The NC BBQ Society -- A New Quest

Many of you already know about our quest to see a ballgame in every park across the country. Now we've added an additional quest -- but this one should be much easier. As many of you know, Andy is obsessed with good BBQ, and it's hard to find it here. (Even more obsessed than I am with crab ... seriously, I talk a good game, but I'm often kidding. I do actually get tired of crab meat.) Andy has a friend at work who's a North Carolina native, so they often talk BBQ and that's how he found out about the North Carolina BBQ Society (NCBS).

I know, it sounds silly, but it's actually pretty intense. Apparently their ultimate goal is to get North Carolina dubbed not only "First in Flight" but also "The Cradle of 'Cue".

This is their mission statement:
NCBS will support and promote ALL North Carolina barbecue events statewide and assist (if asked) in any way that is appropriate in keeping with its charter purposes. NCBS is a non profit corporation. NCBS will participate in barbecue events in state and nationally. Its goal is to preserve our barbecue heritage and to promote North Carolina as the Barbecue Capital of the World.

See, I told you it was intense. So far, there are 25 restaurants that meet the criteria of the NCBS. What is that criteria? Well, I'll tell you. Or, I'll steal of from their Web site and let them tell you:

Criteria for selection to the NCBS Historic Barbecue Trail included, among other things, that the NCBS Historic Barbecue Pit cook their meat product on pits fueled by wood or charcoal, make their own sauce, that the pit had operated continuously for fifteen or more years, that the end product was a good offering and representative of North Carolina Barbecue and that the pit had earned and enjoyed the high esteem of its community, the barbecue industry and barbecue aficionados. The board decided to only include pits that provide a sit down dining experience for the public and to limit the number of pits on the trail to two per town/city.

We did a little research and discovered that there were a few of the NCBS sites right on the way home from Asheville. Only one was open that Sunday, so we stopped at Hill's Lexington BBQ - see #14 on this list.

It was worth the trip. I tend the favor the NC vinegar-style sauce more than the ketchup-based stuff anyway, so I was pleased. They make the BBQ a little different than I'm used to, but it was really really good. It comes with hush puppies, cole slaw, and a side. All of it was excellent, even the cole slaw was tasty and as a general rule I'm not a fan. It had a kick to it and was vinegar based rather than mayo, so it was really good. They didn't put quite enough BBQ sauce in everything, but then again, I like my BBQ and beans drenched in it, so I added more and it was perfect :)

So, one down, 24 to go. Looks like we might be driving down to GA this Christmas instead of flying. ... maybe, it's a long drive.



Andy at Hills Lexington BBQ (Remember, a good rule of thumb for BBQ -- it's got to have a pig in the logo to be legit. Check!)