The Pitmaster Who Won a James Beard Award

Enjoying barbecue prepared by award-winning pitmasters is a hobby of mine, but it’s not often that the award has been presented by the prestigious James Beard Foundation. Rodney Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Charleston, SC, is the home of the award-winning pitmaster, although his roots in Hemingway, SC, are not that far away.

Cut hardwood stacked outside the restaurant lets you know that you've arrived at Rodney Scott's. 

Opened in July 2016, the restaurant is a continuation of success for Scott, after having been profiled in Time magazine, The New York Times, Saveur, and other publications. With the James Beard Award in 2018 for Best Chef: Southeast, Scott has reached another pinnacle. The award acknowledges Scott’s culinary talent and broadens his reputation nationally. With the recognition came backing for Scott to open his own restaurant on King Street in food-centric Charleston, about 80 miles away to the southeast from his family’s business where he learned to cook whole hogs.

Rodney Scott's BBQ is now a destination on King Street in Charleston.

Having lunch at Scott’s was the most important part of my recent trip to Charleston (although the purpose was to be a judge at a cookoff in the area on the next day). I was surprised how extensive the menu is at the Charleston restaurant. It’s much more expanded than the simple menu of Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Hemingway.

Customers wait to order at the peak of lunch hour.

For my first visit to Rodney Scott’s in Charleston, I had to order the pit-cooked barbecue, although fried catfish was tempting. Pork smoked over oak coals with a little hickory and pecan hardwood carried me back my first visit to Scott’s Variety Store and Bar-B-Que in Hemingway. On his menu in Charleston, Scott proclaims that he gets the wood that he needs every week “to put flavor in what we do — kind of like the chef picking out tomatoes from a garden.” The barbecue flavors of the family’s traditional approach of slowing cooking whole hogs have amazingly been brought intact to the big city.

Rodney Scott is a gracious host, and his smile is as award-winning as his barbecue.

True to the tradition of the Scott’s family style in Hemingway, two slices of white bread accompany the pulled pork on a plate, which is served on a tray and comes with two sides and cornbread (only one side with sandwiches).

This combo plate, served on a tray, includes pork and ribs with beans, greens, cornbread, and white bread. An order of banana pudding is at the top left.

The sides are tempting. Baked mac ‘n’ cheese with a crispy breadcrumb topping seemed to be the customers’ favorite while I was there. Being a traditional Southerner, I ordered the greens. Coleslaw, potato salad, hushpuppies, and baked beans are among the other sides.

A sandwich is served with one side (coleslaw in this order).

Although I didn’t save room for dessert, I ordered some anyway — only one is on the menu, and it’s the only one needed. Traditional banana pudding completes a perfect barbecue lunch. What Scott’s serves reminds me of Sunday dessert when I was growing up. It is that good.

Banana pudding is the only dessert on the menu.

Not every BBQ restaurant has a drive-thru window. Rodney Scott’s does, and it stayed busy, although most customers come to eat either inside or at tables on the patios. The line inside seemed to never end while I was there, and often than a dozen people were waiting to order.

The drive-thru window awaits the first lunch customer after the restaurant has opened.

The excitement that has developed for Rodney Scott’s barbecue in South Carolina is a clue that another state deserves a location. Not to worry. Another restaurant — this one in Birmingham, Alabama — is already on the books and being planned to open in 2019. Now I need to start planning a trip to Alabama.

Whole hogs smoked for hours are ready to be taken from the pits.

Few spaces inside are available during the lunch hour.

The tables outside are popular places to enjoy barbecue.

Barbecue Served with Recipes That Grandma Hill Created

Pork shoulders cook slowly over hardwood coals in the kitchen of Hill's Lexington Barbecue.

A trip to Hill’s Lexington Barbecue in Winston-Salem, NC, is a trip back to the 1950s. The food, hospitality, and atmosphere harken back to an earlier time and a slower pace. Drive-ins were family-owned. Another decade would be needed before McDonalds, Hardees, and similar places would open.

A traditional wood burner, this stack at Hill's was brought in from Asheboro, NC.

Imagine Winston-Salem, NC, in 1951, when Hill’s opened as a drive-in on Patterson Avenue, then U.S. 52 heading north to Mt. Airy and south to the Twin City. At that time the restaurant was outside city limits – a time and place I remember as a child because my dad was its mail carrier on his motor route and let me join him delivering the mail on summer days in the mid-1950s (without U.S. Postal Service approval or knowledge, of course). Today, although within city limits, Hill’s is now bypassed by the limited-access U.S. 52 that rises high above on an elevated road soon to be Interstate 74. 

Hardwood is burned until coals are ready for the smoker.

In 1951, the city population was around 90,000, and the dedicated customer enjoyed a scenic drive to Hill’s on a curvy, two-lane U.S. 52 at slow speeds. Today, U.S. 52 is the fast road north in a city of almost 250,000. Many wonderful places with cultural and historic connections are now missed by some travelers who are totally unaware they exist simply because highways have been redesigned and “improved” to move us at faster speeds. Although a new customer has to look for the overhead billboard to know which exit to take, long-term customers know exactly where on Patterson Avenue Hill’s is located.

Long-term customers arrive early for favorite seating in the dining areas,

The dining areas are typically filled with repeat customers who also know that the menu still reflects good value and a cooking method known as Lexington style.  The pork is prepared from only hog shoulders and cooked slowly over hardwood coals. Although it’s served in one of four ways -- chopped, pulled, sliced, and blocked -- it comes with only one kind of slaw – red – the only kind served with Lexington-style barbecue.

Lexington-style barbecue is always served with "red" slaw.

When I ordered a pulled pork tray for lunch, the server was careful to explain that it came with red slaw just in case I was not familiar with it. Unlike traditional coleslaw, no mayonnaise is in the vinegary red slaw, which gets its characteristic color from ketchup. The pulled pork with a thin but peppery sauce I enjoyed was tender and full of smoky flavor. With the red slaw, it’s a perfect lunch – with hushpuppies, of course.

The server brings more than enough hushpuppies to a table while the orders are being prepared.

The original small drive-in has been gone a long time. Although a larger building replaced it more than 40 years ago, the best recipes – banana pudding, slaw, hushpuppies, and sauce – are still the original family ones. The Hill family, with the third generation now operating the restaurant, has been wise in not modernizing or updating them.

A portrait of Edna Hill, wife of the founder, guards the entrance -- a good reason not to change a recipe, particularly the one for banana pudding.

The sign in front proclaims Hill’s to be “The Original Lexington Barbecue” for two good reasons. Founder Joe Allen Hill came to Winston-Salem from Lexington with the dream of cooking pork “Lexington-style” here and opened the first restaurant in the city to have “Lexington barbecue” in its name. More importantly, although other establishments in Lexington, NC, were in business when Hill opened this restaurant, he’s the first to name his “Lexington barbecue.”

Hill's is the original Lexington Barbecue for two good reasons.

Take a journey back to the 1950s – only the prices have changed (and modestly at that). The hospitality, atmosphere, recipes, and food at Hill’s remain the same. Even the mail boxes on the side of the road look like they are just as original.

The best finish for a meal at Hill's is its famous banana pudding, always served warm.

Notes: 

1. An earlier post, prepared for the N.C. Folklife Institute that focuses on memory and changing cultural experiences and also discusses the traditions of Hill’s, is online at the Institute’s NCFood blog.
2. The restaurant was permanent closed in January 2020 after being in business 68 years.