Linkdown: 7/15/15

– A review of Archibald’s Barbecue in Northport, AL with the choice quote “It’s painful when a giant falters.”

– Bon Apetit interviews Johnny Fugitt about his book, “The 100 Best Barbecue Restaurants in America”

– Daniel Vaughn on the growth of Texas BBQ (as well as barbecue in general); that article also links to this great interactive infographic from the food service marketing research company who provided him data, CHD Expert

– EDIA Maps, Inc (behind The Great NC BBQ Map and the upcoming NC Beer Map) get the Charlotte Agenda interview treatment about creating physical maps in a digital world

But the biggest difference between print and digital is the physicality and the connection to a tangible object. You can’t hang a phone app or website on your wall and stick pins in it to mark all the places you’ve visited. You can stand in front of a map and look and remember and plan and dream. Our maps also create a sense of community, something we had never imagined before making them. We live in a world that oftentimes feels so detached, and maps are visible things you hold in your hands that someone sees, and it sparks a conversation over a commonality. People want to know where you’re going and where you’ve been and what you thought of it. Maps aren’t just guides; they’re memorabilia too – beautiful trip mementos that become part of your home and take you back to an adventure you had or a wonderful time making memories with people you love. They touch something deep within – a nostalgia and a wanderlust.

– Thrillist’s list of best barbecue by region

– Grant tries mutton in the latest barbecue review from Marie, Let’s Eat!

– The Tasting Table with five barbecue myths that need busting

– More on the use of the word “barbecue” and how the word caught on in the northeast in the early part of the century when they really meant “grilling”

Southerners weren’t too keen on this new definition for one of their favorite words. “Many Georgia epicures insist that this is an insult to the honorable name of barbecue,” Rufus Jarman wrote in The Saturday Evening Post in 1954. “You cannot barbecue hamburgers, roasting ears, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, or salami, and it is a shame and a disgrace to mention barbecue in connection with such foolishness.”

– On barbecue and religion in NC by way of Dickie Do’s in Haw River, from the bluegrass blog The Bluegrass Situation

– The Charleston Brown Water Society BBQ Invitational took place this past Sunday and had some famous guests

Pitmasters Sam Jones and Rodney Scott were at Sunday’s second annual Charleston Brown Water Society’s Summer Invitational BBQ, but they weren’t working the pits. No, they both drove multiple hours from their respective homes just to eat and visit. That’s how good the barbecue was.

Teams from Illinois’ 17th Street Barbecue, Tennessee’s Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint, and Charleston’s own Home Team BBQ stayed up all night Saturday smoking meat and fighting mosquitos at the Holy City Brewing compound on Dorchester Road. They offered up their labors to more than 300 guests (including Jones and Scott) who lined up the next day in the hot afternoon sun to check in.

– Because why not:

Friday Find: The Great NC Beer Map

The folks behind The Great NC BBQ Map have a new project and this time they turn their focus to NC beer. And it appears to be a slightly less daunting task than last time around, with only around 160 breweries across the state compared to the 434 barbecue joints they found.

EDIA Maps have returned to Kickstarter to fund this project, and as of this writing they are almost halfway to their $7,500 goal with 28 days to go. As always, there are tiers to the funding, but just $10 will get you a folded map and sticker and it goes up from there. The NC BBQ Map is a go-to resource for me and I can’t wait to see what they do with beer.

Monk

Linkdown: 6/3/15

– Remember the Carolina-style barbecue joint in SF, Rusty’s Southern? Well there, “barbecue doctrine gives way to what simply tastes right” as they do their variations on NC and SC style barbecue and sauces

– EDIA, Inc, the folks behind The Great NC Barbecue Map, collaborate with Garden & Gun Magazine on 5 lesser-known NC barbecue joints

– This DC-area blog has a breakdown of the different spots around DC to try various styles of barbecue

– Red Hot & Blue opened its latest chain restaurant in Cary in early May

– Marie, Let’s Eat! visits Couch’s Barbecue in Ooltewah, TN for the second time and reiterates that its worth a stop, even if the style of barbecue is a little unique

– Robert Moss goes in deep on Central Texas sausage in his latest post for Southern Living

– Some (but not all) details on Looking Ahead to the Past BBQ, a cool sounding barbecue event around Charlotte on June 14; the location has yet to be disclosed:

The Relish Carolina event will include outdoor cooking by chef Jim Noble and his Noble Food & Pursuits team, wine pairings by Eric Solomon of European Cellars, and involvement from Dan Huntley of Dan the Pig Man Barbecue, Free Range Brewing, Haunt Bar and Unknown Brewing. Some of the proceeds will benefit The Kings Kitchen and Bakery, owned by Noble, which supports homeless programs in Charlotte.

Linkdown: 3/4/15

– The last chapter documenting Marie, Let’s Eat!’s jaunt through the Charlotte area back in January finds them at Black’s Barbecue, among other Gastonia-area places; they also check out Anna’s BBQ in Atlanta in a newer post

– The weather may be 70 degrees now, but this yo-yo weather could strike at any moment so here’s last week’s Charlotte Weekly Yelp which ran down chili options around town, including Queen City Q

–  The Great NC BBQ Map has 5 barbecue road trips that doesn’t include just the usual suspects, which I appreciate

– While John Lewis is off in Charleston starting his namesake barbecue joint, a new head pitmaster has been named at La Barbecue

– That salad’s got nuttin’ on Western Kentucky’s chipped mutton, and Robert Moss investigates

– Alabama has kicked off their own statewide barbecue marketing campaign, dubbed the Year of Alabama BBQ

– A short post on NYC barbecue

A few weekends ago, the city celebrated the smoky flesh at the annual—and free—Hudson River Park Blues BBQ Festival, featuring NYC’s three top pits, Mighty Quinn’s, Delaney and Dinosaur, with dining music provided by five authentic blues outfits. If this is the South’s long-term strategy to take the North, it seems to be working.

– Regarding Louie Mueller Barbecue, Burger Mary has some great photos and says “If you only have time to visit one traditional, iconic and outstanding barbecue joint in Texas, Louie Mueller Barbecue should be it.”

The most underrated barbecue in Memphis, according to First We Feast

– Vote for your favorite Charlotte-area barbecue restaurants in Charlotte Magazine’s Best of the Best Awards

– ICYMI, our photos and recap of last week’s barbecue dinner at Midwood Smokehouse: