Tucked away in a modest shopping center in Cary, North Carolina, Big Mike’s BBQ has become a pilgrimage site for smoke-seeking devotees willing to cross county lines and burn gas for a taste of barbecue transcendence.
The journey to barbecue nirvana often begins with a simple storefront that belies the magnificence waiting inside.
You might drive past it twice before your GPS insists you’ve arrived at your destination.
But then you notice the telltale signs: the wisp of smoke curling skyward, the cluster of cars in an otherwise quiet parking lot, and that unmistakable aroma that makes your stomach growl in Pavlovian response…