Backroad’s Smokehouse / Pink Hill

There's off the beaten path and then there's so far off the path you feel like you're being beaten just trying to get where you're going. Vine Swamp Road in Lenoir County has to be the jankiest, most uneven bumpy bump-fest I've ever been on... and that includes two hours of traversing a Nicaraguan dried riverbed while sitting on the rusty fender well of a shock absorber-defunct pick-up truck. I mean, it is crazy janky.

So it's kinda perfect that a barbecue joint pretty much in the middle of nowhere and way off the figurative (and literal) beaten path be named Backroad’s Smokehouse.

The menu is rather broad with tons of smoked goodies, but as usual, I only order the pork barbecue sandwich with slaw. Owner/pitmaster Jeffrey Barnes cooks a Kansas City style, a distant cousin from our North Carolina barbecue kin, so it's sort of an apples and oranges scenario when comparing his BBQ sandwich to the usual suspects I tend to gravitate towards and appreciate the most.

Jeffery cooks full shoulders over live oak coals, with an occasional pecan limb every now and then, and the aroma is mighty perfect. From pulling up in the parking lot to catching a whiff of the sandwich when opening the clamshell, the smoke is right where it needs to be. It says a lot to be able to smell the oak from the sandwich while staring at the split wood piled up out behind the building.

The 'cue was super tender and moist. The flavor is all natural (and smokey, of course) as it seems they don't sauce the meat much at all. Maybe there's a mop while smoking, but it seems void of any extra enhancement post chop. Speaking of chop... it's a super rough cut that has a lot of large pulled pieces. No mushiness from a "too-fine" over chop like some Eastern NC joints. The meat really does shine with a gorgeous pink half-inch smoke ring.

I asked Jeffery if I could get my sauce on the side and he obliged, asking if I wanted Eastern NC vinegar sauce or his house-made Kansas City sweet sauce. I always go with the chef's choice to ensure I'm picking up what the pitmaster is putting down, so I went KC. Super good sauce. Just the right amount of heat to balance with the sweetness. It really complimented the cook. I do wish I had asked for his vinegar sauce for comparison though.

The slaw is a tad too chunky and ate a bit dry to me. I prefer a mayo-based slaw with a hint of crunchy sweetness to balance out the zippiness of the barbecue. This slaw was flat and lacked much flavor at all and got lost with the beautiful, tasty meat.

One of "apples vs oranges" with this sandwich is the bun. It's not a traditional hamburger bun or even brioche bun (ugh), but a ciabatta. Seeing the porous white bread in lieu of the usual bun threw me a little and I was disappointed in seeing it. However, it worked perfectly with the chunky, highly piled pieces of pork. The bread was lightly toasted, but soft for the bite. Unlike a round brioche which 90% of the time either breaks apart or disappears before the last bite, the square ciabatta holds up well from first bite to last. Would I want a toasted ciabatta all the time for a BBQ sandwich? Nah. But in this case, it works great.

Backroad’s Smokehouse is a place you'll either have to divert 30 minutes (roundtrip) off US 70 when driving to New Bern or make it a pitstop on the shortcut to Jacksonville or Emerald Isle. It's worth the extra drive out of your way if you're hankering for 'cue. But ensure your vehicle's shock absorbers are in working order, because no matter which route you take, you'll need to do like the old rural sign says about being on an uneven bumpy rough rural road: "Remove Dentures, Tighten Up Bras." Did I mention it's crazy janky?

8 / 10

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Backroad’s Smokehouse by Higher Frequency BBQ

4052 Pleasant Hill Road

Pink Hill, NC 28572