Smoke on the Water – Greenville, SC

July 6, 2012August 1, 2014 / Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Name: Smoke on the Water
Date: 6/30/2012
Location: 1 Augusta St., #202, Greenville, SC 29601
Order: Smoked chipotle chicken wings, Combo platter with beef brisket and pulled pork, fried okra, sugar snap peas (link to menu)
Bill: wings – $6; Combo Platter (included two sides) – $14

Last weekend, I decided to take an impromptu trip to Atlanta. And since I was driving through Greenville, SC right around lunch time, I decided to stop at my favorite Greenville barbecue restaurant – Smoke on the Water. I have been telling Monk about this place for a while, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go without him, even though he was off the grid. Just an excuse to go back, I guess.

Smoke on the Water sits next to Reedy Falls right between downtown Greenville and West End – basically smack dab in the middle of all the good stuff. I spent over a year working in Greenville, and this restaurant because a staple for me. It had been nearly a year since my last trip, so I was excited to go.

Generally, I really enjoy sitting outside at Smoke on the Water, but it was nearing 100 degrees outside, so my party decided we would eat inside in the A/C. The inside of Smoke on the Water doesn’t exactly scream “barbecue.” It’s not well lit, it has a nice, classy bar, and it just has the appearance of a more upscale restaurant. While this is certainly nice, it’s not exactly my style – especially for a ‘cue restaurant. So while the atmosphere isn’t exactly like your good ole southern barbecue, the food definitely is.

For starters, we had an order of the smoked wings. The wings come out whole, instead of split, as wings are traditionally served. The wings are marinated, then smoked, but are not sauced. However, they are still moist and are really, really good. You can definitely taste the smoke and there’s a noticeable kick in the back. I would definitely recommend these wings to anyone.

For my main course, I had the combo platter with brisket and pulled pork with sides of fried okra and sugar snap peas. In a word, the meal was fantastic. The pulled pork has a great smoke flavor, is tender, and not dry at all. You can definitely eat it without adding any sauce, but the sauce definitely enhances the flavor. My personal favorite is a spicy vinegar based sauce, but you can also choose from SC mustard, KC sweet, and a house red sauce.

Smoke on the Water is probably the only ‘cue joint I’ve ever been to where I think the brisket is better than the pork. The brisket comes sliced a little thinner than I’m used to seeing, which I actually like. The brisket also doesn’t really need sauce, but I’d recommend it. It is a bit drier than the pork. The brisket is tender and flavorful. If I could only order one meat at Smoke on the Water, this would be it. I’m no beef barbecue expert, and I haven’t eaten NEARLY enough ‘cue in Texas, but to date, I would say Smoke on the Water is the best brisket I’ve had.

The sides are good, though I’ll echo previous reviews in saying I’m disappointed that they don’t serve hushpuppies. The wait staff does bring out corn bread immediately upon seating, which is a great (and delicious) touch. The fried okra and sugar snap peas were both good, as have other sides I’ve had their previously, and they have a pretty nice selection.

The rest of my party also thoroughly enjoyed their meals. Everyone save one had either the brisket, the pork, or both for their meal. The lone hold-out ordered a salad (really, Princess Leia???) and I won’t even pretend to justify her decision. The mac ‘n cheese was a pretty popular side, but I didn’t partake due to my intolerance of dairy, but I’m told it’s really good here, if you’re in to that sort of thing. I did try some fried asparagus, which was good, but that’s not exactly a ‘cue staple. The menu does stray from a traditional ‘cue shack by offering other southern favorites like fried catfish, fried green tomatoes, fried oysters, and a supposedly-amazing pimento cheese burger, but I can’t personally comment on any of that (save the fried green tomatoes, which are excellent), as I stick to the ‘cue.

Overall, Smoke on the Water is among my favorite places. Though it looks a little fancy pants, these guys definitely know their smoke. Combine that with a great location in an awesome city, and you’ve got a restaurant most everyone is sure to love.

-Speedy

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Pork – 3 hogs
Brisket – 4 hog
Wings – 3.5 hogs
Sides – 3 hogs
Overall – 3.5 hogs

Mac’s Speed Shop – Charlotte, NC

June 26, 2012August 1, 2014 / Barbecue Bros / 1 Comment

Name: Mac’s Speed Shop
Date: 6/22/2012
Location: 2511 South Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28203
Order: VTX Chipotle Smoked Wings, Combo Platter (St. Louis style ribs, brisket, pork, sausage), Kansas City Beef rib, mac & cheese, baked beans, collard greens, brunswick stew, hush puppies (link to menu)
Bill: ½ dozen Smoked wings – $5; Combo Platter (included two sides) – $16; Beef rib plate (included two sides) – $16

Speedy: Our next visit was the Charlotte staple, Mac’s Speed Shop. When I first moved to Charlotte, Monk and I used to be pretty regular visitors to Mac’s, but truth be told, that was partly due to a lack of better options than anything else. In fact, I don’t think either of us had been since Midwood Smokehouse opened up. In fact, our guest for the evening, Sus, was trying to convince us to skip Mac’s in favor of the Smokehouse. More on our buddy Sus later…

Monk: Mac’s is a “biker bar” and while it does attract a biker crowd, there’s nothing there that would make your average yuppie squirm or feel uncomfortable. In fact, I’d argue that yuppies are really the true target demographic for Mac’s. Since we’ve started coming here, it has expanded its patio seating to one of the better patios in town and thankfully we were able to sit outside on a Friday night with no wait. One of the things I’ve always dug about the place is the great beer selection – this is the only bar or restaurant in Charlotte that I am aware of where I can get my longtime favorite beer, Rogue Hazelnut Brown (in a 20 oz. bomber, nonetheless). They have a wide variety of beers on draft and bottle, and were even doing the canned craft beer thing before it was fashionable to do so, so credit to them for that.

Speedy: Our order here was actually a pretty difficult choice. We obviously were going with a combo platter, but wanted even more variety beyond that. For some reason, Monk took a shine to the Kansas City beef rib on the menu, so that was ordered as well, along with an appetizer of smoked wings.

Rudy: I can’t decide if I feel jealous of the fact that you guys are always getting wings at your barbecue places. While I love wings and I love barbecue, I have never been to a barbecue place that offers wings. I think I am going to have to find some and try them at some point.

Monk: I guess that’s a good thing about going to these “barbecue fusion” places – you get things like wings on the menu. I hadn’t had a beef rib in I don’t know how long (I missed out on them at Buz and Ned’s) and we don’t really see them on most menus, so I thought it might be something worth checking out. This was our buddy Sus’s first time taking in a barbecue spot with us since the blog started, and he couldn’t have been more lost. Between me stepping away to take photos and us wanting to sample just about everything, he eventually decided to focus on his beer and let the pros handle things.

Speedy: The wings came out pretty quickly – and we got 7 even though we only ordered a half dozen…suckers. They were quite good – properly smoked and the sauce had a decent but not overwhelming kick. Definitely one of the best parts of the meal.

Monk: The entrees didn’t take long before they were brought out and HOLY HELL IS THAT A BRONTOSAURUS RIB?!?! The beef rib was by far the largest one I’ve ever seen. I mean, it was comically large – as in straight out of the Flintstones or something.

Rudy: That was one of the things I had to get used to in Texas coming from North Carolina. I thought you ordered a rack of ribs, but they were selling them by the pound… and a single rib was a whole pound! I think they are very good, but I also feel strange when I order them because I think they look comical.

Speedy: As for the meat, I think we both agree that the brisket was just bad. It was tough, overdone, and lacked flavor. I couldn’t have been more disappointed. I know brisket is tough to cook, but it amazes me how bad some of these NC places are at it. Mac’s was probably the worst. I’ve had the brisket there before and don’t remember it being that bad, so it could’ve been an off-night, but I think it’s best to just steer clear.

Monk: While the pulled pork had decent bark (at least what I pulled onto my plate did; Speedy had some complaints), the meat was dry and begged for one of the three sauces on the table – Carolina BBQ, Red BBQ, and SC Mustard. Ok, well not really the SC Mustard – I mean, who would add that to pulled pork?

Speedy: I have no idea why these places insist on serving it. I definitely have opened up to different barbecue style over the last several years – mainly due to being able to travel to Memphis, St. Louis, and Texas and sample all that’s there. However, I’ve also spent lots of time in South Carolina (and had some great barbecue there), but I’ve yet to budge on my opinion that mustard just does not belong on barbecue. But anyway, off my soap box and back to the food.

Monk: As for the beef rib, well…I liked it a bit more than Speedy did but it was quite fatty. We were expecting a platter of beef spare ribs, not a huge slab of meat connected to a single bone. Looking on the menu online now, I do see that it does say “rib” singular. Other than the hilarity of how big it was, in hindsight it wasn’t the best decision to order.

Speedy: I thought the St. Louis style ribs were pretty good. They probably could have been a little more tender, but I did like the sauce quite a bit. If I went back, this is probably what I’d order.

Monk: I would agree. As has been documented here, I’m becoming more and more a fan of Texas sausage. So much so, in fact, that it’s now pretty much an automatic order if I see it on the menu. The sausage here was a bit dry and required the mustard sauce that it came with, but it still had good flavor and was one of the better parts of the meal.

Speedy: I was disappointed that the combo platter only came with one sausage link (to be fair, we did order the small platter), and I thought the sausage was pretty good, so I ended up ordering a sausage sampler and some hushpuppies for dessert.

Monk: Mac’s serves sides of honey butter along with the hush puppies (of which I am a huge fan) – so big ups on that.

Speedy: The sampler came with Texas beef sausage, andouille sausage, and kielbasa. All were good, though I think they were overcooked slightly. The mustard based barbecue sauce worked well with the sausage. I also had a hard time distinguishing between the three types. Initially, I thought ordering this extra plate was a mistake, but when Sus decided to pick up the bill, it suddenly was a great idea again.

Rudy: The only thing better than barbecue is FREE barbecue.

Monk: I couldn’t agree more! Speaking of Sus, while Speedy and I were comparing notes aloud on each meat during the meal he simply couldn’t understand why we didn’t think everything tasted as amazing to us as it did to him. To be fair, he is more of a burger guy, but c’mon Sus not everything was “ZOMG AMAZING YOU GUYS.”

Speedy: I guess not everyone has a sophisticated enough palette to be a Barbecue Bro, Monk.

Monk: True, not everyone can hang. So, Speedy, other than the atmosphere of the outdoor patio is there much of a reason for you to recommend folks come here if they are looking for good barbecue?

Speedy: No – not really. Like you said, the beer selection and atmosphere are really the best things about the restaurant, and while I appreciate that, it’s not what you want from a barbecue joint. So if you’re looking to have a beer or two with friends in a fun spot on Friday night, by all means, go to Mac’s. If you’re looking for good, authentic barbecue, there’s definitely better options.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3.5 hogs
Pork – 2.5 hogs
Brisket – 1 hog
Sausage – 3 hogs
St. Louis Style Ribs – 3 hogs
Kansas City Style Beef Rib – 2.5 hogs
Wings – 3.5 hogs
Sides – 2.5 hogs
Overall – 2.5 hogs

Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que – Austin, TX

June 14, 2012August 1, 2014 / Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Name: Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que
Date: 6/11/2012 
Location: 1530 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX 78704 
Order: 2 Meat Plate with Brisket (moist) and Jalapeno & Cheddar Sausage. Sides: Fried Okra and Corn.
Veggie Plate: Potato Salad, Green Beans, Corn, and Mac & Cheese. (link to website)
Bill: $40

Rudy: Mrs. Rudy and I had been trying to eat better recently, so that excluded being able to eat barbecue for a while. Well Monday we decided enough with that crap, it was time to try a new place, and we found ourselves at Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que. It is located near Zilker Park and has a great patio area. Even though it was a hot night, they had plenty of fans and misters on to keep it cool. It seemed like a great place to take a group and sit around just eating good barbecue and drinking cold beer. Uncle Billy’s brews their own beer (I had the Agave Wheat, which was great) and has a huge selection of fun summer drinks. One even had brisket infused vodka.

Monk: Wait, what? Brisket infused vodka? Go on…

Rudy: I didn’t try it. I kept thinking about the Jim Gaffigan joke about Fruit Cake. Fruit: good. Cake: good. Fruit Cake: nasty crap.

Speedy: Yeah, but it is brisket infused vodka.

Rudy: I know, maybe next time. Speaking of brisket… This is the standard for Texas barbecue, and what most of these places will be measured by. Uncle Billy’s left a little to be desired. I got the moist, but I found theirs to be too fatty and lacking on flavor. The meat did not hold up by itself and needed sauce to give it flavor.

Speedy: So then, did they have sauces that were able to elevate the brisket?

Rudy: That was the problem, none of the sauces were any good. The original was inedible. I don’t know what the problem was, but it almost tasted as if the sauce had gone bad; it tasted rancid. Their Texas Peppercorn sauce was too sweet. And their third option was a Carolina Style, which was just a mustard based sauce. All in all, the sauces weren’t able to help the brisket.

Speedy: THEY CALLED A MUSTARD BASED SAUCE CAROLINA STYLE? WTF? WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE?

Monk: Easy there, big guy…so Rudy, it doesn’t sound like this was a great place for barbecue…

Rudy: If you based it just on the brisket, correct. But I also got the sausage. It was fantastic. I got the jalapeno and cheddar sausage. The jalapeno adds flavor and gives off some heat, but the cheese is creamy and cools it. My only complaint was that the skin was a bit tough, but overall the sausage was fantastic and the best part of the meal.

Speedy: So far you’ve talked about what you ate, but haven’t mentioned what Mrs. Rudy had. Don’t tell me it was because she had a salad.

Rudy: Not exactly… She, uh, she had a veggie plate.

Monk: Mrs. Monk approves!

Speedy: I don’t think your wives understand the purpose of a blog about barbecue. Because they are missing the whole barbecue portion to their meals.

Rudy: I know, but at least this allowed us to try different sides and give a full review of them. The corn, potato salad, and mac & cheese were fantastic. The fried okra came with habanero ranch dressing for dipping. If one were want to get a meal of only veggies, they could here.

Speedy: Yeah, but then one would also have to turn in his testicles.

Rudy: While the brisket was not anything to write home about, the sausage was very good. They also had other barbeque options on the menu, like pulled pork, to choose from. I think the patio and drink selections would bring me back again. One item on the menu that intrigued me was a Breuben sandwich. It was a Reuben sandwich with brisket as the meat. I think Uncle Billy’s is a great place to go with friends and try their house beers and summer drinks. I will definitely go again, but if I’m looking for great barbecue, it won’t be my first option.

Ratings: 
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 4 hogs  
Brisket – 2.5 hogs 
Sausage – 3.5 hogs 
Sides – 3 hogs 
Overall – 3 hogs

Queen City Q – Charlotte, NC

June 11, 2012August 1, 2014 / Barbecue Bros / 1 Comment

Name: Queen City Q
Date: 6/8/2012
Location: 225 E. 6th Street, Charlotte, NC, 28202
Order: Fire Roasted Jumbo Wings, Super Q Platter (ribs, brisket, pork, sausage), Sis Gibson’s Famous Baked Beans with Neese’s Sausage, Eastern NC BBQ Slaw (link to menu)
Bill: Smoked wings – $0 (free with Foursquare check-in), Super Q Platter (included two sides) – $26

Monk: So three Fridays in a row hitting up barbecue spots. Is this becoming our weekly date night, Speedy?

Speedy: I guess so, Monk. And with three dates in the books, that makes you my longest relationship in years. I guess good ‘cue really keeps people together. But enough with the sappy stuff – let’s talk about the food.

Monk: Queen City Q occupies the old LaVecchia’s location next to Brixx Pizza in uptown Charlotte, and has updated the interior tastefully with dark wood and rustic accoutrements while utilizing the outdoor patio that seemed to be underused for a nicer seafood/steakhouse joint such as LaVecchia’s. On some nights, they even have live music outside, and that night was a guy and a guitar who, in addition to playing original songs, delighted Speedy by playing a cover of Shawn Mullins’ “Rockabye.”

Speedy: And a fantastic cover it was. Another bonus is the free appetizer on weeknights to those who check in on Foursquare…

Monk: …Which was an awesome surprise…

Speedy: …so Monk and I took advantage by ordering some wings for the cost of on the house. We ordered two flavors – PoPo (which is the house rib sauce) and chipotle apricot. The wings had good flavor, but I feel they could have used some dry rub of some sort prior to smoking. They were big and meaty and overall a great appetizer.

Monk: The pork had some nice bark on it, but was maybe a bit dry and required the use of one of the four sauces available on each table – Eastern NC Sauce, PoPo’s Sauce, Queen City Q Sauce, and SC mustard. Once sauce was added the pork was much better. Tellingly, the SC mustard sauce was the only one of the four that either Speedy or I didn’t try. Speaking of sauce, the brisket was slathered in it and unfortunately was the consensus lowlight of the meal. While a decent mix of fatty and lean, it seemed a bit overdone.

Rudy: That can always be a sign of bad brisket. If it is done right it doesn’t need much, if any, sauce. Whenever I see a place smother their brisket with sauce, I figure they are throwing in the towel.

Speedy: The ribs, on the other hand, were cooked perfectly. Great texture and flavor, they’re done St. Louis style with the sweet PoPo sauce. While they were very good, I’ve learned over the years that I generally prefer Memphis style ribs with dry rub, as the sweetness of St. Louis style can be a little much. I think that was the case here, though it didn’t stop me from eating several bones. The only thing on the plate that Monk and I finished completely was the sausage – and with good reason. It was served split and with a mustardy sauce. I’m assuming this was their SC mustard sauce, which to me, is only appropriate on sausage. But the flavor and texture were great. It definitely ranked among the top sausage I’ve had. And thankfully, Queen City Q has actual BBQ slaw on the menu that is really well done. It’s properly chopped and has really solid flavor with just a bit of spiciness.

Monk: Perhaps I’m a bit of a nancy, but the BBQ slaw was a little too spicy for me – still a welcome menu item though. Queen City Q has an abundance of sides, and I was slightly tempted to order the “Asian slaw” but I wasn’t sure whether or not it contained mayonnaise and didn’t want to face Speedy’s wrath. In the end, I went with their baked beans with Neese’s Sausage BECAUSE HOLY HELL IT HAS NEESE’S SAUSAGE IN IT OF COURSE I’M GOING TO ORDER IT. One thing that always gets our collective goat is if a restaurant lacks hush puppies, and unfortunately this is the case for Queen City Q. Sad, really, because otherwise this is a very solid barbecue restaurant all around.

Rudy: The last few places you guys have tried have had lots of different types of barbecue. The positive is that they have several for you to try, but the negative is that they don’t really have a specialty. Do you think that a restaurant would be better served to have a single specialty that they master or to offer variety that is all above average?

Monk: Good question…I can only speculate as to the reasoning why that is the case. If you are a new barbecue spot opening up, then I’ve noticed that the tendency is to go for “barbecue fusion” and have several types of meat cooked in the style of different regions. I would welcome a restaurant focusing on one specialty *COUGHGOODLEXINGTONBARBECUEINCHARLOTTECOUGH* and executing the crap out of it but I don’t really see it happening anytime soon.

Speedy: Another nice bonus was that all NC beers were $3. The restaurant has a nice variety of brews on draft and does a really good job of supporting local brews. The restaurant itself has a couple of bars and good TVs for watching sports. That makes it a great spot to go watch a game or eat before a Bobcats game.

Monk: I agree that it is a good spot to watch sports (some folks were taking in the US vs. Antigua and Barbuda World Cup qualifier the night we stopped in), but let’s get serious Speedy – you are the only one who actually goes to Bobcats games.

Speedy: Fair point…

Monk: So I think the consensus between the two of us is that Queen City Q and Midwood Smokehouse are our two favorite barbecue spots in Charlotte, right? Which is a little odd, considering they are two of the newer places – Midwood opening in 2011 and Queen City Q just earlier this year. But I think this is more of a case of the newer places doing barbecue properly, as opposed to any riot against the old on our part.

Speedy: That’s right, Monk. Both places did a great job creating their menus to highlight several different styles of barbecue. And while I’ll always be a chopped pork kind of guy thanks to being reared on Lexington Barbecue, it’s nice to have all of these options available. Thanks to the good food and great location, Queen City Q will definitely continue to be a Charlotte staple for me.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 4 hogs
Pork – 3 hogs
Brisket – 2 hogs
Sausage – 4 hogs
Ribs – 3.5 hogs
Wings – 3.5 hogs
Sides – 2.5 hogs
Overall – 3.5 hogs