Charlotte's Got a Lot (of Barbecue Styles)

Here are the surprising amount of styles of barbecue you can find in Charlotte, North Carolina, and which restaurants you'll find them at.

This week’s guest article is written by Monk, a native of North Carolina and co-founder of the Barbecue Bros blog. Along with his friends and fellow Barbecue Bros Speedy and Rudy, Monk has traveled around eating, rating, ranking, and reviewing barbecue joints since 2012. If you would like to write a guest article for The Smoke Sheet, please get in touch.

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“Charlotte is not really in either part of North Carolina; it’s a city of newcomers, and we have other people’s barbecue."

When I think of Charlotte barbecue, I tend to think of the above quote from Tom Hanchett, the former historian at Charlotte’s Levine Museum of the New South. Charlotte's barbecue scene has grown steadily in the past twelve years since I started following barbecue closely with Barbecue Bros, but that growth has not typically been because of restaurants serving strictly traditional North Carolina barbecue.

In the spirit of the official slogan of Charlotte's Regional Visitor's Authority ("Charlotte's Got a Lot"), here are the styles of other people's barbecue you can find in the Queen City.

Texas Barbecue: Jon G's Barbecue

Jon G’s Barbecue still remains the best barbecue available in Charlotte, and Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn thinks its even one of the top 10 Texas barbecue joints in the country (outside of Texas). I have always found Garren and Kelly Kirkman's barbecue joint to be remarkably consistent, whether I'm at one of their weekly food truck services around the greater Charlotte area or at the restaurant in Peachland, where they've turned Barbecue Saturdays at their restaurant into a destination-worthy event for travelers from all across the southeast and even the United States. (Read about The Smoke Sheet’s spectacular visit to Jon G’s here.) 116 Glenn Falls St, Peachland, NC 28133 jongsbarbecue.com

Tex-Mex Barbecue: Union Barbecue

Earlier this year, Chefs Holden Sasser and Chase Young burst onto the Charlotte barbecue scene with “new school barbecue” and “Mexican flavors” in the form of their Union Barbecue food truck. Sasser is actually a Charlotte native who recently relocated back from San Francisco, where he worked in food technology and did barbecue pop-ups in his free time. Meats range from beef cheek barbacoa to pork carnitas to brisket (all served with house-made tortillas) and they've got some seriously awesome, inventive sides. unionbarbecue.com

Midlands South Carolina Barbecue: Sweet Lew's BBQ

In late 2023, Sweet Lew’s BBQ celebrated five years open, a nice milestone for the ever-changing Belmont neighborhood restaurant. One thing that's been on the menu for a few years now is the Midlands, South Carolina specialty hash and rice (or barbecue hash or, simply, hash). There's a lot to like about the other meats on the menu, but definitely don't sleep on the hash. 923 Belmont Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205 sweetlewsbbq.com