North Carolina BBQ Hall Of Fame

Pexels/Los Muertos Crew

Last Friday (3/1) saw a ceremony in Burlington that HAD to have the best catering in the history of such events. The North Carolina BBQ Hall of Fame inducted its inaugural class. Among the inductees were Sam Jones BBQ and Skylight Inn BBQ. The common denominator of these two North Carolina BBQ legends, the family that started both. Sam Jones, his father Bruce Jones and Uncle Jeff Jones were all present and accounted for.

Sam Jones is quoted by News 12, "It's important to honor the old guard of this tradition. I've been blessed to have been able to travel all over this country as somewhat of an ambassador of North Carolina barbecue, which previously was looked down upon in the culinary community. It was not until Southern cuisine was elevated to fine dining that barbecue rose to being recognized as something special. The old guard had been working hard all these years with almost no recognition. I wish the people who came before me, like my grandfather Pete and his uncle, the man who taught him to cook barbecue, could have accepted this award instead of me."

I'm sure these sentiments were shared by other inductees on Friday of the North Carolina BBQ Hall of Fame's first class. Other inductees included: Kent Bridges of Alston Bridges Barbecue in Shelby; Steve and Gerri Grady of Grady's BBQ in Dudley; Charles Hursey of Hursey's Bar-B-Q in Burlington, Mebane and Graham; Wayne Monk of Lexington Barbecue in Lexington; and Charles Stamey of Stamey's Barbecue in Greensboro. All of these families have been in the BBQ business for almost a century.

I'm the first to admit, I'm a BBQ snob. Further, as a native Texan, I consider myself an expert on GREAT BBQ. I've been fortunate enough to live all over the south. From Florida to Georgia to Alabama to the Carolinas, EVERYONE-EVERYWHERE considers themselves to have the best BBQ. Most...do not. That being said, I've had food from just about every one of the initial inductees to the North Carolina BBQ Hall of Fame. Their fares are not just great, they are phenomenal.

Friday's first induction ceremony for the North Carolina BBQ Hall of Fame in Burlington featured a concert by The Oak Ridge Boys and proceeds from the event raised thousands of dollars for Alamance County veterans.

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What Are the Most Popular Barbecue Restaurants In North Carolina?

If there is one thing you can say about North Carolinians it's that we LOVE our BBQ. There are different styles, different meats of choice, and different sauces. But we do it all well. And no the term barbecue should never refer to the outdoor cooking of hamburgers and hotdogs- that's a cookout for your northerners. There are so many incredible barbeque restaurants in North Carolina, it's hard to say what the best is. And that's honestly a personal preference. Your choice may be different than mine which may be different from your coworker's. But while we can't objectively tell you the best barbecue restaurants in North Carolina, we can tell you the most popular.

Did you know that May is National BBQ Month? It is and in celebration, our friends at BetCarolina used Google Trends to determine the most popular barbecue restaurants in North Carolina. The data used in this analysis is from May 1, 2022-September 6, 2022. And there is a dominant winner that's right here in the Queen City. It's one that many celebrities choose to dine at when visiting Charlotte. And funny enough, when we told you about the best Charlotte BBQ Restaurants (per TripAdvisor) last year, it was also the winner. So even with different methods, it's still coming out on top.

Keep reading to see which that is, you'll also find the best Charlotte BBQ Restaurants list at the end of this one. You can read BetCarolina's full study and analysis here.

5. Buxton Hall BBQ (Asheville)

Location: 32 Banks Ave, Asheville, NC 28801

Search Volume: 2%

4. Skylight Inn BBQ (Ayden)

Location: 4618 Lee St, Ayden, NC 28513

Search Volume: 3%

3. Switzerland Cafe (Little Switzerland)

Location: 9440 NC-226A, Marion, NC 28752

Search Volume: 4%

2. Red Bridges BBQ (Shelby)

Location: 2000 E Dixon Blvd, Shelby, NC 28150

Search Volume: 8%

1. Midwood Smokehouse (Charlotte & Raleigh)

Location: View all Carolina locations here

Search Volume: 83%

The 15 Best Charlotte North Carolina BBQ Restaurants

Here in North Carolina, we love our barbeque. And we do it well if I may so so myself. There is no shortage of fantastic restaurants across the state and the Queen City is no exception to that. But if you only can eat at one which should you choose? While I have my favorite (and it didn't make this list near the top), I decided to turn to the public for their thoughts on the matter. A quick search on TripAdvisor led me to a list of 30 Charlotte BBQ restaurants. It included chains, multiple locations of some, the heavy hitters, and some I hadn't heard of before. For this list, I took the top 15 restaurants (combining anywhere that had multiple locations).

Trip Advisor compiles these rankings based on average rating and number of reviews. Therefore you will see a couple of places that are ranked higher with a slightly lower rating. This means they probably had a higher number of higher-rated reviews. I have to say for the most part I do agree with this list the top 3 didn't surprise me at all and I feel could have been ranked in any order. What's your favorite of the many Charlotte BBQ restaurants?

15. Let's Meat Kbbq

Address: 1400 S Church St, Charlotte, NC 28203-4114

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Reviews: 31

North Carolina Families Honored To Be First To Enter BBQ Hall Of Fame

Last Friday (3/1) saw a ceremony in Burlington that HAD to have the best catering in the history of such events. The North Carolina BBQ Hall of Fame inducted its…

Charlie & Debbie

What Are the Most Popular Barbecue Restaurants In North Carolina?

5. Buxton Hall BBQ (Asheville)

4. Skylight Inn BBQ (Ayden)

3. Switzerland Cafe (Little Switzerland)

2. Red Bridges BBQ (Shelby)

1. Midwood Smokehouse (Charlotte & Raleigh)

The 15 Best Charlotte North Carolina BBQ Restaurants

15. Let's Meat Kbbq

14. Sweet Lew's BBQ

13. Bubba's Barbecue

12. Smithfield's Chicken 'N Bar-B-Q

11. Bill Spoon's Barbecue

10. Bobbee O's BBQ

9. The Q Shack

8. City Barbeque

7. Noble Smoke

6. Bar-b-q King

5. Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q

4. Sauceman's

3. Mac's Speed Shop

2. McKoy's Smokehouse and Saloon

1. Midwood Smokehouse

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