Skylight Inn BBQ in Ayden, North Carolina, is known for its pulled pork bbq.


It's known for its whole hog cooking.


"Skylight Inn BBQ was named a "barbecue capital of America" by National Geographic in the 1970’s, which inspired the construction of the capital dome and flagpole atop the otherwise unassuming restaurant (earlier this year, Eater critic Bill Addison also named it home to one of the country's 23 essential barbecue dishes). Their whole hogs are still prepared in the same style as when Pete Jones began the business: cooked over 100% oak wood become piled of chopped and mixed tender meat and crispy skin." (EATER)


So, I simply got a small "pig" with cornbread and potato salad.


It came in a bag like this.



The iconic pork tray topped with a long piece of cornbread is iconic.


So this was really unique. It's super tender pork with little bits of crispy skin in there. So dang good. And the cornbread is not sweet at all - but perfect with a bite of pork.


The creamy, egg-y, mustardy potato salad made for some nice tang.

On my Carolina BBQ tour, I stopped at Lewis Barbecue.


Most of the previous BBQ places in the area I tried were more "hole in the wall."


Lewis Barbecue is definitely more hip with this industrial vibe and super duper busy.


I placed an order to pick up, so I skipped the ordering part where they compile everything for you behind the counter.


I waited a little bit for my order to be complete, but then I took it all back to my hotel to chow down.


First off, they give you pickled onion, pickles and white onion for your meal.


This restaurant serves Texas-style barbecue, so I had to get some brisket.


It's sliced USDA Prime Beef Brisket. I like mine on the lean side.


Speaking of sides, I went with macaroni & cheese (of course).


And I also got the green chile corn pudding - ohh myy goodness. Spicy, but oh so good.


And the sauces I tried: a red, a tangy and a green hatch chile.

Just outside of Charleston is a BBQ joint that is well-loved amongst the locals.


Bowles Boyz BBQ in Sissonville serves up pulled pork, beef brisket, sausage links and more.


The menu features a lot of other goodies, too - tons of sides, family feasts and desserts.


I went with a pulled pork BBQ sandwich with slaw.


And two different sides - one is mac & cheese with penne pasta.


Another is cheesy hash browns. Clearly I can't get enough cheese.


And, they even have ice cream.


Check out these flavors.


I went for a milkshake with cookiez n' cream.

Barnyard BBQ has three locations in the Metro Valley area: Cross Lanes, Teays Valley and Milton.

The BBQ place has pulled pork, brisket, as well as items like pizza, and other entrees.


For my entree, I went with a brisket platter, which came with two sides.

I chose vegetable pasta salad and macaroni & cheese as my sides. It also came with a little corn hushpuppy.

Have you been here?

Dem 2 Brothers is a tasty BBQ restaurant on the West Side. But did you know they also have a location in London, West Virginia?

While driving through the area one day, I saw smoke rolling from behind the building and its bright yellow exterior caught my eye.

I knew I had to check it out to get my BBQ fix.

The menu features sandwiches, dinners, sides and more. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich with slaw and sweet & spicy sauce. For sides, I got potato salad and mac & cheese.

Have you been?

Some time ago, a friend told me that L&R BBQ is the best BBQ in the state. With that kind of ringing endorsement, it shot to the top of my "to try" list - which, is quite long.

I made the trek to Hurricane on a snowy weekend to check it out. Walking in, there were many folks enjoying their lunch, and I took a quick look over the short menu to figure out my order.

I settled on the Pork BBQ Sandwich with a side of macaroni & cheese. This is my go-to because it's usually delicious.

After just a few minutes, my order was ready and I was back on the road. The sandwich was not pulled pork like I'm used to, but more thick cuts that are slathered in a tangy sweet BBQ sauce. Yum!


The macaroni & cheese was a healthy portion that had just a slight bit of a kick to it!

What's your favorite BBQ in West Virginia?

Tin Box BBQ Pub & Grub is a new restaurant at Eagle View Luxury Apartments.

This spot is neat because it literally overlooks the whole city.


The restaurant focuses on BBQ, of course, and I visited for my birthday earlier this year.

It also happened to be their opening weekend.

I ordered pulled pork sliders with a side of Mac n Cheese.

That allowed me to try all the different BBQ sauces - Mimi's Original BBQ Sauce, Screaming Mimi's, Jonny J's Jacked Up, and Big E's Carolina Sauce.

We had some homemade chips to start with.

Three sliders with pickles.

And the mac is: "Our homemade mac is creamy and stringy using 5 cheese blend and topped with crumbs and more parmesan baked to golden brown"

Have you been here yet?