"It was the best of barbecue, it was the not quite as great as the best of barbecue, but yet still 90% better than most."
My being on the road between Greenville and Goldsboro today meant a perfect opportunity to do a side-by-side comparison of Ayden's two Historic BBQ Trail joints: Bum's Restaurant and Skylight Inn BBQ.
At first glance, neither one of these two sandwiches will win any awards for external sexiness, that's for sure. But for what they lack in photogenic presentation they certainly make up for in inner beauty. And by beauty I mean great tasting.
"The Best" of the pair is the legendary Skylight Inn. And as always, the Jones family knocks it out of the park every dang time. The consistency of smokey flavor, crisp vinegar, and the perfect amount of heat is hard to beat by anyone. Add to that those super crispy cracklin' bits and my favorite slaw (ever, maybe), and there's no doubt why they're #1 on so many folks' "Best of" lists. FYI: Skylight's my #2 behind Matt Register's Southern Smoke in Garland (if you have not been yet... what are you waiting for!?! GO!).
The Skylight chop is super minced in that true Eastern NC way that I grew up eating at Buck Overton's and Bob Melton's in Rocky Mount. I personally hand pull my own meat (snicker), but it's definitely a style that's near and dear to my heart and stomach.
Bum's has always played second fiddle to Skylight in my book. It's a really good sandwich, but its chop is a tad too coarse. If the meat was a bit more tender and had a little more sauce mixed in for some added moisture, it would be so much better. Alas, it's a rough cut with cubes and chunks that need a little extra jaw work. The slaw is good and they pile the meat high, so it's an awesome deal at less than $5 a sandwich.
You can't wrong with either Bum's or Skylight. But between the two, Skylight's worth the extra wait in line and just soaking in the aroma of Skylight alone is a ride worth taking.
Skylight Inn: 9.8/10 Bum's: 8.9/10
BTW - I did roll by B's Barbecue as that was my original planned joint to compare side-by-side with Skylight, but I stopped counting at 30 of the people in line at 11:15am and then the folks unloading from the charter bus parked on the side of B's Barbecue Road did nothing to instill any confidence that the wait would not be any less than 45 minutes. On to Bum's it was.