Charlotte Magazine – July 2019

JUNE 2019 // CHARLOTTE 3

CHARLOTTE  JUNE 2019  VOL. 24, NUMBER 6

CONTENTS

ON THE COVER: Bill Spoon’s Barbecue
opened in 1963. Their eastern-style
chopped pork sandwich with slaw is a
local favorite.

ON THIS PAGE: Newcomer Sweet
Lew’s serves Lexington-style barbecue.
Pictured here: dry-rubbed ribs.
Photographs by Peter Taylor.

Features

52 WHAT’S OUR

BARBECUE STORY?

Carolina barbecue has endured

through the decades, but its

roots are drying up with the farm

towns where it developed. Is it

condemned to change?

BY GREG LACOUR

55 DOES SIZE MATTER?

Our staff taste-tests hushpuppies

from five local spots

56 ’CUE UP THE MEMORIES

Six beloved barbecue

joints share their stories

BY TAYLOR BOWLER, RACHEL KANG,

BEN JARRELL, AND EMMA WAY

60 SLAW, SAUCE, AND SINS

How to enhance (and not

disrespect) your pork

BY TAYLOR BOWLER AND BEN JARRELL

63 MEAT IN THE MIDDLE

A Cornelius-based kitchen makes

plant-based barbecue that vegans

and omnivores can enjoy

BY JARED MISNER

64 TRUSTWORTHY, LOYAL,

HELPFUL, FRIENDLY,

GREASESTAINED

Boy Scout troops making some

of the city’s best barbecue

BY ADAM RHEW

66 SAUCE SMACKDOWN

Vinegar- or tomato-based?

In North Carolina, you’re

on one side or the other

BY TAYLOR BOWLER

68 13 LOCAL BARBECUE JOINTS

These must-try restaurants

are all within a 40 miles radius

of uptown

Plus

THE

BARBECUE

ISSUE

70 GARAGE SALE GROUPIES

Three friends navigate Myers

Park’s yard sale circuit and

show us how it’s done

BY TAYLOR BOWLER