pork

The Original Ridgewood Barbecue is a Wholly Unique Barbecue Experience

/ Barbecue Bros / 3 Comments

Name: The Original Ridgewood Barbecue
Date: 12/2/23
Address: 900 Elizabethton Hwy, Bluff City, TN 37618
Order: BBQ pork sandwich with fries and blue cheese appetizer (link to menu)
Pricing: $

Monk: I’ve mentioned a few times on this blog, but the parents and brothers of Monk have all relocated to Northeast Tennessee within the past few years so I’ve found myself in a part of the country just a few hours away from where I grew up that I had spent no time in my previous 40 years. It was only recently that I put together that The Original Ridgewood Barbecue, a joint I first read about on Marie, Let’s Eat!, was about 15 minutes north of my family’s houses on a mountain road which leads to Bristol Motor Speedway. One of my brothers had recently become a fan, so the extended Monk family arrived right at 11am on a Saturday to try and get in before the rush. And apparently there’s always a rush.

Before we got to the barbecue, the extended Monk family promptly ordered the blue cheese bowl appetizer. Its a house made blue cheese that is served overflowing in a bowl with packets of saltine crackers for dipping. It’s a little thinner than a traditional blue cheese, but its now a must order for me anytime I visit in the future. The blue cheese also works really well with their awesome hand cut potato fries if you can hold off finishing it until you get your fries with your meal.

Ridgewood’s barbecue is famously just the hams of a hog that are smoked over hickory (cut from the nearby family farm) for 8 hours before being chilled overnight with spices. The next day, the barbecue that is served from the hams is thinly sliced, warmed on a flat top grill, and dressed with their famous, sweet sauce and a mayo-based slaw. It’s unique for the area and the state, but its a good kind of unique.

While I didn’t have a full serving, I also tried some of the barbecue beef from my brother’s sandwich. The beef is taken from top round and sliced and prepared in much the same way as the pork barbecue, and I found it to hold the smokiness from the hickory smoke a little better than the hams. I might be tempted to go for that next time I visit.

After my visit, I grew to appreciate the family and the restaurant even more after reading “The Proffitts of Ridgewood: An Appalachian Family’s Life in Barbecue” about the Proffitt family which now has its third generation working at the restaurant. While it may be a completely unique style of barbecue unlike what I normally eat, The Original Ridgewood Barbecue is certainly worth seeking out. Its a northeast Tennessee institution that has been open for over 75 years.

For more on The Original Ridgewood Barbecue:
Serious Eats (2020)
Marie, Let’s Eat! (2014)
Southern Foodways Alliance (2009)

Ratings:
Atmosphere – 4 hogs
Pork – 4 hogs
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 4 hogs

The 5 Best Barbecue Joints in Charlotte – December 2023

/ Barbecue Bros / 1 Comment

Monk: It’s hard to believe that our last Charlotte best of post came way back in 2019. Then, I speculated that perhaps some big names could open second (or even third) outposts of established barbecue restaurants in Charlotte, but that hasn’t happened. No Bryan Furman, no Sam Jones, no Rodney Scott. In my mind, only one legit barbecue restaurant has opened since then (more on that later). In terms of announcements 2024 will have at least one promising new barbecue joint in the form of Edmar Simoes (formerly of Sauceman’s and Noble Smoke) bringing true ‘cue to Resident Culture Brewing.

Unfortunately, a couple of longtime barbecue joints on the 2019 list did close: Bill Spoon’s closed in September 2020 after 57 years in operation while honorable mention Buddy’s Bar-B-Que in Belmont closed in February 2022 after 25 years open. 

Hopefully this trend does not continue because if longtime restaurants keep closing while newer restaurants don’t quite stack up, that does not pose well for Charlotte barbecue in the near term. Which would mean Charlotte is nowhere near being on the path to following in the barbecue footsteps of Charleston (much less Houston). Something to keep an eye on in 2024.

The rest of the list

Honorable Mention: The Smoke Pit

Midwood Smokehouse did open a location in Raleigh this year, but otherwise seems to have smartly slowed down when it comes to expansion. That allows them to maintain consistency of barbecue being pumped out of the onsite J&R Oyler wood-fired smokers at each site. Multiple locations midwoodsmokehouse.com

Firehawk Brewpub is the new kid on the block this time around. Opening in the spring of 2023 in Mount Holly just minutes away from the US National Whitewater Center west of Charlotte, they are not only cranking out legit wood-smoked barbecue but they’re also brewing some darn good beer as well. All in a nice setting along the banks of Dutchman’s Creek, an offshoot of the Catawba River. 309 N Main St, Mt Holly, NC 28120 firehawkbrewpub.com

Sweet Lew’s BBQ recently celebrated 5 years open, a nice milestone for the ever-changing Belmont neighborhood restaurant. They continue to be a mainstay in that neighborhood aiming to “feed the people” and recently introduced a “Mill Town Meal” where a rotating main item will be available for $5. With the quality that they have been producing for half a decade, that’s a nice price for what will surely be some delicious dishes. 923 Belmont Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205 sweetlewsbbq.com

Noble Smoke expanded in 2022, but ever so slightly with a stall at Optimist Hall Food Hall. The barbecue for both locations is smoked at their original location, a barbecue palace in West Charlotte, to maintain quality. 2216 Freedom Dr, Charlotte, NC 28208 noblesmokebarbecue.com

Jon G’s Barbecue still remains the best of the best in Charlotte. They are remarkable in their consistency of product, whether it be at the restaurant in Peachland or their weekly food truck services around the greater Charlotte area. Kelly and Jon have made Barbecue Saturdays in Peachland a destination event worthy of travelers from all across the southeast and even United States. 116 Glenn Falls St, Peachland, NC 28133 jongsbarbecue.com

South Carolina is the Place You’ll Find This Dish

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Monk: We previously featured Food YouTuber Mark Wiens when he traveled to Lexington and Pitt County in eastern NC. For this video, he stops outside of Charleston, SC for a backyard barbecue featuring chicken, pork, ribs, collards, and hash, a South Carolina specialty dish.

Description: CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA – We’re just outside Charleston, South Carolina, and on Sunday, I was invited over to my friend John Haney’s (alveronbbqco8462) house for a real deal southern barbecue. It was an incredible experience, watching John and bbq and all of his side dishes including collard greens and the greatest bbq mac n cheese you’ll ever have.

Additionally, in South Carolina is the only place you’ll find hash, a mixture of all the pig bits including the face made into a stew. There’s ketchup based hash and mustard based hash, and we had a full lesson on South Carolina hash.

John Haney (Alveron BBQ) makes the best bbq grills in the United States all hand made – so definitely hit him up: (alveronbbqco8462) and he also one of the greatest legends of American bbq.

Huge thank you to John and his family for hosting my family and I on this amazing Sunday meal.

How Pitmaster Sam Jones Makes the Most Famous Whole Hog Barbecue in North Carolina

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Monk: Sam Jones and his pitmaster Lindsay Bortle – who can cook a hog just as good as Sam, according to him – take Eater’s Smoke Point through the process at his Sam Jones BBQ restaurant in Raleigh.

Description: Carolina barbecue legend Sam Jones comes from a long legacy of cooking a whole hog, with his grandfather, father, and uncle all coming before him. At his no-frills restaurant, Sam Jones BBQ, he and his team preserve their tradition of cooking whole hog, chicken, turkey, and more.