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Barbecue Hot Spots: Ten Great Places to Get Your BBQ Fix

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Sara Gauchat on May 2, 2010 at 11:48AM

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Barbecue Hot Spots: Ten Great Places to Get Your BBQ Fix

Jay Winfrey

The Pit - Raleigh, NC

If you really want to go all out for your barbecue fix, The Pit can certainly take care of you. Renowned Pitmaster Ed Mitchell is manning the fires and serving up whole hog barbecue to some very hungry crowds seeking out some classic Eastern Carolina 'cue. "We cook the whole hog—everything but the squeal—which gives our barbecue a really unique flavor because we blend all the tastes of the pig together. Shoulders, hams, ribs and belly meat all chopped up together with a little bit of cracklin' is something you just can't beat," says Greg Hatem, partner at The Pit.

Of course, if you're just after a specific part of the hog, the restaurant is also serving up a local favorite—the Carolina ribs—which get seasoned with a Western Carolina barbecue sauce (think tomato-based with a kick of molasses to it). They even have a barbecue tofu dish to reach out to all the vegetarians who are normally stuck with side dishes (and maybe just a little bitterness) when being dragged along to a BBQ joint.