Way back when, I decided to reinvest the ad revenue that we earn from this blog into fun two-day trips, just driving around eating about every nine months or so. I call them circumnavigations and, last month, I went out on my fourth. I’m going to report this one a little differently than the first three (Alabama, South Carolina, the Tennessee River Valley), because when I started writing these up, I was concerned about the chapters that we post appearing much later than the visit. These days, I sort of enjoy the posts appearing several weeks later, and so there’s no need to hurry along through longer chapters incorporating several places. Continue reading “Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge, Shelby NC”
Tag: ncbs historic barbecue trail
Herb’s Pit BBQ, Murphy NC
Understanding the difference between a geographic divide and a cultural one might be the key to understanding North Carolina barbecue a little better. We’ll be coming up soon on our fourth anniversary of blogging and we have barely given the surface of barbecue in the Tarheel State a gentle rub, much less scratched it. I understand, for example, that the traditions of eastern North Carolina are not followed in the Lexington region, which, on the map, sure does look like the middle of the state to me, and not “western” North Carolina. I’m perhaps doing it wrong, dividing states into three geographic models, when the Tarheel traditionalists seem to split things half-and-half. Earlier this year, The Arrogant Swine penned a quite harsh criticism (12/15: link dead) of the western NC tradition of sliced pork. Since the Swine is a very open-minded blog, I’m not certain what surprised me more: the deep dislike espoused in the article, or the label. I’d have figured western NC as only the area on the left side of I-77, and not what looks to be the geographic center of the state. Continue reading “Herb’s Pit BBQ, Murphy NC”
Marie, Let's Eat! 