The Capital Of North Carolina Barbecue Is Skylight Inn

This 70-year old old spot chops up whole-hog pork made from scratch

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Established in 1947, Skylight Inn is North Carolina’s most famous barbecue spot, having earned a spot in the James Beard Foundation’s coveted “America’s Classics” hall of fame. The place specializes in the Carolina favorite — pork — and everyone from the Travel Channel to President Reagan have made a pit stop (no pun intended) to marvel in the whole hog mastery at Skylight. There’s even a capitol dome situated atop the restaurant — called “Capitol Q” — a symbol of the restaurant’s self-appointed status as the BBQ capital of the state.

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The best way to enjoy Skylight Inn’s renowned pork is to order a sandwich — you’ll get tender pieces of meat, crispy bits of skin, and a handful of crisp cole slaw, all encased in a hamburger bun. If you ask for the original version of the sandwich, your pork will come pressed between two squares of corn cake, made rich and buttery with lard. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

Sam Jones, who inherited a barbecue legacy that goes back decades, proudly maintains the original outpost in Ayden. He showed us the smokehouse out back where they lovingly slow-cook the local hogs (the restaurant used to have a giant farm in the back), and talked about Skylight’s original 1947 incarnation — a “joint” — that was barely a restaurant at all but merely a stand for burgers and milkshakes.

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Catching a glimpse of Mike “the chopper” in action is the real reason to visit. Wielding two 3.5 lb cleavers, one in each hand, his pork chopping technique is second to none. He even has a tattoo of his two cleavers on his bicep.

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