I’ve finalized and posted on my blog my picks as the 10 best places for South Carolina Barbecue. They are –
Carolina Bar-Que in New Ellenton
City Limits Barbecue in West Columbia
Elliot’s Barbecue Lounge in Florence
Henry’s Smokehouse in Greenville
Maurice’s Piggie Park in Cayce
McCabe’s in Manning
Melvin’s in Mount Pleasant
Price’s’ in Gilbert
Scott’s in Hemingway
Shuler’s in Latta
I limited the judging to pork (no invasive species) and to the pork itself, not to the buffet/sides that so often accompanies SC barbecue. I do plan a separate post on the best places for SC hash, but I’ve aged out of doing justice to buffets. Im also putting together separate lists for NC Easter and NC Lexington-style, probably two lists for VA and one for the Washington Area. Lots of changes except for ENC
I was just rating the pork, which either whole hog or shoulders cooked directly over wood in almost every case. Most have mustard sauces. The local foods like fatback, chicken mull and hash are addressed in the individual linked reviews
Thank you for your work on this subject, John! I followed in your footsteps in North Carolina a year or two ago and had feast after feast.
I will enter these into my Google Maps so that if I ever do a trip to SC I will have them handy.
I just remembered that the BMW Driving School is near Greenville… Proper planning is needed.
somehow, I still haven’t eaten at scott’s, surprised sweatmans isn’t on the list, it was very good the last time we were there. Shealy’s has been on my list for a while, did you get there? I swore off Marurices but understand they changed up their decor? Good to see Melvin’s on a list!
Sweatman’s has new ownership and has fallen dramatically, including a change from wood to gas cooking. As I note in my post, decor in Maurice’s is now local sports themed.
I have been to Shealy’s. Its strength is in the buffet these days. It’s another place that’s turned to gas.
we have friends who moved there, they love it but we haven’t had a chance to visit. why don’t you post a link to your post? It seems to me for a long-time participant it should be allowed though admittedly, I don’t know the rules.
I’m guessing you meant to post this. by the way, love this phrasing: “I started out to list the 10 places in order of quality, but aspiration crashed on the rocks of indecision”
I think we may have touched on this before, I don’t like ordering bbq sandwiches if my goal is ranking bbq joints and in fact, in kcbs bbq contests, teams are not allowed to submit entries with anything but pork and sauce.
I often order sandwiches to cut down on the amount I eat. - and the price. I always pull some meat out of the sandwich first and test it. I may then test it with slaw or onions.
good idea! I used to order nothing but sandwiches but many moons a go at wilbur’s, I noticed all the locals ordered pork plates. Weird the first time but never went back. In a week or so I’ll be in kc and suppose I’ll have to try the z-man sandwich at joes.
Before this gets moved over tot he midwest thread,
Before the discussion leaves this thread, I’ll put in a plug for Chef J. Also Garozzo’s (Italian), and Winstead’s (Classic burgers). The WW I museum also is terrific.
Thanks! I went to Winstead’s (and Gates and Bryant’s) in 1982. They were mentioned in Trillin’s American Fried, and I was deciding between two similar, early career job offers. The tiebreaker was when one of the companies mentioned I would have to attend a 6-week training program in KC
I still remember the line from the book, I suppose it was my gateway into the world of food: “The best restaurants in the world are, of course, in Kansas City. Not all of them; but the top four or five.”
One of the five was Winsteads.
best,
ps chef j has flown under my radar, thanks for that!
