You can smell the vinegar & red pepper before you enter
the door of the Skylight Inn in Ayden, North Carolina

Photo by Chloe Tuttle*

Since 1947, Pete Jones and family have been serving this tasty eastern North Carolina style barbecue (always pork) to locals and folks who are willing to travel long distances. They cook whole hogs, over oak. To BBQ enthusiasts, this is essential.

Photo by Chloe Tuttle*

Tap, tap, tap . . . that is the sound of the Skylight Inn. You can see the meat as it is being chopped, right there in front of you . . . tap, tap, tap.

As I stood there trying to see what was on the menu, a local fellow leaned in and said to me, “If you want something other than Barbecue, you have to come on Thursdays . . . they have chicken on Thursday.”

Photo by Chloe Tuttle*

The menu let me know that today I could get a small barbecue or a large barbecue. That was fine with me. I had driven to Ayden to eat barbecue. Lots of folks come to Ayden for the barbecue – George W. Bush, Daisy Duke, Ronald Reagan. According to the N.C Barbecue Society, the North Carolina Barbecue Trail starts in Ayden at the Skylight Inn.

In 2003, they received the James Beard award, have had stories written about them in the NY Times and the Roadfood series by Jan & Michael Stern.

Saveur Magazine calls it “North Carolina’s finest pulled pork.” And Southern Living lists the Skylight Inn as one of the “South’s 20 Best BBQ Joints.”

Yum, that is the taste of the Skylight Inn Barbecue – ’tis great roadfood. And, that same cute fellow who leaned in to tell me the menu, bought me lunch.

P.S. We don’t care if Rick Perry doesn’t like eastern North Carolina barbecue. Bet he is sorry he made that barbecue remark!

*You are welcome to use these Skylight Inn photos, just let me know and give me, Chloe’s Blog and Big Mill Bed & Breakfast credit. Thanks!

For great pork barbecue in eastern North Carolina,
Bunn's Barbecue in Windsor has to be on your short list.

Driving up, you might wonder if this really is a restaurant.  There's a Texaco pump out front – that's because before 1938, Bunn's was a service station. Inside, old signs hang on the walls, but the minute you enter, that wonderful aroma of vinegar, pork and red pepper greets you. You are in the right place.

A few years back, several of my friends sashayed up to the food bar and asked for a menu; they were told, "Don't have one."  When asked what they served the waitress — very matter-of-fact – responded, "Barbecue on a bun, barbecue on a plate."

A menu is on the wall and they certainly have added some good eastern North Carolina  foods. You can get hot dogs, Brunswick stew and barbecue any day, and sweet tea, of course.  On Tuesdays, they serve barbecue chicken; on Thursday, the house special is chicken and pastry.

My favorite food at Bunn's – the Cornbread Sandwich. That's a barbecue and slaw sandwich served between two pieces of corn bread.

Open since 1938, this Windsor, North Carolina landmark is a place you just don't want to miss. The Russell family has owned Bunn's since 1969. High water has flooded Bunn's seven times since 1999, twice with six feet of water.

Jan and Michael Stern, who wrote Road Food for Gourmet magazine and are now on NPR's Splendid Table, with a Road Food column added it to their list of great Mom and Pop restaurants in the USA. I agree.

I am on a mission to photograph every Mom and Pop "Road Food" restaurant in eastern North Carolina. Do you have any suggestions?

(all photos by Chloe Tuttle of Big Mill Bed & Breakfast)