Friday Find: Palmira BBQ on Tales from the Pits

Monk: Hector Garate brings his Puerto Rican and Cuban influences to whole hog barbecue and his approach to barbecue at Palmira BBQ (named for his grandmother). I’ll have more on Palmira in the coming weeks (particularly the hash and rice), but in the meantime enjoy this short conversation from Charleston Wine + Food with the Tales from the Pit guys.

Description: Hector Garate has combined the inspiration of his heritage, his upbringing, and modern techniques to create a menu at Palmira BBQ in Charleston that produces high quality items from top to bottom. Serving high quality meats and flavorful, carefully crafted sides, Palmira has burst onto the barbecue scene and quickly become one to watch.

In addition to being open seven days a week, Hector and his partner chef Graham Calabria have also launched Cienfuegos, a pit building business inspired by the direct heat cookers Hector built to cook the heritage breed hogs he serves at Palmira.

Check out Hector’s story and be sure to add a stop at Palmira BBQ to your next Charleston trip.

Palmira BBQ
Instagram: PalmiraBBQ
Located inside Port of Call Food Hall
99 S Market St
Charleston, SC

Linkdown: 4/6/22

Featured

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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Non-Native News

Tales from the Pits gives the lowdown on the “rib cut” from Hite’s BBQ in West Columbia

Last week’s Smoke Sheet featured a story from Bryan Suddith on whole hog and Rodney Scott’s BBQ

The State Line Celebration at Carowinds will run on select dates April 9-May 8 and will feature both NC and SC barbecue

Duke’s Barbecue of Beaufort is one of four options to get barbecue in Beaufort County, SC

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Ever wonder why barbecue joints are covered in stickers?

Friday Find: Tales from the Pits Returns to Charleston Wine + Food

Monk: The Tales from the Pit guys returned to their first Charleston Wine + Food in a few years and recapped their barbecue adventures while in town. At the festival they had barbecue bites from Southern Smoke BBQ in Garland, Lawrence Barbecue in Raleigh, Truth BBQ, and 17th Street Barbecue among others.

In addition to the festival events in town they made visits to Scott’s BBQ, McCabe’s in Manning, Hite’s BBQ in West Columbia, Sweatman’s Bar-B-Que in Holly Hill, Palmira BBQ, Rodney Scott’s BBQ, and Lewis Barbecue. I’m hoping to try out Palmira later this month and will report back.

Description: The Charleston Wine + Food festival is an amazing showcase of so many talented chefs and spirits professionals from not just South Carolina but all around the country. We were thrilled to be invited back to cover the event and made the most of our five days in the Lowcountry. 

Tune in to hear about the whole hog road trips we made in between going to festival events, including one of the best bites of whole hog we’ve ever had. We had an awesome time attending the CHSWF events, supporting local Charleston restaurants, and eating old school South Carolina BBQ.

Friday Find: Tales from the Pits Reacts to the Texas Monthly Top 50

Listen on: Apple | TheBBQPodcast.com

Monk: The Tales from the Pit guys react to the release of the much-anticipated Texas Monthly Top 50 list last Monday with an instant reaction pod.

They start off by recounting the top 10 and comparing it to their predictions (they both got 8/10) before naming the rest of the top 50. Then they end by naming some of the ones that missed the cut but are favorites of them as well as some stats. Good discussion as always.

Description: The much anticipated 2021 Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ List has finally arrived! Hear our thoughts on the top ten, the list overall, and some fun facts and tidbits about the long awaited list that always has BBQ nerds talking.

Congratulations to all of the great spots that made the list, and make sure you go out and support all of your favorite local BBQ regardless of whether they’re on a list or not.