If my memory is right, when Toni and I ate at Skylight last year, they had two sauces on the table, a traditional eastern Carolina sauce and Sam Jones’ sauce. Is it still like that?
Thank you there, Snopes! Partner had Covid so I was out here out in Orient, Long Island and wanted so much for him to try the BBQ from B’s that a NC-born and bred friend brought me. so I had but one sandwich (on Martinson’s potato bread) and freezed the rest in zip lock and ready to defrost and boil lightly before serving…
I just love to read bout the faves of all you experts…as I may have said, above, was not a fan of Bum’s where we went for breakfast before the second breakfast at Skylight.
Have any of you thought about leading a BBQ tour…I bet there are a large group of Europeans who would be interested… You book them some Hampton Inns or likewise, and for 4 or 5 days, lead them around on a tour for some great eats… I KNOW you would generate interest… I travel a lot in Italy and Spain and you have no idea how many people I meet (I chat a lot) expressed interest in “the real American food…” the first topic I bring up is NC BBQ…
Just a thought…
So keep your faves coming…
Is there anyplace you like in Georgia? I’ve been only to the Smokin Pig at the gas station not far from Richmond Hill…
No one of you has been to RedNeckLab outside Benson? Is that considered too mainstream…or just not good?? There is also a Mexican place next door…think owners are from Jalisco but not sure
Is this not the place to discuss those buffet places, like Shulers or the one I Fayetteville whose name I’ve forgotten (formerly in Lumberton…)??? Maybe a new thread…
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Having John Tanner lead NC barbecue tours for foreign tourists is a wonderful idea. He is deeply knowledgeable about the barbecue places down there.
I’m pretty out of date on Georgia barbecue, but in 2021 I had some outstanding barbecue from Heirloom Market BBQ in Atlanta. It’s not purist barbecue, however, but a Korean-barbecue fusion.
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I lioved gary lees:
Unfortunately we arrived at southern soul on the first Monday they’d ever closed but we managed to find some bbq nearby. You can read the long, sordid story here or just skip down to the middle for the bbq:
https://www.hungryonion.org/t/brunswick-ga-trip-report/
Best,
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Robert Los did a piece one Georgia Barbecue that’s linked here-- https://johntannersbbqblog.wordpress.com/2020/11/30/georgia-barbecue/
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I’m not really sure what to take away from his piece on the Georgia style of bbq. is his premise that the whole of Georgia style bbq is any place serving a chopped bbq sandwich and Brunswick stew? leaves some questions which I find a little surprising he didn’t bother to address and in the end, I’m left unconvinced there is a georgia style:
- are they cooking whole hog? shoulder? butt?
- gas? wood?
- red sauce? vinegar sauce? (hot thomas has both) spice level?
- meat rubbed? bark?
- fast cooked? slow cooked?
- choice of wood?
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As in most states, those things vary a lot. Even in NC, the Piedmont sauces vary a lot, and some o f the nest bbq in ENC is shoulders (Southern Smoke), and most places around the state cook with gas, and there’s a lotto mix in the wood – white oak, red oak, hickory, pecan, and whatever they can get thei hands on.
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I guess my question is, moss maintains there’s a Georgia style of bbq, chose not to write about it and seems to think we can discern it from the photos he supplied.
Ok, I’ve eaten in a bunch of places, looked at his photos and still left wondering what distinguishes Georgia bbq from other states?
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Whether there is a distinctive Georgia style of barbecue is a question I’ve been interested in for a long time.
Other than barbecue places in Atlanta (which Moss makes clear are generally not traditional Georgia-style places), I have had very little personal experience with Georgia barbecue, I think maybe just three places, all on Saturday, July 15, 1989 (I went back and checked my old calendar)
We first had lunch at a barbecue place in Valdosta, which was apparently forgettable since I don’t remember anything about it (not even the name).
Then we ate at Bob’s (now closed), which was out in the country from Ty Ty, in a shed in front of someone’s house. They had goat sandwiches and a pen of baby goats out back. So, Toni took our kids around to pet their kids, while I ordered a sandwich that their kids’ parents had made the ultimate sacrifice (and which our kids resolutely and understandably refused to touch).
At the time, Toni was arguing for a silly one-barbecue-meal-a-day rule, so she refused to let me order anything for her. The goat sandwich was sublime and after I went on about for a while, she asked me for a bite, which I grudgingly allowed (it was a small sandwich). That one bite ended the silly one-a-day rule and Toni (in my memory, at least) conceded her error.
That goat sandwich was unlike any other sandwich I’ve had at any other barbecue place, so I don’t think Bob’s was typical of Georgia barbecue.
The third barbecue place of the day was the famous Fresh Air in Jackson, Georgia, which has been serving in the same location since 1929. It was very lightly smoked, good, but no more than that, and a disappointment given its stellar reputation. It was a small pork sandwich, finely chopped, like sandwiches in east Carolina, southern Virginia (back in the old days), and (I hear) South Carolina. Very mildly smoked and with a lightly vinegary sauce. The sandwich would not have been out of place in North Carolina, except that it was less assertive than the best Carolina places.
Anyway, as the two of you know, I am fascinated by reviews of barbecue places by amateur and professional critics who eat a lot of barbecue. One of the best of these is Grant Goggans, who has published on his blog “Marie, Let’s Eat” (the name is a tribute to Calvin Trillin’s “Alice, Let’s Eat”) more 450 reviews of barbecue places in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. It’s really impressive –
Goggans lived in Georgia for many years, so he has more reviews from there than anywhere else. I’ve read them all (he has good taste and is an entertaining writer).
If there’s a common theme in his reviews that would constitute a “Georgia style” of barbecue, I can’t discern it. There is tremendous variation in cooking styles, sauces, and presentation (e.g., whether it is finely chopped, coarsely chopped, pulled, etc.).
The only thing I would say he describes as a “style” is in the area around Columbus in the southwest of the state, where he says they have a distinctive mustard-based sauce.
I’d love for Robert Moss to get on here (or elsewhere) and tell us what exactly is distinctive about Georgia barbecue. I don’t think just showing photos of sandwiches does that.
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Thanks for the link to Marie, let’s eat, great stuff!
Can’t help but note the reviews stop around 2016, I’ve noticed a pattern with a lot of bbq and pizza posters that at some point, their doctor makes them aware that their hobby is killing them and they stop eating/cooking/posting. wonder if that happened with goggans. I believe it was the reason why the pigtrip guy stopped.
Back to Georgia bbq, I believe I saw a short article by moss where he claims the Georgia style is a chopped pork sandwich served with Brunswick stew. Not sure what I think about that…
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Goggans stopped the index in 2017, but his posting continued until 2022.
For the Let’s Eat Marie postings that are included on the index, I’ve looked at all of them and added the good ones to my spreadsheet through Columbia, South Carolina. I still have the rest of South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia to go.
It looks like Grant Goggans changed venues in 2023 to https://spoutible.com/FireBreathing, but he doesn’t really do restaurant reviews there - just photos of barbecue and other food, plus writing about movies and comics and a dose of politics (“this machine kills fascists”).
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I left Lefler’s (see NC Piedmont) and headed east to tiny Southern Smoke,
It’s only open 11-3 on Thursday and Friday (Matt Deaton does. lot of weekend catering), andI had to hot foot it over through majestic thunderstorms, Fortunately, the rain stopped before I arrived. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance at the creative specialties for which Matt is known, Fortunately the had pork for a sandwich which I took to the outside seating area in the rear.
and opened up that sandwich.
This is spectacular barbecue. It’s moist, smoky, and rich with pork. Nothing fancy, free from guile – the essential barbecue pork sandwich.
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John, thank you! SOUTHERN SMOKE has now moved to the top of my list for eastern NC BBQ, and NC BBQ in general! That pork sure looks tender…it looks PERFECT!!!
Close to perfect indeed!
Hello to John T and Erica and any of the old Chowhound gang.
Finally left Delray Beach, FL 2 years ago and now loving Cary NC.
I’ve had some mighty fine Bbq around here so I’ll definitely chime in ASAP.
Right now getting ready for a 2-week adventure in Lucerne, Rhine River, and Amsterdam.
For now, here’s me at Skylight a few months ago with “some other guy”…
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I’m eager to chat barbecue with you! I het down there as often as I can
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