BBQ Jew’s View: Whitley’s Restaurant

Posted on July 27, 2009 by The Rib Rabbi

3664 NC Highway 8, Lexington, NC
336.357.2364‎
Website
Barbecue Jew’s Grade: C
The Rabbi Says: “Oy Vey.”

The menu at Whitley’s Restaurant claims to serve “Lexington’s Finest,” but I doubt even Whitley himself believes that. And you shouldn’t. Because in my book, that’s laying claim to serving some of the best swine in the state.

Whitley’s was not a sought out destination. It just happened to be a) in Lexington and b) conveniently close to another ‘cue joint to which I was early. So I thought, ‘when in Lexington…”

From the get go, there were mixed signals. A message board under aforementioned sign advertised a salmon patties special. Those abominations are not served at barbecue restaurants I frequent. More worrying, was the lack of that telltale smoky scent we’ve all learned to love. [Porky says: Months after writing this review, The Rib Rabbi and I discovered a Whitley’s website that claims the pork is cooked in a pit over wood coals, so it appears that the meat is cooked over wood for at least some of its cook time.]

Hmm

Restaurant or a barbecue joint?

Given those two indications, I was not expecting to enter barbecue nirvana. Yet upon entry, I encountered a hefty gentleman in suspenders and jeans. And the brick and wood interior with comfortable booths was about right. I wasn’t sure what to make of the rack of bagged cracklins for sale—in no less than five flavors! (Honey Q, salt and vinegar, regular, BBQ and hot BBQ.)

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Filed under: Restaurants & Reviews | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Porky’s Pulpit: Sign of the Apocalypse

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Porky LeSwine
No smoking, unless your smoking a pig! Photo used with permission of the photographer, Dale Vogel Reed

No smoking, unless you're smoking a pig! (Photo by Dale Volberg Reed, used with permission)

First the swine flu and now an even more certain sign of the apocalypse: a smoke free dining billboard in Davidson County, NC.  Why is this billboard a sign of the apocalypse?  Well, in case you don’t know/ain’t from ’round here, the main town in Davidson County is Lexington.  Lexington is, of course, perhaps the most important barbecue town in North Carolina and even dubs itself the “barbecue capital of the world.”  This title is one Lexington can make a legitimate claim to given its rich history and its present day status: roughly 20 barbecue joints, most still cooking over wood in the traditional manner, serve the town of just 20,000 people.

Apparently Davidson County’s Health Department is working with area restaurants to help them go smoke-free.  Luckily, this initiative targets cigarettes, cigars and the like, and not the wood pits out back.  As a matter of fact, quite a few barbecue joints in Lexington have signed on to the County’s list of smoke-free restaurants.  Even The Barbecue Center and Lexington #1 are among the joints that have gone smoke-free, but rest assured they still burn plenty of hickory wood when they cook their pork.

In all seriousness, the fact that so many barbecue joints are going smoke-free is interesting, given how closely tobacco and barbecue have been linked throughout NC’s history.  See this interesting article in the Raleigh News & Observer on the subject.

Filed under: Porky's Pulpit | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

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