Bum's BBQ and Skylight Inn Ayden, NC

I am making my annual trek to OBX for the next two weeks and as always I will be trying a couple of new BBQ joints along with one that I am fairly confident will always be my favorite. My father and I are determined to try the Skylight Inn in Ayden, NC. However, several female members of the family are not excited about their extensive menu (pork, slaw, cornbread). Therefore, we have agreed to go to Bum's BBQ also in Ayden for lunch so they can get their chicken and side dishes that they like to have with the pork and then head over to the Skylight Inn for a nice pork dessert. My wife and I are spending the last three days in the Emerald Isle, Atlantic Beach area which as luck would have it will make our route back home go right through Goldsboro and the Gold Standard of all NC BBQ at Wilber's.

I will report back about Bum's and Skylight.

One question for everyone, my sister and her boyfriend will be flying down to Norfolk and then renting a car and driving down to Hatteras so they will be unable to join us in Ayden. Does anyone know of a good BBQ joint betwen that airport and the islands. The only one I could think of was the one I heard about that is actually up in Corolla which I hear is much better than Bubba's (not hard to do BTW especially since Bubba's is not Eastern NC style). Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks.

Ok, so I am just getting back to work today from my two week OBX vacation. As promised I am putting my expereinces at the newly tried BBQ joints in Ayden on here. First we went to Bum's which is downtown in one of the few storefronts that is not vacant. The food there was good but the highlight was not the BBQ. It was the pan fried chicken. Everything there is served cafeteria style and there was a 20 minute wait for the chicken. I am glad that we waited because it was some of the best chicken I've ever had. The side dishes were very good as well. I opted for the boiled cabbage and pastry, while others with me had things like cole slaw and boiled potatoes. All got pretty good reveiews. I did not care for the corn bread or the corn sticks. As for the BBQ it wasn't bad it just didn't have the smoke flavor I was looking for. It was juicy and had the good vinegar sauce. It just wasn't anything special.

From there we headed directly to the Skylight Inn and had pork plates (a stack of pork, cornbread and coleslaw which is everything on the menu there). The pork was outstanding. It has all the smokiness you could ask for and I mostly enjoyed the cracklins that they cut into the meat as they chop it up (anyone who has been there will remember the constant thumping from behind the counter as the pork is chopped up). Every now and then I would get a piece of cracklin that was too big and too tough to chew but overall I liked it as an addition. There is sauce on the table but you don't want to use too much of it or it will cover the great smokiness of the meat. I did not care for the cornbread as it was much too dense for my taste (probably a northerner thing). The slaw was pretty good but not the best.

On the way home, we again stopped in Goldsboro and ate at Wilber's which I still think of as the best overall Eastern NC BBQ experience. The pork has all the smokiness of the Skylight plus it has the juiciness and sauciness that Bob Melton's did back before it closed. There aren't any cracklin's in the meat but there is a fair amount of "browns" or the outermost part of the shoulder which help with the texture and the smoky flavor. They also have great fried chicken and all of the sides that I have tried have been excellent. I especially like their Brunswick stew and hush puppies (which I definitely prefer to corn sticks).

That was all the BBQ I was able to have. I am already trying to figure out a couple of new ones to try next year.

Thanks for the report. You got to the three best that eastern NC has to offer! It sound as if you got to Bum's on an "off" day for barbecue. Every place making the real thing has days like that. My experience there has been very good. Next time, I'll go for the chicken. (and collards)

Excellent reviews -- any chance of a picture or two. I am hoping to make it up in that direction for some work travel this year and would love to hit some of the spots that you mention. I will add them to my notes right now.

Steve

We tried to take a couple of pictures in Wilber's but it was too dark for the crummy camera phones we have and it was too hot to go back out to the car for the good camera. Next year I will remember to take our camera in every place with us.

I know there are pictures of Wilber's and Skylight on Hollyeats website.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim in NC

Thanks for the report. You got to the three best that eastern NC has to offer! It sound as if you got to Bum's on an "off" day for barbecue. Every place making the real thing has days like that. My experience there has been very good. Next time, I'll go for the chicken. (and collards)

I am probably being a little harsh on Bum's BBQ. It was good. But the point I meant to make about it is that my normal route to the Outer Banks takes me a lot closer to Wilson where I can get Parker's or Bill's or if he gets around to re-opening Mitchell's. All of these have decent to very good BBQ and Bum's was not enough better than those to make me want to drive that far out of the way again. Skylight and Wilber's however, are definitely worth the extra time.

I agree wholeheartedly with your post on these places. You are a true connoisseur of Eastern style NC BBQ.

By the way, the best thing I had when I was at Bum's were the collards. Among the best I have ever had.

I hope you were able to pick up a shrimpburger when you were on the Crystal Coast. The Big Oak Drive-In in Salter Path and El's Drive-In in Morehead City are my two favorites in that category.

All right y'all...let's not forget King's in Kinston. They rate right up there, however I have to agree, Wilber's is far above any other. The nice thing about King's is they have a small outlet in New Bern (which was a pleasant surprise on one hungry afternoon). Thanks for the name-dropping so as I can try someplaces new.

Grant
Cary, NC

quote:

Originally posted by GrantB

All right y'all...let's not forget King's in Kinston. They rate right up there, however I have to agree, Wilber's is far above any other. The nice thing about King's is they have a small outlet in New Bern (which was a pleasant surprise on one hungry afternoon). Thanks for the name-dropping so as I can try someplaces new.

Grant
Cary, NC

As I said I am looking for some new places to try next year. I will definitely write down King's and keep them in mind. Though it would be really hard to pass up Wilber's being that close to Goldsboro.

Well sir, first let me congratulate you on your efforts at exploring Pitt County area barbecue. You have chosen a noble and rewarding quest. However, having grown up in Greenville and become quite the barbecue addict at an early age, I would have to say that you missed out on the BEST barbecue joint in the area. Ask anyone in Greenville where the best 'cue is at and just about anyone will tell you without flinching that it's at B's Barbecue....and they're right. Wilbur's is good, but no B's. Sklight is good, but far over-hyped (of course I'm not big on cracklin's so that does give me a bit of bias). Here's a pretty good link to a story about B's, with some photos.
http://hkentcraig.com/BBQ38.html
I disagree with the author's claim of it being greasy. Just about any barbecue will stain your clothes, so that doesn't really intrinsically make a barbecue greasy. In terms of moistness and flavor, B's can't be beat. Furthermore, I can attest that the stuff will leave you nice and full. They also do some great barbecue chicken, make superb sweet tea and have excellent cole slaw. However, the author is right about them closing when they are out of 'cue...the place is rarely open past one and there is honestly a line there every day at about all hours; has been since I was a kid.

quote:

Originally posted by The_Big_Crunch

Well sir, first let me congratulate you on your efforts at exploring Pitt County area barbecue. You have chosen a noble and rewarding quest. However, having grown up in Greenville and become quite the barbecue addict at an early age, I would have to say that you missed out on the BEST barbecue joint in the area. Ask anyone in Greenville where the best 'cue is at and just about anyone will tell you without flinching that it's at B's Barbecue....and they're right.

Actually, the choice we had for the first lunch on the way down there was between B's and Bum's. Bum's won out only becasue of it being in the same town as Skylight. I saw a thread on the Chowhounds website where a guy ate B's, Bum's and Skylight all in one day and he had great things to say about B's. I will put it on the list for next year.