Southport Magazine

Growing up in Texas, Troy Knight had no questions about what was considered barbecue. It was beef brisket, of course. But when he married a North Carolina girl and came here, most people disagreed with him. Barbecue was pork.

Knight is the owner of Southport Smoke House, the popular barbecue restaurant here in Southport. He explains his evolution on the term. “I’ve always smoked meat; I grew up in Texas so for me barbecue is brisket,” he says. “When I moved here, I couldn’t find any good brisket and my wife Tabitha, who grew up in North Carolina, kept telling me about pork barbecue. We used to go to Joe’s in Shallotte and for me it was just too much of a strong vinegar taste, so a buddy and I talked about opening a restaurant to do it our way.

“A lot of people from up north who’ve moved down here – they don’t know the difference between brisket – the beef – and pork barbecue. For some of them their idea of brisket is corned beef. So we try to educate people. 

“I’ve kind of accepted that people here think of barbecue as pork, but with so many people from out of this area, they don’t know. They think anything on the grill is a barbecue. It’s kind of a verb – when you say ‘we’re going to barbecue’ – but then in North Carolina it’s a noun for pork barbecue. It’s all kind of confusing.”

True, but that confusion didn’t stop Knight from opening his restaurant and offering it all. Pork barbecue, brisket, even chicken and ribs all slow roasted in a wood smoker. “One of the things that makes us unique within a hundred miles is our wood-only smoker,” Knight says. “We don’t use gas at all; we use 100% hickory wood and so it makes a really unique smoke flavor to our brisket, pork and chicken. We want people to taste that smoke flavor. 

“It’s a 4000-pound smoker. When we were getting the restaurant ready to open, we had to get a crane to pick it off the semi-truck and place it there in the back. It holds 1000 pounds of meat; it works like a rotisserie. We load our briskets and our pork butts at night and they’ll cook with the rotisserie rotating over the firebox for 12 hours. We come in the next morning and unload those and put the chicken and ribs in there for maybe 3 hours – that way everything is ready for lunch.”

Knight grew up in a little town called Jasper, close to Houston, and he also lived in Dallas and Austin for a while. “I’ve always smoked meat,” he says. “I got to learn a lot about the rub for brisket – ours is very much a central Texas themed rub – coarse pepper and Kosher salt. We try to stay purist when it comes to brisket. Being the purist that I am, I tell people don’t put any sauce on the brisket; try it like it is. But most people sauce everything – even my wife growing up in North Carolina, she sauces everything. And I sauce pork but I never sauce brisket.”

Everything is served with the dry rub only, but the Smoke House offers a sauce bar with seven homemade options for those who want a little sauciness. The sauce bar is geographically themed. “Sweet” is a Kansas City version. “Spicy” is the Texas version. “Tangy” is Virginian. “White” is a mayo-based sauce made famous by Big Bob Gibson in Alabama, great on chicken. “Eastern” is the North Carolina vinegar and pepper version, great on pork. “Lexington” is from the famous NC piedmont region, a little sweeter than Eastern. And “Mustard” comes from the South Carolina version of sauce.

Knight not only owns the restaurant; he is also the lead pastor at Generations Church. He credits his management team at the Smoke House for enabling him to pursue both endeavors.  “I couldn’t do it without the management team I have at the restaurant because the church is definitely my fulltime job,” he says. “As the lead pastor, I have to prepare sermons, and we just moved into our new building on Hwy 211. We have over 1000 people attending so it’s very busy. I tell people I’m just the ‘quality control’ at the restaurant – I just come in and try the product and make sure it’s good. I have great managers – Daniel Crouson, Chris Pittman, Eli Haws, Theresa Bolling. They keep the place running smoothly.”

The Smoke House employs 20-30 people, depending on the time of year. Many of the employees are also Generations Church members. In the wintertime, lunch is the biggest volume because the restaurant has a lot of regulars who come in sometimes more than once a week. In the summertime, the restaurant benefits from tourists who go to the beach during the day and then come there for dinner, making dinner the busiest time of day. 

Knight describes the most popular menu items. “In Value Meals, the pulled pork sandwich is most popular. You get a side and a drink with it,” he says. “When people order a plate or by the pound, the brisket would come in first. Ribs and wings are also always a favorite. For the ribs we use a pork spare rib and a unique rub. We smoke our wings and then when people order them we fry them to order. So it’s a unique flavor.” 

The Smoke House also sells a lot of meat by the pound – people buy it for weddings and company events. They also do a significant catering business. “Our coordinator Theresa stays very busy with that,” Knight says.  “We do a lot of catering to the Southport Community Building and the beach. We have a catering van now because we have so many events to cover.”

Occupying a unique niche in Southport, the restaurant opened in 2014 and is growing every year in customers. Online ordering is available too, so people can place their order and pick it up at their convenience. The restaurant’s success has its owner thinking about adding a second location. Knight is grateful to the community for their support.

So stop by and pick up your choice of Texas or North Carolina barbecue. No matter which side of the barbecue debate you’re on, you will appreciate the smoky touch the Smoke House brings to your table. 

Southport Smoke House

1102 North Howe Street

Southport

910-363-5035

Open daily 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.