Monk: Pitmaster Ed Mitchell is in a curious spot these days. His name is in many ways synonymous with eastern North Carolina whole hog barbecue and his reach in the barbecue world is unmatched by few, but he hasn’t operated a barbecue restaurant in almost 10 years.
In this episode of the Southern Foodways Alliance’s Gravy podcast, North Carolina native Wilson Sayre recaps Mitchell’s story from starting to cook pigs at his parent’s grocery store in Wilson, NC in the wake of his father’s passing to that restaurant getting shut down for failing to pay taxes tax (with Mitchell spending time in jail) to partnering in opening The Pit in Raleigh and eventually the opening and closing of his short-lived Durham restaurant Ed Mitchell’s ‘Cue. Along the way, Ed brought on his son Ryan as a business partner to help him with his business decision making.
The Mitchell’s latest venture with restaurateur Lou Moshakos is called The Preserve and was set to open in 2020 (which was to be Raleigh’s “Year of Barbecue”) before getting sidetracked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, this episode is light on solid details for that restaurant, only saying that it is set to open “this spring” (though the episode was released May 22). But of course we’re starting to get into the summer months with little in the way of updates and The Preserve website doesn’t have much more information, only stating that “2023 is our year.”
Unfortunately, it seems as if Ed Mitchell is once again going to have to do it the hard way. All of us North Carolinians will be rooting hard for him.
Description: Ed Mitchell’s name has come to be synonymous with Eastern North Carolina wood-smoked whole-hog barbecue. From Wilson, North Carolina, he grew up smoking hogs and has tried to continue that tradition, using old techniques and traditionally farm-raised pigs.
But almost since the start, Ed Mitchell’s barbeque journey has not been a straight line—business relationships, racism, and smoke have all shaped his rollercoaster ride.
Monk: A family vacation prevented me from attending last year’s Jon G’s Jubilation, which is part barbecue festival and part birthday celebration (the original was created to celebrate Garren’s 40th birthday). This year, my family obligations didn’t conflict with my barbecue obligations, so I made my way to Peachland around 4pm on a Saturday – which, by the way, is an odd feeling – for this year’s edition of the Jubilee featuring Lawrence Barbecue, Elliott Moss, N. Sea Oyster Co., and NoDa Brewing.
Swag and jubilee setup
Beef fat caramel wings from Lawrence Barbecue out of Durham
Beef rib croissant sandwich, burnt ends, and watermelon salad from Jon G’s Barbecue
Oysters from N. Sea Oyster Co. out of Hampstead, NC
Whole hog from Elliott Moss, now out of Florence, SC
Dessert from Brown Creek Creamery in Wadesboro and beverages from NoDa Brewing out of Charlotte
Monk: Seoul Food Meat Company opened their second location in Charlotte’s Mill District in 2022 in a larger space that expanded on their original concept by adding a playground and a dog park. What didn’t change was the combination of southern barbecue and Korean flavors like brisket or pulled pork with a gochujang sauce, soy pork spare ribs, or Korean fried chicken wings.
Description: Seoul Food Meat Company in Charlotte combines Korean fusion, barbecue and karaoke.
Note: a version of this article originally appeared last month in The Smoke Sheet, a fantastic national barbecue newsletter that I regularly contribute to. For more information on how to subscribe, visit bbqnewsletter.com.
Monk: For this year’s edition of the Carolina BBQ Festival, while some pitmasters were new and the festival changed locations from Camp North End to Uptown (not to mention it was now part of the Charlotte SHOUT! Festival), not too much changed in terms of the quality of the barbecue served from two years ago when I went to the first edition of the festival.
Speedy: Well, here was one other big change: your boy Speedy made an appearance! I happened to be in town to catch a couple final Charlotte Hornets games as a season ticket holder and Monk’s Spring Break travels aligned with us going to the festival on Saturday.
On the drive in, Monk gave me a rundown of the scene (i.e. the pitmasters) before the festival, and I must say I was pretty excited about the volume of talent from all across the great state of North Carolina (oh, and the lesser Carolina as well). We arrived to beautiful weather on a warm Saturday, checked-in, got our wristbands for some refreshing beverages, were issued our silverware, and we were off to explore the smoked meats across Victoria Yards.
Monk: Elliott Moss made his third straight appearance at the Carolina BBQ Festival and while he is now under his own banner of Moss & Moore Barbecue instead of Buxton Hall Barbecue, he brought his ever-familiar whole hog. They may have been out of slider buns for us but with a few dashes of vinegar-pepper sauce in a cardboard boat this whole hog was reminiscent of the pork from Buxton Hall, of which we are both big fans.
Moss did give me a little bit of an indication of what will be next for him as he posted last month that he would be leaving Asheville this spring, but I will leave the details of the forthcoming announcement up to him. What I will say is that it looks like he is staying in the Carolinas and will still be cooking whole hog barbecue. More to come from Moss in the coming weeks and months.
Speedy: Walking up to Jon G’s Barbecue tent, I saw a heavenly site – a tower of beef rib bones – and I knew we were in for a treat. Beef rib slider with pickled onions on a potato roll? Yes please! The bar is high for Jon G’s and they did not disappoint. This sammie is what dreams are made of, and this is my winner for bite of the day.
Monk: I always enjoy catching up with Matthew Register of Southern Smoke BBQ at barbecue festivals, and for this festival it was a family affair with his wife and three kids in tow helping him serve some delicious smoked cheese burger sliders. Despite some issues with wood, Register more than delivered on this burger and was one of two non-traditional barbecue bites that stood out on the afternoon.
Speedy: I am on record as saying that any item that is not strictly smoked meat is secondary in the barbecue setting, but City Limits Barbeque made me question that stance with the pork belly hash and Carolina gold rice. I would easily eat a generous portion of this as a whole meal and might even be willing to venture to Columbia some time to check out the full experience at the James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef: Southeast, which was announced just days before the festival.
Monk: While they were out of consommé by the time I got there, the mini smoked brisket quesabirria taco with avocado salsa from Lawrence Barbecue was still one of the highlights of the festival for me. This was the other standout change of pace bite from the more traditional barbecue served throughout the festival. It’s also a nice crossover of Lawrence Barbecue with owner Jake Wood’s sister concept Leroy’s Tacos. Both are worth making the trip to Durham for a visit, or perhaps Wood’s upcoming barbecue festival next month in Raleigh, Gettin’ Piggy With It, another great collection of Carolinas barbecue talent.
Speedy: Monk had been raving to me privately about Sweet Lew’s sausage game for a while, so I was pumped to get to sample a link at the festival – and it did not disappoint. The sausage was flavorful and smoked perfectly, and did not crumble. The man knows what he’s doing around a sausage stuffer.
Monk: Phew! The Barbecue Bros attendance at this year’s Carolina BBQ Festival came together at the last minute (big thanks to friend of the blog Chigger Willard of The Low and Slow Barbecue Show) but thankfully Speedy and I were able to make it happen.
It’s such a great festival in large part due to the effort by Lewis Donald along with so many others. Next year, I can’t recommend enough for anyone within driving distance (or even beyond like in Speedy’s case) to make the trip to Charlotte and attend because there’s not too many other instances where you can taste so much good barbecue from throughout the Carolinas in one afternoon.
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