Midwood Smokehouse - Charlotte, NC

Midwood Smokehouse
16710 Birkdale Common Parkway
Huntersville, NC
http://midwoodsmokehouse.com/

Just being in the south and having a president and his secretary of state dine at your establishment does not make for good barbecue.  Maybe good marketing but the proof is in the pudding (more about their banana pudding later).

This location has only been here a few weeks (interestingly enough, the took over from a different BBQ restaurant - but they brought in their own smoker). But they do have an app or you can order for pickup online. That's a nice options.  Let's get to the review...

Midwood BBQ is a chain of individual restaurants (meaning they are not cookie cutter locations) in and around Charlotte, NC.  The menu includes some mouth watering items.  For appetizers, there are Pimento Cheese Fries, Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos and BBQ Queso.

For sandwiches there is the Hot Mess (brisket burger patty with creamy bacon jalapeno spread, Monterey Jack & carmelized onions on a bun), Texas Style Brisket (chopped brisket, tossed with Midwood sauce on Texas toast with smoked red onions and choice of cheese (with Pimento as one of the options!), Chicken BBQ (smoked pulled chicken in their SC mustard sauce, slaw and leaf lettuce), BBQ Pork (chopped pork tossed in their NC vinegar sauce with slaw on the side).

For tacos there is Stockyard Tacos (chopped brisket with shredded cabbage, sliced avocado, spicy red salsa, cilantro and queso fresco), Red Neck Tacos (chopped pork, slaw, spicy red salsa and cilantro) and El Fuego Tacos (shredded chicken, pico ge gallo, guacamole, stuffed with a bacon wrapped jalapeno and drizzed with ranch).

For plates there is Salmon, Chicken (pulled and lightly dressed in their SC mustard sauce), Carolina Pork (chopped and lighting dressed in their Eastern NC vinegar sauce), Burnt Ends (caramelized cubes of brisket tossed in their house made Fat Tire BBQ sauce), Brisket (sliced) and St. Louis style pork ribs.

For sides there is Texas Toast, Sweet Potato Fries, Smoked Veggies, Collard Greens, Creamed Corn, Crinkle Cut Fries, Hush Puppies, Cole Slaw, Classic Mac & Cheese, BBQ Slaw, and BBQ Baked Beans.

For desserts there is Pecan Cobbler and Banana Pudding.

I just couldn't stand it.  I had to try the Pimento Cheese Fries.  If your standard for an item like this is cheese fries, then they are fine.  However, if your standing is empowering southern pimento cheese towering over crispy crinkle cut fries, then you may find that there is very little "pimento-cheesiness" that embodies this plate full of southern bar food.

I had the Burnt Ends and Ribs with sides of collard greens and hush puppies.

While the burnt ends had a good flavor, technically burnt ends should only come from the point side of the brisket. This ensures they are young and tender tasting as this is the fatty side of the brisket.  While the flavor was good, the texture was tough and came from the flat side of the brisket. Not authentic.

The greens were good and spicy and they had pepper vinegar with which to add flavor.  That was a nice touch.  The hush puppies were very tasty and soaked up lots of BBQ sauce!

The ribs had a nice smoke but were a little tough.  A B- overall on the ribs.

The banana pudding was very good although not good enough to be called 'nanner puddin'.  That's down home Mom kinda good.

They had several different sauces. Some, Midwood sauce, the Fat Tire (too tart) and Vinegar (too thin) were right on the table, there were others they brought in dishes. The SC mustard (very good) and the Jalapeno BBQ (not too spicey but really flavorful) were better.  Much better.

Overall I have to give this a very passable rating.  Some things were better than others (my friend said the wings were very good) but definitely a place to visit if in the Charlotte, NC area.