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Skylight is gross as hell and they use Texas Pete (sacrilege!)
The last proper and good eastern style restaurant, Simp's, closed down a long time ago. The only way to get proper eastern style any more is to either attend a pig pickin or make it yourself. Because the balance of sauce (more of a baste than a sauce, and not meant to be added at the table) and meat is more important than other styles, it's the most unforgiving to make, and there's way more terrible eastern bbq than there is good. Vinegar based sauces have so few ingredients because it's meant to enhance the natural flavor of the meat, not cover it up.
You mean they add Texas Pete to their sauce? You're the only one I have ever heard that said the Skylight Inn was gross . They still have a hell of a business there. You might as well not attempt to go around 12-1pm because you either can't find a place to park or the line is past the damn door.
Ayden? That's in the coastal plain, isn't it? Like, right on the coast, as a matter of fact. Why would you recommend places in Ayden or La Grange (also on the coast) to someone looking for pork in Asheville? And how do you guys even know so much about those places if you live here? I'm confused. I thought you meant to type Arden at first.
I'm not trying to sound combative if I do. I'm just kinda straightforward about things really. So sorry if I'm coming across the wrong way. I too have pretty deeply set ideas of what good barbecue means. But I will certainly agree that the meat is the most important part. That's what so great about white sauce, it's way less overpowering to the meat than tomato based sauces (which I also like). What I have always done for sauce is to take some tomato based sauce that I make from scratch and add vinegar-based sauce from a place called Ollie's that used to be the authority in Birmingham. I don't know if they still have a physical restaurant location, but they still sell their vinegar sauce, which is the best I've ever found. It has great spice to it, and it won't totally destroy you with heartburn like some vinegar sauce. If you get the proportions right on the mixture, you can make a really awesome barbecue sauce that is just the best.
As far as white sauce, I can't recommend a brand because it is something that I make myself. Big Bob Gibson's sells their white sauce, but it's not that great. I got my recipe from my mother, and it's very simple. Just mayonnaise, some vinegar, some lemon juice, and some salt and pepper and one secret spice ingredient. The amounts of each are a family secret though. But anyone who has had my family's white sauce will attest to its quality. The beauty of it is in its simplicity, and in its ability to add to the flavor of the pork without masking it.
Now, the 12 Bones blueberry chipotle rib sauce is actually quite good, weird as it is, but to me the brown sugar dry rub is the way to go. The ribs there are VERY meaty, not much bone, and they are cooked perfectly so that the meat just falls right off the bone. Ever since I tried their ribs, I have not ordered anything else from there. The ribs just make the pulled pork irrelevant to me.
Also, one thing that's interesting is I haven't seen any mentioned of CHOPPED pork barbecue. That's how my favorite places down in AL do it, they take the meat out of the pit and put it on a cutting board and chop it up with a big ole knife. It's very loud, but very delicious when you eat it. Unfortunately, the place that used to have the best chopped pork in Birmingham has become a big chain and their quality has suffered significantly. It's called Golden Rule BBQ. If you go to the original location in Irondale, AL, it's still very good there, but still, I think the expansion has even hurt their quality a tiny bit. Every once in a while I will get a sandwich with rather dry meat on it, when that NEVER used to happen before they expanded. It's a damn shame, really.
I know it isn't NC BBQ, but if you're ever in Alabama, go to Jasper and go to the Green Top Barbecue. It's some of the best barbecue on the planet. And as far as aesthetics go, in my opinion, generally the uglier the restaurant is, the better their barbecue is going to be. That's almost a rule of thumb in my book.
No worries, dude. I'm the same way, haha.
And actually, though it was listed as pulled pork on the menu, what I got at Moe's was actually chopped.
Chopped is fine, but I tend to prefer straight up pulled, without being chopped. I like to take a whole piece from the sandwich and just eat it individually.
What's the word on Dreamland Barbecue? I've heard nothing but positives.
Dreamland is great for their ribs. That's why people go. I've never had anything at Dreamland but the ribs, and I've heard that the regular pork BBQ is not up to par with other places in the state. Still though, great ribs. They're the saucy kind of ribs that get red sauce all over your face when you eat them, and they bring you a basket of plain white bread to the table to dip in BBQ sauce and eat while you wait. It's an institution in Alabama.
My grandfather had a bunch of BBQ restaurants in Georgia and Florida when my Dad was growing up, so I grew up with old Southern BBQ. There was one in Macon, Brunswick, Augusta, Orlando and Sanford. They served a vinegar, mustard type sauce.
The best of that kind of BBQ I've found around Asheville is in Waynesville at a hole in the wall named OC's BBQ, on 276 south of town. Great BBQ. I need to try these other places when we're up there this summer!
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. They still have a hell of a business there. You might as well not attempt to go around 12-1pm because you either can't find a place to park or the line is past the damn door.
But anyone who has had my family's white sauce will attest to its quality. The beauty of it is in its simplicity, and in its ability to add to the flavor of the pork without masking it.
