Kevin's BBQ Joints

Allen & Son Bar-B-Que in Chapel Hills, North Carolina is hands down one of the best bbq joints in the country. A little while back I posted a blog piece featuring Kevin Pang from the Chicago Tribune interviewing owner Keith Allen. If you missed it, you can see that again here.

Photo of Allen & Son Bar-B-Que courtesy of James Boo – Serious Eats

Well here is another great video of this iconic bbq joint from Claudia Rupcich and Souiki Mehdaoui entitled “The Pit Master: A Look at Chapel Hill’s favorite BBQ” which again features Mr. Allen, but features a little more behind the scenes that I think you’ll really love.

‘The Pit Master’: A look at Chapel Hill’s favorite BBQ from reesenews on Vimeo.

You can see the video and entire story here. Have you been to Allen & Sons Bar-B-Que? Do you feel it’s the best bbq in the country? In North Carolina?

Check out Allen & Son Bar-B-Que here:

View Larger Map

There are some really nice people I’ve meet within the BBQ world and one of the standouts among is Wilfred Reinke (aka The Oshawa Ogre). He’s a BBQ addict from Canada who blogs about everything BBQ under the sun at his site Oshawa Ogre’s View, News & BBQ’s. You should check it out as he not only writes a mean and detailed review, but he puts his heart into each piece. Good stuff for sure.

He was kind enough to be my Canadian correspondent and provide me with his first ‘guest’ review for Rubbs Barbeque Bistro in Campbellford, Ontario Canada. Here it is in his own words:

There are many ways to write BBQ including, Barbeque, Barbecue or Bar-B-Que but here up north of the border maybe we ahould call it Barb-Eh!-Que. Canada is well known for Hockey, Poutine, Back Bacon, Tim Horton’s Donuts and Celine Dion (ok so maybe not everything is a positive).

If there is one area that I would like to see Canada get more visabilty in it would be in the area of BBQ restaurants. During my Southern Expedition to NC, Georgia and Florida in early 2011 I was amazed at how popular BBQ is and the quality of restauarants they have. Canada does not have many true KCBS style Barbecue competitions though there will be one in July known as Blue Mountains Chili RibFest at Cedar Run in Clarksburgh near Barrie, Ontario which is the home of our well known Canadian Pitmaster DivaQ (you may remember her when she starred in the TLC show BBQ Pitmasters in 2010)

RibFests are very, very popular in the Southern Ontario market where up to 100,000 people will enjoy some BBQ Ribs, Chicken & Pulled Pork over a 3 day weekend. Depending on the city hosting the event they will have anywhere from 5-19 Ribbers selling their Q in a festival atmosphere, including beer tents, live entertainment, and some even have a carnival for the kids.

On my BBQ Blog I cover these events and profile some of the teams here. As far as BBQ Restaurants in Canada goes, there just are not as many choices for Canadians as are avaiable in the US.

In the Southern Ontario Market and the GTA (General Toronto Area) I have only found a handful of true BBQ Restaurants. One such place of smoke is Rubbs Barbeque Bistro located at 18 Bridge St. West, Campbellford Corner of Bridge & Queen Street 705-632-0BBQ (705-632-0227) which is approximately one and a half hours North East of Toronto.

Campbellford is a town of just under 4,000 people that swells in the summer time as it is a tourist area that has boaters using the Trent–Severn Waterway of locks that connects Lake Huron to Lake Ontario. It is also very well known for outlets including Worlds Finest Chocolates and Empire Cheese both only 5 minutes each away from the restaurant.

Rubbs Barbecue is run by Chef Mark Andrade and assisted by friendly Kelly Homer that is also in charge of the Bistro’s Social Networking site on facebook.

Photo of Chef Mark and Fred
(more…)

This week I’m lucky to have one of the ‘Deen Brothers‘, Jamie Deen, participate in my weekly feature ‘My Favorite BBQ Joints’. If you watch the Food Network you already know who he is from his hit show Road Tasted, but if for some reason you don’t, he is the oldest son of Paula Deen. If you don’t know who Paula Deen is I really don’t know what to tell you.

Since he and his brother Bobby are big fans of barbecue and have traveled the entire country tasting great BBQ (and incredible food), I was really interested to see what his choices were.

Photo of Jamie Deen

Here is his list, in his words:

It’s no surprise that my two favorite barbecue restaurants are in Austin, Texas. The County Line has some of the best ribs that I’ve ever put in my mouth.

Photo of The County Line courtesy of Man Up: Tales of Texas BBQ

If you love brisket as much as I do, then you shouldn’t miss The Salt Lick Bar-B-Que Restaurant. This place wins, hands down, no contest.

Photo of The Salt Lick courtesy of Inside NanaBread’s Head
(more…)

I got such a great reaction from last weeks set of photos, I searched and found five more BBQ pics to make you hungry (and possibly try a BBQ joint you hadn’t heard of or thought of in a while).

Hill Country Barbecue – New York, NY via Man Up: Tales of Texas BBQ

Payne’s Bar-B-Que – Memphis, TN courtesy of James Boo from The Eaten Path

Lexington BBQ #1 – Lexington, NC via Sky Full of Bacon

Snow’s BBQ – Lexington, TX – via Full Custom Gospel BBQ

Rub BBQ – Righteous Urban Barbecue – New York, NY

Can you figure out what this is and where it was eaten at? Is it even BBQ?

A friend of mine emailed this to me to test me so I thought I’d pass it along to you. Any and all guesses accepted.

If you have about five minutes of spare time you’ll do yourself a favor by watching this great video by USA Today on the North Carolina Barbecue Trail. Featured are Grady’s Barbecue in Dudley, Skylight Inn in Ayden, and Lexington BBQ #1 in Lexington.

I’ve been to Lexington BBQ #1 and know that hands down it’s one of the best bbq joints in the country. I do plan on hitting Grady’s and The Skylight Inn on my next trip out there this year. Have you been to any of these three? Do you have a favorite?

Photo of The Skylight Inn courtesy of Roadfood.com

See all of the BBQ joints in North Carolina here

You’ve got to love a BBQ joint with one of your favorite BBQ offerings in their name. Thanks to Joyce Smith from the Kansas City Star for clueing me in to The Burnt End BBQ & Catering which just opened it’s doors in Overland Park, Kansas. This is the latest venture from pb&j restaurants, inc. in a market already chock full of amazing BBQ joints.

Photo of The Burnt End BBQ courtesy of Mike Ransdell – Kansas City Star

From Joyce’s article, “Stephen “Smokey” Schwartz, formerly with Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue, went on the PB&J payroll in 2005 and soon put barbecue on the menu of its Yahooz restaurant in Leawood. About three months ago, PB&J began catering barbecue out of the Burnt End space at 11240 W. 135th St., delivering box lunches, sandwiches and meats as far as Topeka. “We were doing so much catering and everybody liked our barbecue so much we decided to offer it to everyone,” said Paul Khoury, a co-owner and co-founder of PB&J.”

You can read her piece here

Have you gotten a chance to try The Burnt End BBQ yet? I would hope they have amazing burnt ends because that would be a culinary crime if they didn’t.

You can find it here:

View Larger Map

There are certain BBQ Joints across the country that are deemed BBQ meccas. Places that BBQ lovers want to go to so they can scratch them off their bbq bucket list. Ridgewood Barbecue in Bluff City, Tennessee is just one of those places. To get a glimpse of what it’s like to visit, check out this video from MDracer51:

This really is one of the best joint BBQ videos I’ve seen in a while especially since it takes you behind the scenes of this down home restaurant.

Photo of Ridgewood Barbecue courtesy of Roadfood.com

You can also hear (and read a transcript) owner Larry Proffitt in a great interview here from The Southern BBQ Trail. Have you been here before? I would love to know your take.

Visit Ridgewood Barbecue yourself here:

View Larger Map

The good folks at Black’s Barbecue in Lockhart, Texas have teamed up with Kevin’s BBQ Joints to give away an incredible package. One random winner will receive the following from Black’s Barbecue:

- 1 Whole Brisket (4-5 lbs.)
- 1 bottle of Norma Jean Black’s Barbecue Sauce (14.5 oz)
- 1 bottle of Black’s Barbecue Pepper Sauce
- 1 bottle of Black’s Barbecue Chipotle Mustard Pepper Sauce
- 1 bottle of Black’s Barbecue Habanero Pepper Sauce
- 1 bottle of Black’s Barbecue World Famous Dry Rub
- 1 Black’s Barbecue Hat (Black)
Total prize value $ 100.00

In case you didn’t know, Black’s offer you an opportunity to experience their incredible barbecue (brisket, ribs, sausage, etc.) from the comfort of your own home or office. Check out their online store here.

The giveaway will run for eight days (through Friday March 25th) in honor of Black’s motto of being open eight days a week.

There are (3) easy ways to enter. All you have to do is ONE of the following:

(1) Tweet about the contest including @kevinsbbqjoints so I can track it (or simply retweet I just entered the Black’s Barbecue Giveaway @kevinsbbqjoints), (2) Post a comment about your favorite type of BBQ below this blog post, or (3) Post a comment about your favorite type of BBQ on the facebook page for Kevin’s BBQ Joints here on the post announcing this contest. To up your odds, you can do this every day (one entry per day though). We will be drawing the lucky winner on Saturday March 26th and announcing it that day.

If for some reason you haven’t heard of Black’s Barbecue before, here are some links to additional info:
Black’s Facts
Articles and Write-Ups
Videos and Radio Interviews
Pit Tour Gallery

Thanks so much to Barrett Black, Kent Black, and the rest of the Black Family for providing such an amazing giveaway. Good luck everyone!

I’ve always been a big fan of BBQ photos and I’m always searching for great ones. Here are five ones I just stumbled upon with links to the joints represented.

Old School BBQ via Megan Giller – Texas Monthly

Smoke City Market – Sherman Oaks, CA

Louie Mueller Barbecue – Taylor, TX – via LeAnn Mueller Photography

Fat Cow BBQ – Lewisville, TX via Full Custom Gospel BBQ

Jimmy’s Barbecue – Lexington, NC