ENC Favorite Barbecue: Grady’s BBQ

GOLDSBORO, N.C. (WNCT) — People have been making trips for decades to Goldsboro for one thing, “Barbecue pork,” Gerri Grady said.

“It’s worth the trip. I don’t care where you live. It’s worth the trip,” Grady’s BBQ customer Valeria Holmes said. “This is the best barbecue place I have ever been to.”

Grady’s BBQ has been in its same spot since 1986. “It’s got to be good, they keep coming back. You better believe it. Well, when you cook with love, that makes the difference,” Gerri Grady said.

Gerri and her husband Steve own Grady’s. It’s one of the last black-owned whole hog barbecue restaurants in the state.

“I learned early how to cook,” Steve Grady said, taught by his grandfather. “I was about 12 or 13. ‘Go out here and tend to that pig and keep an eye on it and don’t let it burn. If you let it burn, your head going to burn.'”

He said he’s always cooked over wood, a reason the customers said it tastes so good. “Oh my goodness. Now that’s a hard one because I come here a lot. And when I can’t come, I send. My husband, my brother, you know have to travel for me,” Holmes said.

Hildreth Best was visiting Grady’s from Maryland. “I was recommended to this place. That’s how I got here. So I’m taking some back to Maryland,” he said.

Best took 13 pints home to Maryland with him. Gerri Grady said the work is challenging but they are thankful and it’s great to them. “Yes, Work! Great experience, great challenges but we’re thankful.”

Gerri just turned 80 years old and Steve is nearing his 90th birthday. “I feel like I’ve accomplished what I set out to do. I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve about to use my time up and I don’t have no regrets,” he said.

Now, Grady’s is in the North Carolina Bar-B-Q Hall of Fame. “We are so grateful. We are so grateful, so happy about it, you know. It’s just a blessing from above,” Gerri Grady said.

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