Dreaming Of Barbecue In Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC – I had a dream last night about the best BBQ I have ever eaten. I think I might have been biting my pillow when I woke up! It’s a good thing that dreams really do come true.
So, after rising from bed, I decided to make a list of the best places in Chapel Hill to get some BBQ. It will be difficult to decide which place I’ll go to eat first.
Barbecue in Chapel Hill
- Allen & Son Bar-B-Que, 6203 Millhouse Rd, Chapel Hill – These folks serve good, smokey-flavored pork, coarse chopped with a vinegar-based sauce with some heat. And the sweet tea and hush puppies are the best.
- Jim’s Famous BBQ, 115 S Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill – This is Memphis style BBQ. Awesome ribs, and pulled pork and chicken. And don’t miss the potato salad here.
- The Pig Restaurant, 630 Weaver Dairy Rd, Chapel Hill – An eclectic menu featuring local ingredients. The beef brisket and ribs are yummy. And I love those fried green tomatoes.
- The Recovery Room, 108 Henderson Street, Chapel Hill – I haven’t been there yet, but they have Bart’s Old North State BBQ sandwich on the menu.
- Mama Dip’s, 408 West Rosemary Street, Chapel Hill, NC – The classic barbecue restaurant, just around the corner from Franklin Street. BBQ Chopped Pork, BBQ Sliced Beef, Southern Fried Chicken, Brunswick Stew. Sweet Tea so fine the straw stands up in it. It’s all too good for words.
NC Barbecue Society
Did you know there is an NC Barbecue Society? I did not.
The have a thought-provoking BBQ Trail Map of North Carolina. Must give a shout to Stephenson’s Bar-B-Q in Willow Springs, one of my favorite places – they made the BBQ Trail map!
How Do You Spell Barbecue?
In the course of my exhaustive research for this story, I couldn’t help but notice that barbecue can spelled a bunch of different ways.
- Barbecue
- Barbeque
- BBQ
- Bar-B-Q
This is a comforting thought, like BBQ itself. The flavor changes from place to place, so why not the name? Thank heavens it hasn’t been homogenized into a supermarket product.
No matter how you spell it, we love our barbecue in Chapel Hill.
Attention Yankees: Barbecue is a Noun
In places like New York and New Jersey, barbecue is a verb. “C’mon over and we’ll barbecue some cilantro-marinated tilapia,” you might hear in the Garden State.
But in North Carolina, barbecue is a noun. It is something you eat, not something you do.
When we all fire up the Weber (or a re-purposed trash can) to cook some fish, it’s called grillin’ or smokin’. Yankees take note.
What’s Your ‘Cue?
Do you have a favorite Barbecue joint? Please share that with me. I’ve only listed five places and there is seven days in the week.
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Photo by Alison Mickelson.
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