BBQ Jew’s View: Whitley’s Bar-B-Que

Posted on November 4, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

315 Beechwood Blvd (Hwy 11), Murfreesboro, NC
252.398.4884
No Website
Hours: Thu – Sun only
BBQ Jew’s Grade: C-
Porky Says: “Eh.”

Barbecue on a Sunday
As a devout BBQ Jew, I typically steer clear of BBQ joints that are open on Sundays. They tend to be second rate, though there are some very notable exceptions to this rule (e.g., Lexington #1). On this particular Sunday, I was driving back from a day of canoeing at Merchant’s Millpond State Park in northeastern NC, a place well worth visiting. A few hours of paddling in an alligator-filled swamp had me hungrier than a crocodile, and my buddy and I were happy to find that Whitley’s was open on Sundays.

This guy could put away a lot of 'cue.

Sauce Unfit for a Gator
Whitley’s offers an impressive looking Sunday buffet of barbecue, chicken, other main dishes, a wide variety of sides, and dessert. However, at $14 a person–far and away the most expensive NC BBQ buffet I’ve ever encountered, and in rural Murfreesboro of all places–I hesitated. Between the price and plans to check out a couple of other BBQ joints on my ride home, as well as my general distaste for eating ‘cue off a steam table, I chose to order from the menu.

The $14 buffet would've been good for $8.

The barbecue plate I ordered came with corn sticks, an Eastern NC delicacy with which I have relatively little experience given how common hush puppies are. I was happy to get a chance to eat some corn sticks, though I found Whitley’s to be on the dry and unflavorful side. Unfortunately, Continue reading →

Filed under: Restaurants & Reviews | Tagged: Eastern style, Gas/electric-cooked, Grade C, Hertford County, Lexington style, Murfreesboro | 4 Comments »

Jubon’s Victory

Posted on November 2, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

Two Live Jews: Kosher As They Wanna Be

Congratulations are in order for our Jewish brethren, the Jubon’s barbecue competition team, which we recently profiled on this site. Their ribs won them a first place trophy at the Mississippi Delta State Barbecue Championship in Cleveland, MS. (As an aside, I have a fondness for Cleveland, MS because it is the home to Delta State University, whose very BBQ-compatible mascot is the Fighting Okra.)

Filed under: Barbejews | Leave a comment »

Hoggy Halloween

Posted on October 30, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

The pig avenger cometh, run for your life!

Filed under: Miscellaneous | Leave a comment »

BBQ Jew’s View: Grandpa’s Kitchen

Posted on October 28, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

149 E South Main Street (Hwy 158), Littleton, NC
(252) 586-3211‎
No Website
BBQ Jew’s Grade: C
Porky Says: “Where Would Jesus Dine?”

When Pigs Fly
As I near the aptly named little town of Littleton, the speed limit on Highway 158 drops from a generous country road limit to a stingier limit befitting the bucolic setting. As I reach the edge of a small historic (or at least old) business district, a sign catches my eye: “Grandpa’s Kitchen, Area’s Finest BBQ.” Also the area’s only barbecue, I think to myself, but no matter. An unpredictably flashing neon sign spells out “Bar-B-Q” and, as if by instinct, I steer my car into the small parking lot. A hand carved wooden pig with eagle wings greets me outside the front door. I have arrived.

If pigs could fly, they'd wallow in the mud in the sky

Grandpa’s Kitchen is one of those places that is a pleasure to dine at, even though it’s barbecue is nothing out of the Continue reading →

Filed under: Restaurants & Reviews | Tagged: Eastern style, Gas/electric-cooked, Grade C, Halifax County, Lexington style, Littleton | 1 Comment »

Report from The Barbecue Festival

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

Well, I am ashamed to admit I didn’t make it to this year’s Barbecue Festival in Lexington, NC. A combination of morning rain and an iffy afternoon forecast, visiting family, and my daughter’s nap schedule kept me away. But enough excuses, the good news is that The Lexington Dispatch has a full report, including eight minutes of somewhat disjointed highlight reel style video footage. Make sure you don’t miss the clip of the Mayor doing the Barbecue Festival equivalent of lighting the Olympic torch–biting into a BBQ sandwich to kick off the event.

According to the Dispatch, a mind boggling 170,000 people attended the event. I don’t quite believe that estimate, but even if it’s generous there is no doubt that there were a heckuva lot of BBQ sandwiches sold at the big tent on Saturday.

I promise the barbecue gods that I will be in Lexington for the 27th annual Barbecue Festival next year. Until then, forgive me for my sins, and know that I will say a few extra hail marys to make up for my absence this year.

Filed under: Hog Happenings | Leave a comment »

Raleigh’s Got Sauce

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

Thursday, October 29th is the deadline to enter NCBBQ.com’s “Pit Master’s Choice Awards: North Carolina’s State Sauce Competition.” Any North Carolina resident can enter; Yankees, Texans and other such scourge of the earth need not apply.

The contest will be held Nov. 7 at Raleigh’s Ray Price Harley-Davidson in conjunction with the dealership’s annual barbecue cookoff and blood drive (blood type BBQ+ is in especially high demand). There are amateur and professional divisions, and sauce can be entered in Eastern style, Western style and non-traditional categories.

Judges include N.C. barbecue expert Bob Garner (a man who has eaten his weight in BBQ several times over), food critic J. Scott Wilson, sanctioned barbecue competition judge Jerry Snead, Wake Tech chef-instructor Fredi Morf, and “voice of the people” (we have no idea what that means but the event website says it) Ned Perry.

For all the details and an entry form, visit the Web site.

Filed under: 'Cue Culture | Tagged: Raleigh, Wake County | Leave a comment »

East v. West Continued

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

Here’s yet another chapter in the neverending debate about the relative merits of Eastern-style ‘cue versus Lexington/Western-style ‘cue. Make sure to check out the many reader comments, which are at least as fun as the dueling articles. As for the articles themselves, editor Matthew Eisley wins the best quote award with this gem:

“When I was a child, I spake as a child, understood as a child, thought as a child, and naively ate tomato-based barbecue as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish sauces and embraced the unadulterated ambrosia that is North Carolina’s sacred, primordial and peerless eastern-style barbecue.”

As someone who genuinely likes both styles, I’ll stay out of the fray. For an overview of Eastern- vs. Lexington-style BBQ, check out a recent guest post I wrote for the News & Observer’s Mouthful blog here.

Filed under: 'Cue Culture | Tagged: Eastern style, Lexington style | Leave a comment »

All Aboard for The Barbecue Festival

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

Just a friendly reminder that this coming Saturday is The Barbecue Festival in Lexington, NC. If you are looking to make a day of it–heck, why not?–consider riding Amtrak to and from the event. It’s the one day a year that Amtrak stops in Lexington, which is pretty cool. Riding the train commits you to a roughly nine hour stay in Lexington, which is just enough time to eat a BBQ breakfast, lunch and dinner. Choo choo!

Filed under: Hog Happenings | Tagged: Davidson County, Lexington, Lexington style | 1 Comment »

BACONJEW

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

We just discovered we have a brother-in-arms trotters: Marc Schapiro, author of baconjew.com. Marc’s blog is a humorous ode to that almost-as-good-as-barbecue meat, bacon. It’s good to know there is another Jew out there wasting his time writing about, and salivating over, forbidden meat.

Filed under: Barbejews, Swine Swag | Tagged: Outside NC | Leave a comment »

BBQ Jew’s View: Backyard BBQ Pit #1 & #2

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Porky LeSwine

5122 NC Highway 55, Durham, NC
(2nd location at 3218 Guess Road, Durham, NC)
919.544.9911
Website
Hours: Mon – Fri 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sat 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
BBQ Jew’s Grade: B-
Porky Says: “Research Triangle Pork?”

BBQ in RTP?
It’s hard to believe that there is decent barbecue in the middle of Research Triangle Park (RTP), a science research park sitting in the middle of the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, aka “the Triangle.” The Triangle in general has little in the way of good ‘cue–I call it The Bermudacue Triangle for the way barbecue traditions disappear inside it–and RTP is in the geographic heart of the Triangle. Worse yet, RTP is filled with sprawling office parks and crawling with white collar transplants from California and other places where barbecue is merely a misunderstood word that means “a cookout.”

You might think that ordering barbecue in the heart of RTP is as bad an idea as visiting a seafood market in Topeka, Kansas. Yet the owners of the Backyard BBQ Pit were smart enough to see an opportunity in an underperforming BBQ joint on the edge of RTP. With more than 50,000 employees in RTP, they must have reasoned that some of them would appreciate a nice plate of ‘cue. And since buying an old, so-so BBQ joint in 2007, the owners of the Backyard BBQ Pit have provided some pretty good ‘cue to RTPers. And they have done a bustling business, so much so that they opened a second location on the other side of Durham earlier this year.

Backyard BBQ Pit #2 on Guess Road

Isn’t It Good, RTP Wood?
Visitors to the Backyard BBQ Pit #1 (the original location in RTP) will notice Continue reading →

Filed under: Restaurants & Reviews | Tagged: Durham, Durham County, Grade B, Wood-cooked | 8 Comments »

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