Linkdown: 4/5/23 – The Carolinas Edition

Monk: An all-Carolinas linkdown this week

Native News

Shepard Barbecue is heading to the Flavortown Festival after getting a boost from Triple D

Laurinburg will host the “Suds and Swine” whole hog competition in mid-April

Green River BBQ in Saluda has recently changed ownership, with the new owners stating they have “big plans”

Non-Native News

Beautiful South will be popping-up every Thursday at Lewis Barbecue in Charleston serving southern Chinese food

Fork Grove BBQ in Anderson, SC will soon be a brick and mortar

Palmira BBQ shares an update

John Tanner hits a quartet of barbecue restaurants in SC, starting with Melvin’s BBQ in Mount Pleasant

…at Swig & Swine, the pork belly was even better than the pork, which was “worthy of a ‘wow'”

…at Bessinger’s Barbecue, the hash has a “deep and satisfying flavor”

…finally, the hash and rice at True BBQ in West Columbia is “flat good”

Linkdown: 3/8/23 – The “Cooking with Gas” Edition

Featured

Monk: Southern Living readers pick their favorite barbecue in each state in the South for the annual “Best in the South” issue. While Robert Moss provides a foreword, please remember that this is a reader chosen list and not his South’s Top 50 Barbecue Joints list. So address your ire at the masses and not Moss’ inbox.

Moss does note that half of the 14 are repeat, with the other half being new to the list. For North Carolina, the reader’s pick this year was Lexington Barbecue but it was not a repeat winner as last year’s choice was Buxton Hall Barbecue.

Check out the Southern Living reader’s pick at the link below.

Native News

Steve and Gerri Grady get profiled in the local paper, the Mount Olive Tribune

Eat Raleigh checks in at Longleaf Swine and they are also a fan

Congrats to Black Powder Smokehouse on their Asheboro location, their second store

Midwood Smokehouse is doing pork versions of birria tacos

Tickets are now on sale for the Pinehurst Barbecue Festival taking place Labor Day weekend

Non-Native News

Hector Garate of Palmira BBQ is headed to Austin later this month for a collaboration with Interstellar BBQ

Sweatman’s Barbecue in Holly Hill has made the switch to gas

Howard Conyers is hosting The Roots of BBQ Invitational Memorial Day weekend in Paxville, SC (ticket link)

NYC BBQ checks out the relocated Pig Beach in Queens and found that “the quality has not declined a bit even with the big changes the past few months”

Memphis in May will be back at Tom Lee Park for this year’s event

The 8 Best Barbecue Meals Monk Ate in 2022

Monk: 2022 was yet another year of great barbecue. In addition to finally getting to spend some time in the eastern part of the state for whole hog (although still not nearly enough), I tried two of the best new school barbecue at Palmira Barbecue in Charleston and Lawrence Barbecue in Durham. In terms of North Carolina, in the last weeks of the year I ate at two of the best joints in Buxton Hall Barbecue and Stamey’s. Here are the meals in photos listed in alphabetical order.

Whole hog barbecue dinner from B’s Barbecue, Greenville, NC (link)

Whole hog and ribs from Buxton Hall Barbecue in Asheville (re-review coming soon)

Hash and rice from Duke’s Barbecue in Orangeburg, SC (link)

A little bit of everything from Jon G’s Barbecue in Peachland, NC

Pork, brisket, and sticky ribs from Lawrence Barbecue, Durham, NC (link)

Whole hog barbecue, hash and rice from Palmira BBQ, Charleston, NC (link)

Whole hog barbecue from Skylight Inn, Ayden, NC (link)

Chopped barbecue plate with extra brown from Stamey’s Barbecue, Greensboro, NC (re-review coming soon)

Linkdown: 11/10/21

The Local Palate and writer Jenn Rice detail a pretty action-packed eastern North Carolina barbecue itinerary. The usual suspects are on the list including Barbecue Bros faves Wilber’s Barbecue and Southern Smoke BBQ, but there are plenty of ones I haven’t tried yet. Bookmarking for next Spring.

Native News

A new live-fire cooking restaurant called Cinder is opening in Charlotte from Husk veteran Duke Kroger (who identifies as a pitmaster in his Twitter profile)

Mac’s Speed Shop is closing its Cornelius restaurant but opening a new one in Mooresville

Jon G’s was featured in the Fall 2021 Issue of QC Exclusive

ICYMI last month, Boxyard RTP and Lawrence Barbecue are one of the 12 hottest restaurants in the Triangle

The Smoking Ho takes on North Carolina starting with Buxton Hall #CarHOlinaBBQTrip

Lewis Donald and Sweet Lew’s BBQ raised funds to help the family of a young girl who tragically took her own life at the age of 11

Non-Native News

Heim Barbecue’s Dallas location will be closed for a few weeks after a fire but its Fort Worth locations remain open

Last week’s Georgia barbecue-focused The Smoke Sheet

The SmoKing of Meats is Joe Musungi, who blends Filipino and Texas barbecue

Are barbecue lines a thing of the past?

New-ish barbecue joint Palmira BBQ is one of the stalls at Port of Call