The State You're In

Bussi’s in the basket!

Truth be told, we don't really go to places like Bullock's for the barbecue anymore.

Not in the way barbecue folks mean it.

If we're chasing wood smoked whole hog cooked over coals, we'll point the truck toward Skylight Inn in Ayden or Grady's in Dudley.

Those places are the cathedrals.

Those are the names that come up whenever somebody starts arguing about Eastern North Carolina barbecue.

Which is why it surprises some folks to learn that one of the state's oldest barbecue institutions sits right in the middle of Durham.

A city better known for the Durham Bulls, Duke basketball, and Kevin Costner movies than chopped pork.

But Bullock's was already cooking barbecue long before most of Durham became what it is today.

Back in 1943, Glen Bullock started cooking pigs behind his home on South Alston Avenue and selling barbecue to neighbors for thirty five cents a pound. What started in the backyard eventually became one of North Carolina's great family restaurants, a place that has now welcomed generations of diners through its doors.

And that's really why we go.

Not because the barbecue is exactly the same as it was eighty years ago.

Not because it's cooked over wood.

Lord knows if you mention that online, somebody will be along shortly to explain why it doesn't count anymore.

We go because places like Bullock's are history on a plate.

The barbecue arrives.

Then comes the brunswick stew.

Then the fried chicken.

Then the slaw.

Then the barbecue potatoes.

Then another basket of hushpuppies.

And before long you've stopped worrying about barbecue definitions and started appreciating something that's becoming harder to find.

A true North Carolina family style restaurant.

The kind where the food just keeps coming.

The kind where three generations of one family are still helping run the place.

The kind where the recipes matter, but the traditions matter even more.

Over the years, Bullock's has fed presidents, movie stars, musicians, and just about everybody in between. Ronald Reagan had barbecue shipped to the White House. Their food has traveled everywhere from Alaska to Monaco.

Yet somehow the place still feels like it was built for regular folks.

Maybe that's because it was.

Long before Durham became the City of Medicine. Long before biotech campuses and gleaming office buildings appeared across the landscape. Long before the city became one of the fastest-growing places in the South.

Bullock's was already there.

Serving barbecue.

Serving fried chicken.

Serving another round of hushpuppies whether you needed them or not.

And preserving a style of North Carolina dining that deserves just as much recognition as any barbecue pit.

Because sometimes history isn't found in a museum.

Sometimes it's served family style.

With a side of hushpuppies.

Bullock's Bar-B-Cue 🐷
3330 Quebec Drive
Durham, North Carolina