Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [76]
Murray’s Barbecue
4700 Old Poole Rd.
919–231–6258
Raleigh, NC
LD Mon–Fri only | $
Murray’s is on the wrong side of town and looks like a rambling gas station. In other words, it has the appearance of a four-star house of barbecue. Further proof of its legitimacy can be found in the piles of green hickory wood outside. This wood is made into coals for the pits, which send a sweet haze wafting through the air.
Hogs are cooked for six hours, then chopped into chunks that are subtly flavored, moist, and tender. This is the sort of refined Carolina barbecue for which any sort of heavy, sweet, or too-hot sauce would be anathema. Murray’s sauce is merely a condiment; it is not overbearing, adding only an accent to the meat. The truly vital companions on a plate of pulled pork at Murray’s are the crusty, tubular hush puppies and peppery coleslaw. For a special treat, get an order of yam sticks—like French fries, but made with sweet potatoes. There is excellent banana pudding for dessert.
Parker’s
Hwy. 301
252–237–0972
Wilson, NC
LD | $
The popularity of Parker’s goes back to the 1940s, when Wilson was the place many tobacco farmers sold their crop. A big barbecue meal was how tobacco men celebrated the harvest; buyers ate here and spread the word up and down Highway 301, which was the main north-south road prior to I-95. Still, the highway is only seven miles away, making Parker’s an extremely convenient stop for those traveling along the interstate.
It’s a vast eating hall with multiple dining rooms where customers crowd the lined-up tables for family-style combo platters of chopped pork, fried chicken, Brunswick stew, boiled potatoes, corn sticks, and coleslaw. Cooked over hardwood and chopped into hash, the pork is a mix of lean inside meat and crunchy shreds from the outside of the loins and hams from which it has been cut. There is scarcely any sauce on it at all, just a hint of vinegar and peppers to accentuate the wood-smoke savor. If you need to doll it up, tables are set with plain vinegar and a hot sauce that has a vinegar base. As for the fried chicken, we like it even better than the pork. Its seriously crunchy crust encloses juice-dripping meat; the dark pieces are especially luscious.
From the moment it opens each day, Parker’s always seems to bustle. As you enter, it’s an adventure maneuvering your way to a table as waiters zoom past toting platters piled high with food.
Price’s Chicken Coop
1614 Camden Rd.
704–333–9866
Charlotte, NC
LD (take-out only) | $
Ask anyone in Charlotte where to find four-star fried chicken, and expect to be directed to Price’s Chicken Coop. This longtime favorite, take-out-only chicken shack is known for fried chicken that smells so good it causes hungry people to salivate as soon as they exit their vehicle and head for the food. There will be a line of customers—there is almost always a line, often leading out the door—but it moves quickly; and once you get a cardboard box of hot, just-fried bird in your hand, our suggestion is to open the box and eat immediately—sitting in your car. If you like fried chicken, it will be love at first bite. The shattering crunch of the salty crust is itself a joy; the meat inside, white or dark, drips with flavor. On the side come tater tots, coleslaw, and a spongy white dinner roll.
If fried chicken isn’t quite rich enough for you, Price’s also fries up some dramatically delicious chicken livers. And if you need a pop-in-the-mouth snack a whole lot easier to eat than juice-oozing chicken parts, gizzards are a tasty, chewy alternative.
Short Sugar’s
1328 S. Scales St.
336–342–7487
Reidsville, NC
BLD | $
Carhop service is still available at Short Sugar’s, which opened as a hamburger joint in 1949. It now serves three meals a day, but its fame rests on barbecue. The whole-ham meat comes sliced, chopped, or minced in a sandwich