Savannah

Linkdown: 3/6/19

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Congrats to Bryan Furman of B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque for his James Beard Award semifinal nomination!

Veteran Charlotte restaurateur Pierre Bader closes City Smoke, cites that he doesn’t “see any growth in the barbecue business in Charlotte.” I would argue that he might have seen growth had his restaurant’s barbecue been better (they were 40 out of 42 on our list before their close)

Local Charlotte barbecue guy Jack Arnold recently had his Instagram hacked but thankfully has since recovered it

A new barbecue cookbook is coming from photographer Ken Goodman:

https://twitter.com/KenGoodmanPhoto/status/1102728925711609861

Wilson gets a new barbecue restaurant in New South BBQ, which takes an “international house of barbecue” approach

Longleaf Swine (nice name), a food truck caterer in Raleigh, is going brick and mortar in the Transfer Co. Food Hall

The Free Times in Columbia breaks down barbecue restaurants both local and within a few hours drive

Food and Wine is loving Columbia, SC and thinks you should try to the hash: “Don’t fill up on grits, because you must also try the barbecue, which will be pork, served along with that could-stop-traffic yellow sauce, and a side of that curiously delicious regional specialty, hash, which is nearly always served over rice. Essentially a stew of all the animal parts you probably wouldn’t eat separately, hash might come off a tad musky for some, but this is nose-to-tail cooking at its finest.”

I wonder how the folks in Texas are reacting to this:

For Kathleen Purvis’s last story as Charlotte Observer food writer, she takes a look at the fried pork skins at Sweet Lew’s BBQ as well as the fried chicken skin from Yolk. I love her writing and look forward to seeing what she does next.

Friday Find: Tales from the Pits interviews Bryan Furman of B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque

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In which Bryan Furman reveals he only wants to open another 10 or so B’s Cracklin Barbeque locations in addition to the Savannah and Atlanta stores as well as the expansion into Philips Arena for Hawks basketball games. What’s the matter, Bryan – only 10?

Bryan Furman left a career as a welder with a goal in mind: to cook and serve whole hog barbecue. Whole hog cooking was a tradition Bryan grew up with, but when his father challenged him with the question of “What’s going to make your barbecue better than others?”, Bryan decided that serving the highest quality heritage pigs would set him apart from the competition.

Bryan and his wife Nikki opened the original B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque in Savannah, Georgian 2014. The critical acclaim would come in time, but the Furmans would soon be faced with adversity as their restaurant was badly damaged by a fire. They rebuilt and came back stronger than ever. An Atlanta location would follow, and the Furmans have big plans for further expansion in the future.

B’s Cracklin’ boasts a menu of chopped whole hog, ribs, brisket, and chicken along with family recipes of cracklin’ cornbread “hoe cakes” and a great family banana pudding recipe. Don’t skip the mustard sauce with Georgia peaches! With a commitment to the highest quality product combined with a dedication to tradition, B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque is one of the premier BBQ destinations in Georgia.

Catch B’s Cracklin at:
https://www.bscracklinbbq.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BsCracklinBBQ/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bscracklinbbq/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/377629193/bs-cracklin-bbq/

Friday Find: Georgia’s New King of Barbecue

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I linked to a great profile of Bryan Furman of B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque in Wednesday’s Linkdown, and here is the accompanying video from Bon Appétit. I met him at Memphis in May and he was gracious enough to speak with me for a few minutes in the hot Memphis sun and couldn’t be nicer. Bryan is already a star on the rise when it comes to barbecue and this makes me think it’s only going to get bigger from here on out. Keep an eye on Bryan Furman for sure.

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What I Ate at BBQ Alley at Memphis in May

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Monk: The Memphis in May Barbecue Fest has a few barbecue vendors inside the grounds and while local health regulations prohibit teams from serving barbecue to the general public if you are lucky you might find some barbecue teams handing out samples – for instance the Traeger team was handing out brisket samples all weekend. Another option for barbecue that weekend was BBQ Alley, a “consumer experience” where you can purchase $15 tickets which give you 5 samples of barbecue dishes from Big Green Egg as well as 3 notable restaurants – this year those restaurants were Paradise Grill in Atoka, TN, Dr. BBQ in St. Petersburg, and B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque in Savannah and Atlanta.

Speedy came in town for a few hours around lunchtime on the Saturday of Barbecue Fest so we decided to check BBQ Alley out. I only ended up having four of the five dishes served but here they are in the order that I tried them.

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Pork loin with rice from Big Green Egg/Leisure Boys

I’m not familiar with them but Leisure Boys appeared to be cooking on behalf of Big Green Egg. This well-seasoned pork loin was a fine start the the BBQ Alley experience.

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Snake River Farms ribeye and pork loin with garlic bread from Dr. BBQ

I didn’t snap a photo but the man himself, Dr. BBQ, was hard at work behind the table working the Green Egg to produce this ribeye from Snake River Farms in Idaho.

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Mike’s BBQ Smoked Wings from Paradise Grill

Paradise Grill is a barbecue restaurant in Atoka, about 40 minutes outside of Memphis, and they brought “Mike’s BBQ Smoked Wings” to BBQ Alley. I remember it being a very solid smoked wing.

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Brisket from B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque

The couple of brisket bites from B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque were the best of the bunch (as to be expected) but the best part was meeting pitmaster Bryan Furman and speaking with him for a couple of minutes. Bryan actually grew up in Charlotte and graduated from West Mecklenburg High School, so we talked about Charlotte a little bit in addition to his restaurant and experience at Memphis in May. Brian is a super nice guy, and was even kind enough for a quick photo. If you are in Savannah or Atlanta, go to B’s!

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Bryan Furman of the awesome B’s Cracklin’ Bar-B-Que in Savannah and Atlanta

All in all, BBQ Alley was maybe a little pricey for what you get but was a chance to try some legit barbecue while at Memphis in May Barbecue Fest.