Smoke Southern Barbecue, a new barbecue restaurant, has recently opened their doors for business to offer the community a comfortable, down-home environment while enjoying Southern cooking. Located at 10324 Wilson Boulevard (Highway 21 near I-77), they will be serving lunch and dinner.

Owners Dan Huntley, Tom Hall and Heath Sessions have a true appreciation for pit smoked barbecue. Huntley worked as a political writer for the Charlotte Observer for the past 28 years, Hall is a songwriter, musician and attorney, and Sessions is a former asset manager with previous experience operating restaurants. Dan met Tom about fifteen years ago when Huntley covered an article on Hall. Most recently, Huntley and Sessions got together catering gigs in and around Charlotte as weekend warriors manning the smoker.

“You know, Heath and I just enjoyed cooking together and telling lies on the weekend,” Huntley comments. “One job took us to Columbia’s Museum of Art where Tom was performing and the rest is history

“I worked for Strom Thurmond as an intern when I was a teenager,” Huntley said. “I went to a great many barbecues and subsequently have been exposed to that style of cooking for quite some time.”

Huntley became interested in pit cooking, so interested that he co-authored a book entitled “Extreme Barbecue, Smokin’ Rigs and Real Good Recipes.” “The thing I have learned,” said Huntley, “is that barbecue isn’t something you do in isolation. It’s done as a communal celebration, (for a wedding, anniversary or graduation). It takes eighteen hours to fully pit cook a whole hog and twelve hours to cook Boston Butts.”

Huntley attended so many pig pickins’ that his fascination became a challenge. “I bought my first pig cooker about 25 years ago,” he said. “My father-in-law built it for me, and you have to know something about cooking and culture to operate a cooker because homemade rigs don't come with an instruction manual."

Although Huntley, Hall and Sessions were from the York/Chester area; they searched to open a barbecue restaurant for quite some time. “We wanted to find a place with a pit,” said Huntley. “Most barbecue restaurants aren’t equipped with pits. While we were searching, we accidently got off the interstate at the wrong exit, Wilson Boulevard. We stumbled across a restaurant for lease, (formerly Myers BBQ), and as fate would have it, the restaurant had two pits already built.”

“We had an idea of a pit barbecue restaurant but never could find the right place. We wanted to build a restaurant that honored the tradition of barbecue while also integrating new recipes and cooking techniques,” says Sessions. “And we found it and hopefully the community will enjoy our food as well as the atmosphere we’re creating out back.”

Smoke Southern Barbecue is offering pulled pork, ribs, chicken, catfish, oysters and smoked meats. The lunch buffet is from 11:00am-2:30pm, and offers a meat and three vegetables.

“We have also started and marketed SC Boudin Company,” Huntley said. “Boudin (pronounced Boodan) is a pork flavored rice cooked in pork broth that originated in Louisiana. As a matter of fact, Boudin is as popular in Louisiana as barbecue is in the Carolinas.

“We want to introduce Cajun cooking to our customers,” Huntley continued. “Along with Boudin, we have Andouille Sausage, Crawfish pies and Gumbo.”

The restaurant features live Bluegrass and Oyster Roasts every Thursday evening. “We’ll have live music, cold beer and great food,” said Hall. “We offer supper on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Come join us for an evening of fun, relaxation and Southern eating.”

Smoke Southern Barbecue also offers a full catering menu. To contact Smoke Southern Barbecue call 754-0270.