NC BBQ Lexington vs Lancaster's

BrentK,

I agree with you on the grade you gave Lancaster's. It's the best we have in this area without traveling 50+ miles to somewhere better. Lancaster's isn't a chain. They are family owned and the one in Moorsevile is their main location, they have a small location in a gas station that just serves Q, and they opened a new one here in Huntersville. The owner knows a lot of Nascar guys and a lot of them eat there. That is why it is so decked out with a Nascar theme. Plus Mooresville is Race City.

I haven't tried Lancaster's yet, but I've heard a lot of good things about their Q.

I have been to Lexington's (formerly Lexington #1) on numerous occasions, but I don't count their Q at the top of my list of Q-joints in NC. I felt that Lexington's Q was a bit dry and only had a smoky flavor. I was at another Q joint in the town of Lexington yesterday and enjoyed their Q much more than the original Lexington's Q. "Smoky Joe's Barbecue" on south Main Street I found much more flavorable than Lexington's. The sides were also better!

I've rated MANY Q-joints in NC (112 to be exact) on a scale of 1-5 (with 1 being terrible and 5 being the best I've ever eaten), and in my review - Lexington's gets a 3 and Smoky Joe's gets a 3.5.

I see there are some fellow Charlotteans on this discussion. I live in Huntersville and have been to both of the Lancaster's in the area. I agree Lancaster's is pretty good. However, the best I've found in the area is up route 115 in Statesville. It's a little African American place named "Phifer's." It's a real old school place--no decor, no atmosphere but great spicy Eastern-style barbecue. Their hot wings are good too.

daaldridge wrote:

I see there are some fellow Charlotteans on this discussion. I live in Huntersville and have been to both of the Lancaster's in the area. I agree Lancaster's is pretty good. However, the best I've found in the area is up route 115 in Statesville. It's a little African American place named "Phifer's." It's a real old school place--no decor, no atmosphere but great spicy Eastern-style barbecue. Their hot wings are good too.

daaldridge

I used to live in Mooresville, then bought just outside of Davidson in Iredell county. Moved over this way just over 3 yrs ago. The job market fell apart over there, and work brought me here. Otherwise, I would still be over there in the country smoking away......

Can't say that I remember Phifer's. Are they relatively new to the area???

Bill

Phifer's has been there for at least as long as I have been in the area (since 2000). To get there you can just go north on 115 until you just cross the line into Statesville. It's on the right hand side of the road in a very nondescript strip mall.

I teach at Davidson College and am disappointed that there is nothing remotely approaching decent barbecue or any other sort of southern food in the Davidson, Cornelius and Huntersville area. I once took out food from Phifer's for a seminar I taught to give the kids an example of Soul food.

Our son and family still live over there. I will have to tell him abt them and let him check them out for me. Then when we come over the next time, he can take us out to eat.....

Bill

daaldridge ,

Welcome to the forum. I reside in Huntersville as well.

I went to Phifer's yesterday but did not have the BBQ.

Everybody was ordering fried chicken or wings and I did the same. Enjoyed the fried chicken with the hot sauce, the green beans and the fried squash.

Thanks Wscato. Huntersville is a desert for barbecue except for the new Lancaster's on Beatties Ford Road. Has anyone in the Charlotte area been to Spoons in South Charlotte? My wife swears by it but it's only open in the daytime and I haven't had an opportunity to go there yet. Old Hickory House on North Tryon is good although Western NC style. I would choose it over Bubba's any day.

daaldridge wrote:

Thanks Wscato. Huntersville is a desert for barbecue except for the new Lancaster's on Beatties Ford Road. Has anyone in the Charlotte area been to Spoons in South Charlotte? My wife swears by it but it's only open in the daytime and I haven't had an opportunity to go there yet. Old Hickory House on North Tryon is good although Western NC style. I would choose it over Bubba's any day.

1) Bill Spoons has been the source of much debate on various forums, although I cannot recall whether it has previously been brought up on this site. They do eastern NC style BBQ using the whole hog and are only open weekdays for lunch. So far so good except that they are a gasser so you won't get much smoky flavor in the meat if you go for that. It's certainly better than Bubba's but to get the real thing you need to drive three or four hours east.

2) Old Hickory House is more of a Georgia-style than a Western NC style; at least that's what I recall it says on their menu. The sauce is rather thick and, to my taste, overwhelms the flavor of the meat. They do expose the meat to log coals (at least at the end of the process) so that is good, but there is not much North Carolina about the place (I seem to recall their sides are Texas toast, beans and Brunswick stew, which are all traditions from other places.)

I agree that Spoons is better than Bubba's , but there is no smoke flavor to the meat. His vinegar sauce is good though.

Has anyone tried Elliot's way out at Independence Blvd. in the Windsor Shopping Center ( The place with the Green Roofs)? I ate there the other week and it was good. I ate the Beef Brisket and my buddy got the Pulled Pork and Pulled Chicken Combo. The meat had somewhat of a smoky taste, but the Brisket was the best thing they had going. With the exception of the Brisket, the rest of their meats are pulled and not chop. You can't even get a whole piece of chicken there I would definitely eat there again for the Brisket.

Has anyone ever eat at the Hog Heaven off of Eastway. It may be gone or moved. I always meant to stop by there and try it but never was there at the right time. They always had a huge pile of hickory beside their building.

The Hickory House reminds me of NC Mountain BBQ. It was the consistency of Ketchup mixed in the meat. I've never had a Georgia style BBQ so I mountain q is all I have to compare it too.

Although I live in PA, I visit the Lexington/Welcome area often and have tried many of the local joints. My favorite in the area is actually a little N of there - in Arcadia - called Speede Lohr's. There's so much confusion with all the Speedy's in the area!

I have noticed with each visit, there are more and more chain-looking placed popping up. I don't know which of them are really chains, but they are usually a bit larger with fancier tables and menus, sometimes non-smoking. I've tried a few of these and some are mediocre, some are pretty good, but I don' t know enough about the area to know whether any of them are actually local chains or not.