Long-awaited Lawrence Barbecue has set an opening date. Here’s what to expect.
Barbecue requires a certain amount of patience, a commitment to the fact that a pork shoulder takes half a day of low heat and smoke to relax and melt into something that can be pulled apart and put on a sandwich. Brisket takes even longer and no amount of sauce or prayer can rescue a rushed one from turning into shoe leather.
With that in mind, the wait is almost over for Lawrence Barbecue, the long-anticipated barbecue project from chef Jake Wood.
Lawrence will open its doors Saturday, June 5 at 11 a.m. and serve food until they run out of it.
“We want to do it Texas-style and line it up early,” Wood said.
Lawrence will be part of the Boxyard RTP development, a small dining and retail district built out of shipping containers in the Research Triangle Park. The project is anchored by a new Fullsteam Brewing location and includes Beyu Caffe, Bulkogi, Buzzy Bakes, Carrburritos and other shops.
Lawrence will be the first vendor to open, with others expected throughout the summer.
Pork and oysters
Perhaps it’s fitting that from the ashes of 2020, North Carolina’s most beloved food tradition — barbecue — is seeing a resurgence. Lawrence is part of a new generation of local pitmasters launching new takes on the centuries-old style of cooking, including a recently opened Sam Jones BBQ in Raleigh, Prime BBQ in Knightdale, Big Belly Que in Chapel Hill and upcoming projects from Longleaf Swine and Ed and Ryan Mitchell’s The Preserve.
With Lawrence, Wood aims to marry an amount of Texas swagger with some of North Carolina’s proudest products, namely pork and oysters.
The menu at Lawrence will include bacon-cured, Texas-style brisket, pulled pork, fried chicken sandwiches, pork belly burnt ends and oysters, both raw and grilled.
On the bar side, beverage director Zachary Thomas will run the Lagoon Bar upstairs, serving boozy frozen cocktails called “N’Icees,” tiki drinks and beer. Lawrence partnered with Raleigh’s Trophy Brewing on a proprietary beer called Leisureland Lager, made in the style of crispy Mexican beers that always seem to dial down the summer sun.
“It’s a porch pounder,” Wood said.
The Lawrence that will open next month is not exactly the barbecue spot Wood initially envisioned. Instead of the sliced-by-the-pound trays of barbecue popularized by overhead pictures on Instagram, Lawrence has shifted more toward sandwiches, like sliced brisket with a vinegary slaw and pulled pork with pickled onions and a thick slice of pickle.
Inside, Lawrence only has room only for 24 seats, but Wood expects most orders to be taken through a walk-up “Cabana window” and taken to a patio space for more than 100.
Barbecue pop-ups
The stars of Lawrence BBQ landed in the Triangle last week, a trio of smokers traveling from Texas and christened “Ed, Edd and Eddy” after the popular cartoon.
Lawrence spent the past year doing a series of nomadic pop-ups, selling barbecue for months from a parking lot off of Glenwood Avenue, then setting up at breweries, restaurants markets and a residence at Wye Hill in Raleigh they called “Couch Surfers.”
These smokers won’t have wheels and mark the moment Lawrence started putting down roots of its own. At full capacity, they could smoke 3,000 pounds of barbecue, but Wood said they’re not there yet.
“We plan to grow into our pants, if you will,” Wood said.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced Wood into a different sort of year than he imagined. Barbecue patience is eventually rewarded, but Wood said the hard part of navigating a pandemic and construction delays was never knowing where the end point would be.
“This year hurt a lot,” Wood said. “It was difficult, even if it looked great and felt great at that time. When you don’t have a home kitchen, there’s a level of difficulty and stress that are always there. We’re sharper for it, but man did it suck a whole lot.”
Along the way, chef de cuisine Eddie Forbis left to lead his own kitchen, but pastry chef Mary Tilley was promoted to CDC.
In reaching the finish line, Wood said he was out of pop-ups and that now he’s ready for the real thing.
“’I’m not sure I could have done another pop-up; we were at our end on that,” Wood said. “We’ve learned a lot and thankfully been able to make enough money to survive. We’ve bled money and are in a lot of debt. But we’re pumped; it’s game time.”
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 10:10 AM.
