Celebrating Six Years of The Smoke Sheet

We look back on our barbecue journeys over the years and give thanks to our readers and contributors.

This week, we celebrate six years of The Smoke Sheet newsletter. This project began out of love for the barbecue world and has put us in front of incredible people and food. We have been fortunate enough to find and connect with an audience that also shares our love for the ever-expanding BBQ and grilling landscape.

Sean and Ryan loved their visit in early 2024 to Jon G’s Barbecue in North Carolina.

A few favorite moments from the past six years include:

• Traveling to North Carolina earlier this year to see amazing old-school and new-school joints

• Interviewing photographer Ben Sassani on BBQ, culture, embarrassing stories, and more

• Spotlighting BBQ podcasts that everyone should know

• Spending a week in Houston, eating at many of the top BBQ joints there

• Interviewing Steven Raichlen about his books, a TV show, and much more

• Talking to Meathead Goldwyn about his storied career as a web publisher, author, and entrepreneur

• Ryan taking a multi-generational road trip to see some of America's most stunning national parks

• Sean getting married at a BBQ joint

• Highlighting talented women in BBQ and grilling

We appreciate contributions from writers, including John Tanner.

We’ve also been thrilled to continue featuring more dispatches from friends, including Monk from Barbecue Bros; prolific writer John Tanner; Chef Ray Sheehan, a jack-of-all-trades barbecue writer and sauce extraordinaire; barbecue competitor and writer Bre Via, who leads the Smoke 'n Magic competition BBQ team; Michael “Chigger” Willard, host of The Low & Slow Barbecue Show podcast and blog; BBQ-ologist Ed Reilly; and Kell Phelps, the publisher of the National Barbecue News.

We will continue to seek out the best BBQ around.

We are always looking for more voices to join us on the journey. If you would like to contribute to the newsletter, please get in touch.

We love meeting so many amazing people in the barbecue world.

Thank you again to our readers and supporters, who have made this possible. We look forward to sharing more stories from all sides of the barbecue community. Please let us know what stories you’d like to see in future issues.

Sean Ludwig
Co-Founder, The Smoke Sheet

The Mild Harissa sauce from Elfassy Foods won the top prize at the annual Sauce King NYC awards.

The annual Sauce King NYC Awards winners were announced today and first revealed in The Smoke Sheet. Sauce King NYC, now in its fifth year, assembles judges from the culinary world to rate and honor top barbecue, hot, and other sauces worldwide. This year’s Grand Champion Prize was awarded to Elfassy Foods’ Mild Harissa sauce. The Metro NYC “Duane Joseph” Start-Up prize was awarded to Piketu Original Puerto Rican sauce. The Best Hot Sauce award went to Craic Sauce Mill City Red. The Best International Family of Sauces and Rubs award went to Firefly BBQ from the U.K. Read more about the awards in Friday’s NYC BBQ Weekly newsletter.

Iconic South Carolina barbecue joint Maurice’s Piggie Park suffered a devastating fire on Saturday night that destroyed their operations in West Columbia. The restaurant released a statement on social media stating that the “BBQ Pits, food preparation and processing plant facilities, and our offices are completely gone.” The cause of the fire has not been determined and thankfully, no injuries were reported. This past June, John Tanner contributed a feature on Maurice’s Piggie Park for The Smoke Sheet, writing, “Maurice’s is an excellent representation of South Carolina mustard-based barbecue and hash.” On Facebook, the restaurant owners wrote, “We won’t give up and will work endlessly to do what we need to do to continue the BBQ legacy and support our 150 employees and community we love dearly.”

A fire also temporarily closed Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge, the historic restaurant we visited in Shelby, North Carolina, earlier this year. The restaurant shared on social media that it would be closed until further notice. Thankfully, the fire was contained within the firewall before further damage could occur.

Texas Monthly’s Daniel Vaughn recently wrote about the barbecue operations that have opened up in Lexington, Texas, to capitalize on the overflow from the traffic to acclaimed Snow’s BBQ. The small town offers visitors and locals plenty of traditional barbecue, but Vaughn was critical of one spot that he feels puts both politics and prejudice on display.