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Rock Store Bar-B-Q is located in the miniature historic Rock Store, circa 1936 in Stallings. In 2004 Mark Murphy operated a coffee shop, but allowed amateur pit masters Jack "Bubba" Chavis and Jay Mondock to sell their barbecue from a truck in the parking lot. Soon it became clear that the barbecue was the hit and the three became partners in Rock Store Bar-B-Q.
Chavis and Mondock competed in Charlotte Shout's 2nd Blues, Brews, & BBQ contest winning second place and recently competed again this year. Chavis, a native Charlottean, says his sauces are a complement to his savory meats. "Some sauce their meat to cover the dryness. Some reheat the meat the next day. We cook all our meat fresh. That's the difference." Rock Store offers three sauces: a S.C.-styled mustard-based, "down home," and an Eastern-styled vinegar.
Just over the state line, pit master Mike Dial opened 521 BBQ & Grill. His story is typical: "Folks started telling me how good my barbecue was and said I should start my own place." Dial uses a spice rub (hence the slogan "Butts Rubbed Nightly") and cooks his pork over wood, which subtly imbues the meat with hickory smokiness. Sauces here are a house-made pepper-vinegar dip and a sweeter, thicker Memphis-styled sauce made per Dial's specifications by a regional bottler.
In Matthews, owners Alton Wright and Tim Thomas of Elliot's Barbecue smoke their meats with hickory or apple wood and offer a variety of sauces. They not only serve pork, but beef, and chicken.
Charlotte has another group of barbecue restaurants which were opened by Greek entrepreneurs. The oldest is the Ole Smokehouse #1 (#2 closed years ago) which Bill Koutsoupias opened in 1957. They have a large oven built in Greece similar to one the family used in a restaurant in Greece, and build a hickory wood fire each morning. They are also known for their sauce and make four to five gallons daily. In the sauce are ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, molasses, pepper, and lemon.
Another successful Greek-American establishment is Bar-B-Q King on Wilkinson Boulevard, which was recently featured on the Food Network. Opened by Gus and George Karapanos and Steve Gianikas in 1959, this small drive-in was also written about in Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the heart of Barbecue Country, by Lolis Eric Elie. The meat is cooked here for ten hours in an electric rotisserie with hickory wood to add flavor. The tomato-based sauce was created fifty years ago.
Closer to town, Art's Barbecue & Deli was opened by Danny Katopodis in 1976. His meats are cooked in an electric rotisserie and he also offers a tomato based sauce.
Charlotte is home chain restaurants, too such as the Florida based Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Que; Shane's Rib Shack, and Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill.
For those Lexington-styled aficionados, the best barbecue is 45 minutes away: either north to Lexington Barbecue in Lexington or west to Bridges Barbecue Lodge in Shelby.
What does the future hold for traditional barbecue restaurants? After the passing of founders Gene Carter of the Old Hickory House and Bill Spoon of Spoon's, I was relieved that family members will continue in such a demanding business. One entrepreneur said he located beyond the Mecklenburg county line to avoid the strenuous code requirements. Certainly there is a need for sanitation rules and fire safety. Last March, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control urged those who had purchased barbecue (both pork and chicken) at a March 30, 2008 fundraiser for the Tega Cay Volunteer Fire Department to throw the food away since they feared it might be contaminated.
Yet, barbecue is seeing a culinary rebirth in the Charlotte area through backyard pit masters turned restaurateurs and events like the annual Blues, Brews, and BBQ contest enjoyed by hard-core barbecue hounds and novices alike . Even neighborhood Boy Scout barbecue fundraisers are selling out in record time. Barbecue, it seems, is still on fire.
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