Washington DC

Linkdown: 1/30/25 – The Joy and the Sadness Edition

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Featured

Monk: Congrats to the 2025 James Beard Award Semifinalists! They were announced a little over a week ago, and from a barbecue standpoint Christopher Prieto of Prime Barbecue was the only pitmaster from North Carolina nominated. This was his first nomination.

Impressively, Robbie Robinson of City Limits Barbeque in West Columbia was nominated for a second time – perhaps the first time someone from the barbecue world has been nominated two years in an row. That’s big time.

https://twitter.com/EaterCarolinas/status/1882089244937871864

By my count, there were 8 nominations from the barbecue world. The Southeast made up 2 of those, as did Texas. The remaining nominations were from California, Mid-Atlantic, South, and in the Outstanding Restaurateur category. The full list is available here.

  • Outstanding Restaurateur – Daisy Ryan and Greg Ryan, Companion Hospitality (Bell’s, Bar Le Cote, Priedite BBQ, and others), Los Alamos, CA
  • Best Chef: California – Darryl Bell, Stateline Road Smokehouse, Napa, CA
  • Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic – Fernando Gonzalez, 2Fifty Barbeque, Riverdale, MD and Washington, DC
  • Best Chef: South – Jordan Wright, Wright’s Barbecue, Johnson, AR
  • Best Chef: Southeast – Christopher Prieto, Prime Barbecue, Knightdale, NC;
  • Best Chef: Southeast – Robbie Robinson, City Limits Barbeque, West Columbia, SC
  • Best Chef: Texas – Fasicka Hicks and Patrick Hicks, Smoke’N Ash BBQ, Arlington, TX
  • Best Chef: Texas – Evan LeRoy, LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue, Austin, TX

Nominees for the 35h Annual James Beard Award will be announced on Wednesday, April 2, and winners will be announced at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony on Monday, June 16. Will someone from the barbecue world win Best Chef? Stay tuned and we’ll find out in a couple of months.

Native News

On the sad side of things, a trio of stories from the world of North Carolina barbecue:

Kyle Fletcher of Kyle Fletcher’s Barbecue in Lowell passed away earlier this year and leaves behind a “legacy of kindness”

Short Sugar’s in Reidsville has closed after 75 years in business

And to add to the misery, Kepley’s in the Barbecue Bros hometown of High Point will close next month after 75 years open

Linkdown: 11/22/23 – The Happy Thanksgiving Edition

/ Barbecue Bros / 1 Comment

Featured

Monk: The Cuegrass festival, a mix of barbecue, bluegrass, and beer, is back next April in downtown Raleigh. It’s been a few years since I’ve been, but it looks like they’ve moved a few blocks away from in front of The Pit restaurant onto Fayetteville Street. Here were my thoughts from 2019:

The Cuegrass Festival is a Must for Raleigh Barbecue and Bluegrass Fans

Mark your calendars for April 20 for what is sure to be a fun time.

Native News

The Barbecue Festival has been nominated by NC Tripping for best annual festival

Non-Native News

John Tanner visits Franklin Barbecue

DC barbecue featured in Texas Monthly

Team applications are now open for Memphis in May

Texas Monthly with some helpful suggestions for leftover barbecue

The labor shortage hits Texas barbecue

Noted fan of barbecue Jon Favreau recently stopped in at Heritage Barbecue

WANT:

Wayback Wednesday:

Linkdown: 1/18/23 – The Clyde Cooper Anniversary Edition

/ Barbecue Bros / 1 Comment

Featured

North Carolina’s oldest barbecue restaurant will celebrate its 85th anniversary on February 11. That’s right, 85 years! Clyde Cooper’s Barbecue has seemingly been invigorated by the “BBQ Karen” controversy from late last year and will take its newfound energy into its 86th year in existence. A big congrats to them!

Native News

Eater has released an updated restaurant list for the Triangle

A construction update of the Raleigh location of Midwood Smokehouse

Ray Nathan’s recently celebrated their 4th anniversary earlier this month

Meet Cece of Lincolnton’s Bar-B-Q King

Jon G’s has rolled out a separate “Carolina chopped barbecue” service out of their trailer at Barbecue Saturdays in Peachland

Non-Native News

Have you tried the foil boat method?

Hill East Burgers in DC cold smokes their burgers with brisket trimmings for their take on smoked smash burgers

John Lewis’s Rancho Lewis makes the Charleston Hot List from Eater Carolinas

Brett’s Barbecue Shop opened their Katy location this recently and it sure seems the city embraced them

Adrian Miller dropping some Colorado barbecue knowledge

Linkdown: 2/9/22

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

I covered this on the Facebook page briefly a few weeks back, but Smiley’s Lexington BBQ has officially announced its closing due to the NCDOT widening of Winston Road in Lexington. This widening was first announced in 2018 with a start date in summer 2020 but had likely been delayed due to the pandemic.

While owner Steve Yountz is not ready to retire just yet, per him “right now there is no definite plans on relocating as far as availably and affordability.” Patrons will have until February 26 to dine at the current location of Smiley’s before it closes its doors for good.

Nearby barbecue restaurant Speedy’s is also expected to close as a result of the road widening, however they are more optimistic about reopening in a new location and plan to rebuild and relocate, depending on the compensation they receive from DOT.

While the optimist in me hopes that both restaurants are able to relocate and continue business in due time, I worry that by next month we will be down two more classic NC barbecue joints.

Native News

A helpful post from Grady’s

Non-Native News

Applications for the Preserve the Pit fellowship are due March 1st

Tim Carman of The Washington Post comes out with his annual barbecue list, with the wrinkle of releasing it in the winter time when some joints are closed

Carman also mourns the loss of pitmaster Corries Hardy

Rodney Scott and Eric Church getting into the honkey tonk game, and bringing whole hog to Broadway at Chief’s

Loro’s second location opens in Houston later this month

J.C. Reid on the evolution of the “Texas Trinity”

Roegels Barbecue opened their Katy location last week

Eater NY critic Robert Sietsema finds Myron Mixon’s Hoboken restaurant to be mixed in quality