GARLAND, N.C. — Barbecue has been in North Carolina since its foundation as a British colony. Over time each region began putting its own spin on smoked meat until distinct flavors emerged as specialties in the East and the West.
What You Need To Know
Southern Smoke BBQ is the only barbecue restaurant in Garland, N.C., and opens two days a week to a sell-out crowd
The menu rotates every day featuring classic eastern N.C. barbecue, along with foreign cuisine with a twist
The restaurant is known to sell out less than an hour after opening its doors
At Southern Smoke BBQ head chef Matt Register says he's just preaching the old school barbecue gospel of eastern North Carolina, sharing his love of a wood fire and smokey vinegar with anyone who lines up outside his door.
“You don't find that in many other places in the world where you've got these restaurants and it's the same three, four generations that are eating the same barbecue, and it's still good,” Register said. “That smoke and the pork and the vinegar, it gets in your DNA, and it never leaves.”
He's living a dream he never thought would be a possibility in his town that has little more than a caution light and 600 people. But that close-knit community is what keeps his doors open on rainy Thursdays when people don't want to make the trek from Raleigh, Charlotte or Wilmington — the same people who have supported him since day one eight years ago.
“The legacy of Southern Smoke is one of community. I want to show other people that you can chase a crazy dream in a small town,” Register said. “We wanted it to be just a cool funky little BBQ joint, so why change it.”
Barbecue was simply a backyard hobby for him that unexpectedly turned into a passion and eventually a career. Now it's a family affair as his kids grow up around the smoker, help him perfect his sauces and his parents man the restaurant on any Thursday or Friday they can spare.
“I am one of those lucky people that I don't have a job, I get to do something that I absolutely adore every day,” Register said. “There are times where my knees and my legs and my back don't adore it, but still in my heart I just I love it.”
The building itself for Southern Smoke BBQ is a hole-in-the-wall establishment, but its reputation spans the entire coast of North Carolina and across the central region as well.
“One of the most humbling things is when someone will get in their car in Wilmington and drive to Garland for lunch and turn around and drive back home,” Register said. “That's when it puts everything in perspective.”
His customers know if they're hoping for a rack of ribs they had better be first in line or place an order well in advance. It's not unusual for him to be completely sold out before the line is gone. His phone rings constantly throughout the week as barbecue lovers from all over anticipate getting their Southern Smoke fix at the end of each week.
“We've sold out in 25 minutes, 30 minutes,” Register said. “It blows my mind when we open up and there's a line 75 deep. It always breaks my heart when we run out of stuff, and there's 20 people in line.”
It's not that he has no desire to expand, but he never wants to bite off more than he can chew. If he's not the one smoking the meat and greeting the customers, something about it doesn't feel quite right to him.
“The unique thing about our place is, yes, I'm cooking it, but I'm not in the back of the kitchen and don't see my customers every day,” Register said. “I get to know them, they're not customers, they're kind of like they're our family.”