Great Pig at Ralph’s Barbeque

May 14th, 2009

Ralph's Barbeque

I live in North Carolina now. Some of you who know me are aware of the fact that I prefer living on the west coast. It’s not that I don’t like North Carolina or the east coast it’s just that given my druthers, I would prefer to live on the west coast. It’s a totally different vibe there. People are more casual in dress and manner and that is a big part of Bob.

The truth is that there are good and bad things about every place. There are good and bad things about almost everything in life and I think one of the big things that separates sane people from the majority of us is the ability to discern those differences and not let them drive you nuts. Life is full of good and bad things and you have to learn to deal with it or lose your mind.

One of the truly great things about North Carolina is the barbeque. You know I love that eastern style pulled or chopped pork. I’ve raved about it here, many a time.

My First Helping

As I write this I am sitting in a Starbucks in Roanoke Rapids, NC with a full belly and a happy heart. My wife and I are visiting this fair city today. Roanoke Rapids is about half way between Raleigh, NC and Richmond, VA, right next to Interstate 95. On the other side of I-95 is the small community of Weldon, NC and that is the home of Ralph’s Barbeque. I just had the luncheon buffet and I could not be more pleased with my meal. I have had barbeque in many places and cooked in many styles but today was my first buffet. I am very pleased.

I'll have just a little bit more, please.

Let’s talk about what they had on this all-you-can-eat, $7.99 including drink, barbeque lunch buffet.

First of all, they had the eastern style vinegar based pork I love both chopped and pulled. They also had the tomato based sweet sauce pork as well, but I avoided it. It may be fine for some people (like my wife) but it is really not for me.

Pigs relaxing before the barbeque

A virtual cornucopia of side dishes was included in the lunch. They had sweet potatoes, succotash, macaroni and cheese, beef stew with potatoes, cooked cabbage, collard greens, stewed tomatoes, barbecued chicken and much more.

One good old southern side they had was green beans. Now you may have eaten green beans in many different styles during your life but they have a very special way of cooking them in the south. In the south they like to cook them to death. I enjoy green beans when they are just a little under done with a touch of crispness to them but in the south most people prefer that they just plain melt in your mouth and cooking them to death achieves this goal. I once heard a fine southern gentleman state that you should not have to chew green beans if they are cooked properly. They should be like eating gravy. They should just melt in your mouth. These were true southern style cooked green beans and they were delicious.

They had other beans on the buffet as well and if you are a regular reader you are aware of my feelings about side dishes and beans in general. I am a bit particular about my beans.

Recently I had occasion to make a crock pot of my own beans and I was quite proud of them. My recipe is really very simple. I buy several cans of a variety of beans including navy beans, pintos, black-eyed peas, kidney beans and whatever else I see and think would taste good. I drain them and add them all to a crock pot. Then I fry up some chopped bacon with a couple of cloves of garlic and a chopped onion. All of this goes into the pot with a can of drained, diced tomatoes and some salt and pepper. Cook them on high for 5 or 6 hours and they are about ready to eat.

The beans at Ralph’s were not done the way I make them but I have no complaints. I really liked them very much. They were a simple cooked bean dish of just white beans. I don’t know for sure what kind of beans they were but they looked like small navy beans and they tasted wonderful.

Everything was outstanding. The pulled pork was perfect, the collards were outstanding and when I had only the smallest amount of space left in my gut I got some banana pudding. Exquisite. I am back in the south and there are wonderful reasons to be happy about that.

The Great Waitresses of Ralph's Barbeque

There is one more thing I need to mention about this dining experience. The waitresses were extremely helpful and polite. I love to see a waitress smile and they had great smiles and courteous attitudes. Hospitality can often carry a restaurant but at Ralph’ it is just the icing on the cake. If you are traveling I-95 you should make it a point of stopping at exit 173 for lunch or dinner. This is what eastern North Carolina is all about.

Look for this sign and smile.

In closing let me say that there is only one thing I regret about the whole experience. I wish I could have seen the place at night. There are little neon, pig shaped lights that run across the top of the building and on the big sign out by the road and I bet they look great lit up after dark. As I stated earlier, you just have to learn to take the bad with the good. Being there in the daytime meant that the only things that were lit up were my eyes and my stomach.

Yum Yum.

Good Pig.

Entry Filed under: General, The Wandering Barbecue Hound