I think it’s a great idea to unite Eastern and Western pork BBQ style here in Raleigh and make it a brand
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Well, it couldn’t be a full Union. There would still have to be competitive dichotomy between the two. Maybe Fayetteville Street could serve as the divider between eastern and western styles downtown, and we could have our microcosm representing all of North Carolina
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Would be happy to have a Lexington style BBQ smokehouse downtown. Could we get an outpost of Little Richard’s here, please?
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Hard disagree on Philly chz steak, that’s an American delicacy. But hard agree on Chicago deepdish - it’s bread casserole, and it’s useless.
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Seems like there is definitely some room to do BBQ in a more upscale setting. Good BBQ is good BBQ, But you can definitely up the side dish quality vs. your typical meat and 3 (generic mac’n cheese and green beans out of a can) type stuff. Have it a sit down, waited service, good atmosphere and a good bar, etc. Greenville SC has a place called ‘Smoke on the Water’ along these lines. Used to go there regularly and was place I took out of town family when they wanted some carolina Q.
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Would love to, I’m working in Hillsborough most of the day, but if I get done early (honestly it’ll be tough), I’ll hit you up on here!
Also, I LOVE @evan.j.bost idea of Fayetteville St. serving as an east/west divider, that would be so cool.
Unfortunately, Sam Jones and The Pit both lie west of that line, maybe they’d consider moving! 
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Let’s do a different Friday. Tomorrow would be a challenge for me as well. 22nd or 12/6 or 12/13 good.
Story of my life…no one can go get barbecue. 
Totally kidding. Actually, a mid-December, Friday Cooper’s lunch could be the Community Holiday Party!! That could be a cool meetup. 
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What better day than Friday the 13th?
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Yeah unfortunately I travel for work and the schedule is pretty erratic. Will keep on my calendar in case I’m in town.
Look at how Buxton Hall in AVL pulls it off
Totally agree. Part of it is because NC is known for BBQ in general, so anytime someone from out of town thinks of Raleigh they immediately just assume it’s the capital of the state, so it must be the capital of BBQ (source: My entire family is from up north and when they come to Raleigh, the first request is BBQ). Sadly that isn’t the truth.
However, perception is reality so if and when we get our BBQ act together, it won’t be a hard sell. I mean, once Sam Jones spot comes online, you’ll have that, the Pit, Coopers, Long Leaf Swine and supposedly a big name pitmaster is opening something in the new shops off Crabtree, near Union Special. So you’ll have a nice little group of pretty good BBQ options downtown. Maybe then we can start to up the marketing push for Raleigh to truly be that BBQ capital so many assume it already is.
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I have a feeling once Sam Jones and Longleaf Swine open, things will change in that direction.
Especially when smoke starts visually coming out of the smokehouse Sam Jones will build on site and you can smell it for a mile.
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Ahhh get that sucker open, I want it now!!
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where is this place?
The one being built in Raleigh, or the pictures I posted?
Both I guess. Where is the one in Raleigh?
The pictures are from his only location just outside of Greenville, in a tiny town called Winterville.
The one in Raleigh will be located at a renovated old service station by James Goodnight on the intersection of W. Lenoir St. and S. West St. See below:
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Sam comes from a long line of big time pitmasters—I think it was Pete Jones who started Skylight Inn in Ayden. It’s a MUST if you’re into ‘cue, although it’s a little off the beaten path. I actually met Sam there one time, he could not have been nicer. He gave me a tour of their smokehouse and hooked me up with a t-shirt.
And @Drew can you imagine that smoke wafting through DTR once we get a few more spots and hit critical mass of ‘cue joints downtown?!? #smokeyhollow 
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