Stop one: Moore’s Barbeque in New Bern, NC. We drove the furthest out taking advantage of Noli’s naptime. Moore’s was actually a last minute addition to round out our trip, but turned out to be a great a place for whole hog eats. The first thing you see on driving in is the GIANT stack of firewood, always a good sign. We ordered up 2 ‘trays’ which came with cue + slaw + hushpuppies, which is pretty much what we ate at every place. We ordered some sweet tea on the side, but ended up giving that tradition up by the time we reached an end. Justin’s review: nice smoky taste and juicy but not a lot of “outer brown.” We immediately realized what we were missing from Bullocks—the smoky taste. Good hushpuppies with a good cornbread taste (not too sweet) and solid slaw (not too much mayo). Mon says: three squiggly tails on a scale of four.
Stop two: Skylight Inn in Ayden NC. This was Monika’s top pick of places to go. I had heard about it because it got a James Beard award for its bbq, which dates back to a family recipe from the 1800s. It was the first place to serve BBQ to the public and gives it their own unique twist with a side of unleavened cornpone. Ayden is an actual town, but that is all I can say for it. The best part was the experience was walking in and seeing a big wooden cutting board with fresh chopped pork. Noli got to watch the cooks chop the pork in front of us. The pictures of prominent politicians (several presidents) including Strom Thurman, was just icing. Good story right, expectin’ the barbeque to be outstanding right? Justin’s review: barbeque was okay, but the inedible bits of gristle and outer brown detracted from the overall experience. Slaw was little runny, but serviceable with the pork. The cornpone must be an acquired taste, a few shakes of Texas Pete’s helped. Monika: one and a half to two squiggly tails—cornpone is disgusting and James Beard is dead.
From here we journeyed back to Goldsboro, NC for a night at the hotel and gut resting before the next adventure. Noli got to stay up late and crawl around a new place and STOOD for 5-6 seconds. We got a place with a pool so she strapped on ‘baby’s first bikini’ and took a whirl around the pond. When we asked the front desk girl for a recommendation of to do to kill time b/t lunch and dinner, she couldn’t think of one park, site or interesting fact to point us in the right direction. We decided right then and there to have two lunches.
Stop three: Wilbur’s Barbecue in Goldsboro, NC. It was the only place we went to that you didn’t order at the counter. We got there right at the peak when all the locals were swarming in for lunch. Their barbecue chicken was highly touted and given that our 11 month old had eaten (and liked) a lot of pork, I ordered a barbeque chicken to share with her and made a deal with Justin to get to taste a fair portion of his barbeque. The barbecue chicken was pretty underwhelming and came covered in a strange gravy. Noli liked the sweet mustard potato salad that came with it so that was a plus. The big bonus was a guy, who I think was the owner, was at the check out register and whistled several bird songs to entertain Noli (and said “Ya’ll come back and see us, ‘aright”). Justin’s review: the pork was nice and smoky, very juicy. Wilbur’s barbecue was good, but the sauce was outstanding. The pickles in the slaw were good and the basket of crisp hushpuppies was too tempting with a second lunch coming. Monika: three squiggly tails.
Stop four: Grady’s (pronounced Graddys). Well this was an adventure in mapquest. It is at the cross roads of nowhere and I’mlost. We spent over an hour going a place that was 10 miles away. Old Bob Garner says it is NC’s best-kept barbeque secret and he’s right. It is a white cinderblock building with no windows, but a huge stack of wood and smoke rising from the back. The place sits maybe 15 people if it is packed out. The menu is hand written and basically said “how much ‘cue you want?” Almost all the patrons were greeted by name and their loved one’s asked after. Justin’s review: The best North Carolina Barbecue I’ve ever had. It was smoky and juicy. Unlike Skylight, the chopped up pieces of outer brown were soft, chewy and delicious. The hushpuppies were handmade and very lightly fried. The slaw was good, but I didn’t even want to mix it with the meat because the meat was so good. I’d go back if I could ever find it. Monika: four squiggly tails and a snout.
Seein as how we didn’t have a thing left to taste or room to taste it we headed back to Durham. Despite having two lunches of pulled pork, we decided to top off our adventure with a local spot that we had never made time to try: Allen and Sons, a Chapel Hill institution. We drove out to the spot and manage to stop and ask directions from across the street. Justin, the more ambitious of us, didn’t just order the small plate, but piled on homemade fries (as recommended by Old Bob). Justin’s review: Second favorite place after Grady’s. We wondered why we had been taking folks to Bullocks all these years. (BTW, Bullocks is still good and we’ll be going back for the chocolate pie that Bob raved about.) This was our third restaurant in five hours, so we are not ashamed to say there were to go boxes involved in the end. Monika: four squiggly tails.
We only purchased two things on this trip that we didn't consume onsite. The sauce from Wilburs was one. It was really terrific sauce, but my favorite part is that it says “Cholesterol Free” on the side in bold lettering. I’m sticking with that. Despite getting to go boxes at Allen and Son's, the second thing we ordered was an entire chocolate pie; it was worth it.
PS our next food blog post will be about our experiment with being vegetarians this summer. I'm not kidding.
