A grand time was had by all on the annual meeting of the Glee Club (follow the Forum thread here) last weekend, though we certainly missed the company of Roadfood.com moderator and Forum administrator Mayor Al (Bowen) and other RF notables who’ve graced our presence in years past. The purpose of the Glee Club is to escape the cold and wintery conditions of our respective states and revel in the good food of a more southern locale over President’s Day weekend. This year found the group heading to Raleigh, North Carolina for an eating extravaganza, which began for me, at least (ChiTownDiner flew in on Thursday and had already decimated a wide swath of central NC eateries), as soon as The Travelin Man and I arrived at Roast Grill (Roadfood.com review) in Raleigh. My parents, Sylvia & Richard, drove up from South Carolina to join us, and they were amazed at the number of people that fit inside. Roast Grill is a tiny place with maybe ten stools, much like Al’s Breakfast in Minneapolis and the sadly departed Yankee Doodle in New Haven.

Hot dogs are the only item on the menu, and their skins are burnt, bunned, and covered with mustard, slaw, and chili:

The Travelin Man had a hankerin’ for chicken biscuits, so we drove to Apex and Dallas Famous Chicken & Biscuits. The chicken biscuit was indeed delicious, but it was the bone-in fried pork chop biscuit that stole the show:

Clyde Cooper’s BBQ in Raleigh was next, and we enjoyed a tray of tender chopped pork, cole slaw, and this basket of hushpuppies and fresh pork rinds:

Dickey’s BBQ was just across the street, and I was drawn there from a radio commercial advertising their Spicy Cheddar Sausage. Only after we ordered did we realize that this was a chain (!) out of Dallas, Texas (dear RFers, please forgive me), but the sausage was very good despite their corporate-ness:

A few blocks away, we met ChiTownDiner at Char-Grill. There we munched on char-burgers, fries, milkshakes, and this excellent chili & slaw dog:

Our final dinner stop was Bavarian Brathaus in Cary, where we met Poverty Pete, Buffetbuster, Mariton, and Ralph & Lori Melton. Everyone agreed that the standout dish—maybe because it weighed at least five pounds!—was the Schweinshaxen (roasted pork knuckle). Needless to say, after six stops today, we were too stuffed to put even a dent in this monster:

Stay tuned for Day 2 and our exploration of Chapel Hill!