Today was a B E A Utiful day in Charlotte NC. Sun shining birds chirping, smoke everywhere. We slept in a little later than normal for me anyways. Got up and went for a slightly early lunch. But first a walking tour through all the BBQ teams and their set ups. Seems someone who was running the event thought it might be funny to set up a Va Tech themed BBQ team beside a UNC BBQ themed team. Along the same run was a team of ECU, Appalachian State and Georgia themed BBQ teams. Ex students and their spouses / friends enjoying a great day of cooking BBQ and sharing fun times with each other. Also ran into a Clemson team. They were over closer to the Pro teams so not sure if they were in fact a Pro team or they ran out of room over in the Challenger Division and they were set up over there. While walking through I ran into a team of Brunswick Stew cookers from Virginia, home of Brunswick Stew. They had a sign like you see on side of highways about Brunswick Va and how Brunswick stew came from Va not Georgia. Having just cooked a pot myself, the head cook and I got to discussing variations to his versus mine. Surprisingly there were MANY more then I thought there would be. I never thought our was authentic but I figured maybe one or two items different. Certainly not 6. And not including the difference in order of cooking his versus mine as to what goes into the pot and when. But he was interesting to talk with and learn some things from. Every now and then someone would come up (Normally from Ga) who would ask if this was Ga Brunswick Stew. He would smile and point to his road sign. They would read it and normally walk away but some would talk more about how they had always heard it came from Ga. So to add some fun to the mix I would throw in – You know settlers landed in Jamestown VA not Georgia right? So things had to progress OUT of Virginia first so it only makes sense that Brunswick Stew left Va not came to Va. The man who was cooking thought that was a better analogy then any he had come up with. So had a great time talking with them. Hoping they get great results from the judges who handled that. Will know more tomorrow on who won that category. So from there headed to lunch at City Smoke. In a high rise bank building on the first floor you will find this. All steel and concrete building so does not have the look of a BBQ joint right off the bat. We got seats at the kitchen bar so we could see the operation first hand. The room had no smoky smell to it so that’s was a bit concerning. We decided to split a smoked wing basket tos tart with. Very meaty and very good flavor. But their smoking I am not sure came from smoke as much as it did from the grill they made their marks on the wings from. Mary got the BBQ Pork Sandwich and I went for the Combo platter. Go big or go home and get bigger pants. Pulled pork, Brisket, 5 ribs, Texas toast and 2 sides – I got Jalapeño Corn Bread and Mac and Cheese. Pork – Slightly dry but had a vinegar base to it. There were three sauces on table – Kansas City, their own and a NC based. Tried all three. Nothing outstanding. Brisket – Lets just say KCBS Comp teams have nothing to fear from this group. I have mentioned before resoling a shoe. Try resoling a horse’s foot with this sample of two slices of brisket. When ones knife has issues cutting it, there gonna be a problem. Dry and Tough. Now the ribs were interesting. They advertised Dry rub Texas, wet, Memphis, and wet Kansas City. I have heard of dry Memphis but never dry Texas. And I am not really sure how they do it. There were to be 2 of each of the wet ribs and 1 rib of the dry. They serve 5 ribs still attached to each other but split almost all the way through. So they have to cook a rack, cut a section of 5 out, apply Memphis sauce to 2, Kansas sauce to 2 and sprinkle dry rub on 5th. I think I would have thought to cut 2 out of a rack of Memphis sauced, 2 out of a rack of Kansas, etc. By doing it their way, the sauces co mingled, the dry had some sauce on it, and overall they were way undercooked – touch. Not fall of the bone overdone, but tough like beef ribs. I would have liked to try their Bourbon Pecan Pie as I am a Pecan Pie lover. But I hate when a waiter comes with the check 1/3 into meal and says – “whenever you are ready, no rush”. Well you just lost my dessert trying. Obviously YOU are in a rush. I for one don’t wish to hold you up any so no dessert order for me. This contest also has a pretty good sized Friday night Ancillary Contest. Some of the categories included – Coleslaw, Brunswick Stew, Anything But - Surf, Anything But – Turf, Anything But – Exotic, Roast Chicken, etc. So I got to judge some tonight. Who knew there could be so many ways to butcher coleslaw. But there it was in front of me to judge. Actually one was spot on and the 2nd place was not far behind it. Granted many of the rest were reinventions of the wheel. Red sauced coleslaw? Curry Cole Slaw? Yellow and Orange pepper coleslaw? Tonight’s dinner was at Aria. When we were in town in June for Fleetwood Mac concert, we passed this place on way to concert venue. The menu outside on the wall looked pretty good so I wanted to try this on our trip this weekend. Man does not live by BBQ alone after all. Hope nobody from KCBS or MBN turns me in for saying that! We started out with their special Bruchetta as an appetizer. Mary had Carbonara with chicken and I had their version of baked Chicken Parmesan. Chicken on mine cooked perfectly. But pasta was spinach and it detracted from the chicken. Mary said her was best she had had but the more she ate the more the egg took over. We ended our dinner with a Blueberry Upside Down cake. Cake was a lemon flavored cake with blueberry jam topping, a dollop of vanilla gelato. Very good ending to a decent dinner. Price wise very fair. In talking with waiter at end we found he lived and grew up in Midlothian Va. So we did some catching up with him on changes in the area since he had left. Walk back to hotel took us through BBQ teams cooking for tomorrows contest. Watched one team hooking up their whole hog to rotisserie spit in parking lot. So it’s on for tomorrow. Back now at hotel and going to see what might be on to watch. Still trying to figure a way to open window for some night time aromas. Good night to all.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 02:03:10 +0000
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