It’s an unfortunate mathematical reality: every time I take a big eating tour and visit a whole pile of restaurants across two days, one of them is going to be my least favorite. I don’t wish to linger on such things, and so here, briefly, is Hursey’s. Continue reading “Hursey’s Bar-B-Q, Burlington NC”
Allen & Son Barbeque, Chapel Hill NC
Allen & Son was the farthest east that I ate on this trip to North Carolina, and that’s still not east enough to actually be Eastern North Carolina barbecue. Like the restaurants in the Piedmont Triad, they smoke pork shoulders. However, the sauce is proving to be a little bone of contention. Continue reading “Allen & Son Barbeque, Chapel Hill NC”
Special announcement: Come to Florence in May!
We are hugely pleased to have been asked to come to Alabama and participate in Florence Restaurant Week next month from May 9 – 17. The event is organized by Florence Main Street, who explain, “Historic downtown Florence, Alabama, is a unique and wonderful place. Florence Main Street is a non-profit organization designed to keep it that way! Main Street’s mission is to bring attention to the unique character of Florence’s historic commercial district while promoting progressive marketing and retail management techniques.” Continue reading “Special announcement: Come to Florence in May!”
Shrimp Boats, Durham NC (CLOSED)
Last year, when we published our mammoth, photo-packed story about what’s left of the Shrimp Boats chain, it first went out without a photo of the Durham Shrimp Boats. It is one of seven survivors of that once 95-strong chain, and one of only two in a 1969-style building. I had intended then to make it to Durham on this trip to North Carolina to visit the restaurant, and was pleasantly surprised when one of our readers in the area, Erin Parr, volunteered to go take some pictures for me. We have, it’s been noted, the best readers in all of blogdom. Y’all are the best. Continue reading “Shrimp Boats, Durham NC (CLOSED)”
Bar-B-Q Center, Lexington NC
Here’s another silly reason why this circumnavigation was unlike the three previous ones. On those outings, the best meal of the trip – the life-affirming, revealing, “this is better than I was expecting” visit to a legendary old place – came halfway through the jaunt, roughly at the furthest point from Atlanta. Those were Brick Pit in Mobile, Scott’s BBQ in Hemingway, and Brooks Barbecue in Muscle Shoals. However, the high point this time out came at my fourth stop, Lexington’s Bar-B-Q Center. This was an astonishing little meal. Continue reading “Bar-B-Q Center, Lexington NC”
Lexington Barbecue, Lexington NC
As I drove toward Lexington, home of the legendary Lexington Barbecue, I had a feeling that, even with an early afternoon arrival, I’d find a pretty good crowd. Yet I was still quite surprised to find their lot much more than full. I parked along with ten or eleven other cars on the side of the road beneath the lot and began trudging up the hill. This place was more popular than I imagined! Or, well, you know, they may have let their regulars know that today would be a good day to be on TV:
Oh! No wonder there was such a mob! Continue reading “Lexington Barbecue, Lexington NC”
Wink’s King of Barbecue and Seafood, Salisbury NC
In the 1960s, a guy named Wink Wasler operated a small chain of restaurants in this stretch of the state between Charlotte and Greensboro called Wink’s Barbecue and Seafood. I understand that there were maybe six of them, but today only this one remains, the name slightly rejigged to reflect the lion logo that appears on the restaurant’s signage. Continue reading “Wink’s King of Barbecue and Seafood, Salisbury NC”
Marie, Let's Eat! 