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Over on the Philadelphia forum, southbound_295 has on occasion spoken of a patch of South Jersey centered on the borough of Magnolia where barbecue reigned supreme.
I happen to know that this area is also very close to Lawnside, the oldest African-American-run municipality in the Northeastern United States, formed in 1923 out of part of a Camden County township that has since gotten pretty much sliced into pieces.
Since Lawnside gets its rep from having been a major stop on the Underground Railroad - and is today home to several descendants of "Physician of the Pines" William Still, who produced the most detailed chronicles of the traffic on the Underground Railroad while serving as a conductor on it - I wonder whether there is, or was, a significant black presence in any of the surrounding communities as well. (Certainly a borough named Magnolia this far north must signify something - or does it?)
And having driven right through this territory today en route to touring a house in Pine Valley where Al Capone spent some time hiding from the law in the 1920s, I wonder how much of the old barbecue belt survives.
I spotted only one establishment that stated it served Q along the White Horse Pike: Sugarpuddin's, on North White Horse Pike in Lindenwold.
This place says it's "South Jersey's newest barbecue restaurant" and also claims to serve "the best ribs this side of Missouri."
Which has this native Missourian wanting to check it out.
Now, the proprietor of Sugarpuddin's was raised in Charleston, which is in Mississippi County in far southeast Missouri, just above the Bootheel. This is the most Southern part of the state.
I'm from Kansas City, the state's largest city, just about all the way diagonally across the state. It's not Southern at all, but it is generally considered one of the barbecue capitals of America.
So I have several questions:
--Do they do ribs in Southeast Missouri the way we do them up our way, or are they closer to Memphis ribs in style? (This may be a relatively trivial distinction, for the person considered the father of Kansas City Q, Henry Perry, was an African-American pit cook who migrated to KC from Memphis in 1921 and opened the first barbecue stand in the city; the Pat's and Geno's of KC Q both trace their histories to him.)
--This place is new; are any of the old Q joints southbound_295 speaks of still in existence? If so, what are their names and where are they located?
--Are there any other good Q joints in or near this place that I might want to check out? I note that Sugarpuddin's includes a news item from NJ.com two years ago that states:
It's my contention that Philadelphia also remains a barbecue desert, though the opening of several new and decent Q joints (one of which has already closed) gives me hope on this side of the Delaware too, so don't consider any of this a slight against the Garden State. It's a problem that remains endemic to the Northeast in general.
So: Where would a South Jersey rib crawl take me nowadays? And can anyone tell me where it might have taken me back when the White Horse Pike was less suburban strip and more country road?
Over on the Philadelphia forum, southbound_295 has on occasion spoken of a patch of South Jersey centered on the borough of Magnolia where barbecue reigned supreme.
snip
So I have several questions:
--Do they do ribs in Southeast Missouri the way we do them up our way, or are they closer to Memphis ribs in style? (This may be a relatively trivial distinction, for the person considered the father of Kansas City Q, Henry Perry, was an African-American pit cook who migrated to KC from Memphis in 1921 and opened the first barbecue stand in the city; the Pat's and Geno's of KC Q both trace their histories to him.)
--This place is new; are any of the old Q joints southbound_295 speaks of still in existence? If so, what are their names and where are they located?
--Are there any other good Q joints in or near this place that I might want to check out? I note that Sugarpuddin's includes a news item from NJ.com two years ago that states:
It's my contention that Philadelphia also remains a barbecue desert, though the opening of several new and decent Q joints (one of which has already closed) gives me hope on this side of the Delaware too, so don't consider any of this a slight against the Garden State. It's a problem that remains endemic to the Northeast in general.
So: Where would a South Jersey rib crawl take me nowadays? And can anyone tell me where it might have taken me back when the White Horse Pike was less suburban strip and more country road?
--I'm from Wilkes-Barre, PA, so I'm not going to touch this.
--Rochester's in Lawnside has been around for quite a while.
The other old place burned down. Someone was doing seasonal in that area -- it might have been them -- for a while but they seem to be gone. Uncle Dewey's down in Mizpah is old, and Henri's Hotts in Folsom and Kingfish on Rt. 206 in Shamong aren't new.
I've only eaten at Kingfish and Sugarpuddin's. The ribs and chicken were good at both. Sugarpuddin's is the place that I mentioned to you a couple of years ago. I'm surprised that you missed Seymour's just north of there on the other side of the road.
I'd be willing to try:
Smoke BBQ in Audubon They don't have greens.
Back Alley Barbecue in Pennsauken He had a place at the Columbus Farmers Market.
Lumpy's (lol) in Clementon
Oink and Moo BBQ, Voorhees They had a truck before they opened two restaurants.
Where's the Capone place? My son moved to Pine Hill a few months ago.
Where's the Capone place? My son moved to Pine Hill a few months ago.
You'll find out when everyone else does - it's very secluded - but I can tell you it's been written about before.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'd definitely want to try the place in Lawnside.
Pivoting off the location: There's a popular roadhouse-style Q joint in south Kansas City called BB's Lawnside Blues & BBQ. There's no connection between this place and the New Jersey borough. I may ask what moved them to name it "Lawnside" on my next trip back, as I know of no KC communities or neighborhoods by that name.
You'll find out when everyone else does - it's very secluded - but I can tell you it's been written about before.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'd definitely want to try the place in Lawnside.
Pivoting off the location: There's a popular roadhouse-style Q joint in south Kansas City called BB's Lawnside Blues & BBQ. There's no connection between this place and the New Jersey borough. I may ask what moved them to name it "Lawnside" on my next trip back, as I know of no KC communities or neighborhoods by that name.
People always seen surprised that there are quiet areas there. I know a guy who worked stage lighting in Philadelphia for decades. When he retired, he moved from Medford to ten acres in Estell Manor.
He didn't particularly like BBQ, sushi, or anything at Whole Foods. He didn't grill, either.
Very interesting question. I grew up in what became Cherry Hill. I distinctly remember once, as a child, we were driving through an area called Lawnside and it looked like a movie- people all dressed up and walking along the road with no sidewalks; strings of lights hanging over modest buildings; and overall, the smoke and smell of BBQ billowing. It was so foreign and fascinating, here I am some 60+ years later and I still remember the scene.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,684,299 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarketStEl
Over on the Philadelphia forum, southbound_295 has on occasion spoken of a patch of South Jersey centered on the borough of Magnolia where barbecue reigned supreme.
I happen to know that this area is also very close to Lawnside, the oldest African-American-run municipality in the Northeastern United States, formed in 1923 out of part of a Camden County township that has since gotten pretty much sliced into pieces.
Since Lawnside gets its rep from having been a major stop on the Underground Railroad - and is today home to several descendants of "Physician of the Pines" William Still, who produced the most detailed chronicles of the traffic on the Underground Railroad while serving as a conductor on it - I wonder whether there is, or was, a significant black presence in any of the surrounding communities as well. (Certainly a borough named Magnolia this far north must signify something - or does it?)
And having driven right through this territory today en route to touring a house in Pine Valley where Al Capone spent some time hiding from the law in the 1920s, I wonder how much of the old barbecue belt survives.
I spotted only one establishment that stated it served Q along the White Horse Pike: Sugarpuddin's, on North White Horse Pike in Lindenwold.
This place says it's "South Jersey's newest barbecue restaurant" and also claims to serve "the best ribs this side of Missouri."
Which has this native Missourian wanting to check it out.
Now, the proprietor of Sugarpuddin's was raised in Charleston, which is in Mississippi County in far southeast Missouri, just above the Bootheel. This is the most Southern part of the state.
I'm from Kansas City, the state's largest city, just about all the way diagonally across the state. It's not Southern at all, but it is generally considered one of the barbecue capitals of America.
So I have several questions:
--Do they do ribs in Southeast Missouri the way we do them up our way, or are they closer to Memphis ribs in style? (This may be a relatively trivial distinction, for the person considered the father of Kansas City Q, Henry Perry, was an African-American pit cook who migrated to KC from Memphis in 1921 and opened the first barbecue stand in the city; the Pat's and Geno's of KC Q both trace their histories to him.)
--This place is new; are any of the old Q joints southbound_295 speaks of still in existence? If so, what are their names and where are they located?
--Are there any other good Q joints in or near this place that I might want to check out? I note that Sugarpuddin's includes a news item from NJ.com two years ago that states:
It's my contention that Philadelphia also remains a barbecue desert, though the opening of several new and decent Q joints (one of which has already closed) gives me hope on this side of the Delaware too, so don't consider any of this a slight against the Garden State. It's a problem that remains endemic to the Northeast in general.
So: Where would a South Jersey rib crawl take me nowadays? And can anyone tell me where it might have taken me back when the White Horse Pike was less suburban strip and more country road?
If it's any help, there used to be a discount store chain called Caldor. There was a Caldor on the White Horse Pike. Next to that Caldor there was a bbq place with 2 or 3 pits where they had pigs being cooked. I have no idea what the name of the place was.
Very interesting question. I grew up in what became Cherry Hill. I distinctly remember once, as a child, we were driving through an area called Lawnside and it looked like a movie- people all dressed up and walking along the road with no sidewalks; strings of lights hanging over modest buildings; and overall, the smoke and smell of BBQ billowing. It was so foreign and fascinating, here I am some 60+ years later and I still remember the scene.
Lawnside may be one of Camden County's most historically significant municipalities.
It lies just off the White Horse Pike to the north of the highway. Woodcrest PATCO station lies just beyond its eastern border, and Ashland sits just off its southeast corner. An exit from (ahem) southbound I-295 leads directly into the borough.
The land that now comprises Lawnside Borough was purchased by Quaker abolitionists in 1840 for settlement of freed and escaped slaves. As a result, it became a major station on the Underground Railroad (and a physical station on an actual one: the Reading, which built a station that gave the community its name). William Still, the "Physician of the Pines" who also was perhaps the Underground Railroad's foremost historian (he kept detailed records of the people who passed through the area on their way to freedom), lived in the area, and some of his descendants still reside there (I'm acquainted with one of them, and had the pleasure of attending a Still family reunion a few years back as a result; he and his husband no longer live in the region).
In 1926, its residents voted in a special election to form the Borough of Lawnside after a law passed that year dissolved Center Township, of which it was a part. (I think that law was passed specifically to allow Lawnside to form its own government.) As a result, Lawnside Borough is the oldest African-American run municipality in the northeastern United States.
Thus I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the place once had several BBQ pits. Magnolia, which I understand was (and maybe still is?) also mostly African-American, ditto.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,684,299 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerania
Where was Caldor?
Gee, I just remember that as soon as you got near Magnolia, you could smell bbq. Everybody talked about Magnolia's bbq. I occasionally went to the Caldor & the bbq would be cooking next door. I think that there was a church in some proximity, going down the pike, but I almost never drove down that way, I usually came and went from the other direction. I normally went to a different Caldor, but my hairdresser told me about the one on the White Horse Pike so I went there if the closer one didn't have what I was after.
When I heard about the bbq in Magnolia, I remember hearing about the connection to North Carolina bbq, but I don't know which style. My guess would be Lexington, because a lot of people, both black and white, had moved to South Jersey and Philadelphia from the Piedmont. But I definitely saw whole hogs in the pits of the place next to the Caldor. Whole hog points to eastern NC style. Maybe it was both.
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