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.
Name: Seoul Food Meat Company Mill District
Date: 10/7/23
Address: 421 E 26th St, Charlotte, NC 28205
Order: Hickory pulled pork, brisket, beef rib bao bun slider, baked ram and cheese, doenjang collard greens, fries (link to menu)
Pricing: $$$
Monk: Seoul Food Meat Company opened their second Charlotte location in the “Mill District” near NoDa and Optimist Park roughly one year ago in October 2022. That location in a former industrial part of town allows them to spread out a little more than their original South End spot, and they’ve taken advantage with a huge patio that includes a splash pad, playground, and dog park in addition to their large restaurant that includes 5 karaoke rooms.
On a nice day, its certainly a destination-type place where families, dog owners, and childless millennials and zoomers can spend multiple hours. That is certainly the hopes of the owners, between Seoul Food and the Urban District Market food hall just across the greenway.
In terms of the barbecue, I found both my pulled pork and the brisket lacking. The pork had some smoke on it but did not taste fresh. But even with its shortcomings, it was far more palatable than the brisket.
The brisket was covered in a ton of their house barbecue sauce, which I would describe as an Asian fusion barbecue sauce. This covers up the poor trim job of the brisket, and if you flip over the slices of meat you’ll see that a good portion of each slice is unrendered fat. Quite unappetizing.
The Asian fusion dishes I tried were more successful than the barbecue. The beef rib bao bun slider was again slathered with the house barbecue sauce but was a satisfying bite. The baked ram n’ cheese is a ramen noodle take on mac n’ cheese and while the youngest Monkette did not take to it (no huge surprise there) I ate it up.
The collards were labeled as “doenjang” which apparently is “a type of fermented bean paste made entirely of soybean and brine.” That did not come through in the bland, nearly flavorless collards.
If I’m back at Seoul Food Meat Company Mill District enjoying a nice day on their patio, I’ll be leaving the barbecue dishes alone and exploring more of the Asian fusion in the forms of the bao buns, Korean fried wings, or tacos.
Ratings:
Atmosphere – 4 hogs
Pork – 2.5 hogs
Brisket – 1 hog
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 2 hogs
Going into Monday night’s NCAA Championship game, Governor Roy Cooper made a bet with Kansas Governor Laura Kelly as governors tend to do in these types of situations. The wager? Kansas City steaks vs Wilber’s BBQ. You may be aware that UNC lost to Kansas 69 to 72 after leading by 15 at the half, surrendering the largest lead in NCAA championship game history. You absolutely hate to see it.
John Tanner blames UNC’s NCAA Championship loss Monday night on said barbecue bet. Wilber’s gave Kansas players too much motivation!
Meanwhile, a few days earlier, the Duke-UNC Final Four matchup on Saturday night inspired a barbecue bet of its own between Durham County and Orange County sheriffs. No word or photos have surfaced yet of Durham County sheriffs ordering barbecue in UNC gear, but I look forward to that update.
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Monk: The biggest news was of course the closing of Bill Spoon’s Barbecue in late September, which I wrote a little bit about in our 9/16 Linkdown. Afterwards, the news came out that it wasn’t only the pandemic that killed them off – it had been some time coming due to an aging customer base and Spoon’s inability to attract new, younger customers that may have wanted a more full service barbecue experience. Until the end, they thought of themselves as a “traditional barbecue house” which means they only accepted cash and didn’t serve beer or wine. And they were ok with that, even if that ultimately wasn’t what Charlotte wanted. Rest in peace, Bill Spoon’s Barbecue.
7/6 Sweet Lew’s BBQ announces adjusted hours of operation, now Wednesday through Sunday, removing Tuesday
7/24 Sweet Lew’s Barbecue introduces an updated menu with hash now on the menu full time and house made sausage that was helped develop with advice from Garren of Jon G’s Barbecue
7/25 Noble Smoke celebrated one year of being open with an all-day party
8/20 Bargarita, a “new restaurant serving margaritas and BBQ tacos” opens in the former Solstice Tavern location in NoDa. No word on where or how they smoke their brisket or pork for tacos.
8/28 The Annual Mallard Creek Barbecue, “The Grandaddy of North Carolina Barbecues,” was officially cancelled for the first time in 90 years
8/31 Big Tiny’s BBQ in Mooresville celebrated four years of being open; Pitmaster John also celebrated a birthday
9/1 Noble Smoke introduces Taco Tuesdays
9/8 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
9/16 Bill Spoon’s Barbecue closed after 57 years in business
9/20 Sweet Lew’s Barbeque begins smoking whole hogs on Sundays, the only Charlotte-area restaurant smoking whole hogs as far as I am aware of
9/28 We interviewed Garren and Kelly of Jon G’s Barbecue about what it’s like to open a barbecue restaurant in the middle of the pandemic