Slow-smoked pork shoulder pulled, chopped or sliced, served with vinegar-pepper or tomato-mustard sauce. Asheville sits between the Eastern Carolina.
Asheville sits on the western edge of the North Carolina BBQ map, with the Lexington tomato-and-vinegar dividing line passing through Buncombe County. Eastern-style whole-hog cookery (vinegar-pepper sauce) and Lexington shoulder (tomato-vinegar sauce) historically met in Asheville. The 2005 opening of 12 Bones on Riverside Drive kicked off the modern Asheville BBQ revival; the 2015 opening of Elliott Moss's Buxton Hall Barbecue on Banks Avenue (closed November 2023) brought traditional whole-hog Eastern Carolina cookery west of the dividing line. Buxton Chicken Palace at S and W Market keeps the Buxton Hall flame today.
3 editor picks for Carolina pulled pork (Lexington-style and whole-hog) in Asheville, ranked by editorial score. All Asheville signature dishes · Carolina pulled pork (Lexington-style and whole-hog) across every city.
The Market Place ★ 4.8
downtown · 20 Wall St, Asheville, NC 28801
William Dissen's The Market Place runs modern Appalachian on Wall Street. Mark Rosenstein founded 1979; Dissen took over 2009. 2025 JBA Outstanding Chef semi.
Sunny Point Café ★ 4.5
west-asheville · 626 Haywood Rd, Asheville, NC 28806
Sunny Point Café on Haywood Road in West Asheville opened in 2003 as a family-owned breakfast and lunch room with an on-site production garden.
Buxton Chicken Palace ★ 4.3
downtown · 56 Patton Ave, Asheville, NC 28801
Buxton Chicken Palace inside the S and W Market in Asheville is the Elliott Moss and Meherwan Irani spinoff dedicated to the Bon Appetit-anointed Buxton Hall.