7 Barbecue Joints Making The Raleigh-Durham Area The Meat-Smoking Capital Of North Carolina

The Pit

Downtown Raleigh

The Pit opened in 2007, well before the recent local surge, but it presaged trends that were to come. Acclaimed cook Ed Mitchell teamed with Raleigh developer Greg Hatem to open this upscale place in a refurbished downtown warehouse. Yes, they serve a classic Eastern North Carolina whole hog that’s been roasted on a charcoal pit, but they also have Texas-style brisket and appetizers like fried green tomatoes sprinkled with goat cheese and—what really shocked the barbecue purists—a wine list and a full bar complete with signature cocktails. Mitchell departed in 2011, but The Pit is still going strong with its posh spin on the expected offerings, a fusion that set the pattern for the many restaurants that followed.

thepit-raleigh.com; 328 West Davie Street, Raleigh, NC 27601; 919-890-4500

Prime Barbecue

Knightdale

About 10 miles east of Raleigh in Knightdale, self-declared barbecue nerd Christopher Prieto has created an impressive smoked-meat emporium. Careful attention to detail is evident in the shiny white tiles with orange accents and carries over to the consistently top-quality food that emerges from the large J&R Oyler smokers in the screened pit room.

Prieto grew up in Texas, and his menu shows it. Tender brisket with a perfectly spiced bark is accompanied by hot links and ribs sprinkled with black pepper and a sweet glaze. There are a few nods to Prieto’s Puerto Rican roots, too, including the remarkable “barbecue rice” that’s browned with bacon fat and onions and cooked in beef stock with bits of sausage. Best of all, he pays homage to his new home state on Saturdays with chopped whole hog smoked over hardwood coals—but with a distinctive Caribbean flair. Instead of having a sauce with the usual ingredients, the pork is finished with citrus-and-garlic mojo for a totally delicious combination.

prime-bbq.com; 403 Knightdale Station Run, Knightdale, NC 27545; 919-373-8067

Lawrence Barbecue

Durham

Since opening Lawrence Barbecue in June 2021, Jake Wood has steadily forged a unique destination. It’s housed inside the Boxyard RTP complex, a mixed-use development in Research Triangle Park constructed out of repurposed shipping containers. Wood installed a trio of Lang offset smokers and started turning out briskets, sticky ribs, and (for a bit of a twist) grilled oysters with sweet-barbecue butter. Four months later, he added the Lagoon Leisure Bar, serving boozy tropical cocktails. After his brisket-birria tacos took off on social media, he opened a third stall, Leroy’s Taco Shop, to give this standout its own home.

Wood explains that the original pairing of barbecue and oysters was something he had grown up with in nearby Apex. “There were always whole-hog pickings and oysters at family reunions,” he says. “I thought that was the weirdest combo in the world, but I still loved it.” These days, Wood’s oysters are complemented by a rotating array of creative plates ranging from smash burgers and cheesesteaks to smoked pork belly corn dogs and thick-cut slabs of pork smothered in green chimichurri sauce—a feast of flavors that changes from week to week.

lawrencefoodco.com/lawrence-barbecue, 900 Park Offices Drive, Suite 120, Durham, NC; 919-593-6923

Picnic

Durham

Eight years ago, Wyatt Dickson opened Picnic in a refurbished convenience store on the northwestern edge of Durham. The intent was to return to North Carolina’s barbecue basics, which meant not just cooking over all wood but also using heritage-breed hogs raised on nearby family farms.

While he served only pork at first, Dickson soon gave in to the popular demand and added brisket and spare-ribs to the menu. Stylistically, Picnic straddles the state’s two ’cue regions, with the mayonnaise-dressed coleslaw of the East mingling nicely with the Piedmont’s tomato-tinged sauce and golden brown hush puppies. You’ll be able to find plenty of other Carolina-inflected dishes, too, beginning with Brunswick stew and deviled eggs and ending with creamy banana pudding and chocolate chess pie.

In the summer of 2023, Dickson handed over the reins to new owner and former employee Chris Holloway, but you can rest assured that those old-school meats, chopped into tender bites and tinged pink with smoke, are as good as ever. “I have some fun ideas, things I want to do that are off the beaten path—but I’m not touching tradition,” Holloway says. “There’s always going to be wood-fired whole hog available as long as I’m here.”

picnicdurham.com;1647 Cole Mill Road, Durham, NC 27705; 919-908-9128

Longleaf Swine

Downtown Raleigh

It was a long journey for Marc Russell and Adam Cunningham from a food truck to their brick-and-mortar operation. They originally planned to set up shop in Raleigh’s Transfer Co. Food Hall in 2020, but the pandemic put the kibosh on that. Then they found a promising site in an old gas station on a downtown street corner, but the build-out stretched on for a year—and then two.

Longleaf Swine finally opened in November 2022, and it’s a splendid setting. You order inside at the counter and then head out to one of the long picnic tables beneath sloping metal canopies. The paper-lined trays honor the past while still delivering something new. Long strands of pulled pork are doused in a vinegary concoction, and they’re joined by thick-sliced brisket and primly trimmed spare-ribs. The esquites—kernels of sweet yellow corn in a creamy green-chile sauce—are hardly a traditional Southern side, but they sure are tasty. It’s all found just two blocks from the columns of the state capitol building.

longleafswine.com; 300 East Edenton Street, Raleigh, NC 27601; 984-200-9649

Sam Jones BBQ

Downtown Raleigh

Sam Jones is the grandson of Pete Jones, founder of the world-famous Skylight Inn in Ayden, and he’s become something of an evangelist for traditional North Carolina ’cue. That zeal led him to branch out in 2015 and create a large-format restaurant in nearby Winterville under the name Sam Jones BBQ. Then in 2021, he headed west and opened a second location in downtown Raleigh.

Jones hasn’t had to compromise his grandfather’s wood-cooked legacy to make it in the big city, as the giant mound of split logs behind the building attests. You can keep it classic with the Jones Family Original BBQ Tray, which props a square of thin, minimalist cornbread between two paper boats— one full of sweet slaw and the other brimming with finely chopped pork in a vinegar-pepper sauce with bits of smoky skin mixed right in.

There are things to be had in Raleigh that you won’t find in Ayden, though, like chicken wings and spareribs. Back East, the strongest beverage you can get is Cheerwine (which every North Carolinian knows contains not a drop of alcohol). Here, there’s a full bar with local craft beers on tap and a list of “high-octane cocktails” that includes the peach-tinged Sam Jones Old Fashioned. Heck, they even take credit cards.

samjonesbbq.com; 502 West Lenoir Street, Raleigh, NC 27601; 984-206-2555

Lechón Latin BBQ & Bar

Raleigh

Perhaps the area’s most novel culinary experience sneaked onto the scene in early 2022, and in one of the most surprising places: the Triangle Town Center mall just north of Raleigh. Lechón Latin BBQ & Bar is far from typical Carolina-style fare. The signature item is lechón con cuero—roasted pig with a crispy exterior—and it’s cooked not in a pit but in stainless steel pans in a converted pizza oven. The pork is then shredded into juicy, peppery strands and topped with a shard of superbly cooked skin that shatters when you bite into it.

There’s lots more to explore on owner Jorge Thorne’s menu, with dishes blending together the cuisines from several places, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Argentina as well as his native Peru. Rotisserie chicken arrives on the table with its skin seared and ruddy brown from the oven’s flames. Jerk chicken and Argentine-style beef are tucked inside the flaky shells of empanadas. Tender red beans get a kick from diced onion and cilantro, and the fried yuca has an extra dose of flavor when dunked in a cup of fragrant green or yellow ají sauce.

lechonlatinbbq.com; 5959 Triangle Town Boulevard, Suite 2121, Raleigh, NC 27616; 919-793-9913