Saturday, February 14, 2009

Acceptable - Stephenson's Bar-B-Q, Willow Springs NC


Address - 12020 NC 50 West, Willow Spring NC, 27592 Map
Style - Sit-down Restaurant

Stephenson's is a stop on the NC Barbecue Society Historic Trail. It has been around for a long time. The address is a little confusing. The restaurant isn't in the town of Willow Springs, but out in the country a mile north of McGee Crossroads.

My lunch order was a Small Pig, a nice sized serving on coarse chopped barbecue with hushpuppies with two sides, spiced apples and cabbage, and hushpuppies. The barbecue was nicely spiced with red peppers and standard vinegar based sauce. The vegetables and hushpuppies were nicely cooked. However, everything was over moist. The pig was soogy leaving a watery juice behind. The pork was not overcooked. It was like it had sat in extra water waiting to be served. The same was true of the veggies and even the hushpuppies. I liked the taste of everything, but the extra liquid feel was offputting.

My iced tea was served with a bowl of crushed ice and a extra pitcher of tea. On the table, there was a small squeeze bottle of sauce next to a large squeeze bottle of Texas Pete. Neither of these were needed.

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