Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Recommended - Allen and Son North - Chapel Hill


Address - 6203 Millhouse Road Chapel Hill, NC Map
Style - Sit-down restaurant

After months of less than stellar barbecue restaurants, we have a winner. Allen and Son has been on my must try list since the beginning, but I kept dropping by when they were closed.

I ordered the barbecue plate, which comes with a decent serving of pulled and chopped pork, a decent slaw and a handful of decent hushpuppies. The pork is very good. It has a good full flavor, a mix of the hickory smoke and the spiciness of the barbecue sauce. A pitcher of the house sauce was brought with the plate. I tried a dash on a chunk of pork and nearly had my teeth knocked out. The sauce is not for the timid. Easily, the best pork I have had since my adventure with the smoker at camp.

The walls of the restaurant are covered with prints of duck hunting stamps. It seems like an odd mix, but more to my taste than the Nascar decor at Murray's BBQ and Seafood.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree. This is the best barbecue in NC and I've tried about all of them.

Anonymous said...

A bit pricey considering you don't even get to choose your own sides.

Anonymous said...

I've lived in Chapel Hill 8 years. After eating at Allen & Sons once, I drive to Burlington for Hursey's barbecue at least once a month.

Anonymous said...

Is the BBQ at 'Allen and Son's North' similar to 'Allen & Sons' in Pittsboro? I have not been to both ...Yet.

Dave said...

The two Allen and Sons restaurants have moved in two entirely different directions. The one in Pittsboro is carryout and catering only and has a limited menu. The barbecue is a finer mince. I find it to be bland.

David Bridgman said...

Allen & Sons Pittsboro does not cook the cue on wood, they use gas, which explains the difference in flavor. Allen & Sons Chapel Hill is the bomb and anyone that thinks otherwise needs to have their tongue examined.

Anonymous said...

Ridiculously overpriced: $9.30 for a BBQ plate (with slaw and hush puppies)?? $7.00 for a smallish bowl of brunswick stew?? For the truly uninformed, these are somewhere between one and a half to two times what you'd expect to pay in a real NC barbecue restaurant – one whose food tastes a lot less generic than this.

Unknown said...

It's Allen and Son...

Anonymous said...

The Pittsboro location, as noted in earlier comments, uses gas. It also has no connection whatsoever to the HW 86 version. That one is wretched, but not as expensive.

The original, on HW 86, is pretty good (though a bit too smoked for my taste), but, yeah, what the hell? Why is it so expensive? All the press?

Anonymous said...

I work there, the "home made" desserts are too damn sweet, this is an exception of the Peanut butter pie though.

Anonymous said...

Great smoky flavored barbecue. But extremely pricey as others have noted. I think last time I picked up a pound of barbecue it was $11 compared to $8.50 at Wilburs in Goldsboro.