2024 Carolina BBQ Fest Recap

[00:00:00] What do you get when you combine some of the best pit masters in the carolinas with great

[00:00:11] charities and great music, then drop it right in the middle of uptown Charlotte?

[00:00:16] Well, let's just say you get a barbecue blast that brought 1800 people to the Queen City

[00:00:23] over two nights, then tickled their taste buds with some smoke-meat delights that you

[00:00:28] will ever find in one place together.

[00:00:31] It's the Carolina Barbecue Festival, and in this episode of The Low and Slow Barbecue

[00:00:36] Show we're talking about Charlotte's biggest event April 5th and 6th.

[00:00:41] Sorry basketball fans, forget the final four, we're talking barbecue!

[00:00:44] We've also got some big barbecue news to share and I'll give you the lowdown on some

[00:00:49] upcoming things you don't want to miss.

[00:00:51] Let's get cooking!

[00:00:53] I'm Chitter Willard and first I want to thank you for joining me on this barbecue journey

[00:00:57] last month.

[00:00:58] We had record downloads and march, our weekly series coming out every Thursday spotlighting

[00:01:06] the pit masters of the Carolina Barbecue Festival went fantastic.

[00:01:11] Thanks so much for listening and because of your great response we're going to keep going

[00:01:16] out every week on Thursday.

[00:01:18] So tune in right around lunchtime every week for some new content from The Low and Slow

[00:01:23] Barbecue Show.

[00:01:24] You can also get new content at lowslowbbqshow.com, that's our website, you'll also get all the

[00:01:30] old content but the new stuff will be coming there too.

[00:01:33] That old content includes pit masters from the Carolina Barbecue Festival, all the guys

[00:01:37] and girls over there, we've also got blogs with recipes and back stories, barbecue news

[00:01:43] and plenty more, it's all at lowslowbqshow.com.

[00:01:48] Now let's talk about that Carolina Barbecue Festival.

[00:01:50] Again, April 5th and 6th in Uptown Charlotte.

[00:01:53] For the first time who's part of Charlotte shout the big arts and entertainment festival

[00:01:59] it goes on through April 14th this year so you still got a little bit of time to check

[00:02:03] it out but in this particular episode there was the first time our Carolina Barbecue Festival

[00:02:10] expanded out into two nights.

[00:02:14] First it was Friday night that's when the charity pit masters were serving the barbecue brass

[00:02:18] from all across the Carolina's, that means Operation Barbecue Relief, Hungry Heroes,

[00:02:24] they were there serving and on the menu it was beef slaughter, smoked chicken sandwiches,

[00:02:29] pork ribs man and I'll tell you it was good, super good.

[00:02:33] We even had celebrity barbecue pit master Erica Roby as a K.A. Blue Smoke Blair, she was

[00:02:40] their deliver in the crawfish boy with a lot of help from some of her friends, all you

[00:02:44] had to do, twist him, peel him, pinch him and suck him.

[00:02:47] No it's not for everybody but it certainly was for me kind of made your hands messy but

[00:02:52] they have plenty of napkins on Friday night, a great experience and of course the night

[00:02:57] ended with country music from Fillmore, the rising country music star who's recently

[00:03:02] got signed with Pitbull and his labels so Fillmore was their performing and I tell you what

[00:03:07] the wind and the darkness made things a little bit cold on Friday night but still plenty

[00:03:12] of people hung around and they were rewarded when they did for me.

[00:03:16] The best part was hanging out with all the 15 plus pit masters that are going to be

[00:03:21] serving it up on Saturday, it was really great just to kind of be around all those guys

[00:03:25] and gals and talk a little bit about their business and be around them while they

[00:03:29] were really relaxed and enjoying the environment, you know, hanging out with those guys in

[00:03:34] their element and then for all the people that kind of hung around and snuck around like

[00:03:39] I do, I like to snoop things out sometimes and you've got a special treat, sweet Lou,

[00:03:44] the founder and operator of Sweet Lou's barbecue and of course the founder of the Carolina

[00:03:49] barbecue festival, he and Elliott Moss, a Moss and more barbecue.

[00:03:54] If you found them behind the port of Johns and behind all those big containers as the

[00:03:59] sun went down they were back there building, sender block barbecue pits and getting

[00:04:03] the fire started for smoking six whole hogs really cool to see those guys at work, enjoyed

[00:04:09] that quite a bit.

[00:04:10] Got some art you can check it out over on the low and slow barbecue show Instagram page

[00:04:14] so really fun stuff on Friday night.

[00:04:17] Now let's talk about Saturday that brought the big show to Charlotte's up town and it

[00:04:22] all happened in Victoria yards, a really cool venue with some containers, you know,

[00:04:27] shipping containers building walls and it was pretty tight there for Friday night but

[00:04:31] then Saturday came and they expanded out the footprint quite a bit, really had plenty

[00:04:36] of room for all 15 of those pit masters to get started setting everything up and they

[00:04:41] got their early boy I could tell you you could smell the smoke, smell the smoke coming from

[00:04:46] blocks away as they were getting their fire starting getting things going and really

[00:04:52] you know it's cool to be around those guys but really one of the best parts of it was

[00:04:56] a super diverse menu selections, you know you think you've got 15 barbecue pit masters

[00:05:01] from the Carolinas maybe you expect that they're going to just all serve the same thing

[00:05:05] well I tell you it was anything but that we had outside the box stuff we had traditional

[00:05:10] stuff we had a few other things that were special surprises and we'll take just a couple

[00:05:14] minutes and run down the menu and share some of my favorite bites of the night.

[00:05:20] First of all you start out with those whole hog creations I mentioned from Elliot Moss

[00:05:24] and Joel Easton, Elliot kind of had a Buffalo barbecue thing if you wanted some sauce and

[00:05:29] some blue cheese or ranch dressing on your whole hog pickings it was really cool and is

[00:05:33] nice to go through the line and see Elliot kind of pick out the best pieces of the hog

[00:05:37] to put into your barbecue tray meanwhile Joel Easton he delivered up some toast.

[00:05:41] Todd has that were really super good with a slaw on there one of the best bites in terms

[00:05:46] of traditional barbecue favors now let me talk about the outside the box barbecue that

[00:05:51] starts at the top of the list with black powder smokehouse he had smoked port belly ramen

[00:05:58] nice our friend big brisket he delivered right there with some coil eggs in there and a great

[00:06:05] soup and it had super spice with some of that chili sauce in there man it was a wonderful

[00:06:10] thing holy city hogs he was delivering of course that's tank Jackson delivering the domestic

[00:06:16] shrimp with holy city hog chorizo all kind of drizzled over top of some pineapple they

[00:06:21] were grilling up right there on the scene for grove barbecue another favorite bite on

[00:06:26] the outside the box barbecue as we're dealing cook he was bringing us port belly burnins

[00:06:32] with cowboy caviar gosh I must eat five of those trays kept going back looking for

[00:06:36] the sausage but I guess I got to get to Anderson South Carolina and for grove barbecue to

[00:06:41] get some of that sausage from Dylan in his gang Lawrence barbecue probably had one

[00:06:45] of the larger lines there at the festival none were really too long you didn't have to

[00:06:49] wait long to get these barbecue bites but the most popular places you did have to stand

[00:06:54] a little bit but when you did you definitely got your money's worth for that weight Lawrence

[00:06:59] barbecue had the Berea tacos with the dipping sauce my little boys a taco fan and I'll tell

[00:07:05] you what that was his favorite barbecue bite of the night I enjoyed those as well also

[00:07:10] outside the box shepherd barbecue in our man Brandon Shepherd he had whole smoke lamb

[00:07:16] with an Indian slaw kind of served up on a potato roll man that was some fantastic stuff I

[00:07:21] don't know if I could pick a favorite but I tell you what that smoke port belly ramen noodle

[00:07:26] was certainly one of them and the burn ins and the Berea tacos in the lamb oh gosh I can't

[00:07:33] pick a pick a favorite there let's talk a little bit about the traditional barbecue that

[00:07:36] they had there Brian Furman came to town from Atlanta Georgia he told me he flew in late

[00:07:42] at night on a Thursday night from Panama City Beach got their Friday then showed up on Saturday

[00:07:48] was smoking some ribs over in the corner of the parking lot man they were good and nice flavor

[00:07:53] in the middle of crispy outside like they just been seriously over the grill really nice job

[00:07:58] from him Matthew register another one of the guys we've had on the low and slow barbecue show

[00:08:03] a couple of times I tell you Matthew smoke cheeseburger super good but man it was so much he said

[00:08:09] they probably smoked a thousand of those things during the course of the day a fantastic really

[00:08:15] fantastic bite but I couldn't eat more than one of those they were so good and so filling

[00:08:21] John G's of course you go to peachland to visit John G and you expect to wait in line nothing

[00:08:26] different at the barbecue festival had to wait if you wanted to get his beef ribs that was probably

[00:08:30] the longest line at the festival but definitely that line was worth the wait the ribs were great he

[00:08:36] served a month on a roll super mouthwatering and they just melted in your mouth again now another

[00:08:42] one of our guys was edge marsemoas he had a little bit different but also traditional he was serving

[00:08:48] up the marinated top sirloin on skewers and and finished it off with the chimichuris sauce that had a

[00:08:53] super flavor on it you probably remember if you listened to our earlier podcasts with Ed

[00:08:58] he's at resident culture brewing company and they've kind of gone on a little different path when

[00:09:03] getting this barbecue going at their south end location edmore said that things are really going

[00:09:08] well there for him in the barbecue operation at south end resident culture brewing company and

[00:09:13] fact he was he was so moved by he saw a few tears in that eye during the course of our visit

[00:09:18] it may have been the smoke that he was grilling on on a really cool grill there in fact it was

[00:09:24] the smoke but it was neat to see him cooking that stuff up and it's one of the things about

[00:09:30] the festival you see the guys cooking things in all the different ways whether it's directly over the

[00:09:34] flame like edmore was doing or if they're cooking it into the smoker like they were doing there with

[00:09:40] brown firmin or if it's Lawrence barbecue on the flat top just grilling up those burritochos getting

[00:09:46] them nice and crispy on the outside really cool our man from master blend family farms mister 365

[00:09:54] node breaks all gas Ronald Simmons he was serving a bank and rap chicken or get this you could get

[00:10:01] swordfish from him too both of those really great bites and he had some sweet potato salad on the

[00:10:06] side of it county smoke our friend Ken Hess was there we talked to him last year during the festival

[00:10:11] really great interview with him on the low and slow barbecue show he was serving smoke pastrami

[00:10:17] with some mustard on the top and some some ice pickles man that was fantastic really enjoyed talking

[00:10:23] with Ken and and really enjoyed his pastrami check out our Instagram page for the real with him he

[00:10:28] explains how he makes that pastrami in the process it goes behind it he also gives us some of the

[00:10:34] details about the new adventures that they've got going on in Lynchburg Virginia at their

[00:10:39] county sunrise facility that's a sort of in breakfast and lunch and really getting some accolades

[00:10:44] for their french fried dishes there yeah hard to believe french fries on the barbecue menu with smoke

[00:10:50] pastrami already been picked one of Virginia's favorite dishes sweet Lou was serving up signature

[00:10:56] smoke sausage and he was there on the same cook and all day had a really cool Weber smoke

[00:11:01] room smoking mountain just like I've got here at the house maybe a little bit bigger and definitely

[00:11:06] a lot newer but he was grilling up the smoke sausage on that thing all day city limits barbecue

[00:11:12] Robbie Robinson he would he had port belly hash over Carolina gold rice and and crispy bites at

[00:11:18] Chicharones he says that's one of the popular things in his business there at West Columbia

[00:11:24] fact it's so popular it's hard to keep it in stock once he's got an order of it they go by quickly

[00:11:30] and hang on hang on for all you fans of city limits barbecue you've got some big news from Robbie

[00:11:35] that we talked about we'll talk about here in just a couple of minutes but again when you look

[00:11:39] at the traditional barbecue favorites I don't want to pick a favorite because they were all really

[00:11:44] really good man but I tell you what the smoke pastrami I probably had four or five different

[00:11:49] servings of that always one of my favorites all the stuff's really good smoke pastrami was probably

[00:11:55] my favorite there from our friends at county smoke and kin has really does a nice job there so again

[00:12:00] you can meet all the pit masters at low slow baby q show calm we've got interviews with all of them

[00:12:06] if we don't have a couple of them yet we'll have them on the why the podcast here real soon

[00:12:11] got them on the schedule for recording stay tuned to get the details from them and we've got more

[00:12:16] blogs coming as well I mentioned the Instagram page you can see us at low and slow barbecue show all

[00:12:22] one word that's where you'll find more coverage including some man on the street interview rules quick

[00:12:27] chats with a lot of the pit masters participating in the show like kin has and Ronald Simmons and Keith

[00:12:32] Henning and a man don't miss Jake Wood you'll see his his live action wrestling guys there at his booth

[00:12:39] a lot of fun stuff there at Instagram you'll see what the guys look like you find out what they serve

[00:12:44] and how they operate in their smoke meet environment just check out the reels we're adding new ones

[00:12:49] every day now let's talk about the carolina barbecue festival success for the weekend

[00:12:55] over two days more than 1800 people showed up at Victoria yards taught to sweet Lou he said the events

[00:13:01] raised over forty thousand dollars for charities during the whole life of the festival that's all

[00:13:06] three years so a nice chunk of change raised for folks like operation barbecue relief hungry heroes

[00:13:12] and folds of honor over that with those were the three charities for this year and the proceeds from

[00:13:18] the event will go towards those guys this year most importantly the event was a really cool spotlight

[00:13:24] on those barbecue pit masters like I said it's really cool to hang out with them see them in their

[00:13:29] element you know it's not so crowded that you can't take a couple of minutes and talk with each

[00:13:33] of the guys and find out really a little bit about who they are and then of course the friday night

[00:13:38] event the new addition to the festival great way to know those people as people and you know

[00:13:44] they're really great human beings given of their time effort and energy to support these charitable

[00:13:49] causes and really kind of make a connection with the barbecue audience out there so cool event enjoyed

[00:13:54] meeting with those folks and now let me just talk about some big news from the barbecue festival this year

[00:13:59] thanks to everybody's support of the festival it's now going to become a year round brand I talk

[00:14:05] to the folks that let's meet Charlotte they said look for us year round we're going to be updating the

[00:14:09] website there's going to be additional pop up and events throughout the course of the year stay tuned

[00:14:15] to the low and slow barbecue show we'll have the details as they develop there but I can't tell you

[00:14:20] the date has been set for next year april fifth 2025 stay tuned we'll have the details you can also

[00:14:28] find out all the information at carolina babyqfest.org that's the homepage for the carolina barbecue

[00:14:33] fest stay tuned there speaking of the festival and let's meet Charlotte want to really give them some

[00:14:39] big thank you heavy props for those guys let's meet Charlotte Lewis Donald and sweet lose

[00:14:45] course you can't forget the sponsors some of those folks included Cisco dukes mayo certified

[00:14:51] angus beef martin's famous potato rolls and bread of course here is teeter two bucks lunedito's

[00:14:57] vodka the local palette kooka kola kingsford on core bank whole list of sponsors and they're listed

[00:15:03] all there at the carolina barbeque fest dot org homepage check them out as well big thanks to

[00:15:09] them an extreme gratitude to all the volunteers who helped mate this year's festival is success it

[00:15:16] doesn't happen without folks like that so thank you to all you volunteers it really showed everybody

[00:15:21] a really great time during the course of friday and saturday and of course this year's festival as

[00:15:26] I mentioned it was part of charlotte shout that's really nice to add that to the arts and entertainment

[00:15:31] festival in the queen city again that continues it was a couple multiple week event is going to

[00:15:37] continue through april 14 moving on to some additional barbeque news that i definitely want to share

[00:15:43] with you a teased at just a moment ago about robby robinson was announced just last week he is now

[00:15:49] a finalist in the james beard award for best chef in the south east region really huge honor for

[00:15:56] that guy and as he said it it's kind of mind blowing for him it's hard to believe a barbeque

[00:16:01] guy is going to be identified as one of the best chefs in the south east region but if you try

[00:16:06] robby stuff it's siti-lim is barbeque it won't be a surprise he's turning out some really cool stuff

[00:16:11] really flavorful bites don't miss it if you get a chance to be in that part of the area and that's

[00:16:16] west columbia his the ceremony the award ceremony is going to be coming up in june it's going to be in

[00:16:22] chicago taught with robby he's going to be making the trip he's still trying to find out what kind

[00:16:27] of fancy duds he wants to include for the adventure i know he'll turn out in proper fashion so good

[00:16:33] luck robby again visit him in west columbia when you go on sunday be sure and get a brisk at hot dog

[00:16:40] with mustard and slaw and skip the ketchup you may try to convince you to put ketchup the ketchup

[00:16:45] belongs in your lexington barbeque sauce not on a hot dog more news i wanted to share with you check

[00:16:51] out our friends at the smoke sheet that's a weekly barbeque newsletters produced by our friends

[00:16:57] bbq tourist that's Ryan Cooper and in wasy bbq that shawan loadwig you can find it at bbq newsletter.substack.com

[00:17:07] they send out a newsletter every week with the latest happenings of barbeque barbeque stories from

[00:17:12] around the world and around the nation recipes other cool stuff videos they got how to things so check

[00:17:20] out the smoke sheet you might see this sugar stuff in there here pretty soon too from the low

[00:17:24] and slow barbeque show excited to partner with them we got a chance to meet those guys at john g's

[00:17:30] during our trip down to peachland here several weeks ago and we toured they were here as part of a

[00:17:36] tour of some carolina barbeque they went to bridges barbeque and shelby and went to lexington barbeque

[00:17:42] so definitely hit some hot spots around the carolina's during that trip to john j's also got a

[00:17:47] chance to meet some new friends barbeque bros that's tomie mong he was there so if you get a chance

[00:17:53] check out barbeque bros online they've got barbeque reviews stories and more that's all at barbeque

[00:18:00] bros.co not com dot com and i met tomie again at the barbeque festival in one of his buddies

[00:18:07] Kenny he's one of the bros as well it's three friends that grew up and and went to school together

[00:18:12] and now they're creating so cool barbeque content and and sharing it and they've been doing it for

[00:18:17] quite a while really got a good following so check those guys out when you get a chance one more

[00:18:22] shout out and that's to the heritage blend page hogan jeth will be really cool folks excited to

[00:18:27] meet them both at peachland and john j's and the barbeque festival those guys take photography and

[00:18:33] reels of food and style all around charlotte and the carolina's that's the heritage blend you can

[00:18:39] see them on instagram a lot of cool stuff the heritage bel nd on instagram that's the heritage

[00:18:46] blend so check those guys out also want to talk about in this episode some upcoming barbeque

[00:18:52] events we've talked so much about the carolina barbeque festival if for some reason you missed it

[00:18:57] don't miss some of these other events you got another chance to try some great barbeque for some

[00:19:01] really cool folks and pit masters top of the list is getting piggy with it that's going to be may

[00:19:07] 18th and 19th it's hosted by jake wood and his larynz barbeque bunch as well

[00:19:13] trophy brewing and rolle is another one of the hosts last year the event raised $100,000 for

[00:19:20] the frankie lemon school if you don't know that's a five star child development center for kids

[00:19:26] ages two to six for children with and without disability so really cool thing they raised $100,000

[00:19:32] last year the goal this year is $200,000 and when i look down this list of barbeque pit masters it

[00:19:38] would not be a surprise to see him reach that goal the VIP event's going to be saturday at young

[00:19:43] hearts distilling then the main event on sunday will be at maywood hall and again top-notch pit

[00:19:50] masters there including john g's for grove long leaf swan shupper barbeque sam jones even zeph bbq that's

[00:19:59] the fella from seamy valley california logon sandavall you might remember him from that netflix show barbeque

[00:20:06] showdown he's going to be there as well as many more like mat register from southern smoke and

[00:20:10] of course Lewis donald he gets around he's going to be a getting piggy with it as well so be sure

[00:20:15] and save the date may 18th and 19th you can follow the page on instagram it's getting piggy underscore

[00:20:22] nc that's getting with no g on the end just getting piggy underscore nc and let me tell you tickets go

[00:20:29] on sale april 19th at 10 a.m you'll want to be sure and get them fast because they will sell out

[00:20:35] you don't want to miss that one couple of other events going on april 12th and 13th that's this weekend

[00:20:41] is the 10th annual peak city pig fest in downtown apex then may third and fourth will be bbq

[00:20:48] fest on the news as the largest hall hall barbeque cookoff festival in the nation according to the

[00:20:54] organizers that is it's happening in downtown kinson details are at kinson bbq.com friday night opens

[00:21:01] to the public from five to ten there's going to be a country music artist there saturday it'll be

[00:21:06] open again to the public from 10 to seven music all day carnival and amusements of course barbeque

[00:21:12] still sale start at 11 a.m. finally may 18th it's the barbeque bourbon and bbq festival in valentine's

[00:21:19] backyard check that out if you're looking for something do on the weekend of may 18th that about wraps

[00:21:26] it up for this episode check us out next week we'll have more pit masters and barbeque stories news

[00:21:32] and recipes when remind you for promotional opportunities and sponsorships email me at low

[00:21:38] and slow barbeque show at gmail.com at slow and slow barbeque show at gmail.com all spilled out we'd

[00:21:46] love to feature your business right here on the barbeque show contact me for all the details

[00:21:52] you've been listening to the low and slow barbeque show on the mesh dot tv network of podcasts

[00:21:57] be sure to visit us online at lowslowbbq show.com begin you'll hear from all kinds of pit masters

[00:22:03] around the carolina's and beyond we've got operation barbeque relief CEO Stan Hayes Dylan Cook

[00:22:09] from Fort Grove barbeque Jake Wood from Lawrence barbeque and stay tuned for more interviews from some

[00:22:14] of our favorite pit masters in the carolina barbeque festival family and of course again be sure to

[00:22:20] keep your eyes on carolina bbq fest dot org for all the latest news from the festival

[00:22:26] if you like what you hear in the low and slow barbeque show follow us and subscribe in your

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[00:22:50] and then they can find us again special thanks again to arham from let's meet charlotte

[00:22:54] luis donald from sweet loose barbeque and all those great pit masters and volunteers who helped make the

[00:22:59] 2024 carolina barbeque festival a success thanks as well to our producer andrew moose in the whole

[00:23:06] team at the mesh dot tv network the podcast most especially thank you for listening to the low and

[00:23:12] slow barbeque show remember with the best barbeque and the best barbeque podcast make it low and slow