Kevin's BBQ Joints

Looks like everyone’s getting local these days. Here’s AOL.com’s foray into it with City’s Best. They are asking people to vote on the best restaurants, bars/clubs, and lifestyle, but of course, I’ll direct you to what’s really important…barbecue. You have to act fast to vote as the deadline is by tomorrow (November 30th) at midnight (and the best thing is voting doesn’t require you to sign up).

Here’s a quick city list (not every city or even major city is listed…so you’ll have to choose the closest). Click and vote away!

Atlanta
Austin
Boston
Chicago
Dallas Fort Worth
Houston
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
New York
Philadelphia
Washington D.C.

What BBQ joint’s are missing? I’ve already found a few holes.

‘Santa Maria’ style barbecue seems to be the norm just north of Los Angeles, but it seems that when you find a BBQ joint going that extra mile (they do have a custom built pit they built that they use only oak with) up on the Central Coast of California, you have good reason to get excited that this won’t be something simply slapped over a grill to dry up and wither away. The Rib Line is just one of those places putting the extra time needed to create good BBQ.

Photo courtesy of Steve E. Miller

The review in the New Times SLO by Kathy Marks Hardesty reminded me that not only do they have great ribs, chicken, and tri tip, but they serve award winning chili. From the article, “I call it my triple threat tri-tip chili,” owner Brian Appiano, explained. “It has three chiles: jalapeno, chipotle, and California; and tri-tip two ways: oak roasted and cubed, and five-hour braised pork.” I’m a sucker for BBQ, but chili, good chili, ranks very high up on daily craving for me.

See their lunch and dinner menu here. Note The Rib Line offers free delivery anywhere in San Luis Obispo with a $15 minimum order.

Read the entire article here

Find it here:

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If you’re like most barbecue lovers you’ve often driven away from a BBQ Joint with the smoke-filled dreams of opening up your own joint or perhaps starting a BBQ catering business. It seems possible, but really, where do you start? There are a lot of really good BBQ classes across the country that teach you proper technique and even the best way to make your BBQ presentable to BBQ judges at competitions, but where do you go to find the actual nuts and bolts of running your own BBQ Joint and BBQ Business?

Enter OnCue Consulting, the brainchild of Amy Mills. You probably best know the father and daughter team of Mike and Amy from their BBQ Joints (17th Street Bar & Grill and Memphis Championship Barbecue of which they have (7) total), their James Beard nominated book Peace, Love, and Barbecue, and the many television appearances that BBQ legend Mike does.

Because of their wealth of experience, she created a company perfect for you to follow your BBQ passion. OnCue Consulting of course does consulting as well as seminars, master classes, and incredibly unique smoke tours given by Amy and Mike, along with special guests. They cover all things barbecue (restaurants, catering, festivals, & concessions) and even do personal on-site consulting services and seminars at their restaurant locations. They want you to learn from their vast experience in every operational aspect of the barbecue business (operations, HR, menu development, the art & science of cooking barbecue, catering, expansion, marketing, branding, etc.).
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Black’s Barbecue in Lockhart, Texas may be the oldest family owned BBQ Joint in Texas, but when it comes to today’s technology, they are right in step.

Back by popular demand they are offering their Cyber Monday Texas Trio Bundle for $ 99.99 (which includes free shipping). The original price is $124.99 with shipping added on top of that, so this really is a great deal for some amazing Texas barbecue.

The Texas Trio Bundle includes:
- One whole Beef Brisket (approximately 5-6 lbs)
- One rack of Pork Spare Ribs (approximately 3 lbs)
- 8 rings of Edgar Black’s Homemade Sausage
- 1 bottle of Norma Jean Black’s Barbecue Sauce

Order by 11:59 PM Central on Monday, November 29, 2010 to get the deal (and you can pick you desired delivery date at checkout).

Place your order here. This same link takes you to their online store to order additional items individually as well. Enjoy and let me know how you like it.

It’s that time of year again (actually, can’t believe it’s really that time of year again) that I provide my top 10 BBQ Sauces for gifts this holiday season. I have 7 of the 10 locked up, but have some wiggle room for the final three. If you know of an amazing sauce that I may be missing (or you are a sauce maker) please comment below or email me as I will definitely take any suggestions into consideration as I wrap up the choices by the end of the week.

As I made my selections so far, I tried to choose ones that are not necessarily the ones you’d see in the market. There are so many amazing choices from BBQ Joints, BBQ Teams, and Mom & Pop sauce makers that I would love for people to really get to know. You can see the list of BBQ Joints and Sauce makers with online stores that I’ve compiled here. Some of these will be on the Holiday List for sure.

Thanks to Gregory Hahn from the Idaho Statesman for the early review of the newly opened MickeyRay’s Roadhouse BBQ in Eagle, Idaho. I have gotten a number of emails since their opening on September 20th from people saying I should check it out.

Photo courtesy of Shawn Raecke – Idaho Statesman

I talked to Ray Santucci (the Ray in MickeyRay’s) who said that he and partner Mickey Shields use a J & R Smoker for their brisket and pulled pork and an Ole Hickory Pits Smoker for the chicken, sausage, turkey, and ribs. They were a competitive BBQ team (aptly named MickeyRay’s) prior to opening their joint and work really hard to make sure that every meal is up the standards that a BBQ judge would expect. See their menu here. If you have a chance to stop in (I have a really good feeling you won’t be disappointed), please shoot me an email and we’ll post your review.

Follow them on twitter here
See them on facebook here

Read the entire review here

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Thanks to Brett Ellis from the Fremont Tribune for his piece on Huey’s Smokehouse BBQ.

Photo courtesy – Chris Bristol, Fremont Tribune

Per the article, owner Kevin Hulett uses “a mixture of oak, walnut and fruit woods are used to smoke the meat before a variety of rubs are used. Customers then can choose from the original sweet sauce or a sweet fire sauce. We do it as a smoke with a dry rub on it and then we let the customer choose how they want to sauce it up.”

Read the entire article here. Let me know if you get a chance to stop in as it seems a great addition to the Fremont area.

You can find it here:

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Since we’re on the cusp of Thanksgiving and many of you may be sitting in an airport or finishing up your work for the week, I thought it only appropriate to share some mindless fun. This is my favorite BBQ purveyor found in the Shiroad (sp?) Food Alley in China. It’s not low and slow BBQ, but it’s definitely has the techno/Crocodile Dundee vibe everyone wants from a street vendor.

Rumor has it that he’s set to travel to the United States for a farmer’s market and food truck tour. Would you visit him? Would you buy his BBQ?

As I’ve mentioned a few times recently, it really does seem like Chicago is becoming a hot bed for BBQ. There have been the go to places like Smoque BBQ and Honey 1 BBQ for a little while now, but there does seem to be a evergrowing new crop of what some might call ‘up scale’ or ‘urban’ BBQ joints hitting the scene. Jeff Ruby from Chicago Magazine did a great piece (and detailed reviews) of 3 newcomers.

Beef Brisket from Pork Shoppe

The three featured are Charlie McKenna’s Lillie’s Q, Lee Ann Whippen’s (featured on BBQ Pitmasters Season 1) Chicago Q, and the newest entry by restauranteurs Tizi Melloul’s Steven Ford, Michael Schimmel, and Jason Heiman Pork Shoppe.

Pork Belly from Pork Shoppe

Read the all three pages online here

See all my BBQ joints from Illinois here

I’ve gotten a ton of emails lately letting me know what kind of smoker a specific joint uses or more specifically, what kind of wood they use. Does this affect your choice in a BBQ joint? Is there a certain smoker that you’d prefer a BBQ joint use? Can you tell what type of wood a BBQ joint is using? Let me know.