A hotly contested topic here in the state of North Carolina to be sure. Even the state is split on styles, the east coast is defined by plain meat (whole-hog) with a slight wetting of vinegar and hot sauce while the western style is pork shoulder with a ketchup/vinegar based sauce, simliar to Kansas City style BBQ. Also lurking around in spots is the mustard/vinegar based sauce, which is more common to South Carolina. Either way your tastebuds run, you can’t have BBQ without hushpuppies and sweet tea. :)

Both Eric and I are much larger fans of the ketchup based styles, which is a little more difficult to find where we live. So I decided to do a bit of research while my family was visiting this week.

Allen & Sons—We’ve had theirs at catered events and have yet to be impressed, despite the great reputation.
The Q Shack—We’ve eaten at two different franchises and it’s always been satisfactory, I like the huge selection of sauces.
A.W.’s BBQ Pit—This one is right down the street from us, but we’ve never been, hmmm…
Cooper’s BBQ and Catering—This place has consistantly great reviews, but it’s strictly eastern style.

We’ll give a full report on our experience…