Big 'cue guys coming to Charlotte

I'm afraid to type anything involving the letters "B B Q" for a while. So I'll say this involves outdoor cooking. Call it what you will:

• Adam Perry Lang is a New York chef with bonafides (Le Cirque, Daniel) who got into outdoor cooking and the competition circuit a few years ago. His second book, "Charred and Scruffed," named for some of his innovative outdoor cooking techniques, is out this summer. Lang will be in Charlotte on June 9 to sign books and demonstrate some of those innovative outdoor cooking techniques. The event is being put on by Park Road Books, but it's happening at 2:30 p.m. in the parking lot next to Carpe Diem on Elizabeth Avenue. It's free and you don't need a reservation. Just show up.
• Bob Garner is the guy who wrote the book on North Carolina's traditions of, um, outdoor cooking, with the original guide, "North Carolina Barbecue: Flavored By Time," back in the 1990s. He has a new book out, "Bob Garner's Book of Barbecue: North Carolina's Favorite Food" (John F. Blair, $24.95). He'll sign copies of that at 7 p.m. June 12 at Park Road Books.

Sam Talbot plans Charlotte book signing

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the journey of Charlottean Sam Talbot, who started out working in local restaurants when he was 14 and was an early finalist on "Top Chef."

These days, he's not only a celebrity chef in New York, he has a book, "The Sweet Life: Diabetes Without Boundaries," that's part cookbook and part lifestyle book on how he lives the high-profile life while managing Type 1, insulin-dependent diabetes.

Talbot will be in Charlotte at 11 a.m. May 12 to sign copies of his books at Park Road Books.

He doesn't come back to Charlotte all that often, so make sure you stop by and say hello.

Bourdain, Ripert, Park Road Books - and a food-writing club

You have to act fast (before 10 a.m. Friday, July 29), but Park Road Books has a special offer for tickets to "Good Vs. Evil: An Evening With Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert," which is coming to the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center on Oct. 26. If you buy tickets here through Park Road Book's deal, you can save $5. (After 10 a.m. tomorrow, you just buy them through the Blumenthal site at the regular prices, which range from $34.50 to $150. Go here.)

Park Road Books also will be the bookseller at the event, which is a nice perk for a great independent bookstore that has brought so many cookbook authors to town. (To read my colleague Pam Kelley's recent story on Park Road Books, go here.)

And in other cookbook author news, Rick McDaniel, the author of "An Irresistible History of Southern Food," will sign copies of his book at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at PRB. McDaniel was quoted in my recent story on pimento cheese. (And you can read that here.)

One more thing (I saved the best for last): Park Road Books is starting a food writing club to discuss great food writing of the book variety. The first meeting is at 7 p.m. Aug. 30 to discuss "Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge," by Edgar Gordon. What a cool idea.