In addition to football, I've long had two main loves: first, my home state of North Carolina, and second, my love of my home state's great tradition of pulled pork barbecue. In January 2022, I decided to combine those loves and made it my goal to eat North Carolina-style barbecue in every single county in the state of North Carolina.
Now, before we get too far along, I'll acknowledge what some acolytes of our fine state's 'cue are probably already wringing their hands over: which style of barbecue -- Eastern or Western (Lexington) style?
Admittedly, I love them both. Growing up in Charlotte, I was closer to Lexington style barbecue than Eastern style, but places to have both abounded. In contrast to most of my friends in college, I prefered Lexington style over Eastern, but the preference was marginal -- let me again reiterate that I love them both.
Now, for those not in the know: North Carolina has two different styles of barbecue. As mentioned above, the two camps are divided geographically, with some people tentatively agreeing that the boundary line roughly follows I-74. Generally speaking, the line can be traced from south to north by starting at the southern end of the county line between Richmond County and Scotland County and heading northward between Montgomery County and Moore County. From there, however, the line becomes harder to define, splitting Randolph county clean in two, heading more or less due north til Asheboro, after which it wends it's way northwesterdly, bisecting High Point, Winston-Salem, and Mt. Airy on its way to the Virginia border.
"What's the difference?" you may be asking. Good question. There are a few main differences, but the main two boil down to the sauce it's served with, and the cut of meat used. There are also differences in the cooking style and the preparation of the slaw, however these are more minor compared to the cut of meat and the sauce.
Both use vinegar as their base for the sauce, often with red pepper (among other spices) added in, however Lexington-style takes it a bit further and adds a tomato base (often ketchup) to the sauce. Done properly, the sauces should not be thick or sticky like Memphis or Kansas City style sauces, but instead watery in viscosity, roughly like the vinegar used in their base.
In terms of the cut of meat, the newer of the two styles, Lexington style, is more selective. Lexington style uses only pork shoulders (also known as butts). Eastern style, on the other hand, uses the entire hog, hence the common name of "whole-hog" barbecue. Because of this, Eastern style is finely chopped and then mixed to help distribute the different cuts of meat, while Western style tends to be shredded. This results in Lexington style being a naturally 'wetter' cut of barbecue, because drier bits like the skin are left out.
The last major difference in the meat itself is how it's cooked. Eastern style hog roasters are more likely to use the traditional pit method of pig-picking--as in, a literal pit. However, few restaurants actually use a true pit anymore because the fire they produce is difficult to control and the coals hard to rake. Instead, most use a dug out pit with a built structure around it, usually employing cinderblocks and metal grates to help get the meat off of the ground. The coals are still stoked and stirred in a dug out pit beneath the grates, but this gives room for air circulation and makes stirring them easier. Usually, a pit cook will have either a cardboard or metal "lid" to place over the pit to help control circulation and flare ups. Lexington style cooks, however, are more likely to use a structure more akin to a pizza oven, a sort of brick fireplace with two doors, one for the meat, and one for raking the coals. This has the advantage of being much easier to control than the eastern style pits.
One minor difference regarding presentation is the slaw served with the 'cue. Lexington style coleslaw tends to be "red slaw," which is standard coleslaw made with the tomato-vinegar sauce as its base. Eastern style tends to be "white slaw," which uses mayonnaise as its base.
As for the wood of choice, that's anyone's bet. Various hardwoods are used, though hickory and oak (especially white oak) are certainly the frontrunners. I've had others swear that the secret to the perfect roast comes from using dogwood, though it's hard to come by large quantities of this; as far as I know, it's used mostly for finishing meats. I've also heard of maple, birch, and peach being used, though they aren't as predominant.
A final note on wood is the cutting of the wood. Though I've never actually met someone who proclaims to do so, old-timers swore that harvesting wood was best done under a waning moon, which resulted in the sap being at its lowest point; this helps get a longer-lasting and more consistent burn. Modern thinking, however, says that it's more superstition than science.
(For more reading on North Carolina barbecueing methods, see the links at the bottom of the page)
Now, to get back to my mission! Eating 'cue in every county in North Carolina is, naturally, easier said than done. To start with, I decided to see just how many eateries I had been to before, and then went about finding a shack to eat at in every county. I had the benefit of having done (most of) the NC Barbecue Society's Historic Barbecue Trail with friends in December 2019, in addition to several stops on other trips. Before even consciously attempting this goal, I had checked off 24 of the counties on the list while eating at at least 36 different joints -- some of them twice or more.
I've had some people ask me if I would be the first person to eat barbeque in every conuty of North Carolina. While I have to believe that some one's tried it before, for a while I couldn't find any hard and fast evidence on it. That was until I was reading Dale and John Shelton Reed's Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue (2008), which mentions in the outro Jim Early, author of The Best Tar Heel Barbecue, Manteo to Murphy (2002) and founder of the North Carolina Barbecue Society (NCBS). Though he doesn't explicitly say he ate in every county, in the introduction he stated that he "traveled in all 100 counties of this great state, drove more than 18,000 miles, talked to more than 1,500 people and critiqued more than 200 barbecue places" -- and he did it all in just six months! I mapped out as best as I could every place reviewed in his book here; he included "only" 139 of the 200+ reported stops in the book (nearly half of which have closed since its writing), but there are several counties with no diners listed -- meaning I could still be the first!
Without further ado, here's my list of BBQ joints visited by county, along with the date(s) I've visited them. As a general rule, I try to avoid chains; that includes local ones. While Smithfield's Chicken & Bar-B-Q is local to eastern North Carolina, I would much rather support a small business than a franchised restaurant with nearly 40 locations. Abrams Bar-B-Q's seven eastern-NC locations are, for some reason, slightly more honorable (in my mind), and the Virginia-based Golden Skillet, which has three locations in North Carolina (in addition to six in Virginia) slightly moreso, however, they are still primarily last-resort locations, to be used only in the event that a) no other 'cue is available in the county, or b) we have an unexpected change in plans.
On this list, you'll see two certifications, italicized and colored like so to help distinguish them from the other stops. The NCBS BBQ Trail, the more prestigious of the two, is a list created by the North Carolina Barbecue Society to help identify important and emblematic restaurants across the state. Pits were chosen because they were "representatives of the distinctive methods and barbecue cooking styles that have made North Carolina the Barbecue Capital of the World." In addition to cooking their meat only on wood or coal, other requirements for inclusion are that the pit make their own sauce, operate for 12 or more years, and have a sit-down dining area. The other certification is the True 'Cue NC certification, which has largely similar requirements, but is less selective and more wholistic in its approach. You'll notice that several pits cary both honors. Additionally, annual events at which I ate barbecue are colored like this. Finally, if I took any pictures of the restaurant or my barbecue, there will be a link to pictures after the date(s) I visited and any certifications, titled "pictures." I have pictures only sporadically from any eateries I visited before 2022, but have been pretty consistent in getting at least one or two pictures since resolving to eat barbecue in every county.
I've also made a map to visually keep track of the stops I've made.
You can see an interactive version of the map here.
(last updated 4/23/2024)
Alamance County
Alexander County
Alleghany County
Anson County
Avery County
Beaufort County
Bertie County
Bladen County
Buncombe County
Brunswick County
Burke County
Cabarrus County
Caldwell County
Carteret County
Caswell County
Catawba County
Chatham County
Cherokee County
Cleveland County
Columbus County
Craven County
Dare County
Davidson County
Davie County
Duplin County
Durham County
Edgecombe County
Forsyth County
Franklin County
Gaston County
Gates County
Graham County
Granville County
Greene County
Guilford County
Halifax County
Harnett County
Haywood County
Henderson County
Hoke County
Hyde County
Iredell County
Jackson County
Johnston County
Jones County
Lee County
Lenoir County
Lincoln County
Macon County
Madison County
Martin County
McDowell County
Mecklenburg County
Mitchell County
Montgomery County
Moore County
Nash County
New Hanover County
Northampton County
Onslow County
Orange County
Pamlico County
Perquimans County
Pender County
Person County
Pitt County
Polk County
Randolph County
Richmond County
Robeson County
Rockingham County
Rowan County
Rutherford County
Sampson County
Scotland County
Stanly County
Stokes County
Surry County
Swain County
Transylvania County
Tyrell County
Union County
Vance County
Wake County
Warren County
Washington County
Watauga County
Wayne County
Wilkes County
Wilson County
Yadkin County
Honorable Mentions from Out-Of-State
* Woodlands BBQ was purchased by Ethan Anderson, of the Pedalin' Pig BBQ of Boone and Banner Elk, in August 2021. At the time of my visit, the store was still branded as Woodlands, but was catered by Pedalin' Pig. The restaurant has since rebranded, probably in early- to-mid 2023, as Pedalin' Pig.
While it would be both impossible and uninteresting to write about each and every restaurant I've been to, I would be remiss if I did not mention anything about them at all.
First up are the stops of the NCBS Historic BBQ Trail. While I had done 17 of the original 22 stops with friends in three days (read about that here), the final 3 stops on the trip (Switzerland Cafe, Hubba Hubba Smokehouse, and Herb's Pit BBQ*) were all either closed for the season or deemed too far to reach based on certain unexpected time delays. As such, when I had a few months between graduating college and starting full-time work in the summer of 2021, I spent about two weeks hiking and eating barbecue with my brother and finished up the list.
Before that, though, I want to talk a bit about this grand extraveganza of barbecue. Me and four other friends were all big fans of barbecue and, having recently discovered the trail, wanted to immerse ourselves in it. However, being college students, we had fairly limited free time. Since all of us had mostly finished our exams early that December, we concocted a plan: visit the entire trail in three days. This time cruch was partly my creation; remember how I said we were "mostly" done with exams? Yeah, I was that caveat, and took an exam the day after finishing our tour. I have no regrets.
We started early, leaving Raleigh around 8 AM. We drove straight to Pitt County, where a hotspot of traditional barbecue pits still thrive. To make up for the closure of Wilber's, we stopped at Parkers, a restaurant I had visited a few times before since a friend worked there as a server. With our "heretic" gas-cooked 'cue as a primer, we moved on to the real stuff, hitting up Skylight Inn, Bum's, and B's in rapid succession. From there, we worked southwest, to Grady's, to Stephenson's, before finally taking a bit of a break at Carthage's Pik n Pig.
Unsurprisingly, the register workers were pretty universally confused when the five of us would walk in together, order a single pint of barbecue, and sit down. Over time, we got better at explaining our mission, but the first few explanations were a bit rough. After one such introduction, at Carthage's Pik n Pig, I was standing at their post-office styled checkout counter waiting for our food to arrive, I asked about purchasing a copy of "The Great NC BBQ Map" produced by EDIA which they had displayed in the store (note: EDIA is now defunct, but their map has been invaluable in organizing my cross-state mission, and would recommend finding a copy if you're interested in barbecue in this state). After hearing about our trip and our plan, the hostess smiled and told me to take it for free.
We only had two stops left for the day after Pik n Pig: Hurseys, and Stameys. By the time we got to Hurseys, it was nearly 6 o'clock, but we resisted the temptation to stop and eat a full meal there and powered on to Stameys, where we had our first true meal of the day since our early brunch at Parkers. We each got a regular plate so we could taste the 'cue in its purest form, as well as sides. Several of us were also coerced into ordering some of their fantastic milkshakes (they've somehow mastered the art of making a milkshake taste just like a peach cobbler).
After a brief night of rest at a friend's lakehouse off High Rock Lake, we were back on the road. We started the day heading due north, to Fuzzy's, before working our way back southwest towards Winston-Salem. At the now-closed Hill's BBQ, our group had the biggest treat of the whole trek. Having arrived fairly early on a Saturday, the place wasn't too busy. After hearing about our sojurn, the owner, Gene Hill, offered to take us back into the depths of the building, and showed us their smokers, the wood racks, and the grills. He could not have been more excited to see young people interested in traditional barbecueing, and was very amicable throughout. Forever the music enthusiast, I also bought a CD by local Southern Gospel musician Jerry Lambert.
Reinvigorated by our behind-the-scenes tour, we moved deeper into the heart of Winston-Salem, where we stopped at Real Q. The building we visited (at 4885 Country Club Rd) was the original location of a diner called Little Richard's; opened in 1991, Little Richard's quickly became a local favorite. Originally owned by a group of three owners who franchised the restaurant in multiple locations, confusion regarding the number of locations and their disparate menues fomented in 2018, driving the 'original' Little Richard's to rebrand as Real Q.
From there, we went to the barbecue mecca of the state: Lexington. No city has more smokehouses or has its air so permeated like the aptly-named "BBQ Capital of the World." After a quick stop at Smiley's, we went to Bar-B-Q Center, where we sat down for lunch and watched college basketball between bites. Regretfully, we couldn't be fully "statriotic" because there wasn't a Tobacco Road game on at that time of day. While I truthfully don't remember who was playing, in retrospect, the only game worth watching that morning was Oregon-Michigan, so I'll assume we watched the closing minutes of that.
From Lexington we worked our way further southwest, to Salisbury, where we had what was universally panned as our least-favorite 'cue (at Richards) and what I rated as my personal favorite (at Winks). I haven't been back to Richards, so I can't confirm if it was just a bad day or not, but our panel of five did not enjoy our first stop in Salisbury. Imagine my surprise, then, when Wink's came out with some absolutely killer tender meat and some sauce that was just the right amount of sweet and vinegary. We rounded out the day with stops at Lincolnton's BBQ King and Red Bridge's BBQ in Shelby.
The final day, regretfully, did not go as planned. As mentioned previously, Switzerland Cafe and Hubba Hubba Smokehouse were both closed for the season. Hubba Hubba's closure was expected, however the Switzerland Cafe's closure was not; at least, according to the guy who planned the trip. Instead, after taking a few pictures from inside the grounds of a similarly-winterized resort, we pivoted and headed northward, for Spruce Pune, where we had lunch in at the now-closed Hef's Restaurant, the only Italian restaurant I've ever been to that claimed not to serve pasta on Sundays -- but still served me a lasagna.
From there, we made the executive decision to skip out on Herb's, and instead did a day trip to Asheville's historic Omni Grove Park Inn, where we caught the closing day of the hotel's annual gingerbread house contest, as well as an awesome sunset. From there, we high-tailed it back to Raleigh; I had my friends drop me off at the library, where I stayed up all night to study for a Thermodynamics exam I did just poorly enough on to pass the class. Again, no regrets.
Since the initial trip in 2019, several of the stops have fallen victim to the times. The Pik n Pig tragically burnt down in May 2021, but recently re-opened; unfortunately, they are currently only open for lunch. Hill's BBQ closed after the original owner passed in December 2019, and Wink's BBQ closed during the COVID-19 pandemic the next July. Wink's continues to live on in a sense under the tutelage of The Smoke Pit, a new North Carolina-based barbecue company emphasizing traditional cooking techniques. Their Salisbury location uses the former Wink's building. Smiley's BBQ closed fell victim to a road expansion in February 2022, while Richard's, the second Salisbury stop, closed the following July after owner Richard Monroe decided to hang up his hat. Herb's became the most recent victim after shutting its doors in March 2023 for similar reasons.
* Wilber's BBQ was also closed at the time due to tax evasion, however I had visited prior to its temporary closure in March 2019. As of this writing, I have not revisited the re-opened restaurant. M&K BBQ in Granite Quarry was closed with no word as to why when we visited, but remains listed on both the NCBS and True 'Cue lists, which makes me think its closure may have been temporary.
After graduating from NC State in the Spring of 2021 and accepting a job which started that June, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my final month of freedom: finish the barbecue trail. I set out crafting a series of hikes and camping spots around Western North Carolina with the main objective of hitting up those last three spots.
The first hike of the trip involved no barbecue -- that should have been a red flag from the start. Due to a combination of my brother's slothful nature as well as NC DOT's decision to trim trees along what must have been every state highway we drove along, we arrived at the Smokies later than I had wanted. I had chosen a bluegrass-related hike -- the Smokys' "Rocky Top," a semi-formal name applied to a rocky outcropping of the impressively-named Thunderhead Mountain which supposedly lent its name to the bluegrass song made famous by the University of Tennessee and the Osborne Brothers. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, overnight camping was prohibited (even along the Appalachian Trail) without a pricey permit which I had failed to secure. We decided to try and do the whole 12-ish mile hike I had planned in one day; this was foolish to begin with since we started just before 3:30 PM, and made even more foolhardy by the constant drizzle which accompanied us for the first hour or so of the hike. A wrong turn which took me about a mile to notice cemented the futility of the hike, and we turned around about 5 miles from Rocky Top. All I could do was look up the hill, chuckle, and sing to myself, "Wish that I was on old Rocky Top...". In retrospect, it was pretty fitting.
The Switzerland Cafe was the first of the list to fall. Coming up from Waynesville, my brother and I stopped in Little Switzerland before hiking in the Doughton Recreation Area. Our server was a friendly girl who had just recently moved south from somewhere up North who professed to know absolutely nothing about barbecue; given that she worked at one of what is arguably the twenty most important barbecue joints in the state, I did my best to briefly teach her a bit about barbecue in this state (given my grandiloquence above, you can tell how much self-restraint that took). While in the area, we hiked to the historic Caudill Cabin via the Basin Creek Trail. A slight bummer on the trip was discovering a tree had fallen on my brother's car while we were camping. Thankfully, the damage was shockingly minor -- it had just dented the hood, scratched some paint, and knocked off the passenger side mirror. Thankfully the kind folks (and their dogs) of the Gilbert General Store, near McGrady, helped us get the mirror taped back on.
The next stop was easy: Hubba Hubba Smokehouse, in Hendersonville, is right near the Green River Gamelands. We drove in early that afternoon and feasted on barbecue and cornbread. During our meal, we were entertained by some chickens which wandered around the outdoor seating area. I assume they belonged to the smokehouse, however, I'm really not sure. After supping, we drove southwest, through Flat Rock and to the game lands. Our first stop was the Green River Narrows, a spot famous among white water kayakers for its technical and dangerous rapids. The power of the water was enormous. Afterwards, I took my brother to Little Bradley Falls, an impressive waterfall (in spite of its name) that I had visited previously with my dad.
That left Herb's as the last stop on the list. I planned to do a 6-mile hike to hit several waterfalls in Panthertown Valley, near Cashiers, and then head west to Murphy. Thanks to the "social trail" nature of Panthertown and a deluge of rain, we got a bit lost, and the hike ended up taking longer than expected, but we did manage to get to Herb's (which was, in practice, not nearly as close as I had hoped it would feel like to Panthertown) about a half hour before closing time. Due to the post-COVID job exodus, their restaurant's entire seating area was shuttered, acting as a sort of walk-up only eatery. One poor teenage boy did everything, preparing sides, serving out barbecue, taking orders, and cleaning as necessary.
With that, my first mission was complete; I had finished the Barbecue Trail.
I generally try to plan similar trips around most of my stops. For example, I visited Motley's BBQ on a trip with my girlfriend to Pond Mountain and the NC-TN-VA Tri-Point. My 2wd Sante Fe barely made it up the gravel road to the trailhead, but it made it nonetheless. Similarly, I visited Hillsborough BBQ Company after a quick and easy loop around the Historic Occoneechee Speedway Trail. I visited Hop's Bar-B-Q around pretty early one Saturday morning after checking out the Pisgah Covered Bridge.
My most extreme solo trip was a 1,600-mile (round-trip) journey to Starkville, Mississippi for the NC State-Mississippi State football game in 2021. After meeting my parents in Shelby for dinner at Red Bridges Barbecue and camping at Ellicott Rock Wilderness, I continued west, stopping at Brasstown Creek Gathering Place, one of the few non-NC stops on my list. Being right at the state lines of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, the Gathering Place offered servings of each style of sauce. All of their options were delicious, but I was especially impressed with their SC-style mustard sauce, which I had never tried before. It was mixed with brown sugar and was absolutely phenomenal. Fortunately or unfortunately, I had loaded up on boiled peanuts at the Mountain Top Trading Post, where a nice lady originally from Alabama taught me how to eat them, much to her bemusement -- "They ain't got bo'lled peanuts down in Charlotte?" was a question she asked me at least twice.
Originally I had intended to stop on my second day of traveling in Brent, Alabama, at The Sawmeal Restaurant, a cute restaurant which claimed to have Eastern NC style barbecue -- I wanted to see how genuine it was. However, I mistakenly had ordered a massive tray of food at Brasstown Creek; that, combined with my hearty consumption of peanuts, meant I had more than enough food as it was. Instead, I polished off the leftovers for the remainder of my trip, in addition to all the food the kind Starkville family whose tailgate I crashed I could stomach.
My first time eating barbecue twice in one day since the big 2019 trip was a trip ostensibly to Medoc Mountain State Park, where we hiked the Summit Loop Trail in the snow. This trip featured a good bit of pivoting: our original plan had been to drive up NC 43/561 to the eastern edge of the Halifax County line to Hollister, home of Lynch's Bar-B-Q, stopping at Portis Gold Mine along the way. The Portis Gold Mine stop was mostly one of curiosity -- since there was little information about it online to go off of at the time, we assumed it would be a museum. When we got there, we found out that it is not a museum, and is apparently the state's only public gold mine. We still gained some knowledge while there, however: we weren't equipped for prospecting, so instead we talked with the site manager and his friendly Presa Canario hound (variously referred to as Titan or Monkey-Butt) about the history of the site and its recent opening. Continuing our series of pivots, Lynch's was unexpectedly closed for the day, probably because of the recent snow. Instead, we pivoted, and went to the the other edge of the county, to Weldon, where we admired the massive rockfish monument and the story of local drunk and fisherman (in that order) Jonathan Jackson, who claimed to have nearly caught a massive, 198" and 4,000 lb rockfish shortly before his death in 1904.
After hiking in Medoc Mountain, we went back north, to Roanoke Rapids, where we walked a short section of the Roanoke Rapids Canal Trail and admired the ruins of the Bulkhead Overlook. After walking til shortly before sunset, we headed west, for Littleton and the other edge of Halifax County. We had originally planned to eat at Grandpa's Kitchen, however we were struck by a second unexpected closure, and forced to pivot again. We decided to take US 1/US 1-Bypass back, and headed through Vance County and Henderson, where we stopped at one of three locations of the Golden Skillet. While their barbecue was not bad by any means, the real breadwinner of the meal was the potato salad and the corn pudding. And just like that, through pure happenstance, I had knocked out two counties in one day.
The following weekend, my girlfriend and I hit up two 'cue spots in Montgomery County: Lefler's Place and Hometown BBQ & Seafood. We headed southwest from Raleigh down US-1 and NC 24/27. Right around 6 PM, we got to Lefler's Place, a diner that opened back in 1922 and holds the title of the longest-operating cafe in both Montgomery and Stanly County. Despite some difficulties with the front door (the handle literally fell off as I was pulling it!) and making a scene by spilling an entire sweet tea onto my (thankfully mostly-empty) plate, the barbecue was delicious, and the waitstaff friendly; one of the owners chided me and my girlfriend good-naturedly about ordering the same thing "like an old married couple" and sang us the Paul Anka song "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" as he cleaned up my mess.
After a snowy night of camping at Yates Place Campground and a solid hike on Woodrun Trail around the ruins of the former Montgomery County Seat of Lawrenceville, we attempted to eat at Tommy's Barbecue and Catering, an eatery I have passed many a time on my drive from Charlotte to Raleigh but never eaten at because it's normally closed by the time I make the journey. Unfortunately, I was thwarted once again: the night's snow caused them to shutter their business for the day; thankfully, we pivoted, and got 'cue at the nearby Hometown BBQ & Seafood in Troy. After stopping in Robbins for their annual masochistic fundraiser called the Brr Creek Plunge (where you donate food and/or money and jump in the Bear Creek... in January...) and temporarily losing feeling in my toes, we started heading back to Raliegh. On the way back, we stopped by the only other covered bridge in the state, the Ole Gilliam Covered Bridge, and then swung by Yarborough's Homemade Ice Cream for dinner, and, of course, ice cream.
This trip was also interesting because it offered a detailed look into "border-town" barbecue. Lefler's Place, closer to the western side of the county and thus the Lexington-style 'cue, offered both chopped and sliced (like many eateries do), but mixed and matched the toppings by pairing white, eastern-style slaw with red, western-style sauce. Hometown BBQ, in the center of the county, offered both white and red "barbecue" slaw (their name), but only western-style sauce. It's worth reiterating that the boundary line is both approximate and imaginary.
I went to three restaurants in three days on the first weekend of February 2022, knocking out three counties in the process. While Allen & Son's Barbecue in Pittsboro (not to be confused with Allen & Son Barbecue of Chapel Hill, which closed December 2018) had some nice, wood-fired 'cue, my favorite stop of the weekend was McArthur's Restaurant, in Laurinburg. After the original dine-in restaurant burnt down in September 2019, the "General" Colin McArthur re-opened his restaurant in April 2020 as a drive-up only restaurant, and has remained that way ever since. Open only three days a week, the restaurant is a bit of an oddity in the traditional barbecue scene in that it is open on Sunday. When we arrived, the General himself was sitting outside on a chair, taking phone orders, and talking to patrons waiting on their food. He was very friendly, and almost insisted that my brother and I get some of their homemade banana pudding, made, he emphasized, with real bananas. The barbecue was moist and delicious, and finely chopped in the traditional eastern style, but the most unique thing about the meal was his interesting cornbread, which looked akin to a fried hoecake of sorts. He explained to me that it wasn't really cornbread, and that they just called it that; it was actually half house-made cornbread mix, half-hushpuppy mix, pan-fried in a dollop of fatback. It was thoroughly delicious. While in the area, I checked out the historic John Blue House and surrounding site, as well as the Mill Prong House.
After going about a month without a major barbecue expedition, I got my fix in during the second weekend of March. My girlfriend and I drove southwest, mostly down US 70, towards New Bern. Along the way we stopped in Goldsboro for the Goldsborough Bridge Battlefield Historic Site. After walking around the grounds, we continued down US 70 to Kinston and King's Restaurant, where we got their famous "Pig-In-a Puppy" (a hushpuppy-'cue sandwich), as well as some pork the more traditional way. After that, we continued to New Bern and camped for the night at Flanners Beach Campground.
The next morning started out with fair weather, but the forecasts for rain soon proved to be accurate. Thankfully, I had planned on this, and attempted to organize several indoors activities til the rain abated. Unfortunately, I did not plan the details to that all that well: A trip down NC 118 to Yoder's Dutch Pantry, in Epworth, resulted in us getting a (massive) cinammon roll to go after the wait for dine-in breakfast was estimated to be 1-1/2-to-2 hours (thankfully, the roll was delicious); after continuing down NC 118 to Grifton, we attempted Grifton Museum; unfortunately, tragedy struck a second time, as it was only open on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month or by appointment. Since I had neither made an appointment not visited on a Sunday, we decided to reverse the order of my plans a bit and head to back to Kinston.
From there, things shaped up: we just so happened to visit the CSS Neuse Museum on free entrance day, and followed that up with a successful visit to a thrift store for local cassettes and CDs to listen to on the drive. After a while, we wended our way north, towards Hookerton and Morris Barbecue. The food was phenomenal -- probably some of the best I've had in the state since I did the BBQ trail back in 2019 -- and it's a shame their store isn't open for more than just a few hours each week. The staff was incredibly friendly, and relayed to me some of the history of the restaurant: the original owner, Willie "Pop" Morris, had worked a series of odd jobs, primarily as a house painter, but was short on money -- in fact, his shoes, which were held together with hog rungs, were falling apart. He had been gifted two pigs earlier, and in 1931 they'd become big enough to barbecue and sell, so he did. He carried the meat to town, and sold it mobile in a mule-drawn cart. It was enough to get him both a new pair of shoes and a new outlook on what he should be doing with his time. He continued selling it by mule until 1954, when the current restaurant was built at the same location as he had been cooking; it's been there ever since, serving tasty 'cue one Saturday at a time.
With the rain improving, we headed back towards New Bern, where we did one of their several self-guided walking tours (the bears one), then had dinner at Friday's 1890 Seafood & Bar-B-Q. We then camped back at Flanners Beach, and woke up the next morning to some weather much more fitting for hiking. We went to Croatan National Forest and down Catfish Lake Road, one of the longest state-maintained gravel roads in NC. Off this road is the titular Catfish Lake, which could not have been more peaceful. Plus, it was a good excuse to take my gas-guzzling 4Runner offroading and make it at least partially worth the owning. Afterwards, we swung south down NC 58 to Weetock Trail.
Continuing down NC 58, we drove northeast along the Crystal Coast, past Emerald Isle, to Salter Path, home of Big Oak Drive-In & BBQ. I bought and ate way too much food, but enjoyed it all. After continuing northeast past Atlantic Beach, we visited Fort Macon State Park, where we toured the historic fort and casemates and walked a bit on the beach. After that, we headed back to Raleigh, but not before swinging north to Pinetops for a stop at Abrams BBQ. My first time visiting an Abrams location, I'll admit that my reservations about the "chain" were unwarranted -- the food was good and well-priced.
My next big barbecue bonanza was the last weekend of March, when I went to Duplin County and tried the food of dozens of local cooks in just one day. Before going to the Blue, Brew, and 'Que fest, I convinved my girlfriend to swing by Sid's Catering, in Beaulaville, first. Run out of Sidney Blizzard's backyard, Sid's is only open for six hours a week on Saturdays, and serves up some great 'que. Because of the upcoming festival, I opted to only get a sandwich, but it was obvious from just this that Sid's is a whole-hog place, with little bits of cracklin and other bits which add a nice crunch. Unfortunately there were also a few sizeable chunks of cartilage or bone which would have been easy to avoid with a plate, but nonetheless, Sid's was some killer 'que.
After Sid's, we backtracked westward to Kenansville, where we were admitted to the festival. There, on the grounds of the Duplin County Events Center, we tried some of eastern NC's local microbreweries (I had the Chuckledunk dunkelweizen by New Bern's Brutopia Brewery, and the Southern Brewed Breakfast blond ale by Mount Olive's R&R Brewing), some local bluegrass (the Grass Strings, of Albemarle, former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty, of Level Cross), and, of course, some truly local 'que, cooked up by 20 teams with names like Wee Woo Cue (a local fire station), and Mr. Curley’s Que Crew, among others. We paid an extra $10 each to enter the tasting contest, and also each had another sandwich for dinner.
My next big barbecue fest was the second weekend of April, when I went camping in the Wilson's Creek section of Pisgah National Forest. On the way in, I stopped in Yadkinville's Old Stage Grill. Filled to the brim with locals for a Friday night dinner, barbecue wasn't their main dish (most people were ordering Mexican dishes like ACP or quesadillas), however, the barbecue was solid. After spending the night near Harper Creek Falls and exploring the area in the morning, we went to town for a late lunch/early dinner and ate at Hannah's BBQ Lenoir, which proffered up another strong round of 'cue; I also had some banana pudding. After a second night of camping, I convinced the group to drive out the hard way to Blowing Rock and Woodlands Barbeque, taking the trailhead's Brown Mountain Beach Rd (gravel) to NC 90 (mostly gravel) to Anthony Creek Rd to Globe Rd (mostly gravel). The latter road in particular was very steep, and got pretty squirrelly in some places. Navigability of the routes aside, the food and atmosphere of Woodlands was enjoyed by all; unfortunately, the restaurant was without the live music which they offered before the Covid pandemic.
I started May with another barbecue tour, and also capped off April with a new 'cue restaurant: I enjoyed North Wilkesboro's Brushy Mountain Smokehouse and Creamery's solid cue and even better icecream between sets at the Merlefest bluegrass festival. After a weekend's respite, my mom and I went on a short pre-Mother's Day trip, during which she went camping for the first time in years. We started by eating at Tommy's BBQ House in Albemarle, a stop I had attempted to eat at back in January but was foiled because of snow; maybe it was the sweet victory of finally eating there, but the bbq was delicious, and the peach pie for dessert just the icing on the cake.
After a hike around the Badin Lake Loop and a night's rest at the Uwharrie Hunt Camp, we woke up early for a phenomenal breakfast at Wink's Country Cooking in Albemarle before heading west to Statesville and then Salisbury, where we visited the NC Transportation Museum and Fuller's Soda Shop, respectively, before picking up a pound of 'cue at Hickory's BBQ Pit, which, thanks to leftovers, had what everyone in my family agreed was some of the best western-style sauce they'd ever had; unlike most western sauces, the vinegar's tang still get's through the sweetness of the tomato, but in a delicate balance, with a nice dash of smokiness to boot.
Leaving Hickory, we continued west to South Mountains State Park, where we hiked High Shoals Falls and Big Bear Falls while (mostly) avoiding the rain. After that hike, we continued westward, to Spruce Pine, where we stayed in the Pine Valley Motel after the threat of hail and a tornado warning discouraged my mom and me from camping in Wilson's Creek as originally intended. The next morning, we headed to Wilson's Creek, where we hiked Harper Creek Falls (me for the second time) before having lunch at Louise's Rock House Restaurant in Linville Falls. An interesting factoid about Louise's is that 3 counties -- Burke, McDowell, and Avery -- meet roughly at the building's fireplace, allowing the adventurous eater to knock out three counties at once! Though I did technically have a bit of 'cue in each of the counties, I was seated in the Burke County section, so I will county the restaurant there. This was a bit of a fortunate coincidence, as it seems the least bit of the building is located in Burke; indeed, the company pays taxes in McDowell Co. (because the largest portion of the property lies in that county) and its kitchens are in Avery Co. Their pies and jams were phenomenal.
After lunch, my mom and I hiked the relatively short Hawksbill Trail in Pisgah's Linville Gorge and got to experience some of the early bloomers of the season's mountain laurel crop, as well as views of the Linville Gorge, including Table Rock Mountain, which my troop rappelled yearly. Because of some shuffling of the weekend's plans, this ended up being a bit closer to eating than I had intended, a fact my mom did not appreciate. After that hike, our weekend was nearly done, except for a stop in Taylorsville's Apple City BBQ. We had originally intended to hit the Apple Blossom Festival while we were there as well, but unfortunately the festival was canceled this year because of some hardships faced by the planners.
Towards the middle of the year, I slowed my barbeque intake somewhat, mostly because I was busy doing other things for several of my weekends. However, two of the spots I hit in early June were welcome changes of pace: Lawrence Barbecue, in Durham, and VFW Post 2019's 'cue served at the Mt. Airy Old-Time Fiddlers Convention. Cooked by old-timers and served just once a year out of a decrepit cinderblock building, the VFW's restaurant looked the part, and their meat matched it. The incredible and historic atmosphere of one of North Carolina's greatest old-time music events didn't hurt, either. Lawrence Barbecue could not have been more dissimilar: an ultra-modern, shique venue nestled among a bunch of trendy shops built out of shipping containers located across the street from a business park, I had low expectations, however one bite made me realize the error of censorious ways; the meat was tender, juicy, and tasty, absolutely exploding with flavor. The sauces I tried (the "OG" vinegar sauce and a western-style Cheerwine-based dip) were both full of flavor yet firmly traditional. Two of my best eats in recent weeks.
Later that weekend, on the way to Myrtle Beach with some friends, I stopped at Joe-B-Q BBQ in Maxton and was similarly blown away by both the taste and owner Joe Locklear's friendliness. He told us they always cooked over coals (and I sure didn't doubt him from the taste), and was almost offended when I asked for barbeque sauce, saying "Make sure you try it before you go putting any sauce on it!" And truth be told, it was so moist and tender that it really didn't need any, though his eastern-style vinegar sauce certainly didn't hurt the meat.
On the fourth weekend in June, I visited three more barbeque restaurants, each irregular from most of the other entrants on my list. The first was Sim's Country Bar-B-Que, in Dudley Shoals, which will probably be the only place I eat and describe that outwardly proclaims to serve non-North Carolina barbeque. Opened by Keith Sims in 1979 after a hunting trip to Texas, the restaurant serves Texas-style barbeque (gas-cooked pork) alongside chicken, beans, and a few other offerings from a buffet-style serving booth. The main draw to Sims', however, is the live bluegrass picking and dancing they hold every Friday and Saturday night. We listened to the Sigmon Stringers play bluegrass standards for over an hour and a half, with a break in the middle for some line dancing lessons. The next day, we stopped at Old Hampton Store & BBQ, a welcome respite after getting drenched while completing the grueling 8-mile trek to Calloway Peak via Profile Trail in a steady rain after a morning appetizer at Setrock Falls. The old grist mill, which cooks its 'cue over hickory wood, has been converted into a lively restaurant and live music venue, but what makes it so unique among traditional barbeque restaurants is that it had a bar which served beer, wine, and cocktails. After finishing the dinner, I grabbed a beer and sauntered over to the lawn adjacent to the building and listened to a band play classic rock covers, in addition to a cover of Rocky Top which a Volunteers fan in the crowd goaded them into playing. We spent most of Sunday at the 96th and final Singing On The Mountain gospel festival at MacRae's Meadow, at the foot of Grandfather Mountain, where we listened to a number of regionally-prominent gospel acts. After a full day of gospel singing, and even a message from a man who spoke on how God healed his blindness, our Sunday finished in a very different vein, at the NASCAR-themed Lancaster's BBQ in Mooresville, where we ate inside a converted school bus. Bedecked from floor to ceiling in car hoods, racing uniforms, and TVs, Lancaster's also had a full-fledged sports bar, replete with TVs showing pre-race interviews and graphics for the Ally 400 race, as well as an arcade by the entrance. All in all, though not orthodox in many ways, eating at two wood-smoked barbeque restaurants in one weekend is more than I can say I've eaten at in a while.
After a brief respite from barbeque, I knocked out two counties on the first weekend of August while doing a quick trip to Charlotte. It was an interesting look at the changing shape of wood-smoked barbeque in the state, with Whispering Pines B-B-Q of Albemarle -- a narrow, cash-only, broken-quarry-tile-floored joint which opened back in 1945 -- representing the old guard, and Pattan's Downtown Grill of Rockingham -- a modern, chic store which opened 70 years later in a miniature-strip-mall sort of thing right set in a new-looking quarter of downtown Rockingham -- carrying the modern torch. Both restaurants adhere the smoking process, with Whispering Pines using exclusively hickory, and Pattan's proclaiming "all of our meats from the pit are cooked the old-fashioned way, low and slow... and are seasoned with our signature rub and hickory smoke." Somewhat cagey wording aside, both places put out great food, with Pattan's delicious but highly untraditional PeeDee River Swamp Sauce -- a ruddy, dark red sauce which combines all three of the Carolinas' sauce styles (vinegar, tomato, and mustard) -- turning their minced pork a deep brown color, while Whispering Pines' vinegar sauce was as traditional as the rest of the restaurant. Both are doing a great job of showing patrons what wood-smoked barbeque is all about.
Worth mentioning while talking about non-traditional barbeque styles is R.O.'s BBQ of Gastonia. Over the summer of 2017 I worked just a short drive down the road from the diner, which opened back in 1946, and the place quickly became a favorite of mine for their unusual slaw. While the octogenarian restaurant is among the few surviving Charlotte-area classics, its slaw is anything but. Jim Early, one of North Carolina's earliest and most prominent 'cue proselytes, aptly described it as "pinkish in color, kinda like 1000 Island dressing." As you may gather from that description, it's not your standard red or white slaw, but is instead a mix of 11 ingredients, the exact makeup of which is a closely guarded secret. Informally referred to as their "heavenly slaw," they seem to use it in place of actual sauce; I've never seen an actual bottle of dip or sauce on any of my several visits, and their barbecue sandwiches come absolutely smothered in the stuff.
The following Tuesday, I was out (relatively) close to Wilton, in Granville County, where I went to Wilton Grill. There, I had a lovely bbq sandwich with slaw and some good fries. While there, I mentioned to the cashier that I was impressed by the 'cue and asked if they made it; he informed me that they didn't actually make their own, but cook a pre-made mix made by a company he thought was called Nixon -- probably Leon Nixon Catering from Edenton. While the 'cue not necessarily being "made" in the county I was eating it in kind of takes away from the mystique of it, the only other restaurant that serves barbecue I've found in Granville County is only open on weekdays til 2 PM, and I don't see myself being able to make it there in those times any time soon.
After a weekend trip to Waynesville where I experienced two different eras of bbq (CJ's BBQ of Mocksville representing the old front, and Buxton Hall BBQ of Asheville, a posh, modern, wood-smoked joint in a former segregated skating rink) which were both phenomenal, I had an trip to Raeford, where I got barbecued pigs feet but also managed to try some of their regular pork selection (of which I took a picture, rather than the pigs feet, for the sake of consistency). I was in Raeford to go sky diving, and opted to eat after the jump rather than before.
I took a brief lull from 'cue for most of September, but jumped right back into the fire in October, going to two events in the second weekend of the month (I also had some good South Carolina 'cue from the Greenville location of Henry's Smokehouse, which had some solid pork. The next weekend, I really got things cooking with a stop at Kinghtdale's Oak and Smoke festival, a bluegrass event featuring meat from Redneck BBQ Lab and beer from Oak City Brewing Company. The following day, we went to a similar event, a public celebration of Tar Banks Brewing's 5th Anniversary. The meat was catered by Mr. Curley's Que Crew by Andy and Tricia Harrison, a local barbeque team which competes for state championships, and Carolina Ocean Drive radio was playing selections of beach music from live on site. Tar Banks also unveiled two new beers, a farmhouse ale called Ouverture, and a Scottish Ale called Boat On the Water.
On the weekend before Christmas, I did my last big barbecue bananza of 2022. Having started the year with a mission of consuming an ungodly proportion of pork, it only felt right to end it that way, too. I started the weekend off with a visit to Rocky Mount's Barbecue Park, the historic home of Bob Melton's BBQ from its opening in 1920 until it was destroyed by Hurricane Floyd in 1999. There, I got some good views of the Tar River, as well as a good lesson on the development of pulled pork in the state, and especially the impactful role of Rocky Mount. Unfortunately, all of the city's historic pork pallaces have since closed. Afterwards, I christened the day with a plate of Bunn's Barbecue -- a venerated hut which is certainly in the running for the most popular electric-cooked 'cue. Randy Russell, current co-owner, graciously let me in and fed me despite arriving a half-an-hour before opening thanks to some malfeasance on the behalf of Google. From there, I stopped in at the Somerset Place and Pettigrew State Park, as well as the Alligator National Wildlife Refuge, where I managed to spot a small bear family, as well as several birds. Sandwiched between those stops was a futile attempt to get some 'cue in Tyrell County for lunch -- sadly, the only two places serving 'cue in the county that I knew of were unexpectedly closed. Instead, I snacked some in Manteo before getting dinner at Martelle's Feed House in Englehard.
After camping for the night at the Gull Rock Game Land, I woke up early to catch the sunrise over Lake Mattamuskeet; set up at observation point located near the middle of the lake just off NC 94, I shivered through the strong winds and dark for nearly 2 hours before backtracking slightly to the Mattamuskeet Wildlife Refuge, where I talked extensively with Greg, a very friendly volunteer at the visitor's center, before a short foray into one of the park's scenic drives. At one point, I parked and exited my car to take a picture, and heard a hissing noise coming from one of my tires. At that time, I high-tailed it back to the visitor's center, where I determined the cut only let air out when the cut was along the road. Reckoning that it was a slow leak and that it would be better to change a tire on the pavement than the muddy gravel roads which dotted the park, I hiked around some before getting back on the road. This proved rather foolhardy: somewhere between NC 94 and Swanquarter (right about here, to be precise), I heard that telltale flat-tire-whine. My first time changing a tire on the side of the road (or, more accurately, in the road, thanks to the very slim shoulder) was an exciting one: it took nearly an hour of struggling thanks to a shorn bolt, meaning I spent the rest of the trip driving one lug nut short. To make up for the nut-busting work, I treated myself to a slice of chocolate cake at Bath's Old Town Country Kitchen. After a lengthy hike at Goose Creek State Park, I called it a trip and limped back on to Raleigh.
About a month later, I went on another bbq mission, this time to the largely-neglected northeastern corner of the state. We closed Friday night with a dinner in Louisburg at Johnny's Barbecue and meeting some friends at Tar Banks Brewery for some bluegrass by Into The Fog. The next morning, we started the day with a brisk hike at Medoc Mountain State Park's Bluff Loop; after a lunch at Trackside Tavern in Conway (a fortunately-successful pivot forced by the unexpected closure of Walter's Grill, a Murfreesboro restaurant which had been open since 1943 but closed less than a month before our visit), we went to Murfreesboro's Brady C. Jefcoat Musuem, where we learned about local history and the expansive and interesting collection of a longtime North Carolinian. At the museum keeper's suggestion, we attempted to take the Parker Cable Ferry, but it was also sadly closed for the day without explanation -- a deviation from its regular daily schedule. After a bit more of a detour than originally expected, we continued on to Merchants Millpond, where we hiked Bennett's Creek Trail. We closed the day off with supper at Corapeake Country Restaurant, a hearty restaurant situated in a century-old general store on the western edge of the North Carolina/Virginia border and the Great Dismal Swamp. The next morning, we hiked a few trails in the Great Dismal Swamp State Park and had brunch at Captain Bob's BBQ & Seafood. I had to do a bit of sweet-talking in order to get my 70th county: we arrived in Hertford around 10:20, about 40 minutes before their lunch menu started. After explaining my quest a bit, our sever laughed a bit and suggested that she could warm a 1/2 lb of barbecue for me, but that it wouldn't come with any of the usual side. Sated, we made our way back to Raleigh.
My next couple barbeque spots were fairly quick ones. On a skiing trip with my girlfriend and her sister, I hit Mars Hill's Stackhouse Restaurant for a post-ski snack, and then went down the road to the Mars Theatre Brewing Company, where we enjoyed some of their local brews. On the way home, we stopped at Saluda's Green River Barbeque, which, in addition to some stellar cue, had among the best potato salad I've had in quite a while. A couple of weeks later, we visited Stratford Bar-B-Q #2, a classic hickory-smoked join in northern NC, on my way to see Billy Strings in Winston-Salem.
My next barbeque excursion was again encouraged by music: at the end of April, I took a half week off work and traveled west towards Wilkesboro, NC for Merlefest. I used the trip as an excuse to swing north and hit Person and Caswell County, two areas I hadn't done many trips to without many 'cue restaurants. Because the two counties were so close together, my girlfriend and I decided we would split a plate at each stop. Disaster nearly struck early on in the trip when one of two pork-pickin' restaurants in Person County, Smokey Dave's BBQ, closed just **two days** prior to my trip. Luckily, I had the foresight to check beforehand, and we were able to pivot to Rox City Grill in Roxboro. Despite the joint not prominently featuring 'cue on the menu, their meat was nice and moist, and had almost a fried chicken-sort of skin on the meat. They also offered a variety of sauces; I chose to get the classic vinegar sauce, though they had a more Virginian-style sauce as well. After a stop at the Sangri-La Rock Village, we visited Yanceyville's Briggs' Bar-B-Que, which had more tasty and moist meat, as well as some phenomenal collards. After Merlefest, we drove to Waynesville for a few days of hiking while my brother was back in town; on the way in, we hit Phil's Bar-B-Q in Black Mountain, which had a cool atmosphere and some very unique offerings, like BBQ Quesadillas and BBQ Nachos.
While spending a week in Waynesville hiking, I cajoled my family into enjoying a few more barbeque places. A sunset hike to Waterrock Knob was preceded by a scrumptions stop at Big Nick's BBQ in Sylva, which offered excellent pulled pork and brisket; their sauce was thick, like a Memphis-style sauce, but it sure was tasty. The following day, we spent most of the day hiking Shuckstack Fire Tower before attempting to get some pork in Graham County. I was initially foiled when the waitress at Tapoco Tavern, our ritzy reward for our arduous day of hiking, informed me they had taken barbeque off their menu about a year ago; undeterred, we pivoted (once again) to Lynn's Place, the only remaining pork-serving establishment I'm aware of in the county at this time. Their barbeque sandwich, the sole porcine offering, was still tasty, but their other foods, such as trout and shrimp scampi, were definitely their breadwinners. The following day, we did several waterfall hikes, mostly at Gorges State Park (though we hit one shorter one, Sam Branch Falls along the way) before swinging by Highlands Smokehouse for some well-cooked 'cue. After completing some chores around the house, we left back for Charlotte around noon on Friday, hitting Youngs Mountain Trail before a short stop at Circle B Barbeque.
I finally made it to Bailey's Store in Alligator on Sunday, March 21st. Because I once thought this was the only place to serve barbeque in Tyrell County (I have since discovered the Alligator River Marina does as well), I had tried to visit Colon Bailey's roadside store three times prior before it was open; this is mostly my fault, as I tend to make it down there later in the day. I was glad I kept at it, though, because Mr. Bailey was a very kind and polite storekeep; a former driver for Perdue Chicken and the county prison system, Bailey retired to open his small store, though he still keeps busy by farming and driving activity buses for the county school system. Though the meat he serves is largely produced by Hardison's Carolina Barbeque (in Jamesville), he does often cook his own hogs for special occaisions. My girlfriend and I played a game of pool after enjoying our bbq sandwiches and milkshakes.
It's become harder and harder to hit multiple barbecue places in a trip, but I still try to plan my stops around fun trips. In late June, I visited CJ's BBQ in Spruce Pine on the way to the second annual "Grandfather Glows" event, an event where Grandfather Mountain is opened at night to see the synchronous lightning bugs. As a warning, they close at 6 PM most week days, and they were out of most of their non-pork options when we arrived around quarter after 5 -- so get there early! About a month later, I camped at Kerr Lake with my girlfriend; on the way back, we stopped at The Pointe at Lake Gaston. I had low expectations given that most marinas focus on their seafood, but I was pleasantly surprised: they served up some very tasty 'cue. Another quick stop was Bryson City's The BBQ Shack, which we stopped at on the way to Wesser Bald Fire Tower after a stop by the Barker Creek Bridge. Located right next to the Nantahala (actually, next to the outfitter my scout troop used to use when I rafted the river), the owners of the ice cream shop next door explained that normally the place was a weekend hot-spot, but we got it largely to ourselves on account of an unexpected closure in the dam's release flume.
Jones County, my 86th county, proved to be one of the toughest places to find a barbecue restaurant in. The county of just under 10,000 persons had one restaurant that might sell barbecue (but seems to be largely a catering service) and two events which serve 'cue: a biker rally (the Backyard BBQ Run) and a nascent competition run in a field beside the county seat's Piggly Wiggly. We went out to Smithfield to grab an ancient smoker built by one of my friend's grandparents several decades ago. Though it saw a good deal of service in the 1980s and 1990s, the cooker had sat unused for at least 5 years before we resurrected the rusting beast. We lugged it two hours southeast to Trenton, where a bunch of bewildered local chefs wondered what two Raleigh boys were doing entering such a small competition. Things didn't always go to plan: while we were testing it, we thought we had lost a bolt that went on the aerator assembly in the grass (luckily we found it hours before leaving: it had somehow landed precariously on the frame); when we got to Trenton, we realized we had left the grate to cook the meat on (we took it off while testing the cooker in Raleigh); and finally, one of the fuel lines' valves had fallen off on the drive. Luckily, we only *needed* one tank, and were able to construct a temporary grate out of angle brackets and chicken wire we cut to size. Once there, the cook went largely according to plan, and, after a long night and much conversation with our friendly competitors, we were wowed to win second place out of seven -- the first time either of us had cooked a whole hog. The smoker, too, was the beauty of the ball: two people offered to buy it from us mid-competition.
After about two months with no new barbecue, early November proved to be a swine-scented mecca. The first weekend in November, I was asked to help a friend cook a whole hog at his family's NC State-Miami tailgate for his mom's birthday, which I gladly obliged. Later that week, I was gifted the leftovers, which I shared with some coworkers. The following weekend, I took a solo daytrip to the east, stopping at Thig's BBQ House and Chubby's Southern BBQ. Thig's was a great taste of classic eastern-NC style meat, and their "swine wine" sauce is top-tier. After stopping at a bar in New Bern to watch NC State beat Wake Forest in Winston-Salem for the first time since I attended NC State, I went to Merritt, where I tried the recently-opened Chubby's Southern BBQ. While the food was good, as can be seen in the images, it was definitely Texas-styled pulled pork, with a sauce akin to tangy Sweet Baby Ray's, Texas Toast, baked beans, and a dry slaw, rather than white or red, as a side. After eating, I passed The County Opry in Grantsboro, where I stopped in for some country music and dancing.
After a brief respite from a whirlwind Christmas, I got back on the trail and knocked off two counties in late January 2024, stopping in Brunswick and New Hanover counties. My girlfriend and I started the day with a tour of the Oak Island Lighthouse, and followed this up with an early lunch at the nearby Bar-B-Q House; this was a great diner with friendly service, deliciously smoky 'cue, and 5 sauces to choose from: their house sauce (sort of a vinegary Memphis-style sauce), smoky house, Eastern, Lexington, and mustard. I also had to get a side of Brunswick stew from the county which shares its name -- even if it is believed to have come from Georgia, this place had a good, slightly sweet take on it. After spending a few hours in Wilmington, we had a late lunch/early supper at Jackson's Big Oak Barbecue; their pork offering was good, but the moist yet crispy fried chicken stole the show, as sacrilegious as it is for me to say. Though I did check off two new counties on this trip, the excursion was primarily an excuse to propose to my girlfriend -- now fiance -- at the top of the Oak Island Lighthouse; she said "yes"! We're looking forward to many more years of adventures together, barbeque-themed or not.
Entering the barbeque competition in Trenton lit a fire, so-to-speak, under me and my friend, and we have begun cooking together more often. Since then, we've cooked a couple of whole hogs and entered another competition which, as of this writing, has yet to take place. After borrowing grills from friends and family, we purchased a grill of our own together off Facebook Marketplace. The cooker had what is politely referred to as potential, or more succinctly termed, flaws. Our first run with it, for a friend's move-in-party, while our second run was the Highfalls Fiddlers Convention; this was the second year my friend cooked for them, but my first time helping. Our first cook on the new grill started off with a hitch: the regulator failed at half past midnight, with all nearby stores closed. Fortunately, we were able to scavenge together parts from other grills to make it work, but our gas situation could be described as sketchy at best. The second and third flaws were that our new temperature gauge was high above the cook surface, leading it to read about 50 degrees cooler than the temperature the meat was experiencing thanks to a particularly porous gap around the grill hinge and openings. Nonetheless, we're in the process of improving it and hope to have it in tip-top shape soon. See some pictures of me and those cooks here.
Many North Carolinians take their barbeque seriously, or, you might say, religiously. You could say that I do.
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