery to me)

– Scott’s Bar-B-Q in Hemingway, SC is Andrew Zimmern’s favorite barbecue joint in America as confirmed in a tweet a few weeks back

Scott’s Franklin’s Myra’s My house RT @christiansack: @andrewzimmern best BBQ you’ve ever had? Go.

— Andrew Zimmern (@andrewzimmern)

August 5, 2013

The Barbecue Center – Lexington, NC

August 15, 2013January 19, 2016 / Barbecue Bros / 2 Comments

Name: The Barbecue Center
Date: 8/8/13
Address: 900 N Main St., Lexington, NC 27292
Order: Chopped pork plate with fries, slaw, hush puppies and a Cheerwine (link to menu)
Price: $10.14

Monk: On our way to fly out of Greensboro for our annual guys trip, Speedy and I took the opportunity to check out a joint in Lexington that is on the NC Historic Barbecue Trail but which neither of us had been to – The Barbecue Center. I personally must have passed within a half mile of it literally hundreds of times heading to and from Charlotte without knowing it was there. Nevertheless, I was excited.

Speedy: Like Monk, I had never been though I’d heard tale of some locals claiming it as their favorite joint in town, which in Lexington is a big deal. (I later found out the reason I never went growing up: when telling Mama Speedy about my lunch locale, she replied with a scoff, “why’d you go there? Monk’s is right around the corner.”)

Pulling in, things looked really good, as there’s a large smokehouse outside and piles of hickory wood. The large smokehouse was not active upon our noon arrival. Additionally, there was hickory wood outside of the kitchen in the main building, which was going, as there was a strong, glorious smoke smell present as we entered the building.

Monk: In addition to the smell, you could see thin veil of smoke wafting in the dining room, so I was definitely encouraged. We grabbed a small two-person booth as the lunch rush started to come in and before too long the waitress had taken our order. As is standard, we each ordered a chopped pork plate (with extra outside brown) that came with fries, slaw, and hush puppies and of course, a Cheerwine to top it all off.

Speedy: The meal looked fantastic – exactly as a barbecue meal should. I bit into the pork and noticed a definite smoke flavor. It was also perfectly tender. I think my biggest problem was with the dip, which seemed a little heavy on the ketchup, making it sweeter than I like.

Monk: The outside brown was very present in the pork, which I agree was very good. The oblong hush puppies were really good and almost as sweet as I like them to be, though not quite. The red slaw wasn’t quite as tangy as I normally like, and I know Speedy had some issues.

Speedy: My love of red slaw is well documented around these parts, but again, the dip really held it back for me. The cabbage was chopped perfectly, but I was just overwhelmed by the sweetness of the dip. Was it better than mayo based cole slaw? Of course. But it just wasn’t up to what I expected in the town of Lexington.

Monk: All in all, I was glad we were able to finally check out The Barbecue Center. It’s former owner Sonny Conrad (who recently passed away in June) was a barbecue icon and was one of six restaurant owners who started The Barbecue Festival in Lexington, the largest one-day festival in the state of NC. Conrad was so iconic, in fact, that he always presented the first barbecue sandwich of the festival to the mayor of Lexington. As for the food itself…

Speedy: It was very good. In fact, if The Barbecue Center were in Charlotte, I’d probably go eat there all the time. But it’s not in Charlotte, and there’s a higher standard in Lexington. At the end of the day, Mama Speedy was right – why waste your time when Monk’s place is just around the corner?

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 4 Hogs
Pork – 4 Hogs
Sides – 3.5 Hogs
Overall – 4 Hogs