Head East Young Man

Looking for something pork-related to do this first weekend of May?  Head on down to Kinston, in the heart of Eastern-style barbecue country, to check out the 28th annual BBQ Festival on the Neuse and Wil King Hog Happening, which is perhaps the best named of our state’s several large barbecue events.  The festival begins tonight and continues through early afternoon on Saturday, with the most intense barbecue cooking going on Friday night and into Saturday morning.  Barbecue plates go on sale to the public on Saturday at 11 a.m., for those who need to know.

Learn more about the festival by reading this article (thanks to burgeoningfoodie for sending the link along), which features some enticing gems. My favorite is this bit of boasting: “We know eastern barbecue is better and we’re going to show these folks,” Jan Barwick of the Kinston-Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce said of the visitors from around North Carolina. “They just don’t know ours is better because they haven’t had good barbecue yet.”  Not exactly finely honed trash talk but it does the job.  So, Lexington fanatics, head on down to Kinston and tell Jan what you think of the ‘cue.

All Aboard the Oink Express

All aboard the Oink Express!

All aboard the Oink Express!

Awhile back we got a question from an out of state reader about where to find decent mail order barbecue.  We recommended King’s Oink Express, since King’s is the only joint we know of that offers such a service as part of their everyday business (we’ve heard of some other joints that will ship pork upon special request).  I am pleased to report that a friend of mine who lives in California stepped up to the (barbecue) plate  and decided to try the Oink Express.

My friend–he prefers to be known as Governor Schwarzenoinker
to give the proper gravitas to his comments–reports that his Oink Express order arrived quickly, still frozen in the styrofoam cooler and accompanied by clear reheating instructions (pictured above).  But how did the pork-in-a-box taste?  Continue reading