Barbecue

Location

Don’t stop at the Country Kitchen Buffet unless you are hungry enough to enjoy their full offering of southern style food all for a set price of about ten dollars, even less during the week. Fried chicken, seafood, lots of vegetables, and much more, all cooked the old-fashion way. Local people stop by just for “Miss Ruth’s” hand chopped barbecue and to enjoy the fellowship with Doug and Paulette Jones, who have owned Country Kitchen for more than 13 years.

Hrs: Tues.-Fri. 11a.m.-8 p.m.

Sat. 7 a.m.--8 p.m.

Sun. 11 a.m.--4 p.m.

Location

This is a favorite eating-place for popular mystery writer Margaret Maron, who lives nearby and is a distant cousin of the late Paul Stephenson, who started the restaurant. It is now managed by his son, Andy. Even if you don’t see Margaret Maron when you visit, you will surely see some of the models for the characters in her books among the diverse people who frequent the restaurant. When you’re eating your chicken and barbecue and slaw, don’t forget to leave room for the banana pudding. Stephenson’s is probably the only barbecue restaurant in the country that has a commercial nursery next door. Paul’s brother and renowned poet Shelby Stephenson says Paul started “messing around” with plants not long after opening the restaurant and pretty soon was selling plants. The business grew and grew. Today the nursery business is strictly wholesale, but that won’t keep you from checking it out after your meal.

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Some barbecue fans visit Dillard’s for its special “South Carolina” style mustard based flavoring. But when I worked for a few months at North Carolina Central University, I learned that it was also a community-gathering place for “soul food” of all types. More important for me, it was a place where you could find out what is going on in Durham today. Just by looking at all the pictures and mementos on the wall, you can learn a lot of history. Members of the Dillard family have been cooking here for three generations and they know what they are doing including some southern home cooking dishes that are increasingly hard to find on the road—like chitlins and okra.

Hrs: Tues.-Sat., 10.30 a.m.-7 p.m.

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If you pass by Allen & Son, you will be ignoring the advice of Bob Garner, author of North Carolina Barbecue: Flavored by Time. Garner says the “homemade, chunky, skins-on” french fries are reason enough to stop.” But he loves the barbecue, too, which he says is “coarsely chopped into meltingly tender chunks, sprinkled through with shreds of deep brown, chewy outside meat.” Not finished with his praise, Garner says that Allen & Son serves “one of the tastiest and most authentic versions of Brunswick stew that I’ve run across.”

Hrs: Tues.- Wed., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Location

If for no other reason, I would go to Stamey’s just for a bite of the peach cobbler. Flaky, buttery pastry topping over juicy peaches and surrounded by rich, sweet sauce. And it’s still less than a dollar-fifty.
But the main reason most folks go to Stamey’s is the barbecue, the product of real “cooked by wood fire” and the expertise of three generations of Stameys. It’s famously delicious.

Hrs: Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-9 p.m.

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The judge looked at me with puzzled disdain when he learned that we had omitted this restaurant from an earlier edition. “How could you miss Prissy Polly’s?” asked Judge Dickson Phillips, now retired from the U.S Court of Appeals and the former Dean of the UNC-Chapel Hill Law School. “It’s one of our favorite places—some of the best barbecue I have ever had.” Lots of people agree, and they sometimes line up outside, knowing they can choose either Lexington or Eastern style North Carolina barbecue when they get inside.

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Richard Berrier, owner and operator of Little Richard’s Bar-B-Que, grew up in Davidson County and learned the art of wood cooking barbecue while working for Leroy McCarn at the Country Kitchen in Midway. While in high school and college, he worked curb service, then the cash register, and later in the kitchen, learning every aspect of the restaurant business — along with the importance of providing warm, homespun service. When Berrier graduated from Appalachian State University in 1985, McCarn offered him the chance to run the business, which he did until 1990. Then he struck out on his own. In April 1991, Berrier opened Little Richard’s. “I’m the only one still cooking with all wood in Winston-Salem,” says Berrier, who cooks only the pig’s shoulders, making for a delicious Lexington-style offering.

Hrs: Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

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Owner Dean Allen has been in the barbecue business since high school. This experience brings good results that have been praised by expert Jim Early, who says Deano’s barbecue is “pound-the-table good.” It is definitely worth the short trip into downtown Mockville.

Hrs: Tues -Sat., 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

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You may have thought Hursey’s was in Burlington. “Well, you are almost right,” says Mike Starnes, owner of Hursey’s Bar-B-Q. “I am the only franchisee of Hursey’s; I worked with them in Burlington and learned how they cook.” Starnes grew up in Charlotte and opened his business in Morganton in the early 1990’s, building a big pit where he cooks the barbecue with wood coals just like Hursey’s in Burlington. Barbecue is the specialty, but Starnes says the local crowd loves catfish and chicken, and he is happy to oblige.

If you’re hungry for good Burlington-style barbecue, then Hursey’s is worth the few extra minutes from the interstate.

Hrs: Wed.-Sat., 11 a.m.-8 p.m;. Sun., 12-3 p.m.

Location

Some people still call this restaurant Judge’s Barbecue. But its current name, Judge’s Riverside, reflects a new ambience, and the menu is fancier, too — they’ll even let you take it home as a souvenir. Judge’s offers great food, including barbecue sandwiches (both chopped pork and Texas-style beef) and seafood dishes. Worth a side-trip every time, the restaurant sits above one of the few places on the Catawba River where it still flows freely. You can sit on porches that overlook the river as it runs by. I don’t know of any other place this close to one of our interstates where you can get a good meal and enjoy such a nice setting.

Hrs: Sun.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (Closing an hour earlier in the winter months)