The Lexington Collection
 
Pretty Polly
 
  North Carolina Pulled Pork Barbecue Joints
 

The old song that says "fools rush in where wise men fear to tread" might well have been written about anyone dumb enough to rate barbecue joints. Given the subjective nature of these evaluations, any hope of a consensus among barbecue fans is unrealistic. Indeed, barbecue beauty is in the eyes, nose, and mouth of the beholder. With these caveats in mind, here are a few personal opinions of some joints offering pulled pork barbecue in North Carolina.


Lexington, NC has one barbecue joint for every thousand inhabitants!

Pulled pork barbecue is traditionally prepared by cooking the meat over hardwood coals. Unfortunately, most "barbecue" joints these days use charcoal, gas, or electricity as fuels. And, folks, while some of the stuff cooked with these fuels can be quite tasty when doctored up with a finishing sauce, it just ain't barbecue. So it is that all the joints on the "Best of the Best" are traditional logburners. Enjoy them while you can. With all the pressure from governmental agencies to shut down the pits for one environmental reason or the other, they may not last forever.

Other places are probably worthy of mention. Unfortunately, with so many to visit and so little time to visit them, these missing joints lack only the iron-clad listing requirement of an on-site visit to sample their barbecue.

 
Dissenting opinions, constructive criticism, and suggestions of other joints to visit are always welcomed! Please use the "I've Been There!" form for sending them by email them to lineback@ipass.net.

 
 
    Best of the Best    
 
These joints cook only with hardwood coals in the traditional style.

Allen & Son (Chapel Hill)
Lexington Barbecue (Lexington)
Murray's Barbecue (Raleigh)
Skylight Inn (Ayden)
Stamey's Old Fashioned Barbecue (Greensboro)
Wilber's Barbecue (Goldsboro)

 
 
   Other Log Burners   
 
These guys also cook with wood.

A&M Grill (Mebane)
Andy's Bar-B-Q (Welcome)
Backcountry Bar-B-Q (Linwood)
Blue Mist (Asheboro)
Clark's Barbecue (Kernersville)
Hogs Wild (Winston-Salem)
JD's Smokehouse (Newland)
Little Richard's (Clemmons)
Mitchell's Chicken, Bar-B-Que & Ribs (Wilson)
Southport Village Bar-B-Que (Southport)

 
 
  Wannabees & Fallen Angels  
 
Good eatin' but it ain't real barbecue.

B's Barbecue (Greenville)
Bill's Barbecue & Chicken (Wilson)
King's (Kinston)
Mr. Barbecue (Winston-Salem)
Parker's (Wilson)
Red Hot & Blue (Cary)
Short Sugar's Drive In (Reidsville)

 
 
 Barbecue Joints in North Carolina 
 
The good, bad, and ugly.
 

 
North Carolina Barbecue Joints
 
A list of places in the Old North State
reported to serve barbecue of one kind or another.
 

Happy hunting!

 
 
   Joints in Foreign Lands   
 
Pulled pork barbecue around the world.

Ben's Whole Hog Barbecue (Manassas, Virginia)
Familie Zauner (Hallstatt, Austria)
Johnny Boy's Ribs (La Plata, Maryland)
Memphis Minnie's (San Franciso, California)
Pierce's Pit Bar-B-Que (Williamsburg, Virginia)
The Silver Pig (Madison Heights, Virginia)
Wally's Bar-B-Que (Smyrna, Delaware)

 

Please email any additions, deletions, or corrections.
 
 

The Lexington Collection