A friend (thanks Sam) recently told me about True BBQ in Triangle City, between West Columbia and downtown. I was looking for some hash to bring back to Atlanta and my favorite place is only open on Friday and Saturday. I’ve spent a good deal of time researching South Carolina BBQ hash and hadn’t even heard of True BBQ, so I’m always excited about hitting up these hidden gems.

When I pulled up to the easy to miss restaurant, chef was cooking on a classic dingy smoker in the front of the small parking lot which smelled of smoke and pork.

I was curious about this proclamation on the sign.

I was filled in when chef told the waitress to give me the “pretty lady” pose. He got a kick out of it.

On my first visit I got a bunch of sides to bring back to a dinner in Atlanta, including the excellent hash, which isn’t too tangy nor too sweet. It’s not dry but not overly gelatinous either. It just well rounded and great. I couldn’t resist getting a small sandwich though. And on my second visit I got the chopped pork plate. Both times the pork had a nice ring, a good mix of bark, and plenty of fat, which I don’t see often enough in Carolina chopped BBQ. South Carolina mustard sauce can be an acquired taste, but I like True’s as it’s not too sticky sugary.

True is a very solid representation of Midlands SC style BBQ, perhaps the best I’ve tried behind Jackie Hite’s.

On my current work expedition through North Carolina, I realized I’d be passing through Lexington, home to a very particular and infamous style of BBQ. In this part of the country, BBQ is equivalent to pork, and the trademark offering is a chopped sandwich.

I sampled five sandwiches in an hour, the first twenty miles south of Lexington in Salisbury, the other four being within a few miles of each other in Lexington. I could have chosen from maybe ten places in a five mile radius, so my selections were somewhat blind. Everything was quick, though I could have probably had my four sandwiches in twenty minutes if I really tried. Three of the four restaurants offered curb side service, all you have to do is park in a certain area and honk your horn.

The Lexington chopped sandwich is defined by it’s minced smoky pork shoulder, mixed with bits of bark, a “red” vinegar based sauce (each place apparently has their secret formula), and mayonnaise-less chopped cole slaw.

Chopped isn’t my favorite pork shoulder product, I think chopping it up results in loss of moisture and they tend to be too lean. By no means would I say this is life changing BBQ, but this is a sandwich about balance between the components and subtle differences, in a tiny town with a firm BBQ identity.

The sandwich below at Smiley’s may not look like much, but it was my favorite. In general, they all look the same, even arriving in the same white lunch bag at each destination. But this one was moist, noticeably smokey, non-mushy texture (which I saw elsewhere), with just enough sauce and crunchy cole slaw, but the real difference maker was the large amount of densely flavored bark mixed in. There was twice as much of it as the next competitor.

Now, I think this is where luck is involved. There is only so much bark on a smoked shoulder, and the person making the sandwich is going to decide how much to disperse in your particular sandwich. A guy I met in Raleigh told me if you know the person making the sandwich and you call in your order, your more likely to get more of the good stuff. As far as the secret sauce formulas went, I didn’t notice much difference.

In Salisbury I tried a “sliced” sandwich, which is the term they use for pulled pork. It was decent, but there was no fat and no bark, so it was dry and without enough flavor. I did like it better after dipping it in the thin vinegar sauce though, a style of sauce I enjoy as it’s not too sweet and cloying. It was a fun food learning expedition.

Full set of photos here.

I love taking photos in natural light at lunch time, it makes me look like I know what I’m doing with this big camera. On occasion wait staff will ask me if I’m a photographer. Sometimes I tell them I just like to take photos of my food, other times I reply, “No, I’m in construction”, offering nothing else but a blank stare. It amuses me.

These are the smoked wings from Moe’s Original BBQ, the chain out of Vail, Colorado (by way of Tuscaloosa). This was my first visit to the former Kool Korners locale; of course the original building has been completely replaced, so the few month old BBQ restaurant is new and clean and surprisingly spacious, with a number of tables and booths, a long wood bar, and a nice elevated deck by the parking in the rear.

The menu has all the usual suspects. The wings were good. Not close to touching Fox Brothers smoked wings, but they were smoky and tender enough. I had some corn and collards as sides, both of which were fine too.

I also shared some ribs (below), which were also good enough. Tender, meaty, a bit of pink under the bark, but fairly uninspiring. Again, nothing offensive, but I haven’t given them another thought until today. On the other hand, I day dream of Heirloom BBQ every time their daily specials show up in my Facebook feed.

I think Moe’s would satisfy a BBQ craving if you are in the area, better than Pappy Red’s or Billy Jack’s.

I tried to hit up Watford’s BBQ, but like much of the good BBQ in South Carolina, they are only open Wednesday to Saturday (many places are Thursday, Friday, Saturday only). I looked into going to Scott’s in Hemingway and Schoolhouse in Scranton and they were closed too. Bummer.

On the way into Myrtle Beach (via Conway) I stopped at Maryland Fried Chicken. A chain mostly in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, I thought it was good. Crispy, not too oversized, well seasoned, and cheap.

In Myrtle Beach, a city full of chain restaurants, I finally found somewhere I can look forward to eating – Mr. Fish. I found the she-crab soup to be dense and cloying, though it did have plenty of crab.

But I was actually happy with the sushi. It’s not gonna blow any sushi freaks minds, but it was fresh, fresh, fresh. In fact, I don’t often order salmon nigiri, but this was excellent. I believe the sushi chef’s name is Scott, he learned sushi while putting himself through college at a Japanese restaurant near Ole Miss. He definitely cared about his craft, speaking proudly of the quality of his fish.

I also had some shrimp and grits, which was a bit heavy, but the shrimp were wonderful.

I stopped at Prosser’s BBQ in Murrel’s Inlet on the way down to Charleston from MB. South Carolinians love their all-you-can-eat BBQ buffets, and this is one of the best I’ve seen. The chopped pork wasn’t memorable, but the pork bark chopped up with dirty rice was incendiary. I also sampled the collards, beans, fried chicken, mac n cheese, crab cake, and the schlong looking thing in the middle is fried trout. All served with a sweet tea for under $10.

An evening in Chuck-town.

Charred octopus with powdered olive oil, squid ink potato puree, piped egg yolk, and micro cilantro at Husk. Looked cool, but it had a burnt aftertaste I didn’t enjoy and the octopus was too salty.

General Tso’s sweetbreads with pea puree – in short, this was the balls (really, really good, in case you are over 40). Best use of sweetbreads I’ve had.

Eggs at Glass Onion.

Crispy chicken confit with tomato jam, grits, greens, High Life at Glass Onion. Best meal I ate all week. It brought me out of my Husk funk.

More High Life at AJ’s on Tybee Island. A local buddy and I sat on the dock, drank cold beer, ate peel and eat shrimp and fried seafood and watched the sun set over the water. Tough to beat.

The fried flounder was really nice, everything else was just OK, but I’d go back just to drink beer and take in the venue.

Finished the weekend watching the golf tournament up at Hilton Head. Quite the weekend, and this time of year is the absolute best in South Carolina. In just a few weeks it will be miserable. Get there soon.

First up! Bone-In BBQ Food truck. A recent addition to the Columbia dining scene, I gave them a go last week. Their truck is quite nice.

Menu looks good too.

What ended up being a shredded brisket sandwich wasn’t exactly what I envisioned, but it was tasty. The focaccia was warm and fresh. Very satisfying on a rainy day.

The “ripper” (fried hot dog, ala Rutt’s Hut) was topped with plenty of the same shredded brisket and cheese. While not exactly a ripper (it hadn’t fried until it ripped apart), the large hot dog was also delicious. The uniformly thin and just out of the fryer chips were also outstanding.

Follow them on Twitter to get their location updates.

Next up, Hampton St Vineyard. They shredded their short ribs, kinda like Bone-In shredded the brisket. What’s up with that? Unfortunately my thinking is that it’s an attempt to hide the results of a dry piece of cooked meat. If shredded it it will absorb moisture and reheat better.

Ideally you want the short rib to be fork tender, but not falling apart.

I had a monster lamb shank. It was under-braised so it was way too tough. Though I was told it was one of the best menu items, I can’t recommend it.

In general I found the menu to offer an enticing array of classics, but it seemed to under deliver, one of the worst menu sins.

Apparently “broasted” chicken is all the rage in Columbia. I had never heard this term until a few weeks ago. While the naming may lead you to believe it is some combination of broiled and roasted, it is in fact indicates that the chicken is fried in a special type of pressure cooker. While adding the convenience of quick cooking, many swear by this method when seeking perfectly crispy fried chicken.

I went to Bernie’s and took him up on his offer.

3 piece dark, fries, slaw, roll, and rot-your-teeth sweet tea – $5.25. The place was jammed.

The chicken was absolutely fantastic. Crispy, hot, juicy, flavorful, all that mess. Really, really worth the visit. The sides are forgettable and aren’t worth the calories. Next time I’ll just get a 5 piece with a side of napkins.

Di Prato’s is a popular  lunch and weekend brunch spot near the University. The have a huge array of hot and cold sandwiches, plus an assortment of prepared foods they can warm up for you (meatballs, risotto balls, etc). One of their most popular items is the pimento cheese.

It is absolutely worth ordering on each and every visit. The combination of large chunks of sharp cheese with the thin shreds of milder cheese is where it’s at. The texture is spot on. And the huge portion of greasy, warm pita chips they serve with it are just what ya need with this starter that could be a meal.

“The sailor” combines sauerkraut, liverwurst, and pastrami with mustard on grilled bread. It’s a lot of sandwich to deal with, sure to satisfy a greasy sandwich craving.

I made my usual visit to Baan Sawan and chef Alex was kind enough to treat me and my fellow bar mates with some crispy chicken skins. I’ve become friends with Sam and Alex and Jennifer, and visiting them takes the sting out of work travel. In fact, I often look forward to it.

In case you can’t read this, Guy Fieri signed this posted to “Da Bad Boys of Burgers” during his trip to Flavortown (5 points – Columbia). Glad to see Guy unabashedly lives up to his stereotype.

Pretty decent burgers. I recommend ordering a temperature below your desired result (medium rare for medium, medium for medium well, etc.).

The bun is unfortunate, but everything else is solid. They do have a few different bun options so I’ll try that next time.

Finally, this impossible to discern photograph was a special at Mr. Friendly’s, part of a Mardi Gras themed menu. Crispy red trout with crawfish topping and a mess of sides. It was a huge portion of stuff; no one is going away hungry at Friendly’s from what I can tell. The fish was good and fresh tasting and fried.

Monday is half priced wine night where they have a few selections that are under $15 for a bottle, if you are into inappropriate grape blends and bright colored marketing. I’m being sort of cynical, there was a good bottle of dry rosé on the half price offering. I’m sure no one ordered it though because they think it’s a woman’s drink. Oops, there I go again.

There are some nice selections on the full, large wine menu too.

Decatur is a solid 30-35 minutes from my place on the Westside, so I don’t get there often, and I had not tried Community Q BBQ until a week ago.

That’s a long way to drive for BBQ, so it had to be fairly excellent to warrant another long lunch journey like this one.

I wasn’t super impressed, but restaurant BBQ is fickle. Consistency on any scale is difficult, but I think even more so in this genre. The BBQ has already been cooked/finished, and at the point it comes off the smoker a lifespan has begun counting down in either minutes, hours, or (hopefully not) days. You catch it at the wrong point in this process and it can be dry, mushy, or some other unpleasing adjective. Maybe flacid. Yeah, that’s not too appealing.

Anyways, here ya go:

Liked – the people that work there, the space, the vibe, the large variety of sides, the bark on the brisket, the collards, the sauces, the fact that they sell farm fresh eggs and offer a knife sharpening service

Not super excited about – the brisket fat (a bit rubbery instead of meltingly good fat), black eyed peas, overly sweet tea, and the pork, which I found to be unfortunate. It was dry, no smoke, no bark, not much flavor. You could have told me it was chicken and it’s possible I would have believed you.

If I’m in the area, I’d stop by, but I didn’t find that what I ate would warrant such a long drive. Heirloom is only ten minutes away from me, and so far I’ve only had wonderful experiences there. But I think the fact that they are so small works to their advantage.

Just a few bites from here and there. Lately my favorite pizza at Varasano’s is the nucci. I’m usually not a big olive fan (what?) but I love them on this pizza. It’s just the right amount of salty to go with the awesome bread and spicy arugula.

On my last visit to Heirloom BBQ, there was a line out the door, so we took it to go and I made up a plate at my friend Matt’s house down the street. When I picked up the St. Louis style rib, the bone ripped through. The Texas sampler included ribs, brisket, and a Texas beef sausage (you can choose other sausages). A good portion of the brisket was so fatty I felt guilty looking at it, but the bites that were about 50/50 were mind bogglingly great. The fat isn’t chewy; you can use your tongue to press it against the roof of your mouth and it seems to disintegrate, probably directly into the love handle area. The pork heavy collards and thinly sliced Korean sweet potato sides were also notable.

Emile at Caw Caw Creek recommended I try this “shouler butt steak”, also known as a blade steak. I’ve actually had this cut on my to-find list since I read about a dish at the Purple Pig a few months ago. I quick brined it, seasoned it, seared on both sides on high heat, then dusted it with smoked paprika and a drizzle of honey. Shut your face good. This cut goes on the regular rotation.

Finally, this torta cubana from Rivera’s Foods in West Columbia is out of control. A few Mexican cheeses, country ham, regular ham, hot dog, chorizo, pineapple, milanesa, tomato, jalapeno, avocado…it was somewhat obscene. The first half was fantastic. My attempt at the second half just made me feel bad about myself.

I’m still on a hash kick (first time since college), the South Carolina barbecue staple that I’ve become intrigued with since reading the great article about its history in Garden & Gun.

I knocked off another destination from the G&G article when I finally visited Hite’s in West Columbia. I heard about Hite’s a few years ago via Chowhound and it’s only two miles from my office in SC, but they are only open on Friday’s and Saturday’s. Rarely am I in town those days, so I knew where I’d be dining when I realized I would be working there on a recent Friday.

As a side note, I’ve discovered that many of the well known BBQ destinations in SC, often in rural areas, tend to only be open on the weekends, or maybe Thursday through Saturday. Most are not open on Sunday, because it’s the Lord’s day, I presume. Many of the pitmasters don’t cook BBQ full time, they have other means of income and they cook BBQ on the weekends because hell, that’s what their family does.

Below is the pork and hash plate from Hite’s. The hash was very good. In comparison to Dowd’s, and really these aren’t the same at all, it is less stringy, having broken down a bit more, and probably utilizing softer, more gelatinous (think trotters and jowls) parts of the pig. Though, I appreciate the sharp tang of the mustard sauce in the Dowd’s.

The pork was probably the best pork I’ve had in SC to date. Instead of shredding the pork to death, Hite’s offers large chunks of pig permeated with rich wood smoke, then lightly tossed in a mild yellow sauce. I could have used a few fattier pieces tossed into the mix, but this was excellent.

A view out back behind Hite’s, from the picnic tables (no seating inside).

A pint of warm to go.

On the way home the next week I finally decided to stop at another BBQ joint that’s been on my list for while. This time I was stopping off I-20 in Thomson, GA, which isn’t too far into Georgia after passing through Augusta. Neal’s was on my radar due to John Edge’s listing of his top 100 Southern foods for G&G. It’s also on his Southern Belly iPhone application.

I got the plate with hash, pork, potato salad, homemade pickles, and white bread. As you can see, this hash looks a bit more like Brunswick stew. The texture was the softest yet, a heaping portion of greasy and guilty pork bits in a slick tomato based sauce. I thought the pulled pork would be dry based on appearance, but it must have been sitting in a pool of its own juices, as it was moist and flavorful. Neal’s earns bonus points for really good house pickled cauliflower.

Clearly, moving down from Newberry (Dowd’s) to Hite’s (Columbia) and finally on to Neal’s (West of Augusta), you can see the variation of what they all call hash. And as you move South through the midlands, and West over into Georgia, the use of yellow sauce dissipates. I don’t know if this is a direct result of geography and history, or just coincidence, but it’s interesting to me either way.

What hash do I like the best? They are obviously different beasts, but the Dowd’s has been the most interesting to me, with a pepper-specked punch of vinegar and yellow sauce that I have not had before. In terms of texture, you aren’t ever going to try something like the hash at Neal’s, though I prefer the less greasy feel of the hash at Hite’s. If you love stew, Neal’s is what you want. For the highest quality pork used in a hash, go with the Dowd’s.

I was in Florida two weekends ago for the triathlon I’ve mentioned on here from time to time, and was on a mission to find something tasty that wouldn’t be bad for me, i.e. no fried foods. In PCB, that’s a challenge. Luckily I stumbled upon Sweet Racks BBQ.

While BBQ isn’t really the ideal pre-race meal, I figured they may have some smoked chicken I could eat guilt-free. The special of the day ended up being adobo chicken with rice – score! A slow simmered chicken, the adobo didn’t use too many spices (a good thing for my current need) and the huge portion was really tender and good, especially the dark meat. I ordered a side of collards, which had undergone a gentle preparation which reminded me of the soon to be lost (heartbroken) Dynamic Dish.

The chef/owner, a former cop from Chicago, opened Sweet Racks with his Filipino wife after moving to PCB about a year and a half ago. He was the sort of guy that wouldn’t take no for an answer when I told him I couldn’t eat any pork. He brought out a sweet rib in Tocino BBQ sauce, as well as a small portion of the pulled pork. They were both wonderful. The large, tender smoked rib, with wonderful bark, worked really well with the sweet, sticky, smoky, and spicy BBQ sauce.

Unlike the ribs, the pulled pork had no sauce. It was simply served in a small cup with the natural jus, as I was told there’s no reason to hide the flavor of pork as beautiful as this. I wasn’t one to argue. I was probably visibly upset when I was told they wouldn’t be open on Sunday, as I thought I had found my post-race feast.

The owner eagerly showed me his operation after I asked him a few questions. I learned where the smoky flavor came from in the BBQ sauce when I saw the ribs disintegrating in the simmering sauce, which he makes every day. Awesome.

Some of their specials include pancit, as well as lumpia – Filipino dumplings which he offers whenever the old Filipino ladies have time to come in and roll a few hundred for the hungry soldiers at the nearby Naval base.

A really special BBQ joint with a lot of soul, I loved it.

A few weeks ago I read a great article about the “Hashmasters” of South Carolina in Garden & Gun magazine. If you live in the South and like food, clothing, hunting, design, or gardening, it’s a must-have magazine.

Carolina BBQ hash is exclusive to a very specific area of the country, particularly the area between Columbia and Greenville, SC. Upon inquiring, I discovered many people in Atlanta didn’t have a clue what hash is. On the other hand, when I mentioned that fact to some of my co-workers, they were equally intrigued because they grew up with hash – it’s as engrained in the local BBQ culture as mustard based sauce.

I’ve had it a few times over the last few years, always served with rice, but have never been impressed. It’s often sweet and can have a slimy texture. I decided to seek out one of the producers profiled in the article – Dowd’s. I swung by the Dowd’s production facility (aka their house), but was a little intimidated to knock on their door, and besides, there were no cars in their car port. I recalled that the author of the article picked some up at the Newberry Food Lion, which was only a half mile away. Fifteen minutes later, I was cruising towards South Carolina with three jars of the stuff.

I finally sampled it today for lunch. It’s much different than the hash I’ve tried, much tangier and hearty, with a more even consistency. While not the most appealing looking food product, the mushy, or more accurately, stringy texture is what makes the hash so appealing. The pork has simmered so long, it’s broken down into individual fibers, which latch on to each other to create a sponge that soaks up the mustard based braising liquid and peppery seasonings. It was really very good, you must seek this out the next time you are in the area. I haven’t had anything quite like it.