The Barbecue Center is often overlooked in the shadow of Lexington Barbecue but those who are in the know believe that it’s every bit as good as its more popular counterpart (perhaps better?).
The late Sonny Conrad started out as a carhop before purchasing the restaurant in 1967 (it originally opened in 1955) and his family has run it ever since, with sons Cecil and Michael taking over day to day activities since their father passed in 2013. More on their family story at the link below.
Next time you are passing through Lexington on Business 85, consider stopping at The Barbecue Center which is just two miles away from Lexington Barbecue off N. Main St.
More from Lexington: a profile of the city’s history with barbecue with some quotes from the Conrads and the Monks of Lexington Barbecue
Barbecue-gate for Democratic candidate for NC Senate Cal Cunningham, born and raised in Lexington of all places (yes, I’m aware of the more recent scandal)
There's nothing better than BBQ—except for winning this Senate seat, of course. pic.twitter.com/oEsDXIZ5O2
Doveshack BBQ is well worth a stop-off from I-95 during the eventual back-up, writes John Tanner’s BBQ Blog
Kevin Bludso of Bludso’s Bar & Que and “The American Barbecue Showdown”talks to the Washington Post about the neglected contributions of black pitmasters among other topics
John Brown Smokehouse’s original location closed this past week, but it will be reopening in a new location this Thursday
This past weekend, @JohnBrownSmoke closed its 8-year-old location in Long Island City. It will soon start a new chapter as “John Brown BBQ” later this week in a different part of LIC. Looking forward to seeing what’s next. pic.twitter.com/cGGsXsPCFa
Another hard lesson learned in the form of Prause’s Meat Market: don’t take your favorite classic barbecue joints for granted
Many residents of La Grange had probably assumed the historic Prause Meat Market would always be around.
But in August, more than four months after a temporary closure, the Prauses announced that they had found a buyer, who had plans to renovate and re… https://t.co/mvEGP6dpXP
Monk: The biggest news was of course the closing of Bill Spoon’s Barbecue in late September, which I wrote a little bit about in our 9/16 Linkdown. Afterwards, the news came out that it wasn’t only the pandemic that killed them off – it had been some time coming due to an aging customer base and Spoon’s inability to attract new, younger customers that may have wanted a more full service barbecue experience.Until the end, they thought of themselves as a “traditional barbecue house” which means they only accepted cash and didn’t serve beer or wine. And they were ok with that, even if that ultimately wasn’t what Charlotte wanted. Rest in peace, Bill Spoon’s Barbecue.
July
7/6 Sweet Lew’s BBQ announces adjusted hours of operation, now Wednesday through Sunday, removing Tuesday
7/24 Sweet Lew’s Barbecue introduces an updated menu with hash now on the menu full time and house made sausage that was helped develop with advice from Garren of Jon G’s Barbecue
7/25 Noble Smoke celebrated one year of being open with an all-day party
August
8/20 Bargarita, a “new restaurant serving margaritas and BBQ tacos” opens in the former Solstice Tavern location in NoDa. No word on where or how they smoke their brisket or pork for tacos.
8/28 The Annual Mallard Creek Barbecue, “The Grandaddy of North Carolina Barbecues,” was officially cancelled for the first time in 90 years
According to an email to Mallard Creek Presbyterian Church members, the 91st Annual Mallard Creek Presbyterian Church BBQ has been canceled #ncpol@wsoctvpic.twitter.com/jXPTsGoFy8
8/31 Big Tiny’s BBQ in Mooresville celebrated four years of being open; Pitmaster John also celebrated a birthday
September
9/1 Noble Smoke introduces Taco Tuesdays
9/8 Seoul Food Meat Co will open a second location in the Optimist Park neighborhood (not NoDa as noted in their post) as part of an adaptive-reuse project called Lintmen’s
9/16 Bill Spoon’s Barbecue closed after 57 years in business
9/20 Sweet Lew’s Barbeque begins smoking whole hogs on Sundays, the only Charlotte-area restaurant smoking whole hogs as far as I am aware of
9/28 We interviewed Garren and Kelly of Jon G’s Barbecue about what it’s like to open a barbecue restaurant in the middle of the pandemic
EXCLUSIVE: What It's Like to Open a Barbecue Restaurant in the Middle of a Pandemic https://t.co/oRzxq9Bmc9
Monk: Bob Garner digs the scene at Sims Country Bar-B-Que, where hickory-smoked pork and chicken mingles with bluegrass music. But only on Friday and Saturday nights, with the live music starting at 7pm. Bluegrass legend Doc Watson has even played the shed over 20 times.
Description: Bob Garner heads to Granite Falls to check out the bluegrass and barbecue scene at Sims Country BBQ.
Good news: Garren and Kelli Kirkman of Jon G’s Barbecue finally realized their dream of opening a barbecue restaurant this year. Bad news: the restaurant opening was in the middle of a global pandemic with all of the social distancing and protective measures that go along with that. A little over three months into their dream, I reached out to Garren and Kelly to see how the first few months have gone.
How has the reception been the past 3 months or so after opening your long-awaited brick and mortar? Pretty humbling to say the least. It blows our minds when people from all walks of life start lining up to eat our food. From local Anson county natives all the way to people from Texas and beyond, we truly feel so honored to get to do this week to week in our own building.
What were you able to learn from your three soft openings in June and July? Those soft opening days were crazy and hectic, but we knew that we needed to train our staff that had never worked on the food truck before.
It was also a goal of ours to help people understand how the line would work and make the wait seem like more of a party than a wait at all.
The biggest thing (more from a business perspective) was to dial in our ticket times. We wanted to be very similar in the food truck times, but still engage in our customers with conversation and a welcoming atmosphere. Amazingly, every week, be it a $10 ticket or a $300 ticket it is still a 1-3 minute turnaround.
What are some of the unexpected things you didn’t realize you’d have to do as part of running a restaurant? Well, food truck life is definitely not for the faint of heart. It prepared us in ways that we didn’t even know we needed until we opened the restaurant doors. It felt like a relief and a dream to have our own space to cook in. It is nice to not have to drive ourselves to where we are serving worrying about flat tires, generator issues, praying the food stays put in the trailer while traveling and serving in 107°or 30°.
Changing gears, how early have you been selling out each Saturday? The earliest was 3:30, but on average around 5:00 pm. Sometimes what we have on special, Brunswick Stew for example, is sold out by noon. We did Pork Chops on special (which we thought were phenomenal, by the way) that we were giving away at the end of the night. Sometimes it’s just a gamble.
What’s been the most popular menu item? Overall, brisket continues to take the top spot, but we sell double (sometimes triple) the amount of sandwiches in the restaurant versus the food truck days.
Any plans for opening outside of Saturdays in the near future? We’d love to, but not sure what that schedule looks like at this point. A very large (75% or more) of our guests are people who drive from 1+ hours away and couldn’t necessarily make that trip for a weekday lunch break.
We are finally getting catering calls again, which has been null since March. Catering is typically a weekday job, so we are at the restaurant prepping and delivering that for people as well.
With a small building comes limited refrigeration and warming space. We have to keep everything at safe temperatures and grow into whatever is next for us.
That makes a lot of sense. In terms of upcoming specials, are there any you’d like to tease? We just rolled out our Brunswick Stew, and my gracious it went FAST. We’ll continue to have that through the Fall. We are also toying with the idea of a burnt end. Posted one picture on social media and we think people will enjoy those as well.
What would you like every customer to know before they make the trip out to Peachland? Don’t let the line be a downer. The best part is that it’s outside (covered for rain and such). You can social distance and still feel somewhat back to normal in these crazy times we live in today. Make friends, BYOB, share stories and talk to us when it’s your time to order. We wouldn’t have gotten to this point without our amazing customers and staff. We love getting to know you. At the end of the day, we are a small business and it’s still us (Garren and Kelly) working the front lines and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Thanks to Garren and Kelly for taking time out of their busy schedule to talk with us.
Jon G’s Barbecue is located off Highway 74 at 116 Glenn Falls St in Peachland, NC (about 40 minutes east of Charlotte). They are open Saturdays from 11 until 6pm or until the meat runs out.
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