pork

BBQ Joe’s – Trinity, NC

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Name: BBQ Joe’s
Date: 11/24/21
Address: 4865-4873 NC-62, Trinity, NC 27370
Order: Two meat combo with pork and ribs, (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Monk: Growing up in High Point, I have distinct memories of driver’s ed pit stops at a barbecue restaurant called Henry James BBQ off of Greensboro Rd in Jamestown. It is long gone but I believe another restaurant in the regional chain is in nearby Asheboro. The Greensboro Road store seemed to be the usual place for my driver’s ed teacher Ms. Sealy to stop and get refills of her large cup of Diet Coke but not necessarily a meal. I’m certain I ate there once or twice in high school but I can’t be sure whether it was on one of these stops. In concept and layout and even quality, BBQ Joe’s in Trinity reminds me of Henry James.

While both Henry James and BBQ Joe’s are both barbecue restaurants, they might also be more accurately categorized as “country cooking restaurants.” Barbecue is on the menu and in the name, but may not necessarily be the focus.

I would guess the pork is likely cooked offsite for both BBQ Joe’s locations but I found it to be passable. The table sauces were not essential but helped its cause. I would not be unhappy with a barbecue sandwich of this pork topped with some red slaw, sauce, and Texas Pete.

I was feeling frisky and ordered the ribs as well. The color was that of a half rack that had been boiled, rendering the ribs bland and inedible. I don’t know if they assume that patrons will drown them in the sweet, sticky sauce but that’s asking a lot.

The hush puppies at BBQ Joe’s were some of the most original I’ve seen. At first glance, they look like a large onion ring or a small cake donut. They are on the sweeter side, and I loved them. They also had Cheerwine from the fountain, which is always a welcome sight.

Next time at BBQ Joe’s, I’ll stick with a simple barbecue sandwich combo. I suggest you do the same.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 2 hogs
Pork – 2.5 hogs
Ribs – 1 hog
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 2.5 hogs

Friday Find: “North Carolina BBQ Crawl”

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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.

Sam Jones BBQ – Raleigh, NC

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Name: Sam Jones BBQ
Date: 10/16/21
Address: 502 W Lenoir St, Raleigh, NC 27601
Order: Jones Family Original BBQ Tray (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Monk: Long time readers know that Skylight Inn in Ayden, NC has been on my to-do list for years and sadly it still remains on my to-do list in 2021. Regardless of the fact that I am not in that part of NC pretty much ever, I’ve thankfully been able to try the Jones family barbecue a couple of times in Charlotte over the years. The first time was at Midwood Smokehouse in 2013 when Sam Jones smoked a hog for a Midwood Smokehouse Sunday Supper even that also included an airing of the SFA documentary on Skylight Inn. The second time was at Free Range Brewing Pig Picking in 2017 that doubled as a viewing party for his Order/Fire documentary. Both times, the whole hog was life changing.

Since then, Sam Jones opened his first namesake restaurant in Winterville before opening a second location in Raleigh late last year. It was to be part of Raleigh’s supposed barbecue boom that was short-circuited by the pandemic. Thankfully Sam Jones BBQ persevered along with Prime Barbecue, Longleaf Swine, and Lawrence Barbecue.

After visiting the NC State campus with Lady Monk and the Monkettes, we made the short trip downtown to Lenoir Street. Though the lot for the restaurant is not very big, we found street parking right in front of the restaurant fairly easily. We waited in a short line and ordered at the front and not before too long a Jones Family Original BBQ Tray was placed in front of me.

Which I quickly turned into this to mimic what they do at Skylight Inn:

By now, everyone knows about the legendary whole hog with crispy bits of skin chopped in the way that the Jones family does it. The pork at Sam Jones BBQ in Raleigh lives up to that standard, although the skin could have been just a tad crispier. Just a minor nitpick in otherwise flawless whole hog barbecue.

Going in, I had wondered most about the corn bread. Theirs is a denser, non-sweet version that likely won’t ever be my favorite version of cornmeal served with barbecue. However, I can respect that its serving a different purpose than the sweeter corn meal in the hush puppies I’m used to in the Piedmont.

The mayo-based coleslaw was sweet and paired nicely with the cue and some Texas Pete.

It’s looking like 2022 will be the year I am able to finally make my pilgrimage to Ayden and I’ll likely stop by the original Sam Jones BBQ in nearby Winterville as well. Sam Jones BBQ’s outpost in Raleigh only made me anticipate that upcoming trip even more.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Pork – 4.5 hogs
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 4.5 hogs

Williamson’s Bar-B-Que & Seafood – Chadbourn, NC

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Name: Williamson’s Bar-B-Que & Seafood
Date: 9/26/21
Address: 1011 N Brown St, Chadbourn, NC 28431
Order: From the buffet: pork, hush puppies, cole slaw, mac and cheese, banana pudding (link to menu)
Pricing: $

Monk: Heading back from the beach on a Sunday, there’s usually just a few options for barbecue. Williamson’s Bar-B-Que & Seafood in Chadbourn is one of them, and a buffet at that. A barbecue buffet (usually including seafood) is a phenomenon I’ve encountered almost exclusively in the sandhills of eastern North Carolina, and I’ve previously checked out Fuller’s in Lumberton (now closed) and Pembroke.

Williamson’s is a small roadside shack off state road 410 near Highway 76 in Chadbourn that has both a dining room and a drive through. If you are dining in, you pay for you buffet at the cash register before grabbing your plate and going through the buffet line with options ranging from barbecue to various fried fish options.

I stuck with typical barbecue fare with their eastern style pork, cole slaw, mac and cheese, and hush puppies. Nothing wowed me but all were solid except for the hush puppies, which were fantastic.

I went back to the dessert bar before I left and grabbed some of their amazing banana pudding, the highlight of the meal.

Williamson’s Bar-B-Que & Seafood does a passable version of eastern NC barbecue but much like Joe’s Old Fashioned Barbecue from earlier on my trip, it was all tang and no smoke.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Pork – 3 hogs
Sides – 3.5 hogs
Overall – 3 hogs