Clyde Cooper’s BBQ
Hush Puppies and Pig Skins
Fried Chicken, Chopped Pork, Cole Slaw, Brunswick Stew
Banana Pudding
Carrot Cake
Taking a break after breakfast to visit a few local museums it was just after 10:30am that a three-part barbecue tour began, and making up for time lost due to weather earlier in the week the first stop was at Clyde Cooper’s BBQ, the Raleigh landmark garnering mixed reviews since relocating to a larger downtown venue, though if what we experienced was somehow less impressive than that which was offered in the past I can only imagine the ‘old’ Cooper’s was truly something to behold.
Really only moved around the corner from its original location, the former spot serving up slow cooked pork shoulders for over 75 years, our sleepy-eyed waiter explained to us that much of the interior had been relocated to the new two-story space and with old photographs, wood booths, and plenty of southern charm to be found while service moved at a deliberate but leisurely pace one would be hard pressed to find anything for lack throughout our forty-five minute stay, even the folk and country soundtrack playing at a volume just right.
Every bit the bargain of many other North Carolina ‘cue houses, the menu well-culled but not limited in the least, it was on a complimentary basket of thick pork-rinds and light hushpuppies that we noshed as we waited and with the face slowly filling with business-lunchers it was just as the place was getting lively that our shared plate of Carolina Classics arrived, the chopped pork tender with texture added by glistening skin while the chicken trended just a bit oily for white meat, though certainly not unexpectedly so for a bird so well brined and crisply double-fried.
Equally impressed by the snappy sweet slaw and Brunswick stew chock-a-block full of legumes and okra amidst the savory tomato base, there was little doubt that dessert would be ordered as soon as I saw the options and although the carrot cake proved a bit too dry to be enjoyed despite rich cream cheese icing the banana pudding was everything I’d come to expect from such a rustic operation, the ‘nilla wafers soft and spongy, the flavors just a bit too sugary, and the bananas a touch over-ripe – in other words ‘textbook,’ just like the chicken, stew, and ‘cue.
