Tag Archives: beans

Brisket from The Smoke Pit – Concord, NC

The Smoke Pit
796 Concord Pkwy N
Concord, NC 28027
http://thesmokepitnc.com/

It is my intention to try every meat they have; which means that I must make many visits. So far, I’ve had pulled pork and the smoked sausage. This visit was made with the intention of trying the brisket.

On this trip, I decided to try the brisket. When I arrived, that decision was almost altered by a new item on the menu, smoked beef ribs. Since I’m also on a mission to find the best brisket in North Carolina, I needed to get this one out of the way.

As usual we had to stand in line that was out the door, but not outside the building at least.

My wife was with me again on this visit; she like the pulled pork so much last time that she decided to get it. Good thing because I like it too. A two-meat offering from The Smoke Pit is more meat than two people should eat. Sides this time were Hash Brown Casserole, White Slaw, Deviled Egg Potato Salad and their Smoked Pork BBQ Beans; we also ordered banana pudding as I’m trying to give them another opportunity on this dessert.

Let’s get right into it.

 

The Smoke Pit Concord, NC Pulled Pork, Brisket
The Smoke Pit Concord, NC Pulled Pork, Brisket

The Sides

The Hash Brown Casserole

Another winner of a side item from The Smoke Pit. I don’t recall ever having this anywhere; so, I cannot compare it to anything to tell you how good it was. I just know that it was good.

The Deviled Egg Potato Salad

Yes, this was over the top Potato Salad. Many times, I get potato salad it seems like it is the same ole thing served by many. This however was different, it was better. The potatoes were big chunks, not that I prefer not like that. I actually prefer them to be smaller chunks. This is good stuff.

The beans and slaw, I’ve covered before. My wife like slaw, I like the beans.

I’ve also covered the pulled pork in another review, although it wasn’t as good this time. Still a very good treat!

The Brisket

Ok, up to this point Big Tiny’s in Mooresville, NC was winning the best brisket in North Carolina with several close seconds. It’s hard for me to say if this is better than Big Tiny’s, but it is at least as good.

Very tender and moist meat, nice bark and nice hit of smoke. Everything you’d look for in a good brisket was here. You can complement it with a little sauce, or eat it as is.

So far, The Smoke Pit in Concord, NC has delivered top notch meats on each of the items I’ve tried so far.

Verdict: You like brisket then you’ll love this stuff.

 

Banana Pudding

Ordered it, received our food no banana pudding so I asked the server to make certain it was brought to us. The last time s similar thing happened and we didn’t get the pudding until late. it was never delivered to the table. Waited until we were the last there. A mad dash by some, was told they didn’t have it and was offered Chocolate Moose, got my money back.

 

First time I visited The Smoke Pit I tipped 20%, second time I tipped 20% had the issue with very late delivery of the banana pudding. This visit I tipped 15% because of the previous visit. They hustle your food out to the table and you never hear from them again. I get that it’s self-service; but when I ask the server to do something and they don’t. That’s not good service. I realize they’re busy and all, but I do wonder why I tip so much when they deliver so little service.

 

 

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit – Plymouth, MI

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit
44741 Five Mile Rd
Plymouth, MI 48170
http://www.dickeys.com

 

It’s hard to find good barbecue in Michigan folks. It’s not like North Carolina where you can probably find a great barbecue place in every county, and many counties you can find many. That doesn’t mean there isn’t good or even great que up here, you just must hunt it out. Well, I didn’t have time to go seeking out barbecue. I had to work and was able squeeze in Dickey’s which was close by where I was working.

Dickey’s is a chain and there are several in North Carolina; including one in my area. What you tend to get with most chains is consistency, but not necessarily the best end product. i have friends that poke fun at me because I’ll eat at the chains. Up here in the Northville, Plymouth area there isn’t a lot of competition I gather.

We arrived just after 12:00PM, went in and looked the menu over. I hunted for banana pudding but couldn’t find it.  I knew the probability was higher now that this would not be an awesome experience. So, I lowered my expectation to good and hopefully nothing worse. Good and I’m happy.

My buddy asks me what he should get. I suggest trying brisket or since he likes sausage he try that. He goes ahead and gets both. He’s not a big guy so great, I’ll get some sausage. I’ll trade him some pulled pork for that. He gets baked beans and green beans; I get baked beans and potato salad.

Dickey's Barbecue Pit Plymouth, MI Brisket and Sausage
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit Plymouth, MI Brisket and Sausage

Sides

The Barbecue Beans – I thought they were OK, nothing special. Threw the pork in and yes they were a bit better. Done right these can be as good as getting a dessert. These were just average. They were NOTHING like what you see on their website on the menu. Not sure why the difference.

The Potato Salad – Like the barbecue beans it was OK, a mustard based potato salad. Nothing over the top. Yes, you can get over the top potato salad. Read my other reviews.

The Green Beans – I didn’t taste them, Steve said they were alright. He didn’t seem to be excited about it.

 

Meats

The Brisket

My brisket was a bit drier than Steve’s was. He had more fat in his, and he had a little more of the bark. It had a hit of smoke but fell short here. While the meat wasn’t tough, it wasn’t the most tender brisket either. This is a hard meat to get right, overall, I’d say they did OK. They’ll get 3-stars on Yelp for the brisket. Is this normal, I cannot say. Even the places that I’ve found awesome brisket can have bad days where it is only good, not awesome.

The Pulled Pork

Again, nothing outstanding. Probably had a little more smoke hit to it. Sorry I cannot rave about it. Stacked up against all the pulled pork I’ve eaten, it falls into the good but no great category. Their sauce is similar, but not exactly like what we find in the Piedmont of North Carolina, maybe a little thicker with ketchup. I’ve read where this is a supposed to be a “Texas Style”.

The Sausage

I like sausage and was fortunate that Steve was willing to trade a little pork for a little sausage, a polish kielbasa. It is my opinion that this was the best of the meats. Not over the top, but a solid good. It would have been nice if it were a little juicier, but seems everything here today was a little drier than expected. Which of course either means higher heat or left in too long. Since we were at lunch time my guess is a higher heat.

 

Overall, I’d say it was worth the visit if you’re after barbecue. In this area, I don’t know what your other options for barbecue would be.