Notes from the BBQ Trail

When Carol and I decided to take a short vacation to "See North Carolina", we tossed out some general ideas - Smoky Mountains, Asheville, Chapel Hill, Kitty Hawk, Duke, NC State, UNC, etc.  We planned to camp most of the way around, and made a couple of calls for places to stay on the way there and back - my friends Jan and Jim in Janesville, WI on the way down, and her cousin Laura in Madison, Wisconsin.  Turns out Laura had just acquired a cabin in the mountains near Brasstown, NC, which is about as far to the southwest as you can go in North Carolina without being in Tennessee or Georgia. A last minute thought and phone call also tracked down our friends from Spokane days who live in Fuquay-Varina, who put us up for a couple of days as well.

After leaving Madison, we decided that chain food was off the radar.  We could cook when at the cabin, and the rest of the time 'eat local'.   When in the South, that means BBQ, and particularly - pig!  Almost every state in the South has its own unique treatment of pig, and an absolute conviction that their local sauce/cooking method is the best (and everyone else has it wrong!).  There is always a hotly contested debate between Eastern (vinegar and a little pepper)and Western Carolina, (vinegar, more pepper, and a little tomato).  The only real agreement is that South Carolina and Georgia commit heresy with the mustard based sauce.  "Tha's jus' not raht".  Most places rely on their own pits, slow roasting the meat over hickory (and probably whatever other hardwood they had handy), and mopping it with sauce to keep it moist.  What you don't see is much rub or injectors, and no fancy motorized grills with automatic vent doors, etc.  Mostly it's just pork shoulder and chicken on a grill and a carefully controlled heat underneath. 

Sweetwater, TN - Stop #1 on the trail.  Sweetwater is pretty much a wide spot in the road, and would not normally have raised a mention.  However, there are a lot of roadside stands that don't open on Sundays, and since our stomachs were growling, we went prowling.  Bradley's Pit BBQ was pretty much what you'd expect from a family run place in the south - older woman behind the register, perky high school/college age kids working the tables, and a menu heavy with your choice of bbq pork(chopped or sliced), turkey, chicken, and brisket.  Lots of sides - greens, green beans, slaw, potato salad, fries, etc.  Most places have a list of about 10 sides, and most plates include two or three.  The meat was excellent, and the sauce was pretty good.  Vinegar based, with a mix of red peppers and tomato. Certainly didn't need any additions - the sandwich came with slaw, and a large was pretty good sized.  Food B+, and an A for service. 

After Sweetwater and Tellico Plains, TN, we hit the Cherohala Skyway to continue our trip to Brasstown for the night.  The Cherohala runs across the Unicoi mountains, which serve as the southern terminus of the Smoky Mountains.  40 or so miles long, this road winds through some spectacular scenery, unfortunately most of which was in the clouds that

day.  Arriving in Brasstown tired and a bit cool, we decided to hit the grocery and cook in and enjoy the views.

Marion, NC - Stop #2 on the trail.  To make schedules work visiting Dave and Lane in Fuquay-Varina, we had to hit the road bright and early to drive the 9 hours (as the rabbit runs). Our path took us through Asheville, where we stopped at REI to pick up a travel guide and hit the bathroom before heading out to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  A helpful staffer suggested 12 Bones, which he also helpfully noted was closed on Mondays...  Maybe next trip.  After doing a section of the Parkway from Black Mountain to about Marion, we were hungry and about out of gas.  A wrong turn led us to the Bar-B-Que Hut and a pretty darn good roadside sandwich.  The place had obviously been there at least since the 50s,

and with picnic tables under a tin roof shelter, this was where the locals ate.  A steady stream of folks stopping for to-go orders while we were there, and a loudspeaker to announce your ticket number when your order was ready suggested that this was the place.  Also an order of 12 half-pound burgers on the grill suggests they feed the football team.  Again, meat was first rate, with a hint of smoke and a bit of vinegar tang.  No tomato, which is as it should be. Food B+ and service, N/A. 

The Triangle - Stop #3 on the trail.  Arriving at Dave&Lane's house just before dinner time, we diverted from the trail to eat at a local Italian bistro, David's (no relation) and were stuffed with linguine.  Hard to imagine not gaining weight this trip.  Much visiting and catching up, and then Dave play tour guide to K'ville (otherwise known as Duke University).  Carol had only one place that was on her 'must list' - Cameron Indoor Stadium, and we were able to step inside in without anyone stopping us.  She was able to walk on the court were so many of her college basketball favorites have played, and I snapped her picture sitting in the seat that Coach K normally inhabits on game day. 

Pretty incredible. Now if only the lights were on, and the stands were filled with Cameron Crazies...  After a trip through Duke, stops at the store for shirts, etc, Dave took us to Bullock's Barbeque in Durham.  Bullock's is *the* place to eat BBQ in Durham.  There may be others that are better, newer, older, etc, but this is the spot.  As we pulled in, Dave pointed out the parking lot - packed, with everything from Mercedes to scarred work trucks, and the clientele included cops, ministers, grandmas and college kids.  Our waitress brought drinks "you want that tea sweet, hon?" and a plate of hush-puppies.  Now I grew up eating hushpuppies as a side with fried fish, but in North Carolina, they appear to come with any meal.  These little fingers of corn-meal goodness were actually a little sweet, as opposed to the more savory onion laden ones I'm used to.  The sandwich came with slaw, and was - well, different.  To my taste, the meat was overly moist, but did have a good flavor.  While I was eating, I noticed the pictures on the wall - from presidents to NASCAR stars, music idols, and especially basketball stars, all signed and framed.  At any rate, Food B-, Service A.  I do indeed wish that most restaurants would take a lesson from Southern diners on service.

High Point, NC - Stop #4 on the trail.  Due to heavy rains and some flooding in the Low Country, we decided to leave the eastern swing for another trip.  Instead, we headed back toward our Brasstown base, intending to swing by Charlotte and the US National Whitewater Center to check it out.  Unfortunately, this meant a fair amount of freeway driving, but sometimes you make choices.  Following "Lady Garmin" to USA Canoe/Kayak, we wound up smack in the middle of downtown Charlotte, which is [in 2010] the headquarters.  Turned out very nicely though.  Charlotte has a vibrant downtown, with clean streets, lots of pedestrian traffic, and some incredible buildings.  We went past BofA stadium, where the Panthers play, and then out to the park.  Very (very, very) cool facility, and worth a return next trip.  They pump 12 million gallons of water up a 15-20' lift, and let it flow through two separate channels back to a lower pool.  A moving carpet takes the paddlers back to the top of the course, making for an amazing portage.  The

channels are divided into instructional (class I/II, and competition (Class III-IV) drops, with specific points 'tuneable' to change the configuration of the gates.  This is a world class facility also offering mountain bike trails and a pretty nifty climbing venue as well.  It looked like several corporate team-building groups and kids groups were there when we visited.  Unfortunately, they'd turned the water off for the day, so nobody was working in the course.  Oh yes, the stop.  En route to Charlotte, gas and stomach again conspired to direct us off the freeway at High Point, NC.  A quick check of the Garmin and Google maps lists pointed us to "BBQ Joe's", another family type place.  As with Bullock's, it was packed with lunchtime folks, and again - everyone from cops, construction workers, and "ladies who lunch".  The waitress took time to explain the different sauce options.  I said I'd take the regular, and BBQ slaw per her recommendation.  Again, it came with hushpuppies, which were savory and delicious. 

Carol tried the daily special - beef tips and rice.  No accounting for taste, but it was also pretty good.  My sandwich was awesome.  Glad I didn't order a large, there was so much meat a fork was a necessity.  Smoky, correctly dry, and perfectly sauced.  Just the right balance between hickory and vinegar/pepper.  To a word, amazing.  Food - A+, Service - A. 

Ocoee, Tellico Plains and Robbinsville - Stop #5 (well, almost).  I learned today that my wife's barbeque gene is recessive.  She'd had enough of my search for the pig, and rebelled.  Rolls and cheese for lunch.  Bummer.  We started off the day with a drive back into Tennessee and a stop at the Ocoee Olympic Venue for slalom kayaking.  While not as conceptually cool as the Charlotte venue, from a scenery standpoint, it won hands down.  The section of the Ocoee that is used for slalom racing is actually a dry bed most of the time, and only wet on summer weekends and special events.  The scenery is pretty spectacular as it was, so with a little imagination it must be something on release days.  We headed across highway 30, intending to repeat our trip across the Cherohala Skyway

in sunshine and 70 degrees this time.  A stop through the start town of Tellico Plains yielded not one, but two bakeries.  The aptly named Tellico Plains Bakery had great looking breads, pastries and very good cookies.  They were just getting ready for lunch, and I regret not hanging around.  Their sandwiches looked wonderful.  A drive across the Skyway did yield the promised vistas, and is on my list of legs for the "Pedal harder, I hear banjos" bike tour.  More on that endeavor at a future date!  By the time we hit towns on the east side, it was well past lunchtime, so it was very difficult to use car counts as a guide to good eats.  So the aforementioned rolls and cheese from the grocery had to suffice.  No BBQ today. Food - C-. Service - N/A

The road home...

After a great trip, we decided to take a leisurely drive through the Smoky Mountain National Park, hike to Clingman's Dome, and then camp on the west side of the mountains in Tennessee for our final road trip evening.  It was tough to leave Brasstown, which has become our base of operations for future trips into the area (and there will be more stops on the trail!)  What was intended to be a quiet day in the mountains turned out to be somewhat akin to visiting the Wisconsin Dells, but without the charm.  OK, really - the first half was fun.  Clingman's Dome was worth the drive, and worth the short hike up to the tower.  The trip west of the Dome was less pleasant, although it did contain the first kriesel turn I've ever seen on a public road, traversing a full 360 degrees! (look that up under bobsled course).  And then - Gatlinburg...

OK, it's probably not that bad, but ever since I was little, I've always wanted to go to Gatlinburg Tennessee.  That was the place the cool kids from Huntsville, AL got to go on winter vacation, and I'd always pictured it as a quaint Austrian style village with hotels, shops and ski runs.  And it may have been just that in the 60s.  But times have changed, and I'm afraid Gatlinburg moved a bit closer to... well, let's just leave it at that.  Gatlinburg was the culmination of every little seaside and lakeside tourist trap I've ever been through. If one salt-water taffy place is good, 10 must be better. Multiple mini-"museums" for every form of kitsch and sham.  Mini-amusement parks, 'plays', food, trinkets, authentic Indian moccasins - you get the idea.  And all packed into about 10 blocks of bumper to bumper traffic.  We.got.the.heck.out.
And listened to our feeble GPS "Bitchin' Betty".  Who has steered us wrong more than once, and did it again.  The *next* thing we knew, we were in Pigeon Forge.  You may recollect that Pigeon Forge is the hometown of Dolly Parton's amusement park "Dollywood".  We didn't actually *see* Dollywood, but we know it was behind a pay to enter gate and somewhere over the hill.  What we did see was the 'entertainment' complex that has sprung up on the 4 lane - featuring mini golf, bumper cars, water slides, bungie jumps, pirates, bears, lions and tigers, oh my.  And we would've left quicker than we did, but it was late lunchtime and we were hungry.  So we stopped at a - chain, who's name shall remain anonymous to protect my memory. Bad idea.  Overpriced, under performed, chain.  You can get the same food, same service anyplace you go. No more to be said. 

The really good news is that we don't feel the need to ever go that way again - and if we do, we don't have to look.

More installments of the BBQ trail to come. This one has been sitting on the computer for a couple of years, waiting for a vehicle to bring it out.