Nobody puts a restaurant on a historic register because the food is mediocre. North Carolina has been eating well for a long time, and the proof is still open for business.
Places like these don’t survive by accident. The fryers stayed hot and the pitmasters stayed put while everything around them changed.
A few of them have been around so long that the grandchildren of the original owners are now the ones greeting you at the door. Some have been standing since before your grandparents were born…