Collected Entropy - 2010.09.25

Collected Entropy since the last post with this title. No particular order, rhyme or reason. Mostly too long to tweet

Special limited time only, while they last, small town edition. 

• Marshville is the home of Randy Travis, poultry processing plants and the annual Boll Weevil festival of Union County held last weekend. Even based on the erradication of tiny bugs...you just gotta love small town celebrations. Seriously. Charlotte may be think they've outgrown them, but here are a few more small towns that haven't.
• Unionville is having it's annual BBQ in a little over a month. Don't let the fact that the event is held at an elementary school fool you. These folks are serious about BBQ and on a large scale.  Check out the photos from last year, then mark your calendar for the first Friday in November.
• In keeping with the small town trend of this post, here is a calendar of other small town festivals coming up in Union County including the BBQ cookoff in Waxhaw on October 8-9th.
• Finishing off with a small town that has a big reputation...the 27th annual BBQ festival will be held in Lexington, NC on October 23rd.    Be sure to sample some of the Monk family's BBQ from Lexington #1.

A BBQ Tradition

A sense of tradition connects people and generations. Good food always brings people together. Combine the two and it makes for a good time.

Unionville elementary school held its 60th annual BBQ yesterday. They've been running this BBQ annually since 1949. The BBQ was good and the proceeds went to benefit the children.

It was a beautiful day for a noon drive into the country. Working farms, livestock, country ponds - it all couldn't have been more scenic. A reminder of many of the things that make America great, including hard work and a sense of community.

Its great living in a small town, and even better to get out into the real country every now and then. This event is over, but keep looking - its BBQ season - there'll be more!

Making It Right

We recently celebrated my birthday in a way that has become a tradition thanks to my wonderful and understanding wife. This celebration however, involved a couple of twists that made it even better than expected. The tradition is in searching out a new barbeque restaurant that we've never eaten at before (or maybe just not in quite a while). My wife plans these culinary outings as a surprise and some do require a bit of planning - and driving.

Last weekend the tradition didn't involve too much driving, only up to Concord, NC. The restaurant selected this time was R&R Bar-B-Que, at 755 Pitts School Rd NW. There were some good reviews on the net about it and everything on the R&R web site looked like it was the real deal.

So up to Concord we went and arrived after the dinner rush on Saturday. When we arrived there was a good sized crowd, noisy but relaxed. It looked like we'd made a great choice. There was some confusion when we first ordered, about the type of bbq that R&R specialized in and some other things that seemed a little out of place. Nothing to really be concerned about but we began to wonder if they were as serious about bbq as we'd been led to believe.

To make a long story short - at this point, we asked to speak to a manager. Instead we ended up talking to one of the co-owners - Rob Elmore. Even though there was still a good crowd in the restaurant, he took his time with us explaining the bbq he specialized in (Eastern Carolina) and its preparation at R&R (in a state-of-the-art, spotless operation). We even swapped a host of other stories related to experiencing local food specialties while traveling.

They are serious about barbeque at R&R. Rob's personal involvement to make things right for two guests he'd never met before really spoke volumes. When the plates of food arrived, we can attest to the fact that the food is made right too - pulled pork shoulder, lean but not dry, lightly spiced - exactly what we came looking for. The ribs were probably the best either of us can remember having, a real unexpected find. The chicken, bbq slaw and beans were great along with everything else.

I'll stop short of making this a full restaurant review (which I'm not formally trained to do anyway!). The real point is that it was great to meet someone who was good at what they do and enjoyed it. That comes through loud and clear.

Anyway, give R&R a try - you won't be sorry. And remember, barbeque is not a verb!

BBQ Season

Actually, it is coming close to vacation season. How do I know? Everywhere you turn there are advertisements (with unusually deep discounts this year) to book your vacation now. However, I've always preferred to assemble my own "vacation packages", frankly on a scale well below what the ads portray.

So influenced by Madison Avenue and armed with the false confidence that precedes any trip planning, I wondered what would be a good (great?) vacation to plan. Then I remembered The NC Barbecue Society Historic Trail. Some families retrace historical events from times in the nation's history, so why not do the same on the state level - with some great food thrown in as a bonus?

The Society makes them all sound good, although there are obviously going to be a lot of favorites left off any "best of" list. Additionally there were restrictions such as only two sites per town. I can personally vouch for Hurshey's, Lexington #1 and Bridges. Especially Bridges.

If you're just a little curious, I've mapped the whole tour (less Cobb & Son, which I couldn't find) via Google maps - all 15 hours of driving. Will we really turn vacation season into BBQ season this year? I doubt it, but it was fun to plan.

Now maybe if we can get school credit for the trip, hmmm...