Friday Find: “Gatlin’s BBQ is Building a Legacy as one of Houston’s Best BBQ Joints”

Monk: “BBQ Brawl” season 2 winner Erica Blaire Roby has joined forces with The Smoke Sheet newsletter on her web series “The Pit Stop with Blue Smoke Blaire.” In this episode she is in Houston speaking with business partners Greg Gatlin and Michele Wallace of the renowned barbecue restaurant Gatlin’s BBQ. She gets their backstory on how they each stumbled into the restaurant business after starting off in the corporate world.

On a side note, its good to see our friends at The Smoke Sheet getting more and more into the video game. Check out the rest of their videos at their YouTube Channel and subscribe here.

Description: Pitmaster Erica Blaire Roby (otherwise known as Blue Smoke Blaire) was recently crowned Master of Cue on Season 2 of the Food Network show BBQ Brawl. In this episode of her new web series The Pit Stop with Blue Smoke Blaire, she visits with Greg Gatlin and Michelle Wallace of Gatlin’s BBQ, one of Houston’s most highly-acclaimed BBQ joints. They discuss their journey from the corporate world into the world of BBQ and how they are building a lasting legacy in their community.

Linkdown: 11/24/21

Native News

The history behind hush puppies, which I will never refer to “red horse bread”

Not so fast, my friend: After announcing that its Lake Norman location was going to close, Mac’s Speed Shop announced plans for the restaurant to stay open as a smaller location after an outpouring of love from the community

John Tanner’s Barbecue Blog expands his list of good local places off I-95 from Virginia to Key West

In total copycat fashion, Eater comes out with their own list

Non-Native News

The Smoke Sheet checks out the DFW barbecue scene in person

John Tanner checks out Meat BBQ in Lansing, Michigan while crossing that state off his list

Franklin Barbecue finally reopened for in-person dining yesterday

Austin barbecue food truck Distant Relatives is one of the 11 best new restaurants in the country, according to Eater

Grilling szn is here, writes J.C. Reid

The Troubadour Festival looked pretty sweet

So did Holy Smokes…

Linkdown: 11/10/21

The Local Palate and writer Jenn Rice detail a pretty action-packed eastern North Carolina barbecue itinerary. The usual suspects are on the list including Barbecue Bros faves Wilber’s Barbecue and Southern Smoke BBQ, but there are plenty of ones I haven’t tried yet. Bookmarking for next Spring.

Native News

A new live-fire cooking restaurant called Cinder is opening in Charlotte from Husk veteran Duke Kroger (who identifies as a pitmaster in his Twitter profile)

Mac’s Speed Shop is closing its Cornelius restaurant but opening a new one in Mooresville

Jon G’s was featured in the Fall 2021 Issue of QC Exclusive

ICYMI last month, Boxyard RTP and Lawrence Barbecue are one of the 12 hottest restaurants in the Triangle

The Smoking Ho takes on North Carolina starting with Buxton Hall #CarHOlinaBBQTrip

Lewis Donald and Sweet Lew’s BBQ raised funds to help the family of a young girl who tragically took her own life at the age of 11

Non-Native News

Heim Barbecue’s Dallas location will be closed for a few weeks after a fire but its Fort Worth locations remain open

Last week’s Georgia barbecue-focused The Smoke Sheet

The SmoKing of Meats is Joe Musungi, who blends Filipino and Texas barbecue

Are barbecue lines a thing of the past?

New-ish barbecue joint Palmira BBQ is one of the stalls at Port of Call

Friday Find: “Pitmasters Celebrate the Best BBQ in Texas at BrettFest”

Monk: The Smoke Sheet has recently been active on their YouTube Channel and they have some sights and sounds from BrettFest held last month in Rockdale, TX.

Description: Celebrating their 3rd anniversary with over 45 BBQ joints, several from the newly listed Texas Monthly Top 50, Brett’s Backyard Bar-B-Que sold over 400 tickets to BrettFest and put on a show!

Brett Boren called BrettFest 2021 the “party of the year”, and that might have been an understatement. Gathering pitmasters from all over Texas, Rockdale was rocking with live music, delicious bites, and crafted cocktails. Highlighting their culinary powers, the pitmasters cooked up everything from homemade empanadas, grilled steaks with chimichurri, onigirazu, chocolate chip cookies, kimchi pulled pork sliders, tacos, and bbq eggrolls. Vendors handed out samples of hot sauce, pickles, beer, and cocktails.

Guests of the event not only ate to their hearts delight, but also collected signatures from the pitmasters in their newly printed Texas Monthly magazines.

Brett being a man of few words spoke to the pitmasters and simply thanked them for coming and that he was looking forward to celebrating with them after the event with a nice glass of bourbon. I would recommend that everyone mark their calendars for Brett Fest 2022!


Sign up for The Smoke Sheet BBQ Newsletter at https://bbqnewsletter.com

Special thanks to Conor Moran of On3Media for producing this video.

Check out Bretty’s Backyard Bar-B-Que at https://www.facebook.com/Brettsbackya…