North Carolina Barbecue, Page 2, Fish Camps

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Moving back to sweet home North Carolina in about 3.5 months. Once there, I may not eat anything besides barbecue for the next year.
 
Paine said:
Best whole hog BBQ joint in the world. Sorry Parker’s, this Wilson boy has no loyalty lol.
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Brother, you ain't told a lie yet! Sam Jones and Skylight are the two greatest whole hog joints on the planet. Parker's is only alright, IMO. I'd get B's in Greenville before I'd even consider Parker's, and even B's, IMO, is a tad overrated. Sam Jones and Skylight deliver 100% of the time.
 
CFordUNC said:
Brother, you ain't told a lie yet! Sam Jones and Skylight are the two greatest whole hog joints on the planet. Parker's is only alright, IMO. I'd get B's in Greenville before I'd even consider Parker's, and even B's, IMO, is a tad overrated. Sam Jones and Skylight deliver 100% of the time.
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Wilson even has a better option now in Marty’s. Better BBQ and fried chicken than Parker’s. Parker’s still brings me back to church lunches, so it does have a nostalgia factor. It’s never bad, but Sam Jones and Skylight always deliver as you say.
 
Paine said:
Best whole hog BBQ joint in the world. Sorry Parker’s, this Wilson boy has no loyalty lol.
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Been so long since I ate at Skylight that I can't give a fair opinion. Wilber's would be my pick since I grew up in that area. When I was living in Rocky Mount which was for six years ending about a year and a half ago, Parkers had seriously declined from the 80s and 90s and Bill Ellis's had closed. I thought that Marty's actually had the best barbecue in that area.
 
finesse said:
Been so long since I ate at Skylight that I can't give a fair opinion. Wilber's would be my pick since I grew up in that area. When I was living in Rocky Mount which was for six years ending about a year and a half ago, Parkers had seriously declined from the 80s and 90s and Bill Ellis's had closed. I thought that Marty's actually had the best barbecue in that area.
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Agree. I was never a huge fan of Bill’s.
 
Back in the day you had some good BBQ at Hickory Log in Forest City. They would cater some summer camps when I was a wee lad. I enjoy Alston Bridges and Red Bridges in Shelby when I get the chance. Red's is easier to get to b/c it's just off of 74. Alston's is over by Cleveland County Hospital so it's just a tad off the beaten path. Both great places (IMO).
 
Bill Ellis used to cater for my uncle's family reunion in Beautancus as well as some of the bridge tournaments in the area I played in. I always liked it but I don't think I ate anything there in the last 20-25 years.
 
finesse said:
Been so long since I ate at Skylight that I can't give a fair opinion. Wilber's would be my pick since I grew up in that area. When I was living in Rocky Mount which was for six years ending about a year and a half ago, Parkers had seriously declined from the 80s and 90s and Bill Ellis's had closed. I thought that Marty's actually had the best barbecue in that area.
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The thing with Skylight, IMO, is that Sam Jones has taken what was so great about Skylight and then expanded it much further, making it kind of unnecessary to venture down to Ayden (although Bum's in Ayden is dang good, too). Skylight just has such a limited menu- which is totally fine, that's why they were so good!- but Sam Jones has taken the best parts of Skylight (the whole hog and the slaw) and then added all sorts of other great side options, too.
 
finesse said:
Bill Ellis used to cater for my uncle's family reunion in Beautancus as well as some of the bridge tournaments in the area I played in. I always liked it but I don't think I ate anything there in the last 20-25 years.
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IIRC, their joint got flooded badly a while ago. Can’t remember what storm it was. They tried to reopen, but business never really came back. Quality had already taken a dive before that.
 
CFordUNC said:
The thing with Skylight, IMO, is that Sam Jones has taken what was so great about Skylight and then expanded it much further, making it kind of unnecessary to venture down to Ayden (although Bum's in Ayden is dang good, too). Skylight just has such a limited menu- which is totally fine, that's why they were so good!- but Sam Jones has taken the best parts of Skylight (the whole hog and the slaw) and then added all sorts of other great side options, too.
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It’s a luxury having the Sam Jones location in Raleigh. I just wish they had put it in a different location.
 
Paine said:
It’s a luxury having the Sam Jones location in Raleigh. I just wish they had put it in a different location.
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Amen. I was living in Cary at the time they opened the location in Raleigh in 2021 and I think I had a streak of something like 65 straight weeks of eating there before we moved to Birmingham in 2022. I'm only slightly obsessed! We're moving back to North Carolina in early summer and I may eat double my body weight in Eastern whole hog when I get back.
 
I'd like to go some time. Most of the time these days, I just do my own over charcoal or eat what my son brings back when he referees fencing tournaments. He's pretty good at stopping by Wilber's or Stephensons.
 
The boys at Redneck BBQ Lab in Smithfield (and now they have a location at North Hills) and at Long Leaf Swine in Raleigh do some good work, too, of y'all need a little variety in your lives.
 
BTW...I live much of the time in Asheville where I was pretty unsatisfied with BBQ. Luella's can be good brisket but that's not something that is truly North Carolina, and their hushpuppies are pretty good.

Then I moved to the Fairview area just south of Asheville -- close by a place called Smokey and the Pig on the Old Charlotte Highway. It is good and they keep about the right amount of skin in the mix. I usually eat it without any of their sauces. Their hushpuppies are savory not sweet at all, which I also prefer. The rest of their sides are simply passable. But I'm happy to have the place within 2 miles of where I live.
 
CFordUNC said:
The boys at Redneck BBQ Lab in Smithfield (and now they have a location at North Hills) and at Long Leaf Swine in Raleigh do some good work, too, of y'all need a little variety in your lives.
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I run (maybe too much) on the purist side. The barbecue I ate before I was 6-7 was cooked in a literal pit in the sand under the shed roof of a tobacco barn and all the spices we really had and used was salt, pepper, cider vinegar and red pepper. Still pretty much all I use.
 
Rule of thumb that I've learned as a barbecue fiend who seeks it out when I travel is that outside of a very, very, very select few places (I can think of maybe one or two, tops) I don't ever get brisket outside of Texas and I don't ever get whole hog outside of North Carolina.
 
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