Charlotte
In Charlotte, North Carolina, BBQ mavens find a mix of older classics
and new favorites that have burst onto the scene in the last year,
thanks to a BBQ explosion.
Midwood Smokehouse is one of the best in town, with the original
location at 1401 Central Avenue and two others. Owner Frank Scibelli
and his crew of pitmasters offer Eastern-style, slow-cooked pulled pork
pit barbecue choices, as well as other tasty options like Texas-style
beef brisket and smoked salmon. Don’t miss their signature smoked
meatballs, made with brisket and jalapeños, or the brisket burnt ends,
too. Among the restaurant’s many fans are President Obama and
Hillary Clinton, who dined there together in 2016.
At Mac’s Speed Shop, the biker-bar-turned-BBQ-
hotspot, Chef Kevin Kuruc began working his pit
magic in 2009. These days, with multiple top-five
wins in the World Championship of Barbecue,
Kuruc continues to win fame for Mac’s eight
locations with his signature Carolina beef brisket.
Slow smoked for 12 hours with a dry rub, it comes
lean, fatty, or both — and always slathered with
their vinegar-based “Western” (Lexington-style)
BBQ sauce.
Another local favorite, Sweet Lew’s, arrived on
the Charlotte BBQ scene in 2018. Located in a
converted gas station at 923 Belmont Avenue,
the joint is home to a 450-foot smokehouse that
operates solely on hickory, pecan, and peach
wood. Those add a unique flavor to everything
that comes out of the pit, including Lew’s famous
smoked chicken. Of course, there’s plenty of
North Carolina–style chopped pork, dry rubbed
spare ribs, beef brisket, and even $2 bags of pork
skins made daily, too.
Another new addition to the BBQ scene, Noble
Smoke brings its “heartfelt Southern barbecue”
to the people at its huge 11,000-square-foot
operation on Freedom Drive. Chef Jim Noble and
his crew keep things slow smoking in six custom-
built offset smokers and two Carolina masonry
pits, with the rest of the casual space devoted
to lots of tables and a bar with 36 beers on tap.
Using Heritage Farms Cheshire Pork, Noble
inspires rivers of drool with chopped pork and
pork short ribs, as well as chicken, turkey breast,
and beef brisket.
American Airlines offers daily nonstop flights
from Reagan National Airport (DCA) and Dulles
International Airport (IAD) to Charlotte Douglas
International Airport (CLT), while United Airlines
flies daily nonstop from IAD.
Memphis
One of the distinct BBQ capitals of the world,
Memphis, Tennessee, has so many wonderful BBQ
joints that it really is impossible to pick just one.
Happily, there’s lunch and dinner every day of your
visit to roam from place to place and compare.
Begin at the venerable Interstate Bar-B-Que,
where for more than 40 years Jim Neely has been
cooking award-winning, chopped pork shoulder
sandwiches, big slabs of pork and beef ribs,
smoked sausage, and even his famous spaghetti
dinner that has to be tried to be believed. Leave
room for some pecan pie or peach cobbler, too,
as the Interstate knows how to finish off a good
Southern meal in style.
Noble Smoke Barbeque, Charlotte
Credit: The Plaid Penguin
FLYWASHINGTON.COM 44 WINTER 2019/20