whole hog

Friday Find: Food YouTuber Mark Wiens Travels to Eastern NC for Whole Hog

/ Barbecue Bros / 2 Comments

Monk: Bangkok-based food YouTuber Mark Wiens visits 5 whole hog restaurants in eastern NC in this supersized video. The visits to Skylight Inn (where he meets with Sam Jones) and B’s Barbecue are of particular interest to me as I’ll be making stops there soon.

Description: NORTH CAROLINA, USA – Welcome to North Carolina, one of the capitals of Barbecue, in the world. Today I’m taking you on an ultimate BBQ tour of Eastern North Carolina which is famous for whole hog barbecue! During this food tour we’re going to 5 of the best restaurants in North Carolina, for Eastern style bbq.

The Skylight Inn, Ayden, North Carolina (https://goo.gl/maps/Wj3t9yRDw464Edmp7) – First stop is The Skylight Inn, easily one of the most well known bbq restaurants in North Carolina, in the United States. They do things the right way, whole hog, slow cooked over smoking coals. One of the best things about The Skylight Inn is when the whole hogs are ready they chop them up, with a ratio of meat, fat, and crispy skin, into an insanely juicy chopped bbq tray. It’s truly a life-changing bbq experience.

Bum’s Restaurant (https://goo.gl/maps/yfWPbidoykXLAtGe8) – Just down the road from The Skylight Inn you’ll find Bum’s Restaurant, another long time bbq restaurant. Along with whole hog bbq, they also have plenty of other southern US foods and great sides. They do their bbq quite differently, instead of being chopped its much more shredded.

B’s Barbecue (https://goo.gl/maps/AgiGLpQPSwhdWDgb7) – Greenville, North Carolina – Next we drove out to B’s Barbecue, a local favorite. I had really wanted to try the chicken bbq, but unfortunately they had already sold out. We barely made it in time to get some whole hog, but luckily we did. It was delicious and so were all the sides.

Grady’s Barbecue (https://goo.gl/maps/1tTj9qgL2guawpK48) Dudley, North Carolina – Another amazing and one of the best bbq restaurants to try in North Carolina is in the small town of Dudley. Again, they do things the right way, slow cooked over coals, the entire pig. Along with the pork, their other dishes, including smoked turkey and bbq chicken, and all the sides were outstanding.

Wilber’s Barbecue (https://goo.gl/maps/6SKdDphpu1mEhcUH6) Goldsboro, North Carolina – Finally to complete this North Carolina bbq tour, we’re eating at Wilber’s Barbecue which is a fantastic family restaurant. Their food and service is fantastic. Also, one bonus about the bbq here is that you can order the leftover or picnic bbq ribs, which are delicious and fun to eat.

When you’re in North Carolina, BBQ is something you must eat, it’s a huge part of the local culture, and I hope you can try some of these best Barbecue restaurants!

Friday Find: Tales from the Pits Returns to Charleston Wine + Food

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Monk: The Tales from the Pit guys returned to their first Charleston Wine + Food in a few years and recapped their barbecue adventures while in town. At the festival they had barbecue bites from Southern Smoke BBQ in Garland, Lawrence Barbecue in Raleigh, Truth BBQ, and 17th Street Barbecue among others.

In addition to the festival events in town they made visits to Scott’s BBQ, McCabe’s in Manning, Hite’s BBQ in West Columbia, Sweatman’s Bar-B-Que in Holly Hill, Palmira BBQ, Rodney Scott’s BBQ, and Lewis Barbecue. I’m hoping to try out Palmira later this month and will report back.

Description: The Charleston Wine + Food festival is an amazing showcase of so many talented chefs and spirits professionals from not just South Carolina but all around the country. We were thrilled to be invited back to cover the event and made the most of our five days in the Lowcountry. 

Tune in to hear about the whole hog road trips we made in between going to festival events, including one of the best bites of whole hog we’ve ever had. We had an awesome time attending the CHSWF events, supporting local Charleston restaurants, and eating old school South Carolina BBQ.

Linkdown: 2/9/22

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

I covered this on the Facebook page briefly a few weeks back, but Smiley’s Lexington BBQ has officially announced its closing due to the NCDOT widening of Winston Road in Lexington. This widening was first announced in 2018 with a start date in summer 2020 but had likely been delayed due to the pandemic.

While owner Steve Yountz is not ready to retire just yet, per him “right now there is no definite plans on relocating as far as availably and affordability.” Patrons will have until February 26 to dine at the current location of Smiley’s before it closes its doors for good.

Nearby barbecue restaurant Speedy’s is also expected to close as a result of the road widening, however they are more optimistic about reopening in a new location and plan to rebuild and relocate, depending on the compensation they receive from DOT.

While the optimist in me hopes that both restaurants are able to relocate and continue business in due time, I worry that by next month we will be down two more classic NC barbecue joints.

Native News

A helpful post from Grady’s

Non-Native News

Applications for the Preserve the Pit fellowship are due March 1st

Tim Carman of The Washington Post comes out with his annual barbecue list, with the wrinkle of releasing it in the winter time when some joints are closed

Carman also mourns the loss of pitmaster Corries Hardy

Rodney Scott and Eric Church getting into the honkey tonk game, and bringing whole hog to Broadway at Chief’s

Loro’s second location opens in Houston later this month

J.C. Reid on the evolution of the “Texas Trinity”

Roegels Barbecue opened their Katy location last week

Eater NY critic Robert Sietsema finds Myron Mixon’s Hoboken restaurant to be mixed in quality

Friday Find: “North Carolina BBQ Crawl”

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Monk: YouTuber and horse racing announcer Jason Beem documented his road trip from Richmond down to Ayden, NC to visit both Skylight Inn and Sam Jones BBQ.

Description: I took the short drive from Richmond to Ayden, North Carolina to try a few famous barbecue places I wanted to try.