If you want a true taste of North Carolina barbecue, this restaurant is a must stop when you are in Raleigh. They serve authentic whole hog pit-cooked barbecue with pigs all raised in North Carolina free-range farms. After doing some research on this place, I discovered Bobby Flay did a Throwdown with the Pitmaster Ed Mitchell on March 13, 2009.
To start off my order, I was immediately drawn to the Smoke N Coke on the menu with the smoke infused bourbon in it. Making infused vodkas myself, I am immediately drawn to new things. If you are into bourbons, I strongly recommend this smokey flavored drink. My husband and I shared the Pit Sampler, which had 5 different meats and a serving of coleslaw. Baby back ribs, Carolina Style ribs, pulled turkey and pulled chicken were all delicious along with the coleslaw. As with most barbecue places, you have a choice of two sauces for your barbecue, vinegar based sauce with seasonings and a dark molasses based sauce which were both good.
The dish that I’ll never forget though, was the Pumpkin Skillet Cornbread we ordered after we were finished our sampler and I’m glad we did! The cornbread had a maple syrup butter that made the cornbread so sweet it was like having dessert. The best cornbread I’ve ever had!
They get an A+ for hospitality with the employees all making you feel at home with great conversation. We went around 4pm so it was pretty easy to get a seat but if you are planning on going any later, you should call to make reservations because this place gets really packed every night. I highly recommend this restaurant if you are in town. Check them out at: http://www.thepit-raleigh.com/
