SC

Linkdown: 10/21/20

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I was happy to get a text from Garren Kirkman of Jon G’s Barbecue a few weeks back saying that famed Charlotte food writer Kathleen Purvis had finally come to check them out (although he didn’t know it at the time). And the verdict is in: Kathleen agrees with what we’ve been saying for years: Jon G’s is legit, particularly that brisket. Check out the rest of her top 5 at the link below.

Native News

Even with the Barbecue Festival cancelled, the annual release of Fine Swine Wine from Childress Vineyards goes on, with Bob Timberlake once again contributing pig art; “This year’s blend features rich, bright flavors of cherry and ripe strawberry. Soft and smooth tannins provide an enticing pallet for the smoky, Lexington barbecue flavors.”

More coverage on Lexington’s “Lift Up Lexington” event taking place of the annual Barbecue Festival

The Redneck BBQ Lab’s first franchise will be in the former Q Shack location in North Hills in Raleigh under the name “The BBQ Lab”

Mac’s Speed Shop has been handing out free pulled pork for voters in front of the Bojangles Entertainment Complex

Bob Garner joins the Tying It Together podcast with Tim Boyum of Spectrum News to discuss the famed history between barbecue and politics in NC

Check out this tailgate pack from Picnic

Non-Native News

Husk Greenville is now Husk Barbeque

Huey Nash Jr. discusses his late father’s dream to become the first Black food vendor at the State Fair of Texas.

https://twitter.com/soulphoodie/status/1317923412019392514

Barbacoa in LA

Linkdown: 9/21/20

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Sweet Lew’s Barbeque has started doing whole hog on Sundays as of this past Sunday, making it the only whole hog available in Charlotte smoked the old way.

The recently shuttered Bill Spoon’s cooked the whole hog but switched to gas smokers some years back. Here’s hoping whole hog Sundays catches on with Charlotte customers and Lewis Donald can continue to smoke whole hogs weekly (and maybe more frequently if its popular enough).

The price is $16/lb or $13 for a plate with two sides. This puts it just above Midwood Smokehouse ($13) and Jon G’s ($14) but below Noble Smoke ($18). Not bad, considering those are smoked pork shoulders compared with whole hog.

It certainly looks like Sweet Lew’s has been running through some wood, so hopefully I can pick up some whole hog next week for football.

Native News

The property that Bill Spoon’s sits on was sold for just over $1M last Friday, two days after it closed for good after 57 years (scroll down)

The Charlotte Observer’s Theoden James has the full story, and notes that the closing wasn’t because of the pandemic. Steve Spoon, Jr.: “There is no other source of income for mom-and-pop places. There’s no financial backing, there’s no partners, there’s no corporate money to be funded in when you are short. The customers are their only source of revenue, so if they don’t come, (they) have no safety net. You have to support ’em.”

Bargarita is not looking too promising

Non-Native News

Barbecue historian Jim Auchmutey was a consultant on Netflix’s “American Barbecue Showdown,” which filmed outside of Atlanta last year but was just released on Netflix

Rasheed Philips of Philips Barbeque Co appeared on “American Barbecue Showdown” and now has his own podcast

Robert Moss has updated his website ahead of the re-release of “Barbecue: The History of An American Institution, Revised and Expanded”

Braised in the South won Food Network’s “Food Truck Challenge” and is opening a restaurant in the Charleston area

Pappy’s Smokehouse is planning to open its second location in October

In LA and looking for barbecue? Kevin’s BBQ Joints has you covered

Snake River Farms is having a sale

Linkdown: 9/16/20

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Monk: When I moved to Charlotte in 2005, I was surprised at the lack of barbecue options in town. Though had I been paying attention then as I do now, it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise. Mac’s Speed Shop was a fun option for awhile but eventually fell off a cliff after it jettisoned its original barbecue partner and began to expand too quickly. It wasn’t a few years living in Charlotte until I finally checked out Bill Spoon’s Barbecue on South Boulevard, and while the style of barbecue seemed out of place (eastern NC whole hog in the Piedmont?) it was clear to me that it was Charlotte’s classic barbecue joint.

Unfortunately, as of close of business today after 57 years in business, that will no longer be the case. It was announced on Facebook Monday by current owner Steve Spoon, who in 2006 bought it from his grandfather Bill and began operating the barbecue joint in much the same way he had since he opened it in 1963 (albeit in a different location than their current one on South Boulevard). Screw you 2020, and screw you COVID-19.

Kathleen Purvis summed it up perfectly with this poignant quote that doubles as a warning for us lovers of other classic joints: “If all the hard lessons of 2020’s season of terrible teaches us anything, it’s that: Those places don’t last, can’t last, if we don’t make sure of it.“

Charlotte Magazine’s Greg Lacour also pitched in, noting that the restaurant was struggling before COVID and had been operating in takeout only mode for the past few months

Sadly, its taken the restaurant closing for Charlotte to show up again

Native News

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

Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ is a small Connecticut chain that will open a Kansas City-style barbecue restaurant in Asheville’s South Slope

Non-Native News

Rodney Scott’s BBQ in Charleston has been getting a big bump from “Chef’s Table: BBQ”

Home Team BBQ’s smoked wings makes the list

The best barbecue options in Virginia, according to Virginia Living

Solinsky’s in the Catskills of New York is serving some “epic brisket”, says Eater NY critic Robert Sietsema

I like this guy’s style

Linkdown: 7/27/20

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“Black Smoke” by James Beard Award-winning “Soul Food Scholar” Adrian Miller is officially a go for Spring 2021. Very excited to read this next year.

A short interview with Derrick Walker of Smoke-A-Holics BBQ on “Tex-Soul” and being a black pitmaster

This year’s Barbecue Festival has been canceled, which should surprise no one

John Tanner’s Barbecue Blog stops by a few eastern NC barbecue restaurants on his way to the beach: Boss Hog’s Backyard Barbecue in Washington, Stephenson’s in Willow Spring, Marty’s in Wilson, the rebooted Wilber’s in Goldsboro, and Southern Smoke in Garland:

City Limits Barbeque gets a shout out in this feature on Columbia

22% of Americans say Texas style is their favorite regional style of barbecue, according to a recent HuffPost/YouGov poll

Steven Raichlen has some tips for barbecued ribs, which he calls”barbecue at its most primal and unadorned”, in the New York Times

The “Ultimate Guide to Barbecue,” from The Wall Street Journal

Pig Beach is heading south, but not just for the winter; it plans to open a Florida location in West Palm Beach by the end of the year

“Carolina-style” BBQ cauliflower? C’mon man…