BBQgeek

The Pit - Raleigh, NC

 

Business took me to Durham, NC this past week, but it was my love of great BBQ that took me to downtown Raleigh to visit Ed Mitchell's retaurant, The Pit.   Ed is one of the true superstars of the BBQ world.  He has been featured many times on TV, including the Today show and Throwdown with Bobby Flay (in which he beat Bobby in a spare rib contest).  Ed is not only famous for his traditional NC style BBQ but also for his belief in cooking with local and sustainable vegetables and meat.  Ed has organized a co-op of local hog farmers that raises free range hogs (I was told they eat better than most humans) which he then uses for the BBQ in his restaurant.  He also sources his vegetables in the same manner.  In addition to fantastic BBQ and vegetables, the wine and beer selections are better than most high end restaurants I've visited.  I've spent a lot of time in this blog talking about the idea of taking BBQ to the next level and presenting it in a quasi-fine dining format.  Unquestionably, The Pit is the closest I have come to seeing that idea manifested.  Continue reading The Pit - Raleigh, NC here...

Top Chef Loves Community Q!!!

Pictured left to right - Mike Fincham, Eli Kirshtein, Jim Laber, Jennifer Carroll, Kevin Gillespie, Bryan Voltaggio, Michael Isabella.

Despite the cold weather, five of the contestants in Top Chef 6 gathered in a parking lot in downtown ATL to engage in a little tailgate festivity before the Falcons v. Eagles game at the Georgia Dome.  According to Eli, this mini-reunion had been planned since last June.  Tailgates are all about food and friends.  It's obvious that the Top Chef alum really enjoy each other's company, and Eli and company chose  Community Q  to provide a BBQ spread for the pre-game.  Jim Laber and I showed up (without David Roberts who had cooked every last morsel of this delicious food but had to stay behind to run Community Q) with a full spread of pulled pork, brisket, chicken, ribs, cole slaw, mac-and-cheese, brunswick stew, and beans.  Eli and his way-too-awesome parents provided the Pabst Blue Ribbon and some great stories.  I'm very happy to say that everyone loved the BBQ and had a great time.  It was a great day for Community Q.    As far as Top Chef gossip goes, I was very jealous to learn that the Top Chef crew had done a culinary tour de force of Atlanta restaurants the night before, including Pricci, Eno (Eli), Pura Vida (Hector), and Woodfire Grill (Kevin), and Holeman & Finch.  Past that, I've got no gossip for you.  We hung out, drank PBR, and ate delicious BBQ.  Good times and good people.

 

  

Ed Mitchell

 I attended the Marietta Hawg Happening last month to visit with my friends from Dave Poe's BBQ and was extremely happy to learn that Ed Mitchell, from The Pit in Raleigh, NC, was also in attendance.  Ed is one of the true heavyweights of BBQ as evidenced by his recent appearance on Bobby Flay's Throwdown.  Ed is a whole hog master who cooks from the North Carolina tradition.  His philosophy is to cook BBQ in the old tradition using only locally sourced ingredients.  To that end, Ed has put together a network of hog farmers in NC to help him source his product.  That day, I was able to sample some of Ed's BBQ as you can see in the picture.   Delicious.

Here you see Ed at the Hawg Happening.  If you'd like to learn more about Ed and his BBQ then I suggest you check out this fantastic article by my favorite food writer, John T. Edge.  Or you can check out this shootout article in the NYT comparing Ed's ribs to Daisy Mae's ribs(famous because their chef worked under Daniel Boulud).  This is a link to Ed's menu and this is a link to the photos from the recently held Big Apple BBQ Festival, in which Ed participated.  Finally,  I'll leave you with my impressions of Ed.  He struck me as a man who is passionate about returning BBQ to its roots while embracing a lot of the ideals of the current Slow Food/Sustainable Food movement (which is just really old school cooking).  His BBQ is great and he has a REALLY big 18 wheeler in which he travels (which is just cool).  Everybody knows size does really matter.