Posted on October 13, 2010 by Porky LeSwine
Riddle me this, loyal readers: what do you call someone who splits his time between writing about eating barbecue and writing about not wasting food? Confused? A hypocrite? Maybe even a hero? All three, perhaps, but I just call him The Rib Rabbi.
My BBQJew.com co-author The Rib Rabbi moonlights as the author of Wasted Food.com, blogging under what I can only assume is a pseudonym, “Jonathan Bloom.” His first book, American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It), was released yesterday. That means The Rib Rabbi, or at least his alter ego Jonathan, is now a published author. Sure, it’s not as impressive as being a barbecue blogger, but it’s something.
Since BBQJew.com pays even its senior staff poorly, do The Rib Rabbi a favor and buy a copy of American Wasteland. After all, he needs some pocket change to spend on barbecue. Oh, and don’t worry, avoiding food waste and eating copious amounts of barbecue are completely compatible… right “Jonathan”?
Filed under: Miscellaneous | Tagged: Books, Consumerism, Shameless | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 11, 2010 by Porky LeSwine
“A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” So goes the famous feminist quote often incorrectly attributed to Gloria Steinem. While women may not need men, and fish may not need bicycles, pigs need both. At least that was the sense on the streets of Lexington on Saturday.
Women and men alike participated in the 19th annual Tour de Pig, a bicycle race that is affiliated with The Barbecue Festival. See full coverage of the Tour de Pig, including photos and video footage, in this Lexington Dispatch article. And stay tuned for The Barbecue Festival itself, which takes place on October 23rd.
Filed under: Hog Happenings | Tagged: Davidson County, Events, Lexington | 1 Comment »
Posted on October 8, 2010 by Porky LeSwine
This week we learned of a double dose of barbecue bad news. Down east the recent flooding hit Bunn’s Barbecue in Windsor hard. According to an AP article, the well known 72 year old BBQ joint located in a former gas station was damaged by flood water and may need to be rebuilt. Here’s to hoping they get back in business quickly. In the meantime, best of luck to the Bunn’s Barbecue family.
Meanwhile, a fire that started in the joint’s pits gutted Rick’s Smokehouse Barbecue Restaurant in Welcome. According to the Lexington Dispatch, “A number of restaurant employees hugged one another and cried as they stood in the parking lot not long after the fire was brought under control.” The owner, Rick Mathews, said the joint is “essentially destroyed” but he wants to rebuild and hopes his insurance policy covers much of the damage. We hope so too!
Readers, please leave any suggestions for how to help Bunn’s and Rick’s out if you hear more about what they need to rebuild. There is a long tradition in North Carolina of folks pitching in when barbecue joints run into unexpected problems so maybe there is something past, present and future customers can do to help out.
Filed under: BBQ in the News, Restaurants & Reviews | Tagged: Bertie County, Davidson County, Welcome, Windsor | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 6, 2010 by Porky LeSwine
Looking for something to do this weekend? Whether you head east or to the heart of the state, you’ll find yourself deliciously close to barbecue.
The Pork Jam 2010 BBQ Festival takes place about 45 minutes north of Greensboro in the little town of Pelham. The event is scheduled for Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 pm. Located at 4895 Old US 29 in Pelham, the event benefits the community by supporting the Pelham Volunteer Fire Department. There will be arts and crafts (over 50 vendors in ’08 and ’09), kids’ games/rides, face painting, hay rides, clowns (run for your lives, children!), door prizes, and live gospel, rock, country, beach, and bluegrass music. Oh yeah, and there will be fresh BBQ and stew served all day long and cooked by the volunteer firemen. Free admission and parking. For more info or to be a vendor (if it’s not too late), please email porkjam@bellsouth.net.
A little ways to the north and west, the 2nd annual Future Legends of BBQ festival takes place in Flat Rock on Saturday. The event features a youth cooking competition (meaning the youth do the cooking, not get cooked, I think), along with live bluegrass, face painting, appearances by barbecue celebrities like Mike Mills, and more. Admission is $5.
Meanwhile, down in Rocky Mount the Eastern Carolina BBQ Throw Down, a part of the Down East Festival, celebrates its third year. The KCBS-sanctioned cooking competition runs from Friday through Saturday. Related events include cooking demonstrations, people’s choice judging, BBQ for sale (of course!), a beer garden, music and more. The event is free to the public. Visit the website for more info, including a complete event schedule. Also, see the Governor’s proclamation, in which Gov. Perdue proclaims October 8-9 “as the EASTERN CAROLINA BBQ THROW DOWN in North Carolina and urge[s] all citizens to commend its observance.” Better not disobey the Governor, even if her last name is synonymous with poultry rather than pigs.
Filed under: Hog Happenings | Tagged: Contests, Events, Flat Rock, Henderson County, Nash County, Rocky Mount | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 4, 2010 by Porky LeSwine
The Freemasons are at it again. But this time you can put the conspiracy theories out of your mind, as there are no The Da Vinci Code-like plot twists involved in their upcoming BBQ fundraiser.
Hiram No.40 Masonic Lodge will be holding its annual BBQ fundraiser this Friday, October 8th from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. to benefit the NC Masonic Home for Children. Barbecue will be prepared by the award winning competition cookers of the Lodge and will be sold to the public for $7 a plate. These boys take their BBQ seriously, as they even organize an annual cooking competition called the Carolina Pig Jig. So, get yourself a plate of ‘cue for a cause.
The fundraiser takes place at the Lodge at 1520 Caswell Street in Raleigh. Learn more about the event here.
Filed under: Hog Happenings | Tagged: Events, Fundraiser, Raleigh, Wake County | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 1, 2010 by The Rib Rabbi
It recently came to the Rib Rabbi’s attention (after reading a blog post) that an entire generation of young Americans are being duped. Their rightful inheritance of the noble tradition of barbecue is being bastardized by school board shortcomings and shenanigans.
A teacher named, coincidentally enough, “Mrs. Q” is eating school lunch along her students at a midwestern school this year (she’s intentionally vague). She blogs about the experience on Fed Up With Lunch, and in a recent post she reported that her cafeteria served something called “Rib-B-Que.” She’d written about this all-beef patty smothered in cloying barbecue sauce before.
These are not ribs.
Nor is it barbecue.
Shame on you, lunch ladies!
Pity the poor children. For their sake and our nation’s, I think it’s time we right this barbecue wrong. Let’s call a spade a spade a beef patty a beef patty. At least a few of the kids already do, as Mrs. Q reports:
I think somebody is trying to be creative with the “rib-b-que” meat (the illusion of variety), but the kids aren’t fooled. I asked one of my students “What did you have for lunch today?” and he replied, “A hamburger.”
Filed under: Rabbi's Rants/Raves | Tagged: barbecue, Faux 'Cue, fed up with lunch, school barbecue, school lunch | 3 Comments »
Posted on September 29, 2010 by Porky LeSwine
4125 Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard, Durham, NC
919.401.1979
Website
Hours: Mon-Thu 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Fri-Sat 11 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.
BBQ Jew’s Grade: C-
Porky Says: “Nobody loves their Q but my mother, and she could be jivin’ too.”
Singing the Low Down, So-So Barbecue Blues
If you’ve been reading this site for more than a couple of weeks, you’re probably aware that I get a bit cranky about 
places that serve so-called North Carolina barbecue but don’t know seem to know the difference between a ham and a shoulder. The folks at Blue Note Grill are trying to learn the art of NC ‘cue but they have a long way to go. The Blue Note Grill does many things right, but barbecue is not among them.
Butter My Toast, Not My Bun
The Blue Note is a classic bar and grill that serves up pretty good food, frequent live music, and a variety of adult beverages to wash down the workaday blues. Their menu includes quesadillas, hand-ground burgers, pork chop sandwiches, fried pickles and banana peppers, onion rings, sweet potato fries, chili, salads and a whole lot more. As far as I can tell its a place Continue reading →
Filed under: Restaurants & Reviews | Tagged: Durham, Durham County, Gas/electric-cooked, Grade C | 2 Comments »
Posted on September 27, 2010 by Porky LeSwine
As of a couple of weeks ago, The Pig has opened in Chapel Hill in the old location of The Barbecue Joint at 630 Weaver Dairy Road. We speculated about the possible connection between The Barbecue Joint and The Pig in a previous post. In fact, according to The Pig’s Facebook page, the owner “worked at The Barbecue Joint for a couple of years and owe[s] allot [sic] of my chops to Damon Lapas but The Pig is in no way associated with either Damon or Jonathon.” The menu (available on the website) certainly bears some resemblance to The Barbecue Joint in that it appears to include some inventive twists on traditional barbecue joint offerings. We’ve yet to check out it out for ourselves but are excited to do so soon. In the meantime, try it for yourself: the hours are Mon-Thu 11 to 9 and Fri-Sat 11 to 10.
Filed under: Restaurants & Reviews | Tagged: Chapel Hill, Orange County | 3 Comments »
Posted on September 24, 2010 by Porky LeSwine
Dear Loyal Readers,
You recently enlightened me on the topic of BBQ in mall food courts and I once again need to drink from your well of wisdom. When traveling in the Greenville area not too long ago I noticed a Skylight Inn ad on television. As you’d expect, it was a pretty low budget ad, which featured the tagline: “It’s a barbecue fact, not fiction, wood cooked barbecue smokes the competition.” Needless to say, there was nothing particularly exciting about the ad… except that I’d never seen a TV ad for a NC barbecue place before.
I asked Samuel Jones of the Skylight Inn about the ad and he said they’d started running it relatively recently and that it was paying big dividends in drawing in more customers (I guess that is the point of ads, so I am not sure why this fact surprised me but it did). Anyway, I’m curious whether other North Carolina BBQ joints have run TV spots. An exhaustive/exhausting three minute search of You Tube proved fruitless (porkless?), but I imagine some of the bigger joints must advertise on local stations. Please englighten me.
Your’s in our shared quest to educate the world about every obscure detail of North Carolina barbecue culture,
Porky
Filed under: 'Cue Culture | Tagged: Advertising, Shameless, Television | 4 Comments »
Posted on September 22, 2010 by Porky LeSwine
A self-described “Southerner by birth and temperament and appetite,” James Villas has given the people of his native North Carolina many reasons to be proud over the years. His latest cookbook, Pig: King of the Southern Table, is perhaps the most significant reason yet. Tarheels and tarheels at heart will be wowed by Pig’s wide-ranging collection of recipes, which describe how to cook every part of the pig one could ever imagine wanting to eat (and then some).
Long before penning his culinary ode to North Carolina’s favorite animal, Villas received his PhD in Romance Languages and Comparative Literature and served a stint as a university professor. Soon he left academia to follow his heart/stomach (they are one and the same after all) into the world of food writing. Villas spent the next 27 years of his life as Food and Wine Editor of Town & Country magazine. In addition, he has written for Esquire, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, Life, and The New York Times, and published a baker’s dozen of cookbooks, two novels, and a memoir. Mr. Pig himself was kind enough to chat with us about biscuits, barbecue and his heart-wrenching (for us readers) decision to never write another cookbook focused on swine. Enjoy…
Follow this link to read the interview with James Villas.
Filed under: BBQ & A, Cooking | Tagged: Interview, Words of wisdom | 1 Comment »
BBQ Jew 