Red Hot & Blue / Raleigh, NC

I walked into my neighborhood's former Quail Corners Shell gas station with an air of smoky anticipation, being greeted by that heart-hugging nostril-massaging aroma that accompanies great barbecue. Smelled like heaven.

But hell hath no fury as a barbecue lover spurned by a phantom scent, dashing the expectation of excellence against the rocky reality of a dissatisfying sandwich experience.

The family used to try and take advantage of the “Kids Eat Free” night at Red Hot & Blue in their original location and I have to admit that it was so not good that I chose to pay full price somewhere else rather than eat what was coming out of their smoker (and that says a lot about the food quality if I’m forking over extra money). They closed up shop a couple of years ago and that was not too surprising to me as I did not know anyone who dined there.

What was surprising is that they reopened Red Hot & Blue in a new location.

What wasn't that big of a surprise is how "not so good" it continues to be.

The hand-pulled appearing pork smelled wonderful and looked pretty dang good with a nice mix of crunchy dark bark and stringy pink smoke ring shreds. Individually, a little piece on its lonesome tasted spot-on with a slight hint of hardwood and desired tenderness expected from a lengthy smoking. However pretty it is, as a whole, the meat chews overly dry without any iota of complementary moisture, aka mop sauce. Thankfully, I asked the counter server for some vinegar-based sauce as it really needed it in order to make it more palatable. The sauce could use a tad more red pepper, or some kind of additional heat, as it laid fairly flat taste-wise.

I ordered my sandwich with slaw. Instead of plopping it atop the meat, it was scooped into a plastic to-go container. While I appreciate the notion of not saturating the bread and meat with the damp chopped condiment, adding it myself was bothersome as the slaw was super dry and kept falling off the pile of barbecue. It's supposed to be a white Cole slaw I guess, but it seemed more like a mayo-free chiffonade of white and red cabbages and orange carrot. It was more than likely a case of the preparer not stirring up the slaw before serving, with any sort of tasty liquidity having settled to the bottom of the bin. It was super bland and not worth adding at all.

While the sandwich is fairly unremarkable, I must throw some serious props to Red Hot & Blue for their hush puppies. Damn these things are off the chain and probably the best I have ever had, and I have eaten a lot of puppies across North Carolina. Shaped into ping pong ball size orbs, these hush puppies have a deep-fried crispy exterior with a melt-in-your mouth fluffy inside lusciousness. Love, love, love these bitesize wonders.

Sadly, there is no BBQ greatness anywhere near me, so I was really hoping that this new iteration of Red Hot & Blue would be a salvation for our North Raleigh barbecue desert fraught with the influx of post-COVID work-from-home carpetbaggers, Rivians, and McMansion tear-downs infiltrating our neighborhood. Alas, I am once again disappointed in the trickeration that's all smoke and no fiery deliciousness. 7.0/10

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Red Hot & Blue 

1326 East Millbrook Rd

Raleigh, NC 27609