From Barbycu to Barbecue by Joseph R. Haynes - Booked by the Cover

Welcome to the Book by the Cover Blog(cast), a spin on a podcast I'm currently able to record again! Please look forward to new podcasts this month-find the older ones on YouTube.

Today's book is: From Barbycu to Barbecue.

From B to B in Baltimore. Today I'm sitting at a Starbucks in Charles Village-what feels like a colorful college town-writing this blog. I just bought a Ginger Super Shot drink, and it's spicy-it's got some heat for sure. The warmth balances out the chill in the air as summer transitions into autumn. Yes, pumpkin spice is back on the menu, too... and pecan? That's new. I don't remember that one being at Starbucks in years past. Anyway, this time of year is ideal for bonfires and pit beef, a signature dish of this port city better known for its crabs.    

The cover of the book for today has a dark grey background with a single red flame and black lines of smoke. The flame harkens back to the eye on the cover of the book in the previous post. Both the eye and the flame take up the center of the cover, illustrating the main idea while still hinting at the need for more. The text, in a mixture of different fonts, is all in white including: the title, subtitle, and author's name. Some fonts are thin, others are bold. Some are with serif and others are sans. What I adore most is that the illustration looks like it was done in charcoal.

[ Charcoal is my favorite medium for drawing. It's messy, dusty, and fuzzy. Works of charcoal appear to have a subtle movement to them-like a hypnotic slow motion sort of movement. ]

That's about it! Let's get these details to inspire some travel.  

This itinerary must be a barbecue crawl. Let's see which places we can find and then connect them with other on-theme activities in between. 

Remembering.

The other day I researched Baltimore barbecue and read a comment stating Jake's Grill is the best in Baltimore. I haven't tried it. I also watched an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives where Guy Fieri tries barbecue in Baltimore. The restaurant in the episode is a food truck, and I would like to include it in the itinerary if possible.  

[ Can a mobile restaurant be part of a crawl? I don't think so. Jeez, that makes me sad. Perhaps I'll have to change the name from just crawl to crawl'n'roll. But crawl'n'roll mixes the movement of patrons with the movement of the restaurants. That doesn't make consistent sense; this neologism must make consistent sense! So, I must only describe the two actions of the patrons. The patrons in this case, crawl and chase. Ah, yes.

I officially dub days of crawling to stationary restaurants and mobile restaurants (aka food trucks) a ✨Crawl'n'Chase✨. Ha! 

Imagine the potential size of this. It could be an inter-city event led by various food trucks. In a single city, walk from place to place. From one city to another, follow a food truck that will feed you along the way! Join whenever and wherever you like, you foodie, you! 

Inspired by the movie, Chef. 

The food truck from the DDD video now has a physical location, Famous Chaps. (😢 Happy tears.) ]

Searching for cities known for barbecue and a barbecue museum.

Kansas City hosts a Museum of Barbecue and is known for having the best barbecue in the country. The website of the museum has a map with Memphis, the Carolinas, and Texas highlighted as other areas known for barbecue. 

I am overwhelmed with this despite already defining a crawl'n'chase as a big deal. 

Searching for top barbecue restaurants in the places mentioned above.

Arthur Bryant's Barbecue is the choice for Missouri, Pecan Lodge is the chosen location in Dallas Texas, Charlie Vergos Rendezvous is the place for Memphis, Tennessee, Rodney Scott's is the spot for Charleston, South Carolina, and Lexington Barbecue in North Carolina. Jakes Grill will be the spot for Baltimore, and the food truck leading the way will be one of Famous Chaps'.

So, we'll chuck those morsels of USA barbecue beauty into this travel itinerary pit and see how it tastes.

Now, there's the need to find other attractions to sprinkle in along the way.

The museum is enough for Kansas City, and the camping is enough for Memphis. A charcoal class should be possible in Dallas. The Craft Guild looks like the best option there. Something by the water should happen in the Carolinas. Charleston has a sunrise boat ride not too far away. For something different in North Carolina, Lexington is very well known for equestrian lifestyles and barbecue. So the last spot would be great for horse riding-perhaps at Tanglewood Park. That's an itinerary with lots of horsepower. 

Start at Jake's Grill in Baltimore. Follow a Famous Chap's food truck to Memphis in a rented car.  Pause to eat then later to camp, eat, and read around a bonfire. Follow another food truck from Memphis to Kansas City; eat halfway through. Check out the museum in Kansas City. Fly while reading some more from Kansas City to Dallas; take a charcoal drawing workshop in Dallas. Fly from Dallas to Charleston. Read. Land. Rent another car. Take a sunrise boat ride at Boneyard Beach near Charleston. Trail a food truck from Charleston, SC to Lexington, NC. Eat more barbecue and, perhaps, trail ride (horse style) near Lexington, NC before taking a train from North Carolina back to Baltimore. Or not; it all depends on just how hot the fire inside of you burns for barbecue.

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