Yes you can find good Eastern North Carolina style barbecue in Charlotte.

I started this blog and to date have not added one of my favorite barbecue places to eat, Bill Spoon's on South Boulevard in Charlotte, NC. I cannot tell you it is the best barbecue in North Carolina. Don't come here looking for ribs, they don't have them. I understand the chicken is very good but to be honest I like pork more. Many years ago I had a thread going on my forums about best BBQ places to eat. Then I changed forum software and had to start over. I try to add to it and now to this blog after I've visited a restaurant. Yes I've eaten at many more. If I had to guess I'd say the number of barbecue "joints" I've eaten at in my life time is over 100. I try to eat barbecue every place I travel to. Many times I end up eating at chains like Corky's or Famous Dave's and leave very disappointed.

Here in Charlotte our barbecue choices are small. Yes we have Sonny's all over the place. But Sonny's is not the way I like barbecue. I can eat many different styles but when eating Sonny's it tastes like I am eating ham. I like ham but not when I am after barbecue. I like Bubba's up on Sunset in North Charlotte but it pulls too much of the fat out. Smokey Bones off WT Harris was one of my favorites  when they first opened. They had great baby back ribs and the pulled pork was good. But their quality of food and service went down starting about two years ago. Now we have a Jim 'N Nicks but they need to learn to how to smoke their pork and their sauce kills the flavor of the pork.

The old time places in Charlotte that many people love, Old Smoke House, Old Hickory House I do not like them. I grew up on the West side of Charlotte and Bar-B-Q King is where we always ate as a kid. I've lived on the West Side of Charlotte and very close to Bar-B-Q King. But it is not that great. I miss the old West Mecklenburg barbecue. The older guys really cooked a great pig!

For someone that loves BBQ, Charlotte doesn't give me a lot of choices. But there is Bill Spoon's... Now Bill is no longer with us but the grandkids are now running the place. Steve was working there while Bill was still coming in and greeting people. If I am in Charlotte I will go in and eat lunch here. I've been in as many as three times in a week and once on Saturday. Yes I think it is that good.

Recently AOL City Search had their Best of voting and now I am playing around with a "local favorites" application on facebook. As I read reviews of BBQ places I find it funny that people do not know what they are reviewing. I am on HollyEats.com right now. And I see a comment:

"Eastern means no tomato (ketchup usually) in the sauce and the who hog is used, not just the shoulder.  Also means the cole slaw has a kick of mustard."

Since when does mustard in the slaw mean Eastern? There is no such thing! In fact if I had to "guess" I'd say mustard in slaw is more Lexington, SC style if anything!  There are so many different styles of slaw. Many places mix the vinegar sauce they use for the pork in the slaw.

Then there are the people that complain that Spoon's pulled pork is chopped! Why did they call it pulled pork? Eastern North Carolina pork is normally chopped sometimes minced and it can come to you pulled.

These kind of comments get to me:

"The pulled pork was more shredded than pulled"

Do these people understand what pulled pork is? Sure, all pork is "pulled" from the pig. But Eastern style normally doesn't serve it to you that way. Your sauce which you add is always a vinegar based sauce and typically but not always loaded with a red pepper. Some places use a black pepper and some places mix the peppers! There are so many different styles of sauce based on vinegar and I like them all! I think vinegar helps bring out the taste of the pork and it doesn't hide it like some of the thick red sauces do...

Back to Spoon's, they do all this well in my opinion. I've suggested several times that they should open a store over in Rivergate. I think a few additions to their menu and they could handle both lunch and dinner and do well.