Wilber’s Will be in Raleigh

Sensational news for the greater Raleigh-Durham area! Wilber’s Barbecue, the best barbecue place in North Carolina according to News and Observer readers, will set up in Raleigh on February 8, 2025, Super Bowl Sunday, in time for your Super Bowl party, or just in time to get some truly great barbecue without driving to Goldsboro.

Actually, I cut off part of the announcement when I photographed it off an email. Full details, including a live link for you to pre-order, are right here.

This is a big deal. North Carolina’s growing so fast that many of you haven’t eaten at Wilber’s. You have a treat in store! Wilber’s is the real deal, whole hog barbecue cooked directly over wood coals. It’s has long been a regular stop for us when we go to the shore. Once I volunteered to drive to all the way the airport, RDU, from the Pine Knoll Shores to pick up my niece so I could eat two lunches at Wilber’s in one day, one coming and one going. Several times a year I drive down from Washington, DC just to eat barbecue at Wilber’s. (Note: I am not responsible for anything that ever happens in Washington. I have less influence than you.) It’s a long drive, but well worth it to eat great barbecue at Wilber’s. Naturally I try some other barbecue places, see friends and family, and maybe grab a biscuit or three. But Wilber’s is a star attraction.

I’ll share a couple of my reports on Wilber’s, a stop with barbecue experts, including the Dean of North Carolina Barbecue, John Shelton Reed, here,

and a stop with family, here, that offers a wider exploration of the menu delights.

And I’ll share my pretty-soon-to-be-updated lists of the best barbecue places in Eastern North Carolina and in the Piedmont, or Western area, which offers a different style of barbecue. You should try them all, but go whole hog and start off with Wilber’s.

***

And while you’re at it, click “follow” on our front page to receive blog posts in your email box. Or bookmark us and check in from time to time. We’re on Instagram (johntannerbbq) and Twitter (johntannerbbq1). If you’re planning a trip, you can “Search” the name of the destination city, state, or country for good restaurants (in Europe, often close to sites, like the Louvre, Prague Castle, Vienna’s Old City, or the Van Gogh Museum, that you’ll want to visit in any event.  We welcome comments and questions, and eagerly seek suggestions of places to eat and stories to cover.