The 20 best barbecue joints in the Triangle, ranked by The N&O’s food writer
In barbecue terms, where pitmasters play with temperamental elements like smoke and fire, it’s tough to ever say what’s the very best of anything.
Instead, when someone asks, I try to say what’s good out there in the increasingly and thrillingly crowded North Carolina barbecue scene.
But after years of eating across the Triangle, I’m ready to rank the best of the great barbecue joints in this region. For varying reasons, every restaurant on this list serves worthy barbecue, with an emphasis and weight given to what’s going on with pork — this is North Carolina after all.
Here’s my list.
1. Prime Barbecue in Knightdale
It’s hard to imagine a barbecue restaurant like Prime existing in North Carolina a decade ago.
The barbecue temples strewn across the state are often best with dark wood paneling on the walls, low ceilings and a parking lot of crushed gravel leading to the door. Prime, with giant windows welcoming sunshine, a view of a suburban sports complex and an artificial turf side yard, isn’t any of those things.
Prime isn’t purely Texan, though owner Chris Prieto brings his memories and talent for beef brisket to every tender slice that’s served. It certainly isn’t traditional North Carolina barbecue, though it reserves Saturdays, its busiest day of the week, for a special serving of whole hog.
Barbecue is a celebration at Prime — or rather, it is celebrated. The kitchen walls are as polished as the dining room, and there are windows on the patio that enable diners to behold the smokers and pitmasters who prepared the meals.
The lines are long for lunch most days Prime is open, and patience is rewarded by rich, darkened brisket dripping with fat, and mahogany spare ribs encrusted with black pepper.
But it’s what Prime does with that whole hog on Saturdays that puts it at the top of the Triangle’s barbecue heap. Prieto gives the whole hog a Puerto Rican twist, replacing peppered vinegar with bright and garlicky mojo sauce, served with cracklin crumbles, and rice and beans. It’s a dish that connects in all the ways barbecue can, but is first and foremost profoundly delicious.
Find Prime Barbecue at: 403 Knightdale Station Run, Knightdale. 919-373-8067 or prime-bbq.com
2. Sam Jones BBQ in Raleigh
You can sit at a picnic table outside Sam Jones and listen to a chorus of jackhammers remake the Raleigh skyline.
If you order the whole hog, famously chopped with cleavers breaking up bits of bubbly pork skin crisped over coals, you’ll be tasting some of North Carolina’s oldest food, which here still feels alive and fresh.
Astoundingly, some days the smoked bone-in chicken and the giant spare ribs, smoked to a dark cherry hue that belongs on a sports car, are the best bites of food in the restaurant.
Find Sam Jones BBQ at: 502 W. Lenoir St., Raleigh. 984-206-2555 or samjonesbbq.com
3. Stephenson’s Bar-B-Q in Willow Spring
One of the main ingredients in barbecue is time: the hours it takes to darken a pork shoulder with smoke and heat, the decades it takes for a restaurant to cure into an institution.
Stephenson’s is not talked about nearly enough. Its proximity to Raleigh sees it bypassed by the barbecue road-trippers bound for the vinegary pork of Eastern North Carolina. But it’s too far from the downtown lunch hour crowd, so instead Stephenson’s has remained a rural neighborhood restaurant with just a line of trees between it and I-40.
The now-closed Allen & Son is the closest comparison to Stephenson’s, where pork shoulders get a long smoke over coals in an ancient pit, then an assertive seasoning and saucing of vinegar. Just out of the fryer, the hushpuppies are as light as ping pong balls and nearly the same size.
Find Stephenson’s Bar-B-Q at: 11964 NC-50, Willow Spring. 919-894-4530.
4. Lawrence Barbecue in Durham/Research Triangle Park
When you head to Lawrence you’ll want to come with a hungry crew, because you’ll regret every dish you don’t order.
This is the most fun menu in North Carolina barbecue, bursting with new ideas and updated classics. In a world where everyone serves a mac and cheese, Lawrence tops them all, adding crunchy crumbles and green onions to a creamy, peppery sauce.
You’ll be happy to sip on spicy, sweet pot likker whenever there’s a collard greens special and you may never settle on which sando is the best, but tender pulled pork piled high is undefeated.
Find Lawrence Barbecue at: 900 Park Offices Dr., Suite 120, Durham. 919-593-6923 or lawrencebarbecue.com
5. Dampf Good BBQ in Cary
The Dampf brothers Nick and Bryce only have Texas in mind when they light the fire in their giant offset smoker.
You might think of Texas as well as you take in some of the very best brisket in North Carolina, plus heaps of pork shoulder with a glossy black bark and notes of fruity sweetness. There’s also a sausage program that can serve up to three different kinds of smoked links on a given day.
Find Dampf Good BBQ at: 6800 Good Hope Church Rd., Cary. 847-387-7469 or dampfgoodbbq.com
6. Longleaf Swine in Raleigh
It’s funny to parallel park on a downtown block to walk and have whole hog barbecue this outrageously good.
As the name might suggest, pork is king at the newest whole hog spot in North Carolina, where Marc Russell and Adam Cunningham have created a downtown Raleigh restaurant as comfortable as a front porch.
Find Longleaf Swine at: 300 E. Edenton St., Raleigh. 984-200-9649 or longleafswine.com
7. Picnic in Durham
Approaching a decade in business, Picnic is a restaurant stuck in time. Its offerings are based on the kind of pork and chicken menus North Carolina restaurants have served for decades, but within the trappings of a modern barbecue joint helping revive a beloved cuisine.
You’ll come for the authentic whole hog barbecue made from fattened, pasture-raised pigs, but you’ll keep coming back for crispy fried chicken and a dining room where it’s easy to become a regular.
Find Picnic at: 1647 Cole Mill Rd., Durham. 919-908-9128 or picnicdurham.com
8. Mike D’s BBQ in Durham
In this world of sticky sweet spareribs, Mike D’s swerves into savory, smoking these foot-long beauties with an herby dry rub, which don’t need a drop of his award-winning barbecue sauce — but it’s there if you want it.
Find Mike D’s BBQ at: 455 S. Driver St., Durham. 866-960-8652 or mikedsbbq.com
9. The Pig in Chapel Hill
The menu at this Chapel Hill spot is a dissertation in pork.
You’ll find fried pigs ears and house-made bacon on BLTs, plus more traditional barbecue like racks of ribs and strands of pulled pork, paired with addictive crunchy pickles.
Find The Pig at: 630 Weaver Dairy Rd., Suite 101, Chapel Hill. 919-942-1133 or thepigrestaurant.com
10. Chop Shop BBQ in Raleigh
Despite its name, the pork is clearly not chopped at this very best example of gas station barbecue in Raleigh.
Before you take a bite, you’ll see the ribbons of pulled pork falling apart in your styrofoam box, the surest sign you’ve found something special.
Find Chop Shop BBQ at: 210 E. Six Forks Rd., Raleigh. 919-896-8101 or chopshopbbqgrill.com
11. Clyde Cooper’s Barbecue in Raleigh
The oldest of the old school, Clyde Cooper’s has stayed true to tradition but has made the modern updates to be sure it sees 100 years in business. Somewhat famously, Cooper’s made the news in the last year for serving “pink barbecue,” which it promises to continue doing.
Find Clyde Cooper’s Barbecue at: 327 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh. 919-832-7614 or clydecoopersbbq.com
12. Redneck BBQ Lab at McGee’s Crossroads
This Johnston County favorite is famous for its caramelly burnt ends, which are worth the wait in line when served every other day of the week.
Find Redneck BBQ Lab at: 12101-B NC Hwy 210, Benson. 919-938-8334 or theredneckbbqlab.com
13. Evelyn’s Tex-Mex BBQ in Durham
Evelyn’s is a barbecue truck, not a taco truck, its owner Everardo Macias will point out.
And he’s right, as evidenced by the smoker taking up the rear of the trailer. In less than a year, Evelyn’s has shown a promising start with its brewery and festival pop-ups, where the star is flavorful slices of lean brisket wrapped in pillowy flour tortillas.
Find Evelyn’s Tex-Mex BBQ at: 919-519-5222 or streetfoodfinder.com/evelynstexmexbbq
14. The Pit in Raleigh
Since it opened, The Pit has been the first stop for many in the Triangle looking to try North Carolina barbecue for the first time. Its menu is kind of a pork primer, offering tastes of Eastern and Western styles in the same dining room.
Find The Pit at: 328 W. Davie St., Raleigh. 919-890-4500 or thepit-raleigh.com
15. Backyard BBQ Pit in Durham
Though only 15 years old, this popular South Durham spot feels like a much older restaurant carrying on an even older tradition. The order is sweetly smoked pork and pit-cooked chicken, though the baby back ribs are popular. Backyard BBQ is wrapping up renovations and expects to reopen this fall.
Find Backyard BBQ Pit at: 5122 NC-55, Durham. 919-544-9911 or sweetribs.com
16. Midwood Smokehouse in Raleigh
Like The Pit before it, Midwood has launched into the downtown Raleigh restaurant scene with a new perspective on barbecue. But instead of putting North Carolina at its core, Midwood serves the modern barbecue menu, plus exciting specials, like smoky Tex-Mex tacos and burnt ends glazed with Coca-Cola.
Find Midwood Smokehouse at: 409 W. Johnson St., Raleigh. 919-276-2666 or midwoodsmokehouse.com
17. Ole Time Barbecue in Raleigh
It’s been in the capital city for 30 years, but this popular diner near PNC Arena is an old-fashioned Eastern North Carolina restaurant. That means fried chicken, Brunswick stew and chopped pork.
Find Ole Time Barbecue at: 6309 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh. 919-859-2544 or oletimebarbecue.com
18. Smith’s Smokehouse and Smoothies in Wake Forest
There is no menu in all of North Carolina barbecue like Smith’s Smokehouse, where the pairing is smoked meats and a focus on dessert smoothies. If you have a barbecue sweet tooth, this is your spot — where the pork and brisket have a sugary note and the mac and cheese a touch of baking spices.
Find Smith’s Smokehouse & Smoothies at: 1318 S. Main St., Wake Forest. 919-263-8704 or smokehousesmoothies.com
19. Bullock’s Bar-B-Que in Durham
This oldest restaurant in Durham continues to attract loyal diners with excellent barbecue sides, though the tremendous fried chicken may upstage the pork these days.
Find Bullock’s Bar-B-Que at: 3330 Quebec Dr, Durham. 919-383-3211 or bullocks-bbq.com
20. Maverick’s Smokehouse in Durham
Like The Pit and Midwood Smokehouse, Maverick’s smokes a barbecue medley, hitting on chopped North Carolina pork and brisket. Here the brisket is chopped, which generally makes for a better sandwich. The real draw to Maverick’s is the downtown patio, where you can sip craft beer with a skyline view and smoke in the air.
Find Maverick’s Smokehouse at: 900 W. Main St., Durham. 919-682-8978 or maverickssmokehouse.com
