I didn’t mince my words when I called the co-owner, Jonathan Childres, as I recovered from a lunch of lustrous pork ribs, painted in red sauce and cooked to tender perfection: “What’s with a barbecue restaurant smack dab in the middle of the barbecue belt that may very well be better known for its brussells sprouts than for its barbecue?” And what I didn’t say is that from the outside, it looks more like a day spa than a barbecue restaurant.
“I think our sides have a lot of notoriety because that’s what Rachel Ray had when she came,” Childres said without being the least bit defensive. “We only use fresh vegetables and we get them when we can from local farmers. I spend most Saturday mornings at the farmer’s market.” He gives his co-owner Damon Latas credit for the sides and for most of the cooking: “Damon’s a real chef. I’m a cook.”
Take the brussels sprouts, which they were regrettably out of when I took my wife there specifically so she could try them. They slice them about 3/8-inch thick and blanch them before putting them on ice. Then just after someone orders sprouts, Damon gets a pan going with some of their house-smoked, molasses-cured bacon and sizzles them up with a little garlic. “Put bacon on cardboard and soften it up and it’s good,” says Childres.The result, trust me, would make anyone eat their vegetables without encouragement from their momma.
The sensational tamales come from a Guatemalan cook, who used to cook some of her native treats for the staff before being asked to cook them for patrons. She also makes empanadas. This willingness to stray from traditional barbecue sides came from Childres’ experience running Backstreet Cafe and Latas’ years at Henry’s Bistro, both well-known Chapel Hill eateries.
Then I dropped the big question, even though I already knew the answer to it and my friends from Greenville have already guessed: the method of cooking. “I have all the admiration in the world for anyone who does pit cooking, but I don’t want to do it.” And Childres says that with a little expertise, good barbecue can be made with a gas-fired cooker with a fire box to give the cue a smoky taste. “We’re trying to let the sweetness of the pork come through and we want you also to taste and smell the wood.” Which is where oak and hickory chips come in. Then there’s the mild and subtle vinegar sauce: “We want the sauce to be a counterpoint to that and not cover up the sweetnesss of the meat and the taste.”
I told him that I thought that the pulled pork was excellent for not being pit-fired, but that the ribs were where the Joint really shined, especially the sauce. “Let me tell you about that sauce,” he said. When he was working at Backstreet cooking Cajun and Creole, people kept telling him they wanted some barbecue. He had a sauce recipe of his own, he said, that was so-so and he asked the chef, Bob Bridges, whether he had a sauce recipe.”Chef said he had a pretty good sauce recipe, and then he said, “You know my family are the Bridges that do barbecue down in Shelby, don’t you?” And so was born the red sauce, which goes on the chicken, ribs and brisket — tangy, a little bit spicy and not too sweet.
To me, barbecue is more than meat and if I had to lodge a single complaint against the traditional barbecues in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, it’s that their sides, for the most part are entirely predictable — frozen french fries and hush puppies, same-old slaw, beans right out of the can — and in Western North Carolina, few bother to offer collards or greens. But maybe that’s the definition of traditional.
I should add one thing, though. The Barbecue Joint is not cheap. It’s easy for two people to run up a $30 check. I totally understand that using fresh ingredients, many of them local grown, is the cause and I’m all for it, but don’t go expecting fast-food prices because it’s not fast food. Also you should know The Barbecue Joint is planning to move around the end of this year, at which time they’ll be expanding the menu and their space. But the old favorites will all be there, Childres assured me. And, yes, they’ll have brussells sprouts.
Cue Confessions 