Grady’s BBQ, near Dudley, North Carolina

What a magnificent 8:30 am meal at Sid’s Catering! Just delicious! But then I really had nothing to do until lunchtime when the rest of the family, who were driving down from Washington, would reach our meeting place, Wilber’s. I had over three hours to kill. What would be a meaningful and productive way to spend that time? Why, go to Grady’s!

I fell in love with Grady’s on my first trip there. You can read that story here. This trip, I drove up and, as I always do, parked in the rear, still expecting it to be the front after all of my visits. I then walked around to the actual front.

I was greeted with smiles by the staff, just as is every other customer, every visit. It creates such a relaxed and cheerful atmosphere. A father from north of Raleigh, and possibly from farther north before that, was introducing his two young sons to North Carolina barbecue.

Now that’s a good father, one who chose a great place for the introduction.

I ordered a barbecue tray for $8, tax included. Such a great deal. A $2 slice of sweet potato pie was calling my name in a come-hither voice, but having just eaten a combination plate at Sid’s Catering and with lunch at Wilber’s on the horizon, I showed self-restraint.

Here’s the tray. It included hushpuppies that in my excitement I neglected to photograph.

Here’s another view of the pork.

The pork is delicious. In each of my visits it has been freshly chopped and full of a succulent pork perfumed with the smoke from fat dripping oil on wood coals. You can see that there was a good bit of skin mixed in with the pork, more than I recall from previous visits. The skin, however, was not the crisp skin that is the glory of Sid’s, and so it didn’t add as much texture or flavor as it otherwise might have.

And here’s the slaw.

The slaw was not overdressed, the bane of slaws. It was a rougher chop of cabbage than you usually see in North Carolina, and it contained sweet pickles. I dislike sweet pickles. You probably love sweet pickles and will love this slaw.

While I forgot to photograph the hushpuppies, I didn’t forget to eat them. They were lightly browned, and at first I thought that they might have been pulled from the fryer a little early. At least I thought so at first. They were wonderful, with a good flavor and some onion mixed in, so I kept eating. It’s hard to beat the hushpuppies at Grady’s.

I thought again about that sweet potato pie, but steeled my self to leave. It’s hard to leave Grady’s, although knowing that Wilber’s is the next stop assuages the loss. It’s such a friendly place, and the Gradys are such sweet people. IT;s solidly entrenched in my Eastern North Carolina Top Ten You really need to give Grady’s a try.

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