These 64 barbecue joints helped define North Carolina ‘cue. They may reshape its future.

A few years ago, a difficult reality began to creep into the world of North Carolina barbecue — that the state’s signature food was no longer safe. It seemed barbecue prepared in the traditional way was being snuffed out as historic restaurants shut down and left their pits cold. On menus, it was being drowned out by trends from Texas and a coronation of brisket as the barbecue of the day.

Could the romantic days of barbecue road trips, with the sizzle and smoke of pork over coals, be lost?

Just as it seemed like something precious was on the verge of slipping away, a new generation of pitmasters, hobbyists and restaurant owners stepped up to stoke the state’s fires. This generation celebrated and revived whole hog barbecue and polished up pork shoulders — and smoked formidable briskets aimed to compete with Texas.

There’s a new national barbecue conversation happening, and it’s clear North Carolina still has a lot to say.

As we think about where North Carolina barbecue has been and what it might look like in the decade to come, we’ve picked 64 restaurants across the state that help answer that question. From the Western mountains to a block from the beach, North Carolina barbecue is alive and well — but it isn’t what it’s always been.

This is our 2023 NC Barbecue List, presented in alphabetical order.

Allen & Son Bar-B-Que

5650 U.S. 15, Pittsboro. 919-542-2294 or stubbsandsonbbq.com

The closing of Chapel Hill’s original Allen & Son in 2018 continues to ache in the barbecue-loving heart of the Triangle. Jimmy Stubbs keeps the Allen & Son name alive in Pittsboro through a longtime licensing agreement. Fans of the original will find the trek to Pittsboro worthwhile, with lightly smoked pork shoulders served with hushpuppies shaped like fingerling potatoes, fine un-ketchuped cole slaw and hand-cut fries.

Apple City BBQ

3490 N.C. 16 South, Taylorsville. 828-471-5215 or applecitybbq.com

Adam Dula was tired of being on the road two or three nights of every week when he worked in healthcare. He knew he didn’t want to work in the nearby furniture or fiberglass factories, so as his father Myron Dula neared retirement, Adam talked him into opening up a barbecue restaurant.

The pair had been paid by friends to cater backyard dinners and parties and were thinking about a food truck when they happened upon an empty restaurant south of Taylorsville. Apple City opened up seven years ago and Dula has his eye on the future. He’d like to see the restaurant on the state’s historic barbecue trail one day, which asks for 15 years in business and mandates every bit of barbecue is cooked only with wood.

On the outskirts of everywhere, Apple City doesn’t fit in any one style of North Carolina barbecue, and Dula draws most of his inspiration from Texas. You’ll find that in the brisket, which remains his favorite and has slowly been embraced by locals, who for generations knew barbecue as only pork shoulders from Lexington.

Dula has followed a similar path to the acclaimed Jon G’s in Peachland and their Oyler smokers are considered sisters, separated by just a single serial number.

B’s Barbecue

751 State Road 1204, Greenville. 252-758-7126

B’s Barbecue was born from hard times, when in the 1970s founder William McLawhorn had to sell the family’s farm. The barbecue joint he opened to get by still stands nearly 50 years later as one of North Carolina’s most revered restaurants, today run by his daughters Tammy Godley, Donna McLawhorn and Judy Drach.

The whole hog barbecue is cooked through the night in pits built out of a carport smokehouse, chopped and seasoned and sold from a window starting at 9 a.m. By noon on Saturdays, when many barbecue fans make the trek to Greenville, that pork will be nearly sold out and the prized pit-cooked half chickens will surely be gone. Those chickens are worth getting to B’s early — mopped with the same vinegar sauce as the barbecue and lightly charred by the coals, with just the right amount of smoke.

But the pork is no silver medal, it’s been named the best in the state by more than a few, devoured on a pair of picnic tables underneath a towering oak, or in the cab of a pickup truck, parked anywhere it would fit along the road named for B’s itself.

Backyard BBQ Pit

5122 N.C. 55, Durham. 919-544-9911 or sweetribs.com

Before the Triangle’s recent barbecue revival, Backyard BBQ Pit was one of the very few places in Durham to find genuine, smoky pork shoulders and ribs. Open 16 years, Backyard BBQ Pit is on a brief hiatus as it remodels its kitchen and dining room. Look for Fabianne Simmons to reopen her doors in late 2023.

Bar-B-Q Center

900 N. Main St., Lexington. 336-248-4633 or barbecuecenter.net

In Lexington, the Land of the Red Slaw, Bar-B-Q Center announces itself in neon with a bygone sign glowing from the side of the restaurant. As one of the pillars of the Piedmont style, you know you’ll find pit-cooked pork shoulders and a vinegary sauce tinged red with a squirt of ketchup. Inside, the red vinyl booths are as pristine as a classic Mustang that’s been buffed with a diaper for decades, though the dining room is packed every day.

And while all that matters is barbecue, you need to know that Bar-B-Q Center serves the most epic banana split you’ve ever seen.

Bar-B-Q King

2613 E. Main St., Lincolnton. 704-735-1112 or barbqkingnc.com

One of the oldest restaurants in the Charlotte barbecue orbit, Bar-B-Q King has been hailed as one of the best for more than 50 years. The Lexington lineage is strong here, as pork continues to be smoked from whole shoulders over hickory coals, though Bar-B-Q King has built a following for its burgers.

Black Powder Smokehouse

302 E. Main St., Jamestown. 336-858-5761 or blackpowdersmokehouse.com

516 S. Fayetteville St., Unit 101, Asheboro. 336-672-9212

After two decades in country club kitchens and resort restaurants, Keith Henning suddenly found himself not cooking very much. As executive chef here and there, many of the things he loved about cooking — being on the line, prepping for service — were delegated to others.

In barbecue, Henning said he found a way back. He opened Black Powder Smokehouse in 2019, three months before a global pandemic, and this year opened a second location in Asheboro. The pork is smoked up to 14 hours in an all-wood rotisserie cooker, the skin pulled off and crisped up, then chopped to add a crackle to every bite.

Boogie’s Turkey BBQ

5008 Elm City Road, Elm City. 252-236-3141 or facebook.com/boogies-turkey-bbq

Retired pastor and brick mason Willie Hill opened Boogie’s in 2014, naming the restaurant for his grandson. Hill and his family carry the torch for a subset of Eastern North Carolina barbecue, serving chopped turkey instead of pork. Saying he prefers this cleaner, healthier style of barbecue, Hill smokes spatchcocked turkeys for up to six hours, debones the meat and then chops and seasons everything with familiar vinegar sauce.

Bum’s Restaurant

566 3rd St., Ayden. 252-746-6880 or bumsrestaurant.net

Down the road from the more famous Skylight Inn, historic Bum’s Restaurant is not to be overlooked. Disguised as an all-day diner, Bum’s has served whole hog barbecue and pit-cooked chicken in downtown Ayden since the 1960s. Meals are served cafeteria style, and if you’re struggling to pick your sides, just know there’s a collard green variety named for Bum’s founder, the late Latham “Bum” Dennis.

Bullock’s Bar-B-Cue

3330 Quebec Drive, Durham. 919-383-3211 or bullocks-bbq.com

Durham’s oldest restaurant started smoking pork shoulders in the 1950s, and while the decades have seen Bullock’s encroached by development, this barbecue destination is still packed on Friday and Saturday nights by a legion of loyalists. The walls around the register by the front door are covered with slightly faded photos of the famous diners who stopped by to pay their respects to Bullock’s and its place in North Carolina barbecue. The onion rings and fried okra are hand-breaded on the spot, and the desserts are old fashioned and exquisite.

Buxton Hall BBQ

32 Banks Ave., Asheville. 828-232-7216 or buxtonhall.com

Buxton helped North Carolina believe in barbecue again.

Here, a fine dining chef started cooking whole hog barbecue inside a restaurant kitchen — not to chase a trend, but because it was an audacious idea he believed in. From the beginning in 2015, Buxton helped generate a buzz that carried through the rest of the state: that this oldest of Carolina traditions was something to celebrate, that it was something exciting.

Frozen bourbon and Cheerwine slushies helped with that, as did acclaimed pies and the genius of cooking green beans and other vegetables beneath that pig, under a drip, drip, drip of rendered fat. Last year chef Elliott Moss split from Buxton, but it remains alive as ever under owner Meherwan Irani, the 2022 Outstanding Restaurant winner for Chai Pani.

Chop Shop BBQ & Grill

210 E. Six Forks Road, Raleigh. 919-896-8101 or chopshopbbqgrill.com

Even though the gas station is tiny, you can’t see much of the Chop Shop counter from the front door. Weaving through cramped and narrow aisles of sour candy and antacids you’ll find one of the last remaining hidden gems in North Carolina barbecue. The menu is pulled pork and smoked chicken every day it’s open, plus a solid occasional brisket special, sliced however you like it from unfurled tin foil. You’ll probably prefer to sit at the picnic tables outside, where there used to be a drive-thru, as you dig into luscious and vinegary pork.

Clyde Cooper’s Barbeque

327 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh. 919-832-7614 or clydecoopersbbq.com

At 85, Clyde Cooper’s is among North Carolina’s oldest restaurants. Today it stands around the corner from its original location in downtown Raleigh, cooking old-fashioned barbecue alongside the city’s trendy restaurant scene. Decidedly old school Cooper’s, as most people call it, was cash only until a few years ago, but has since added a few modern flourishes, including craft beer. The barbecue remains slowly smoked pork shoulders, wafting that sweet perfume out onto Wilmington Street as downtown workers stroll down sidewalks to their offices. You’ll want to snag a perfect bag of pork rinds as you pay your bill at the register.

College Barbecue

117 Statesville Blvd., Salisbury. 704-633-9953 or facebook.com/college-barbecue

This all-day diner remains as pristine as the day it opened in 1965 as a drive-in restaurant. The barstools and booths have held generations of Rowan County barbecue fans drawn to whole shoulders smoked in a brick pit just inside the restaurant. Ask for the outside brown if you’re looking for a smokier plate of pork.

Dampf Good BBQ

6800 Good Hope Church Road, Cary. 847-387-7469 or dampfgoodbbq.com

In just over a year, Dampf Good has made a farm stand in Cary a barbecue destination three days a week. From an offset smoker as big as its food trailer, Dampf Good serves a mostly Texas-accented brand of barbecue, drawing lunch-hour lines from nearby RTP offices and selling out in the early afternoon.

If it’s brisket you’re after, brothers Nick and Bryce Dampf smoke and slice some of the best in the state. The pulled pork and spare ribs also impress, but the specialty might be housemade sausage, sometimes as many as three different links written on the butcher paper menu.

East of Texas

907 S. Broad St., Winston-Salem. 336-422-7076 or east-of-texas-wsnc.com

Winston-Salem is in fact a thousand miles east of Texas, where owner Claire Calvin grew up in Houston. When she went to college in Vermont, Calvin felt very far from home when what was advertised as a new student “barbecue” was in reality just a hamburgers and hot dogs affair. Perhaps that’s why she returned to Texas for law school in Austin, some days floating down the Guadalupe River with barbecue as the destination.

After living all over the country, Calvin and her husband moved to Winston-Salem in 2007 and about a decade ago founded the Tex-Mex restaurant The Porch. Last year Calvin jumped to the forefront of an emerging style in North Carolina to open a Tex-Mex barbecue spot. With East of Texas, the star is without question the brisket, but the supporting cast includes tortillas, not white bread, and breakfast tacos in the morning.

Evelyn’s Tex-Mex BBQ

Food truck, 919-519-5222 or streetfoodfinder.com/evelynstexmexbbq

As his day job, Everardo Macias runs a cancer research lab and serves as a professor at Duke University’s medical school. But in the last year, he and his family launched Evelyn’s Tex Mex BBQ, a food truck often found nights and weekends at Triangle-area breweries.

Named for his daughter, Macias operates the food truck with his stepson, serving a blend of Mexican and Texan dishes he calls “Mexi-que.” The foundation of Evelyn’s is the tacos, influenced by the large flour tortillas Macias ate when he lived in the small Ulvalde County town of Sabinal. Those perfectly chewy tortillas, warmed and dappled on a griddle, wrap around single slices of brisket or shredded smoked carnitas — Evelyn’s name for its pork barbecue.

The sides breathe fresh air into the North Carolina barbecue canon, such as mac and cheese with a smoky jolt of roasted poblano peppers, or stewed and peppery pintos, which love a pairing with Domincan-style coconut rice and pigeon peas.

Fuzzy’s Bar-B-Q Restaurant

407 Hwy St., Madison. 336-427-4130 or fuzzysbbqmadison.com

About a dozen miles from the Virginia border, Fuzzy’s is the northernmost barbecue restaurant included in the Historic North Carolina Barbecue Trail. Fuzzy’s is really an all-day Southern restaurant wrapped around a barbecue spot, serving breakfast as early as 5 a.m. Nearly 70 years in business, it remains a destination for those who like a fine chop on their pork shoulders and red slaw.

Gary’s Bar-B-Cue

620 U.S. 29, China Grove. 704-857-8314

Barbecue kitsch is usually the second best thing about going to a barbecue restaurant, eating plates of chopped pork amid statues and signs of smiling pigs wearing angel’s wings. Gary’s is perhaps the finest example in all of North Carolina, decked out in vintage soft drink banners and neon signs and even classic cars, the chrome gleaming like the green vinyl barstools. Gary Ritchie opened his Lexington-style restaurant in 1971, and it remains a Rowan County institution for moist, coarsely chopped pork shoulders with a subtle bit of smoke.

Grady’s Barbecue

3096 Arrington Bridge Road, Dudley. 919-735-7243 or facebook.com/gradysbbqnc

On July 4, 1986, middle-age newlyweds Steve and Gerri Grady opened Grady’s Barbecue at a crossroads of rural byways Southeast of Goldsboro. Today, the slices of sweet potato pie are still made according to Steve’s mother’s recipe, the pork is whole hog style cooked all night and chopped in the morning, and Gerri starts making the country sides between 3 and 5 a.m. — brought to life, she says, with a dash of this and a dash of that. At 88 and 79, Steve and Gerri serve some of the state’s most beloved barbecue and possibly the very best sides around. The restaurant endures as the oldest Black-owned whole hog barbecue joint in the state.

Hubba Hubba Smokehouse

2724 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock. 828-694-3551 or hubbahubbasmokehouse.squarespace.com

At only 16 years old, Hubba Hubba is by far the youngest restaurant included in the state’s historic barbecue trail. Far flung in the Western Carolina mountains and within the foodie orbit of Asheville, Hubba Hubba is largely isolated from the debate over eastern and Piedmont barbecue. Here you’ll find former fine dining chef Starr Teel cooking pork shoulders with live fire. With all outdoor seating, Hubba Hubba is seasonal, open March to October and closed in the winter.

Hursey’s Bar-B-Q

1834 S. Church St., Burlington. 336-570-3838 or hurseysbarbecue.com

This empire of barbecue in Alamance County topples the notion that Interstate barbecue isn’t worth stopping for. Founded in the 1940s, Hursey’s is among the most historic restaurant brands in North Carolina barbecue, built on pit-cooked pork shoulders.

Jon G’s Barbecue

116 Glenn Falls St., Peachland. 704-272-6301 or jongsbarbecue.com

For one day every week, a slice of Peachland turns into Texas. Jon G’s is the Saturday-only spot from Garren and Kelly Kirkman and it is currently the purest bit of fun in North Carolina barbecue.

Raised on a cattle farm, Garren Kirkman has always been comfortable with beef barbecue, and his brisket and beef ribs have crowds lining up before dawn. Diners tailgate their lunch at Jon G’s, bringing chairs and cornhole and coolers of beer, or dipping into the free cooler out front stocked with craft beer from nearby Charlotte. Get there early so you don’t miss those Flintstone-sized beef ribs or sticky sweet bacon burnt ends, which are usually the first thing to sell out.

The brisket scene is increasingly crowded in pork-loving North Carolina, and Jon G’s would rank among the two or three in the state where you could close your eyes and swear you were in Texas. The spareribs are rosy red and studded with black pepper and you’ll want to order every variety of sausage that’s left, starting with the flagship Cheerwine links.

Kings Restaurant

405 E. New Bern Road, Kinston. 252-572-2101 or kingsbbq.com

910 W. Vernon Ave. Kinston. 252-527-1661

This 87-year-old Eastern North Carolina icon ships its barbecue nationwide, but the drive to Kinston is essential to sample Kings’ legendary creation — the Pig in a Pup: a barbecue sandwich served in a giant hushpuppy bun.

Lawrence Barbecue

900 Park Offices Drive, Suite 120, Durham. 919-593-6923 or lawrencebarbecue.com

An office campus in Research Triangle Park is not among the places you expect to find great barbecue, let alone the non-stop fun on the menu at Lawrence. But believe it, this lead tenant of the Boxyard RTP shipping container development serves one of the most exciting trays of barbecue in the state.

Former fine dining chef Jake Wood was consumed with the challenge of creating great brisket and pork, so he took his career in a different direction four years ago when he started working on Lawrence, a restaurant initially named after his grandfather and now his son.

The menu offers a perspective of North Carolina culinary traditions you’d expect to find in more upscale spots, like roasted oysters from the coast and marinated crab claws, alongside mounds of smoky pulled pork. There are also sheets of tender brisket and possibly the sticky-icky-est spareribs around. You can expect that every day, but the specials menu is a rotating assortment of expectation-defying dishes, from brisket cheesesteaks to chicken sandwiches to thick cuts of smoked bologna.

Lexington Barbecue

100 Smokehouse Lane, Lexington. 336-249-9814 or lexbbq.com

When people talk about Lexington barbecue, it’s sometimes hard to say if they mean the restaurant or the style tied to the town — a style marked by tomato-based sauce and pork shoulders smoked over coals. A true icon of American barbecue, Lexington remains a worthy standard-bearer of the style it helped create. From a smokehouse as big as the restaurant itself, whole pork shoulders perfume the air as fat drips on coals. Regulars know to ask for plenty of “outside brown,” the darkened, flavorful bits of pork, served chopped or sliced. The vinegary, tomato-based sauce is kept warm in Bunn coffee pots behind a counter and can be summoned by asking for “dip.”

Little Richard’s BBQ

6470 Stadium Drive, Clemmons. 336-766-0401 or littlerichardsbarbeque.com

For a fairly historic barbecue brand in North Carolina, the five locations of Little Richard’s have for years fully embraced what’s possible with smoky pork. You’ll find Lexington-style barbecue at the heart of everything, from traditional plates to tacos made with flour tortillas. Forget the vinegar versus tomato debate, Little Richard’s offers a gochujang Korean BBQ sauce — a sweet and spicy Thai chili — and perhaps most controversial for the Winston-Salem brand, a mustardy South Carolina style.

Longleaf Swine

300 E. Edenton St., Raleigh. 984-200-9649 or longleafswine.com

Steps away from the North Carolina legislature, you’ll find more than the usual suits and penny loafers packed into this barbecue joint for lunch most days of the week. What they’re after is the newest whole hog barbecue in the state, and quickly among the finest.

It took years of fits and starts for Longleaf Swine to finally open in downtown Raleigh — years of pop-ups around town, years of construction and possibly years to build the kind of yearning for something new that allows such an all-day, split-personality restaurant to exist.

By day, Longleaf is a modern North Carolina barbecue restaurant, serving traditional, high-level whole hog, plus sticky spare ribs and some brisket. By night, its sprawling patio is packed for dinner, as crowds chase one of the city’s most popular smashburgers.

Low and Slow Smokehouse

3149B Swift Creek Road, Smithfield. 919-578-6479 or lowandslow.us

There’s a buzz about Low and Slow in barbecue circles that has nothing to do with the propellers whirling around the Johnston County airport where it’s located. Living up to its barbecue mantra of a name, this two-year-old spot reaches back to the state’s longest-running barbecue traditions and smokes its pork whole hog style. That pork tops nachos and plates of queso, beyond the staple sandwiches and platters.

And surely signaling barbecue times are changing, this rural restaurant overlooking an airfield serves one of the Triangle’s most colossal Bloody Mary’s, studded with a buffet of snacks like fried pickles and candied bacon.

Marty’s BBQ

2643 Ward Blvd., Wilson. 252-281-1709 or martysbbq.com

Owned by one of Eastern North Carolina’s most famous barbecue families, Marty’s carries on the legacy of Bill’s Barbecue, a landmark barbecue campus on the outskirts of Wilson. Owned by the Ellis family, Marty’s is only six years old, but serves decades of barbecue tradition out of a fast food drive-thru.

Maybe if it served a trendier style of food we’d call Marty’s “fast casual,” the term tied to crafted dishes served in a hurry. But Marty’s is barbecue and Southern food that doesn’t go out of style. Chopped pork and chicken and pastry, as it’s known east of I-95, every day of the week — an old-fashioned meat-n-three with an LED screen menu.

Maverick’s Smokehouse

900 W. Main St., Durham. 919-682-8978 or maverickssmokehouse.com

Barbecue fans and practitioners talk a lot about the community surrounding smoked meats, and about the origin of pig pickings and church dinners bringing people together around a meal. Sometimes it’s a good story and then sometimes it’s real life, like when a gas explosion in Durham leveled a building in 2019 and Maverick’s, located just behind the rubble, fed first responders and workers for days while people tried to make sense of the mess.

Sometimes Maverick’s cooks whole hog on its porch in downtown Durham, but every day you’ll find smoked brisket, chopped and sliced, and chopped pork shoulders, served as sandwiches or plates or perhaps on a platter of nachos.

Midwood Smokehouse

Six locations in North and South Carolina. Midwoodsmokehouse.com

Once a Charlotte-only chain of incredibly popular upscale barbecue spots, Midwood has fed power brokers and celebrities whenever they’re in town and hankering for smoked meats. Midwood expanded eastward last year to Raleigh, serving a blend of the barbecue regions, plus Tex-Mex. You’ll find chopped pork shoulders dressed with either vinegar or tomato-based sauce, brisket and sometimes fancy Crunchwrap Supremes.

Mike D’s BBQ

455 S. Driver St., Durham. 866-960-8652 or mikedsbbq.com

This newest of Durham’s barbecue restaurants is part of the revival of a block led by Black-owned businesses. For years, Mike De Los Santos worked in affordable housing policy-making, with an award-winning barbecue sauce brand and specialty shop on the side. This year Mike D’s BBQ launched as a general store — half restaurant, half barbecue hobbyist wonderland.

The spare ribs can be nearly a foot long, with a dry rub that’s spiced and herbaceous, while the pulled pork has been smoked into succulent threads. De Los Santos aims to add smoke wherever he can, serving smoked corn; smoky, peppery beans; and a gooey, potluck-worthy mac and cheese.

Morris Barbeque

891 Morris BBQ Road, Hookerton. 252-747-2254 or morrisbarbeque.com

The pork skins, which you want, are usually spoken for and reserved by Friday afternoon at this Saturday-only spot, so call ahead if you’re on your way to Hookerton.

Though Morris Barbecue has stood since 1956 and its barbecue methods date back to 1931, there’s a secret-by-omission that sometimes gets the restaurant overlooked by historians. William Morris, whose grandfather started the restaurant, can occasionally hear diners debate whether his whole hog barbecue is smoked with oak or pecan, which he settles by divulging that for at least three decades, Morris Barbeque has cooked with gas.

The vinegar sauce and seasoning, though, dates back to the founding, and as Morris and his years of Saturday sell-outs can attest, good is good no matter how you get there. The other aces up Morris’ sleeve are the old-fashioned cakes baked weekly by Ashley Godley, the fourth generation Morris to work in the restaurant.

Mr. Barbecue

1381 Peters Creek Parkway, Winston-Salem. 336-725-7827 or mrbarbecue-nc.com

Mr. Barbecue is really two restaurants in one, a union of pork and chicken. There’s Mr. Barbecue, which serves chopped pork shoulders in the Piedmont style as it has since the 1960s, plus some of the very best pork spare ribs you’ll find among the old-school generation of North Carolina barbecue stops. And then there’s Miss Fried Chicken, serving deeply golden brown bone-in chicken. Mr. Barbecue burned a few years ago, keeping the restaurant on the sidelines for two years, but this Winston-Salem landmark is extremely back.

Noble Smoke

2216 Freedom Drive, Charlotte. 704-703-5252 or noblesmokebarbecue.com

Noble Smoke is perhaps the clearest sign that North Carolina barbecue is different these days.

This four-year-old Charlotte restaurant is the barbecue arm of restaurateur Jim Noble, who spent years bringing it to life. The tall ceilings and open kitchen and communal tables would match the trappings of any upscale restaurant in town, but here it’s dolled-up barbecue on the menu.

The menu plays to today’s barbecue trends, with all wood-smoked brisket and chopped heritage pork and one of the longest lists of sides you’ll find in the state, studded with country classics like butter beans and field peas and stewed squash, among mac and cheese and Brussels sprouts. Where Noble stands out in the realm of North Carolina ‘cue, though, is its wine list, which is as big as the food menu itself and built around pairings meant for smoky trays of food.

Old Colony Smokehouse

802 W. Queen St., Edenton. 252-482-2400 or oldcolonysmokehouse.com

After winning a special North Carolina barbecue edition of the Food Network’s “Chopped!,” pitmaster Adam Hughes built his dream barbecue joint, transforming an old tackle shop on the Chowan River into one of the state’s most exciting smokehouses. Old Colony bucks Eastern North Carolina tradition and serves market style, slicing prized brisket and handfuls of pulled pork to order. Hughes comes from a family of sausage-makers and usually serves at least a couple smoked varieties, plus housemade pickles and lavish desserts, including an often-changing lineup of three-layer cakes.

The Original Q Shack

2510 University Drive, Durham. 919-402-4227 or theoriginalqshackdurham.com

When chef and humanitarian José Andrés passed through Durham on his way to Greensboro, he made a detour for barbecue from this longtime neighborhood staple. According to restaurant owner Dan Ferguson, Andrés ordered seconds of the brisket and later posted about it on Instagram. The Original Q Shack has been a popular North Carolina barbecue brand for years, originating in Durham 20 years ago.

Parker’s Barbecue

2514 U.S. 301, Wilson. 252-237-0972 or facebook.com/parkers-barbecue-wilson

For decades Parker’s has likely been the first bite of barbecue for countless Wilson County natives. With wood-paneled walls and a menu of pork, fried chicken, Brunswick stew and boiled potatoes, Parker’s is like having dinner at a firehouse fundraiser in the best possible way.

Picnic

1647 Cole Mill Road, Durham. 919-908-9128 or picnicdurham.com

On a road leading out of the city, there stands Picnic on a hill, its name in marquee lights on a tin roof.

When it opened in 2015, Picnic aimed to imagine a barbecue ideal. Its founders were a chef, a farmer and a former law student who grew up on campaign fundraiser pig pickings in Eastern North Carolina. The barbecue at Picnic is made whole hog style from pigs raised in pastures just up the road.

That former law student and barbecue evangelist Wyatt Dickson built Picnic as a connection point between the state’s oldest barbecue traditions and the tastes of the modern diner. That means you’ll be proud to take your grandparents for a plate of whole hog barbecue and maybe some Brunswick stew while you all sip on boozy slushies.

But beyond all that attention to barbecue tradition, you may also want to consider one of the most excellent chicken sandwiches you’re likely to find.

The Pig

630 Weaver Dairy Road, Suite 101, Chapel Hill. 919-942-1133 or thepigrestaurant.com

It wasn’t barbecue that got Sam Suchoff in the barbecue business, it was the pig. With an eye on sustainability, Suchoff saw whole hog barbecue as one of the few restaurant models and traditions built on using as much of an animal as possible.

Suchoff will say that he doesn’t cook whole hog barbecue as it is known and beloved, but he does it in the aggregate. For the barbecue, he mostly smokes picnic roasts, getting away with the somewhat leaner side of the shoulder because the local pastured pigs he deals with have fat in abundance. He’ll turn the pork collars, which some call the “money muscle,” into prized coppa. He sells off pork chops to restaurants and specialty grocers and is perhaps most famous for his cured hams under the brand Lady Edison, which are often included among the finest country hams in the South.

Ordering at The Pig you’ll find pork every which way you look. There are crispy fried pig ears as a snack, pork cheek banh mi sandwiches and housemade bologna. But behind all that inventiveness, barbecue purists will still find excellent chopped barbecue, served in the classic plate style with slightly mustardy slaw and a mound of bright and sour pickles, cut thin and crunchy.

Pik N Pig

194 Gilliam McConnell Road, Carthage. 910-947-7591 or pik-n-pig.com

Restaurants sometimes burn, barbecue restaurants more often than most. Two years ago, Pik N Pig suffered its first fire, an early morning blaze that leveled the nearly two-decade-old restaurant. Ashley Sheppard reopened his family’s restaurant early in 2023 and said the fire helped Pik N Pig get back to making better barbecue.

In more recent years, he admitted, the restaurant would reheat yesterday’s pork to open for the day. Now, Pik N Pig serves what it smokes that day, often selling out, and even when it doesn’t, it starts fresh the next day. Pik N Pig traces its barbecue lineage back three generations and is today perhaps best known for being set against an airstrip, where private pilots will fly across the state for barbecue.

The Pit Authentic BBQ

328 W. Davie St., Raleigh. 919-890-4500 or thepit-raleigh.com

You can’t overstate the influence of The Pit on North Carolina barbecue or on restaurants in the Triangle. Founded initially by restaurateur Greg Hatem and famed North Carolina pitmaster Ed Mitchell, The Pit dared to imagine authentic North Carolina barbecue in a polished downtown restaurant years before this was a mainstream idea. Barbecue at the time was casual and down a rural road, but The Pit gave it a spotlight every night of the week.

Mitchell has since departed for other ventures over the years, but Hatem maintains The Pit as one of the Triangle’s most popular stops for barbecue. The restaurant recognizes its place as many diner’s first taste of North Carolina barbecue, perhaps just off a plane to RDU, and serves eastern and western styles, including red and white slaws.

Prime Barbecue

403 Knightdale Station Run, Knightdale. 919-373-8067 or prime-bbq.com

Before he had ever opened his first restaurant, Texas-born pitmaster Chris Prieto had earned the title of barbecue expert, appearing in reality cooking shows on multiple TV networks. With Prime, the self-described “barbecue nerd” set out to bridge the Texas traditions he knew growing up with the tastes and trends of North Carolina, where he’s made his home.

Prime often ventures beyond that, built as a barbecue palace with gleaming subway tiles on the walls, long wooden communal tables and usually a long line stretching from the cutting counter out the door. Most people are in line for brisket, massaged by smoke for hours until its peppery bark shimmers with fat. When a fresh brisket lands on the wooden cutting board, it quivers and settles before sliced, quickly correcting any expectations you might have had for North Carolina beef barbecue.

The pulled pork gets a squirt of a tangy, sweet vinegar sauce as it’s weighed and served, and the spareribs are crusted with black pepper and blushing pink with smoke. In a short time, Prime climbed to the top of the heap in North Carolina barbecue, certainly among the younger practitioners aiming to rewrite a centuries-old cuisine.

Real Q

4885 Country Club Road, Winston-Salem. 336-760-3457 or real-q.com

There’s a pile of wood behind the restaurant, a mound really, suggesting the logs of hickory won’t be there long enough to bother stacking. Real Q continues a 31-year tradition of Lexington-style master Richard Berrier, who will forever insist on pork shoulder cooked over hickory coals. There’s also room in the smoker for charred and vinegary half chickens and ribs. On your way out you might want to grab a Ziploc bag of crispy pork skins.

Red Bridges BBQ Lodge

2000 E. Dixon Blvd., Shelby. 704-482-8567 or bridgesbbq.com

There are two barbecue spots called “Bridges” in Shelby, but only one in the Barbecue Hall of Fame. Red Bridges smokes its pork in the Lexington tradition and owes its legacy to matriarch Lyttle Bridges, who continued the technique of hickory-smoked pork shoulders for more than 40 years after the death of her husband Red in 1966. The restaurant is still in the family and still a bucket list destination for fans of North Carolina ‘cue.

Redneck BBQ Lab/The BBQ Lab

12101-B N.C. 210, Benson. 919-938-8334 or theredneckbbqlab.com

Starting as backyard barbecue tinkerers and then as competition champions, brother and sister Jerry Stephenson and Roxanne Manley believe in always pushing barbecue forward. Their competition name “Redneck Scientific” suggests barbecue is a blend of art and science — that meat, smoke and time are elements that can be poked and prodded and perhaps even perfected.

They launched their first restaurant, Redneck BBQ Lab, in a gas station off of I-40, feeding folks from the Triangle going to or from the beach and even convincing travelers on the North-South I-95 to check out North Carolina pastrami. More recently, the brand has expanded to Raleigh with The BBQ Lab in the glitzy shopping district of North Hills, but keeps it real with the same pulled pork and incredibly popular version of burnt ends.

Sam Jones BBQ

502 W. Lenoir St., Raleigh. 984-206-2555 or samjonesbbq.com

715 W. Fire Tower Road, Winterville. 252-689-6449

While serving the same style of whole hog barbecue as his family’s Skylight Inn, third-generation pitmaster Sam Jones modernizes the classics at his own brand of restaurants. Here you’ll find the addition of sticky, lacquered spare ribs, rich mac and cheese and a liquor license.

Shepard Barbecue

7801 Emerald Drive, Emerald Isle. 252-764-2387 or facebook.com/shepardbarbecue

It’s fair to be skeptical of beach barbecue, but you’re in safe hands at Shepard. Owner Brandon Shepard grew up on his grandfather’s whole hog barbecue and collard greens and now smokes a blend of Texas and North Carolina styles a little more than a block from the Atlantic Ocean. Shepard is among the most playful pitmasters in the game today, smoking meatloaf and meatballs and even burritos, but the heavily barked brisket remains the top seller of this barbecue joint on the rise.

Short Sugar’s Pit Bar-B-Q

1328 S. Scales St., Reidsville. 336-342-7487 or shortsugars.com

This pristine relic of the drive-in era may be the most beautiful barbecue restaurant in the state. Where its peers are stacks of dark brick, Short Sugars is mostly glass, with a sharp-sloping roof. The smoked pork can either be chopped shoulders or the leaner and less common sliced hams, with the brick pit visible from a bar stool in the dining room.

Sid’s Catering

455 S. Railroad Ave., Beulaville. 910-298-3549

Get in line early at this Saturday-only whole hog spot built behind owner Sid Blizzard’s house. You’ll order from your car, asking for whatever’s still available, which is hopefully chopped pork, smoked chicken, slaw and crispy, airy golf ball-sized hushpuppies. Be sure to ask for extra pork skin, if you fancy — it’s always the first thing to go.

Skylight Inn

4618 Lee St., Ayden. 252-746-4113 or skylightinnbbq.com

As long as there’s smoke rising to the heavens from the Skylight Inn, the purest flavor of North Carolina barbecue will be preserved.

A silver dome sits atop the dining room, and out back in the dusty gravel parking lot, there’s a pile of wood nearly as tall — each landmark proclaiming in its own way that this is the barbecue capital of the Carolinas. Or maybe the world, it’s hard to tell.

Three generations of Joneses have made their barbecue the same way — whole hog style with a flip at the end to crisp up the skin. From the line you’ll hear the rhythmic chopping of cleavers on wood, mixing up all the lean and fatty pieces of pork, which are then dressed with a puckery vinegar sauce and served in a cardboard tray bejeweled with crunchy bites of cracklin. It’s a bite as old as fire itself and as fine as any food could be.

Smith’s Smokehouse and Smoothies

1318 S. Main St., Wake Forest. 919-263-8704 or smokehousesmoothies.com

Barbecue desserts are kind of an unheralded delight in the smoked meats business, but Smith’s puts the sweet stuff up front. The smoothies are actually blended desserts like blueberry cobbler and banana pudding, staples of the barbecue dessert menu whipped up in a cup. A sweet note runs throughout Smith’s, including mac and cheese with a touch of baking spices, cornbread studded with blueberries and sticky pork belly burnt ends.

Smithfield’s Chicken ‘N Bar-B-Q

30 locations across North Carolina. Scnbnc.com

It may be North Carolina’s largest chain of barbecue restaurants, but Smithfield’s serves pork and fried chicken that’s welcome at any tailgate, and Brunswick stew that snobs will attest can cut the mustard.

Southern Smoke BBQ

29 Warren St., Garland. 910-549-7484 or southernsmokebbqnc.com

The barbecue bona fides of Southern Smoke are beyond question, with this two-day-a-week lunch-only restaurant serving some of the most exquisitely smoked and seasoned pork in Eastern North Carolina. But owner Matthew Register and longtime employee Rodolfo Sandoval show off their culinary chops on the specials board, which can sometimes include Alabama-sauced smoked chicken, shrimp and grits and tamales. Out back, you’ll eat under a covered patio open on all sides with a communal table made from an old convertible. And on Fridays you might find free beer in the cooler.

Speedy’s Barbecue

408 Piedmont Drive, Lexington. 336-248-2410 or speedysbbqinc.com

A highway-widening project in Lexington threatened to force Speedy’s to either close or move, but after 60 years in business, owner Roy Dunn decided it wasn’t quite time to end Speedy’s brand of chopped pork shoulders. The restaurant moved less than a mile from its original location and only went a couple of weeks without serving barbecue.

Stamey’s Barbecue

2206 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. 336-299-9888 or stameys.com

As one of the originators of the Lexington style, Stamey’s is partially responsible for launching the modern backyard barbecue, enabling today’s hobbyists and fanatics to chase their smoky dreams by cooking their own pork shoulders over charcoal. But Stamey’s is on a different level than the millions it’s inspired, tending the coals of tradition for more than 90 years. Any afternoon you’ll still find a long line in the drive-thru and a packed dining room at this institution in the shadow of the Greensboro Coliseum.

Stephenson’s Bar-B-Q

11964 N.C. 50, Willow Spring. 919-894-4530.

It seems that Stephenson’s hides in plain sight, halfway between the state capital in Raleigh and the edge of Eastern North Carolina, caught in between the barbecue road trips and the lunch-hour hot spots. This historic pit in Johnston County dates back to the 1950s, when a hog farmer decided there was more money to be made in barbecue. Today, Andy Stephenson stokes the fire his father started, doing just about everything there is to do the hard way. The pork shoulders are smoked very slowly over coal — eight hours is never enough. The fries are hand-cut, the hushpuppies not quite round and light as can be, and the finely chopped slaw is a perfect sweet-and-sour note against perfectly seasoned and sauced pork.

Sweet Lew’s BBQ

923 Belmont Ave., Charlotte. 980-224-7584 or sweetlewsbbq.com

Former fine dining chef Lewis Donald saw most Charlotte diners driving out of town for their barbecue cravings. Sweet Lew’s is his way of asking folks to stay home. Within Charlotte’s new school barbecue scene Sweet Lew’s stands out for all-wood smoking and chef’ed up specials. Sweet Lew’s acknowledges the proximity of South Carolina and its own barbecue traditions by including a mustardy barbecue sauce alongside vinegar and tomato-based options, and serves a BBQ hash, historically made with pork and liver, but here with smoked pork and brisket, and like any good hash or stew, the trimmings of whatever is around.

Switzerland Cafe

9440 N.C. 226A, Marion. 828-765-5289 or switzerlandcafe.com

This mountain lodge of a restaurant in the far western part of the state is perhaps the only historic pit in North Carolina that’s practically hidden within a traditional family restaurant. Situated in the hairpin corner of a steep switchback, Switzerland Cafe cooks most of its menu in its all-wood smokehouse, from the famed pork shoulders to the mountain trout.

Thig’s BBQ House

1722 Catherine Lake Road, Jacksonville. 910-262-1136 or thigsbbq.com.

It took Thig’s three years to reopen and recover from a pre-pandemic fire, but the 34-year-old restaurant got by as a barbecue food truck. In this coastal military town, Thig’s serves chopped pork sauced with vinegar, but it’s not a traditional barbecue spot. You’ll find flatbread pizza and lumpia among the snacks.

Troutman’s

18466 N.C. 109, Denton. 336-859-2206

Now in his early 80s, founder Jimmy Troutman has worked in restaurants since he was 15, eventually opening Troutman’s Barbecue in 1970. The nights pass slowly and the decades pass quickly in barbecue, and Troutman hopes to see his Lexington-style restaurant make it to the century mark. That’s a rare feat even in North Carolina barbecue, but it could be possible in Troutman’s case. The restaurant is already in the hands of Jimmy’s daughters, Heather and Jamie, and staffed by the larger Troutman family. This fall, Jimmy Troutman will be inducted into the Barbecue Wall of Fame in Lexington.

Wilber’s BBQ

4172 U.S. 70, Goldsboro. 919-778-5218 or wilbersbbq.com

The Wilber’s story could have gone a different way and North Carolina would have lost one of its most beloved and historic barbecue restaurants. Instead, a group of fans and investors who grew up on its whole hog barbecue swooped in four years ago and plucked it from bankruptcy, spent a fortune rebuilding its pit and reopened Wilber’s amid a global pandemic. Today it endures and enjoys a new wave of popularity, serving the same style of pork, but with trendy additions like brisket and beer.