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    Lexington Barbecue, aka Lexington #1, aka Monk's.
from hvacstar  
6/19/2012 1:41:55 PM

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My wife's Father's Day gift to me was dinner here Saturday evening. Excellent!

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   The red brick building is where the pits are located. from hvacstar  6/19/2012 1:43:42 PM
 

They cook shoulders only and during August, their busiest month, they will go through about 500 a week. A shoulder weighs about 16 pounds when they start and about 9 and a half or 10 pounds when it's done cooking which yields about 5 and a half pounds of lean meat.

   This is Wayne Monk, the owner/operator of Lexington Barbecue. from hvacstar  6/19/2012 1:45:11 PM
 

We sat in one of the two booths right in front of the counter ahead of the main dining area. After we had our meal, we ordered a pound of BBQ to go and Mr. Monk himself brought it to the table and we had a nice conversation. He told us that a fella from Sweden had been in the pits all day. He was learning how to do Cue. A magazine writer is coming there this week for an article. Wayne has been cooking BBQ since 1952 and has owned this place since 1962. The "Lexington Barbecue Briarpatch" is a diagram in the book "Holy Smoke" and shows who learned from who. The 3 guys who are credited with beginning the Piedmont or Lexington Style of Cue were Sid Weaver, Jess Swicegood and Warner Stamey. Wayne learned the ropes from Mr. Stamey. "We're all related. We're all tied up like a can of worms" says Monk. In 1983 he was asked to and catered for the Economic Summit hosted by President Ronald Reagan in Williamsburg VA. As a result of this, England's Margaret Thatcher and France's Francois Mitterand were among the heads of state of the seven leading industrial countries of the world that were introduced to genuine Lexington BBQ. Mr. Monk is a true gentleman and he is a damn good businessman. I've read several articles and interviews with him and he understands that customer satisfaction is the key to being successful. He isn't afraid to try new menu items and has a flexible outlook. In one interview he mentions that he has encouraged his grandchildren to learn Spanish in school. He said that down the road Latinos will be a factor in his business if they can communicate with them. " If we will know what they want, we can please them and we can serve them". Mr. Monk makes you proud to be a small business owner in the United States. Hard work and good people are the backbone of our country. Government doesn't create jobs. Government destroys jobs. Entrepreneurs create and provide jobs. Profit creates and provides jobs.

   Some other popular BBQ joints in Lexington. This is Speedy's. from hvacstar  6/19/2012 1:46:43 PM
 

A young fishing phenom and his dad were spotted here last week. They probably dumped mustard on the Cue.

   Smiley's from hvacstar  6/19/2012 1:47:33 PM
 

Check out the pig on the left side of the building.

   Kerley's. Right Fatz? from hvacstar  6/19/2012 1:48:28 PM
 

The last three are all located on Old US Hwy 52.

   Speedy Lohr's of Arcadia. A few miles northwest of Lexington. from hvacstar  6/19/2012 1:49:20 PM
 

Yep, there are two Speedy's around these parts. The Lohr's name lures hungry BBQ customers and Lohr's Lures have caught many a lunker bass.

   31 Airborne. This is it, right? Also on old Hwy 52. from hvacstar  6/19/2012 1:50:57 PM
 

Nick's Old Fashioned Hamburgers. I already had dinner at Monk's, but bought one of the burgers, took it home and warmed it up later. It was STILL great! Being as it was that good out of the microwave, it has to be the best hot off of the grill.

   2 other places to check out on old Hwy 52. from hvacstar  6/19/2012 1:53:23 PM
 

RCR. Richard Childress Racing Museum.

   DaveT. from hvacstar  6/19/2012 1:55:03 PM
 

1998 Daytona 500 winner.

   The owner of this place is a pretty fair stick. from hvacstar  6/19/2012 1:56:34 PM
 

My brother and I went to the grand opening years ago and I bought my first DT crankbaits then. Rapala and Fritts had just introduced the line and he and some Rapala reps were hawking them. The DT-10 in the shad color is still my favorite crank. I've probably gone thru about 20 since then. And that's just the shad color. There was a guy named Tim White there that day and I still have his card. www.southernfishing.com. I think he was from Georgia?

   The Barbecue Festival. from hvacstar  6/19/2012 1:58:16 PM
 

Great way to spend a Saturday afternoon in October. Hopefully, we will be there again this year.

   Uh, this was not in Lexington. from hvacstar  6/19/2012 2:00:52 PM
 

Just tossing a bone to you dawgs.

   hvacstar from DaveT  6/19/2012 2:40:26 PM
  Some day I 'am going to make it dowm to the RCR shops. Man those were the BEST days of NASCAR for me any way. You don't know what you are watching until its gone. I miss Dale Sr. But Jr won the last race. EARNHARDT!!!!!!!!!!

   Great Pics from fatzso #19093  6/19/2012 2:41:17 PM
 I had a smile on my face looking at those and memories to many to mention. Some of those hands have been working at Lexington and Speedys for years. I remember a lot of those people to who ran these places as they all were well known.

Where RCR building is we used to rabbit hunt on. I knew Mike Dillon when he was little but knew his dad better because they ran Dillon Auto Salvage up 52.

The shoulders used to be put on the racks and covered with the cartons broke down on top of the and the fire box kept coals in them. Every so often someone who take a shovel and slap the fire to break the coals up and then sprinkle them under thepit to keep the meat cooking. If you let it get to hot and the pit catch fire it went straight up the chimney and it was outside with the garden hose fighting the fire and soaking the pit with water. Those were the good ole days.

Thanks Hvacstar for the pics and bringing a smile to my face oh and where did you get the pic of my sister.

JH

   gonna have to make a pilgrimage up there... from Beartrap   6/19/2012 5:56:14 PM
 fine looking BBQ places and i would bet some good BBQ or they couldn't stay in business with all the competition...
only place i can think of comparable to this is the Phenix city,Al./Columbus,Ga. area which has 5-6 really good bbq places....

Beartrap

   No Mustard on the BBQ from BR400  6/20/2012 7:46:24 AM
 Awesome pictures there HVAC.

Tim White lives near me. He can talk more BS than three Wacko's. Funny story on how I met Tim. We were at the Classic in Charlotte in 2004 and I had talked to him at the Rapala booth in the Expo. We were hungry so we went across the street to a sandwich shop and Tim and his wife came in. She put their stuff at a table next to us and I asked her where she was from....Tim was ordering. She said a small town in NE Ga. I said yeah, where. She said Martin (a little crossroads 5 miles from me). I said is that anywhere near Avalon??? Avalon, a stop sign near me and also a textile plant there. You should have seen her face. I keep up with Tim but haven't talked to him. I will call him soon.

You didn't tell me Monk's was also "The" Lexington BBQ. We passed that heading south to I-85.

Uh, I don't think the blonde needs any coals. I have seen more cotton in the top of an aspirin bottle!

   HVAC, great pictures. from PPEN  6/20/2012 6:35:49 PM
 You did a fine job getting good pictures of the BBQ places but nary a single one of HVCSTAR did we see. Come on. Shine up the pearlies and let the good wife snap one of you chompin down on one of those famous plates of pig.