Real Q, Winston-Salem, North Carolina: On the North Carolina Historic Barbecue Trail

After lunch at Hursey’s, I tried to continue my homage to Jim Early with a second stop on the North Carolina Historic Barbecue Trail for a second lunch at Fuzzy’s in Madison, only to find that Fuzzy’s had closed. They’d cut back from 14 hours a day (5:00 am-7:00 pm) to only eight (7:00 am -3:00 pm) due to the general shrinking of the labor force. Bruised but unbowed, I headed to another Barbecue Trail site, Real Q in Winston-Salem.

Real Q cooks barbecue in the traditional manner, over wood coals. That’s Lexington-style pit-cooked barbecue, and their motto is the truism, “if it ain’t over wood, it ain’t as good.” I knew that Real Q was in the former Original Little Richard’s location, where I’d been under its previous ownership. The are, or re, two Little Richard locations, andI like to try new locations, so chose what I presumed was the other location, the one listed on Country Club Road. The Little Richard’s site had not seemed set in a Country Club-type environment.

As was the case at the former Little Richard’s, you still order from Real Q at the counter, choose a seat or stand around (for take out), and await your food. I looked over the menu, sort of. At barbecue places, I usually look until I see something I want and then stop. That doesn’t take long. I want a pork plate, at least in the Southeast, with two sides. At Real Q, all of the sides were fried foods, or so it seemed. The sides were arranged on the above-the-counter menu so that potato salad and slaw were listed in a separate Take Out section. I assume they’d been banished there because they hadn’t been fried. So I chose Tater Tots and fried okra as my sides, q brown plate. If I;d paid attention, I’d have ordered some slaw and some of their great green beans. And the Tots.

Well, Country Club is a long road, and it runs from Country Clubby areas through other neighborhoods. My trip took me to a warehouse-ish location: the former Little Richard’s building, complete with much of the 1950s decor. That was for the best. I prefer barbecue places to be in humbler locations.

I was asked whether I wanted bread or hushpuppies. Has anyone ever chosen bread in a traditional North Carolina barbecue place? I haven’t. These were particularly good– and abundant.

I chose a seat and my food arrived promptly, fresh and hot. The pork was a treat. It had been lightly sauced with a good Piedmont sauce, thin with a dab of ketchup and a pleasantly subdued bite from the vinegar and pepper. The sauce balanced and enhanced the smoky pork. It was a great dish. Real Q has first class barbecue.

The okra had been dusted with wheat flour rather than with corn meal before frying, but tasted very good notwithstanding. The Tater Tots … I rarely order Tater Tots. Maybe I should more often. They were very crunchy and retained a pronounced potato flavor. And they hold salt and pepper nicely. They were a good choice.

Real Q is a friendly place. I chatted with some people while waiting in line, and the employees were very friendly. It was clear that Real Q has a lot of regular customers, and clearly the regulars come from all parts of town. You get the warm feeling at Real Q that if you came four or five times within, say, a month or two, they’d remember your name.  Real Q truly deserves its position on the North Carolina historic Barbecue Trail. Indeed, it’s one of the Ten Best Piedmont-style Barbecue Places in North Carolina, and certainly the best in Winston-Salem

Real Q has chicken on Wednesdays and ribs on Fridays, and I bet they’re good.  If you’re in Winston-Salem, you owe it to yourself to go to Real Q and get some delicious True Cue.

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