Trying North Carolina Barbeque

A few months before the trip, I caught part of a show on the Food Channel talking about regional barbeque. When I saw that North Carolina had their own style of barbeque, I paid a little more attention. When they said that Lexington was the place to go, I looked it up on the map; it was close enough to add to the itinerary. I'm sure glad we did.

I found the address to a place that was supposed to be one of the better examples in Lexington and put it on the GPS. Unfortunately, the address was vague and, when we got to the spot, it wasn't there. Fortunately, an apparent local showed a little southern hospitality and gave us directions to Stamey's. She said it wasn't true Lexington-style but it was where she took her family... and it was just up the road.

We found the place easy enough and stepped inside. The waitress was clearing a table for us so we waited and looked around at some of the posters on the walls. There was an annual competition between four or five of the local barbeque joints. Maybe we could try a couple places; better order small.

We arrived and placed an order for one of their pulled pork sandwiches and some hushpuppies. The sandwich arrived but the meaty middle had a generous layer of cole slaw on it; that was different! The pieces in the slaw were finely chopped and the creamy sauce was replaced with something more like a barbeque sauce. We took a chance, took a bite, and were sold; it was delicious. Also delicious were the hushpuppies; very flavorful and not overdone like many places. These folks are onto something.

We next found our way to Jimmy's. As you can see, the "order small" idea still produced a lot of food. This really shows that the main thing about North Carolina barbeque is about the meat. You can have other things with it but the meat isn't soaked in sauce or even one cut of meat; it's chopped pork, blended into a great, flavorful foundation of the meal.

Working clockwise from lower left and spiralling in, we have hushpuppies and bread, a cup of barbeque sauce, slaw, baked beans, pork, and onion rings. That's quite a meal. Linda and I shared this feast and felt we'd really had an excellent taste of Lexington-style North Carolina barbeque. I'd go back!