The Pit

Last Friday, Andrew and I went to Raleigh to pick up Jamey from the airport (Jamey is going to be working as John Irving's literary assistant this year, true story). Before we picked her up, we drove to Raleigh for lunch and to visit the NC Museum of Art.

The NC Museum of Art was ok. There were some Andrew Wyeths and a Georgia O'Keefe, but much of what I wanted to see (the Egyptian collection and the ancient Greek collection) were closed for renovation.

The highlight of the day (other than seeing Jamey!) was going to The Pit in downtown Raleigh. Located in the warehouse district, this restaurant serves the downscale cuisine of Eastern Carolina Barbeque in an upscale setting. (Fortunately, the prices at lunch were not upscale- the entree prices ranged from $7-11). We arrived at 12 to a line that would become longer throughout the next hour. We gave them our cell phone number, and spent only about fifteen minutes walking around the warehouse district before a table opened up. 

While the restaurant was crowded, it was also huge, taking up about three big rooms. They had decorated with local artwork and track lighting, which made it seem a little more yuppie than you would expect for a barbeque place. The crowd wasn't too yuppie though - very diverse. 

I ordered the chopped eastern style barbeque plate, while Andrew got the plate that had both chopped barbeque and fried chicken. For my sides, I got green bean casserole and sweet potato fries. Andrew got macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes and gravy. We both got biscuits and hushpuppies.

Our meats were amazing - the barbeque was moist but not soggy, and not drenched in vinegar, though there was the option of using vinegar based barbeque sauce (we both preferred the darker, sweeter sauce). Andrew said that his fried chicken was great, which almost made me wish I'd gotten that instead, except that well, the barbeque was damn good. 

The sides were good, but the meat was definitely the highlight. The green beans were definitely fresh, though they could have been cooked a little longer, I think. The sweet potato fries were good too, though I wonder if they could have used a little more cinnamon and a little less brown sugar as a topping. The biscuits were good but not buttermilk, and the hush puppies were wonderful, though Andrew thought they were too greasy. 

What I also liked about the restaurant was that they get their meat from local free range farms. As such, they do use less meat on the plates. Neither of us left feeling less than painfully full though, so unless you are a competitive strength eater, you should be fine.

Definitely worth the trip.