Quewhiffle is closed for good as of The Year 2005

Review Of
Quewhiffle Restaurant
~ Carolina-Style Seafood, Steaks, & Barbecue ~
610 Reservation Road (Ashley Heights)
Aberdeen, N.C. 28315

H. Kent Craig Š2000

(Thanks to J. & G.B. for contributing to this review)

It was a boring beginning Saturday afternoon when Cathy and I decided to make an "antique run" down U.S. 1 from Raleigh past Sanford on to some of our favorite antique haunts in the small towns off '1 of Cameron, N.C. and Vass, N.C., respectively. We hadn't made a run on our favorite shops there since before Christmas a few months back, and we also wanted to check out Quewhiffle Restaurant, which was located about half an hour's drive further south of Vass, in the resort community of Aberdeen, N.C., near the more famous resort towns of Souther Pines and Pinehurst.

Trey Galloway, the owner of Quewhiffle, had written some months earlier after finding my NC-BBQ Page, bragging about how his barbecue matched up to any in North Carolina, asking my advice about setting up a website for his place, making polite inquiries about my opinions about him setting up a King's BBQ-style shipping operation, where he could sell his 'cue over the Web to customers all over the world. He's not acted one way or or the other on the above, and it's not my place to try to tell him his business. All I will say is that his product is superior to King's, and with an easy-to-remember and very marketable name like "Quewhiffle", it's a shame he's not on the Web selling his barbecue.

One side of Cathy's family heritage being native to Sanford, she mentioned that she had heard distantly of Quewhiffle before, and said they were known more for their famous Whiffle Burger than their Eastern-NC-Style barbeque. Still, I had to admire and respect Trey's obvious pride of craftsmanship about his barbecue which he went on and on and on about in his emails to me. Anyone with that much moxy in his boasting had to have at least an edible if not decent meatproduct, I figured. Plus, a "scout team" of a couple of friends had visited Quewhiffle a few weeks earlier, and had reported their version of The Holy Grub was a definite three-pig rated, near-four porcine delicacy.

On our antique-and-barbecue sojourn, we did discover one new antique place I simply have to mention before I get to the meat of the review, pardon the pun. In "Historic Downtown Aberdeen", as you just turn on to West South Street off U.S. 1/North Sandhills Blvd. (see directions to Quewhiffle further down in this article), we saw the backside of a huge old building with an equally large "Antiques" painted sign on it, which turned out be "Of Cabbages & Kings" antique boutique, the main entrance of which was actually facing old Main Street. Virtually everything in this cavernous collection of Americana eclectic junque collectivism was anywhere from 25% to 100% over market value. As is usually the case, though, with boutique-type antique shops where the prices are jacked-up somewhat, we found several very unusual and highly collectible items that were priced way under current market values within its more or less quarter million dollar inventory. If you're going to drop in to eat at Quewhiffle and have the extra time, 'Cabbages is definitely worth a stop-in and thirty minute or longer browse, you'll enjoy it.

Quewhiffle's actual building, once we found it out in the Hoke County countryside outside of Aberdeen, was a bit of a startle even for a typical Eastern-NC barbecue restaurant. Every good or great NC-Style barbecue place has an appearance and air of unpretentiousness about it, but if Quewhiffle was any less unpretentious, then Trey would have to come over to your abode and serve you his great barbecue while you sat around in your underwear while watching a basketball or football game. Much like a mini-Wilber's in atmosphere, this restaurant which was converted from a feed store (according to the story on the back of Que's menu) that had been originally built on land bought by his great-grandfather in 1917 just simply reeks if not shouts " come on in, you're with friends here, take a load off, take your shoes off if you want, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy..." from the moment you drive up to the sometimes too-small dirt parking lot to the fifteen-pace walk where inside you'll find an interesting mix of furniture styles and decor that reflects more of Que's seafood menu themes than their barbecue ones. Don't get me wrong, I'm not back-handedly insulting them at all, instead I'm expressing genuine admiration for a down-home style and feel they represent that is truly at the heart of the North Carolina barbecue restaurant dining experience.

Within 60 seconds of being seated, we were served a complimentary basket of hushpuppies, which much to our delight, were equal to the very best we've ever had, equal to White Swan's for example. A little small, about the size of two marbles, some of them had pencil-thin appendages on them, i.e., "pigtails", which were amusing to our child-like imaginations to wonder how they made them like that, eventually concluding that the 'puppies must have been squirted from a pastry funnel or something similar directly into the boiling hot grease to achieve that effect. The tea was served in giant, tall tumblers, and was as thick and syrupy as one would hope, where the melting ice can't cut the taste. Our waitress was attentive and prompt throughout the evening, too. A great start.

Because Quewhiffle is more of a community restaurant than simply a barbeque joint, they offer a more varied and complete menu than your typical BBQ palace, including a large seafood selection, steaks, pizza, shrimp, chicken, and of course, their most-famous item, their Whiffle Burger. For a larger family where one or two wants superb barbecue but the rest of the party wishes non-pork dishes, Quewhiffle will be an excellent choice.

Their barbecue menu, in fact, is limited to: 1) a barbecue plate, which basically is their large-sized plate, 2) their barbecue tray, which is smaller, and 3) their barbecue sandwich(es), self-explanatory. WARNING! When you order their barbecue plate, you simply MUST be barbecue-starving, or you'll have to take at least some of what's left home with you! I didn't have scales with me but after thirty years of barbecue connoisseurship am a pretty good judge of volumes and sizes of portions, and on their plate-size they give you between a full pound-and-a-quarter and a pound-and-a-half of perfectly cooked Eastern-NC-Style 'cue. I've never been given such a large, voluminous portion by weight or size at any NC-BBQ restaurant, anywhere.

The barbecue itself is heavenly, and unique. Pit-cooked over real live hardwood coals, the wood flavor enhances but doesn't overwhelm the perfectly cooked whole-hog pigflesh. Not a hint of pink anywhere to be found, a feat of culinary excellence considering the mixed-chop style of creating pieces of meat from thumb-size to grain-sized. The chop itself reminds me more of a different time, a time when, as Trey does, a BBQ restaurant proprietor feels like his primary audience is his close neighbors most of whom he knows and likes, not a nameless and faceless crowd just filtering in and out of the restaurant's life. Bits of blackened skin highlight the meat, but in a testament to the skill and time of the master chef spent cooking it, what bits of skin there are, are soft and chewy and tasty and definitely worth eating along with the meat. Also in support of the very slow-cooked carcass was the fact that, like Clyde Cooper's, this barbecue was virtually greaseless, i.e., almost all the excess grease had been cooked out of it. Wrapping a large piece up inside a white napkin left almost no grease stain at all after five minutes. And on the trip home, the monstrous serving comfortably inside me sat very comfortably indeed, not causing grease-inspired burps at all.

With such a perfect expression of the barbecue'ers art that Quewhiffle barbeque is, then why do I/we give it only a three-pigs-on-scale-of-four rating? Because, unfortunately, in each and every portion of barbecue served, two minor sins against a perfect rating were committed, and committed on a consistent basis, that of having both fat chunks of fat, some of which was free-fat and some of which was attached to meatchunks, the result on improper trimming and chopping, and of having pieces of pure gristle hidden within the meat, gristle which makes me at least stop eating and breaks the mood of the great meal while it's politely fished out from a mouth full of otherwise great barbecue. Of course, it only takes a couple of moments to sort out both the fat and the gristle bits from the 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pounds (and at $5.95 for a plate, a real value and a half, even for a typical Eastern-NC BBQ place) of otherwise perfect porkflesh on your plate, but my point is, that the barbecue chef should have done that in the first place, not leaving it to the patron to do so. Of course, there are those 'cue aficionados who will argue that both pieces of fat and gristle are essential to have true Eastern-NC barbeque, and I will reply that no, this is the 1990's and not the 1890's, and most people don't wish to bite down unexpectedly much on either.

While lacking Brunswick Stew on the menu, they do have (according to others, since I'm allergic to it) Eastern-NC-style slaw (cabbage, vinegar, mayonnaise, a little salt, not much else) that's equal to anyone else's and superior to most others. They don't offer a traditional BBQ restaurant dessert such as banana pudding, but their New York-style cheesecake and French Silk pie are quite acceptable.

I really wish I could give Quewhiffle (which means "swift waters" in local Native American tribal dialect, named after a nearby creek) a four-pig rating, they'd deserve it if there wasn't small amount of fat and gristle buried within the barbecue, but in all fairness, I can't. Still, Que' has become our regular barbecue-eatin'-place when we do an antique-collecting-run down U.S. 1 from Raleigh, and if you're headed to Southern Pines/Pinehurst for either of the men's or women's U.S. Golf Open championships soon, for example, you really should drop in and sample authentic Eastern-NC-BBQ fare, excellent food fare at a more-than-great-value fair price, which you'll come away with with an appreciation for the very difficult discipline which is NC-Native-Barbeque, as offered by Trey Galloway and his Quewhiffle Restaurant enterprise.

Finding Quewhiffle requires just a bit of patience on the first trip, but they're not too hard to find.

From U.S. 1 South/N. Sandhills Blvd. going through Aberdeen, as you cross the railroad tracks immediately get into the left-hand turning lane, to turn left onto W. South Street. Go approximately two miles, until in deadends at a sharp angle to Highway 211. Make a left on 211, and follow it for a few miles. Look for a "Kolkraft" Manufacturing plant on your right, then continue on for another three or four miles. After you pass Kolkraft, you'll go up one hill, down another, up another, and then the road levels out...at that point, begin looking for a set of railroad tracks with a Baptist church just the other side of them...just as you cross the railroad tracks, immediately turn right just before the church, and follow Reservation Road (named for the deserted west end of nearby Ft. Bragg Military Reservation) for approximately one mile, Quewhiffle will be on your right, you can't miss it. Their phone number is 910-944-1619, their hours are 10AM-9PM Tuesday through Saturday (please note that they are closed on Sundays, and Mondays too!), and they do accept reservations. Don't let my poor directions scare you; Que's only a ten-fifteen minute drive from US 1 in Aberdeen, and is more than worth the short trip to partake of the true three-pig barbeque which awaits you. Happy dining!

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