Allen & Son Barbeque of Chapel Hill is among Southern Living magazine’s top picks on its annual list of “The South’s Top 50 Barbecue Joints.”

The restaurant “bridges the contentious divided between the Eastern and Piedmont styles of North Carolina barbecue,” the magazine’s Robert Moss writes, and there are at least a few things North Carolinians from either camp can appreciate: Allen & Son’s made-from-scratch cobblers, pies and ice cream.
STEPHANIE FREY Southern Living magazine is out with its annual list of “The South’s Top 50 Barbecue Joints.

STEPHANIE FREY
Southern Living magazine is out with its annual list of “The South’s Top 50 Barbecue Joints.

Others in the Carolinas designated on the list as top picks: Skylight Inn in Ayden and Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Hemingway, S.C.

In the Charlotte region, only one eatery made the cut for the overall list — Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge in Shelby, nearly 50 miles from uptown in Cleveland County. It’s an establishment Southern Living had recognized previously on a list focusing solely on Carolinas barbecue.

On the latest list, Moss says of Bridges Barbecue: “Beautiful inlaid-wood ceilings and turquoise-backed booths set a retro stage for a sliced pork tray with red slaw and hushpuppies. Even better is the chopped pork sandwich with plenty of ‘outside brown’ (the smoky, outer bits of the shoulder) on a warm toasted bun. Wash it all down with a glass of sweet tea, and you’ve experienced classic Piedmont-style barbecue.”

Here are the other North Carolina restaurants that made the list:

  • Wilbur’s Barbecue in Goldsboro
  • Stamey’s in Greensboro
  • Lexington Barbecue in Lexington
  • Grady’s Barbecue in Dudley
  • Barbecue Center in Lexington
  • 12 Bones Smokehouse in Asheville

And in South Carolina:

  • McCabe’s Bar-B-Que in Manning
  • Jackie Hite’s in Leesville
  • Home Team BBQ in Charleston
  • Hite’s Bar-B-Que in West Columbia
  • Henry’s Smokehouse in Greenville
  • Cooper’s Country Store in Salters
  • Carolina Bar-B-Que in New Ellenton
  • Cannon’s Barbecue in Little Mountain