Friday, June 09, 2006

Big Apple takes a bit out of BBQ

North Carolina barbecue recently received rave reviews in an unlikely place: A New York City publication.

"Chip Allen, the son of E. L. 'Sonny' and Janie Allen of Salisbury, is now working for the United Nations Credit Union in New York, and he got an unexpected surprise the other day when he picked up a copy of a magazine, Time Out New York, and opened to an article about — what else? — Salisbury," according to Rose Post's article in the Salisbury Post. "So, of course, he sent a copy to his parents. Touted on the cover with the come-on, 'Chow Down Out of Town,' the article by Reed Tucker is headlined 'The Squeal Deal' and the subtitle tells you quickly what it's about. 'Pork,' that subtitle says, 'is king on a tour of North Carolina Barbecue.'

"And Salisbury is treated handsomely by Tucker, who gave special attention to College Barbecue on Statesville Blvd."

The article goes on to state that while Chip Allen lives and works (and even vacations) in the Northeast, he still finds it difficult to "satisfy his hometown tastes."

"Every time he comes home," his mother says, "he has to stock up on Cheerwine and eat his fill of barbecue at College Barbecue."

And he was so thrilled with the Time Out article, which expresses his attitude exactly, that he immediately sent his parents a copy.

The Time Out writer was on his way to Charlotte when he discovered Salisbury's barbecue.

"Like visiting a hotel with hourly rates, there's something unseemly about devoting an entire getaway to food," he wrote. "Vacations, we're taught, are for getting sunburns and visiting places where George Washington slept, not moving up another pants size.

"Still, I grew up down South and, like those California-born New Yorkers who whine about not being able to get good Mexican food, I pine for real barbecue. It's worth planning a trip around."

Almost every town in North Carolina, he said, is graced with at least one good pork restaurant ("pig is what you'll get — no barbecued beef here") and the biggest problem is choosing where to go.

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