Food Diaries

On some amazing bbq and other meats I had during my last US tour - part II

This is a sequel to my last food diaries post, where I discussed some of the best food I had during my Silkroad ensemble tour of the US in November 2024.
At the beginning of the tour, as soon as I realised that we were going to be visiting many locations in the south, I put a shoutout on my socials looking for recommendations on where to eat great barbecue in the various cities that the tour was going to touch. I received a great amount of responses and I am very thankful for that. I wasn’t able to visit all of the suggested spots, but I made a list that I will keep for the future.

I truly believe barbecue is one of the greatest American contributions to the culinary world. For me it relates to something as specific as Neapolitan pizza. They are both extremely sophisticated crafts with a long history and tradition, where the starting point are a few very simple high quality ingredients that turn into an amazing results through the mastery of the artisan. It’s the art of just doing one thing over and over again and making it more perfect over time (like a Japanese Shokunin). There is also a kind of communal ritual that I love attached to most barbecue places I’ve visited, which probably ties to the origins of the craft, from the waiting in line chatting to strangers, to the friendliness of the staff, to the family style eating in large tables, often shared with strangers. Added value is the fact that barbecue, even in its highest form, is always affordable and usually quite unpretentious.

In this post I also include a couple of other joints I visited, where I had a chance to try some amazing meats that are not strictly barbecue, so let’s start with this incredible spot in Chicago called Birrieria Zaragoza. I had seen this place in a Netflix series about tacos, so I showed up for a very early lunch and found the place completely empty (something I love!), and got all the attention from the very friendly staff. This place makes Birria, which is a Mexican goat (or beef) stew, slowly braised with spices. As you can see from the picture below they are not kidding (no pun intended). As you enter the shop you are greeted by a couple of mountains of meat and goat heads, and the pot they use is so big that the cook had to stand on the stove to reach the bottom of it!

I stayed away from trendy quesabirrias and ordered some classic tacos de birria and tacos de cabeza (made from various parts of the head). The birria was delicious as expected, tender and flavourful, but the cabeza really stood out! It was crunchy with so many extra layers of fatty deliciousness! Tortillas were also amazing…would recommend 100%.

Next stop was Nashville, and since we were there for a couple of days, I had hatched a few food plans (see my other post). The hotel happened to be in front of Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint, a place I had visited a few times in the past, so I popped in for a quick lunch on the day of the show.

Previous times I hadn’t been super impressed with this place, but I actually loved it this time. I ordered the whole hog, which was very juicy and smoky, and some brisket, which was also pretty good (and so were the hush puppies).

The real surprise of this tour was a barbecue joint in Rogers called Wright’s Barbecue, it was recommended by a few friends, and it happened to be super close to our hotel. Here I had some pork, some brisket and some bacon burnt ends, which I never had before and they were super tasty! The brisket was also very good and I loved the collards and the smoky beans, not to mention their pickles. I also enjoyed their selection of bbq sauces and in general I loved the vibe with lots of big communal tables.

On a day off in Birmingham, we organised a group outing and we went to SAW’s soul Kitchen. Here I had a plate with pork and sausage, some collards and sweet potato fries. I enjoyed the collards the most, but honestly I was a bit disappointed in the meats, I thought the sausage was a bit flavourless and the pork seemed a little dry and with not too much flavour either…most I could taste was the sauce. It’s a pity as it came recommended by many, but maybe we caught the end of the day and not the best selection.

One of the show days in Greenville we were offered catering from City Barbeque in the venue. I had wanted to try this anyway so it was a lucky coincidence. Take away barbecue can be a bit tricky, sometimes it feels like it’s the perfect food to take away and reheat, and some other times it makes no sense and everything seems very dry. Unfortunately this was the second case and both the brisket and the chicken (something i never order at bbq joints) had nice favour but were very dry.

While in Atlanta, I needed a break from classic bbq, so I tried some different types of meats. I had lunch at celebrated spot Arepa Mia, where I tried some yucca fries and a fried arepa with slow cooked pork (served like a pulled pork sandwich). The fries were so incredibly delicious and the arepa too, it even had some pieces of crunchy chicharron mixed in! If anything it was almost too big to finish and a little on the greasy side, but given that the night before we had had a few drinks at a reception, this was the perfect next day food if you know what I mean! Can I also mention here how much I love Topo Chico sparkling water? It’s very sparkling and quite salty and it complements perfectly fatty foods. I dare say it’s addictive!

One of the nights in Altanta I was too tired to go out for food (we were quite far from the city centre), so I ordered an uber eats from a Filipino restaurant I had heard about called Estrellita. I don’t know quite enough about Filipino food, but everything I’ve tried I have loved, so I need to investigate more! Here I ordered classic pork adobo (braised in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic) with some fragrant and delicious coconut rice and sweet potato. I also couldn’t resist a little side of tender and crunchy delicious Lechon (marinated suckling pig cooked till crunchy over charcoal). This food was really amazing but obviously didn’t travel super well, so next time I am in Atlanta, I definitely want to visit this small joint in person.

Last stop of this barbecue tour was always gonna be a return to Charleston and a visit to legendary pitmaster Rodney Scott. I had been here a few years ago and had loved it, (even tho it had a very long line outside). So I came at opening time for a early lunch and was surprised to find the place completely empty. I think I was the first one to order! (I think skipping breakfast and showing up early for lunch might be the way to go with these places!). I had some whole hog, brisket, collards and fries . Whole hog had a delicious smoky taste, but a little on the dry side, and definitely needed a fair amount of sauce to come to life. The brisket was unfortunately a bit disappointing, quite dry and it didn’t have a very exciting flavour profile for me, maybe I was given a piece that was too lean and I personally don’t think that works with brisket. Collards were great and I enjoyed the cornbread too.

In conclusion I also need to mention that while in Chapel Hill, a friend of Rhiannon, brought in as a gift some takeaway bbq from a place called Pig. Honestly it was the best pork I had in the whole trip, and maybe my judgement in biased by having learned to love bbq in North Carolina, so I’m always attracted to the vinegary juicy version. Unfortunately I don’t have photographic evidence as it was consumed very rapidly after the concert but I really loved it!

As the tour reached the final destination Brooklyn, I thought I was done with smoked meat, but the last day I managed to get a table in the very busy Montreal Jewish style Mile end deli, and there I had this incredible sandwich with smoked brisket. This is in a way similar to a pastrami sandwich, but the meat is smoked, then sliced very thick and served only with mustard on rye bread. It was juicy, tender and smoky, so I guess it was a kind of barbecue brisket after all! The whole plate with pickles and slaw was very tasty and even the fries were super delicious, would recommend!

Postscriptum: I do realise this might seem like a lot of meat for one post. I actually do not eat a huge amount of meat normally, this time it might have been a bit more than usual, but also because I was on a diet with many other restrictions, so very often meat ended up being the easiest solution. Bear in mind that this food was consumed over 3 weeks on the road, so these are just 9 out of 42 meals (if you don’t count breakfast as a meal), so do not worry too much about my health…

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I wish everyone happy peaceful holidays, and I look forward to seeing you here again soon. I might take a little break from long form posts over the holidays, but I will keep posting on Substack notes. There I usually post pictures of exciting food I am having daily like the one here below, so in case you don’t know it already, do check out Substack’s app, where you can follow me and so many other amazing writers.