Skylight Inn

Linkdown: 9/17/14

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– Daniel Vaughn, barbecue editor of Texas Monthly, is definitely the right man to write an article about being “meat drunk”

You’re experiencing a rapid heartbeat, flush cheeks, and a sweaty brow. All are symptoms of overindulgence, but not of the alcoholic kind. Rather than an elevated BAC, the cause might be a high that even a teetotaler can get. You’re getting meat drunk.

– Speaking of Texas Monthly, their annual barbecue fest was this past Sunday and it looks like it was a blast (more photos here and one blog’s top 5 bites here)

– The title says it all: “For traditional Carolina barbecue, a trip to Lexington, NC is a must”

A tanked economy winnowed down the joints, but not the residents’ passion for barbecue shoulders. That’s what makes Lexington barbecue different: Many pit masters have tried the typical ribs, beef briskets, turkey and chicken, but few now offer them except on a few days a week and on special occasions.

“Ribs never caught on in Lexington,” Yountz said, adding that he also tried beef brisket but found it too wasteful and the novelty soon wore off for his customers.

– The latest entries in Tyson Ho’s How I Built a Barbecue Restaurant in Brooklyn series looks at the interior decorating on a dime aspect and standing before the community board

– Elizabeth Karmel (aka Grill Girl) has left Hill Country to start Carolina Cue To-Go, an “online barbecue shack” that will offer whole mail order whole hog barbecue; it goes live on 11/1 (via @BBQsnob)

But after more than a decade focused on Texas-style food, it is time for me to go back to my North Carolina roots.  I have partnered with a childhood friend to form an online “Barbecue Shack” that will sell traditionally smoked Eastern Carolina whole hog barbecue nationwide.  My whole hog is inspired by my long-time barbecue buddy, Ed Mitchell, and it will be sauced with my signature Lexington-Style Vinegar Sauce.  In my opinion, it will be the best of what North Carolina has to offer.

– More coverage on the Great NC BBQ Map

– The Carolina/Texas barbecue joint Curly’s Carolina, TX Barbecue in Round Rock, TX closed last Sunday

– Barbecue Rankings made his way back through NC last week

– Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples visits Skylight Inn

This is eastern North Carolina, so the hogs started whole and then got chopped into hunks. At the Skylight Inn, cracklins intermingle with the meat.The occasional crunch is entirely intentional. The pork doesn’t need accompaniment, but a bath in the thin, vinegar-based sauce produces an entirely different flavor explosion.

Linkdown: 8/13/14

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– This is my nightmare: the Lone Star Tick (named for Texas) can make you allergic to barbecue as well as burgers

– The 2014 NC Whole Hog Barbecue State Championship will be October 3/4 in Downtown Raleigh

This year, the State Championship will return to Downtown Raleigh as part of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Wide Open Bluegrass Festival. After the judging is complete, the mouth-watering barbecue will be chopped and sold in sandwiches to festival attendees on Saturday, October 4.

– Another article from the Mooresville Tribune on The Great NC BBQ Map; it was also listed this week as one of the 5 things you need to know in the South right now from Southern Living

– Barbecue on other lists, pt. 1: Garden and Gun named their top breakfast joints in the South and Southern Soul Barbeque in St. Simons Island, GA made the list

– Barbecue on other lists, pt. 2: in addition to legendary barbecue, Skylight Inn in Ayden apparently has one of the NC’s best burgers

– Thrillist’s list of The 15 Best New BBQ Joints in America

– A letter to the president regarding NC barbecue, plus a pork butt recipe

Dear President Obama,

It seems you like barbecue. You broke in line at Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Texas, but I guess the headaches of being president allow you some leeway. You had a cold Bud Light when you hit Arthur Bryant’s in Kansas City, even if they had run out of slaw, but you stood in line there, so between the beer and waiting your turn, you showed your humanity and touch with the common man.

I know you’ve been to North Carolina many times, but I’ve yet to hear about you stopping at one of our well-smoked, traditional barbecue joints. They really are your kind of places. I’m not talking about the newfangled ones, where the emphasis is on selling you a liquor drink. No, we have some time-honored places where wood smoke meets the meat.

– 12 Bones Smokehouse makes this list of places to eat from The Telegraph’s (UK) guide to Asheville as well as Culture Trip’s 10 “must-try” local restaurants in Asheville

– How I Built A Barbecue Restaurant in Brookyln: A Lease Safari, from Tyson Ho of Arrogant Swine – you remember, Arrogant Swine is the Carolina style whole hog joint who is using Heritage Cheshire hogs that I want to go to next time I’m in NYC (via)

– A shot of the space where Buxton Hall will be housed

– Pat Martin, pitmaster of Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint, cooked the annual barbecue dinner at the James Beard House last Thursday and here was the draft menu

Linkdown: 7/23/14

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– Yea, this list of best barbecue according to Open Table isn’t flawed at all. Because everyone knows the best barbecue comes from the places that take reservations.

– Carolina Ribs on the Run in Mooresville is blaming its closure on the construction of Brawley School Road, though I went the other week (review coming) and I would probably blame it on the subpar barbecue

– In other barbecue closure news, Asheville restaurant Sky City BBQ is closed until further notice after it’s owner was arrested under larceny and prostitution charges

– Johnny Ray Bousselot of Mount Holly has developed a couple of barbecue – Bourbon Peach and 10 Bones Signature – that has been picked up by a few outlets locally in Charlotte

– The Great NC BBQ Map takes a trip to the printers; maps ship next week

– Marie, Let’s Eat visits The Greater Good BBQ location in Buckhead

– Lexington #1 is featured on this slideshow of photos from BBQ Paradise 3, which aired last night at 9

– The “Smokin’ in the Valley” Festival is this weekend in Maggie Valley

– A fairly long read, entitled How Barbecue Has Become New York City’s Most Addictive Smoking Habit, yields this infographic

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– According to Sam Jones, the “not so popular side of BBQ”

Linkdown – 6/30/14

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– Another dubious barbecue list, this time from Cheaptickets.com; the only NC city represented is…Charlotte. Wait, what? (via bbqboard)

– Daniel Vaughn gets a mention in this NPR article about the traditional method of cooking barbecue: low and slow

– WRAL out of Raleigh lists the best local beers for your July 4th cookouts and while not officially listed, it ends with a suggestion for barbecue

We really can’t overlook one of the beers in the Triangle that screams barbecue and is a staple for your grill – Fullsteam’s Hogwash. This beer was made for eating Carolina BBQ and would also make a fantastic marinade.

– A couple originally from Jacksonville have opened a new NC barbecue joint called Unkl Sid’s BBQ Shack near Pittsburgh

– A list on USA Today of best southern barbecue spots includes Big Bob Gibson’s (with a location in Monroe), Lexington #1, Skylight Inn, and Scott’s Bar-B-Que

– barbecuerankings also posted a review of Midwood Smokehouse this week and generally liked what he ate; he also posted a review of Mac’s Speed Shop 

I’ve been to a number of places east of the Mississippi who put their restaurant’s reputation on the line with their brisket.  Some (4 Rivers, Full Service, for example) totally back up their claim with great brisket.  Others…no need to mention names…don’t quite stack up.  Midwood’s staff have spent time studying, learning and eating in Texas to learn from the masters of the craft and the results are evident as they make a quality brisket.

– For our short family trip to Atlanta this past weekend, Grant of Marie, Let’s Eat! wrote a letter to Mrs. Monk when I mentioned we may only have time to head to one barbecue spot (he also had some nice things to say about this site, which was cool). Unfortunately, we only did eat at one barbecue joint (we did some smoking of brisket and ribs on our own Saturday) but we changed it from our original plan of Fox Brothers to Heirloom Market based on his suggestion:

With this in mind, I understand that you will be visiting Atlanta this weekend. Unfortunately, Atlanta is 88 miles from Georgia’s best barbecue (Old Clinton in Gray) and 311 miles from Georgia’s second-best barbecue (Southern Soul on St Simons Island), never mind the holy trinity of joints around Athens (Paul’s, Zeb’s, and Hot Thomas), and you can’t get Columbus mustard sauce anywhere here, never mind that weird mustard-vinegar stuff that they cook the pork in everywhere around Macon, but nevertheless, Atlanta and its suburbs are home to at least eighty – that’s 80 – barbecue joints, and those are just the ones we know about. At least twelve of those will provide meals amazing enough to give anybody pause, and I assure you that many, such as Mustard Seed, Miss Betty’s, Wallace, and Speedi-Pig, will provide meals quite unlike anything any North Carolinian can get at home.