A Raleigh barbecue joint serves a fancy McRib that tastes like nostalgia. We tried it
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This story is part of The News & Observer’s new Tasty Triangle series.
If the McRib has taught us anything, it’s to live in the moment.
Gather ye onion slivers. Seize the pickle slices. Carpe tangy barbecue sauce. For you never know when a McRib might be gone forever.
We’re currently living in a McRib-less world, with McDonald’s famous pork creation allegedly retiring for good last fall (if you can believe such things).
Unlike a comet or a cicada, the McRib’s return is never certain. Just about the time you realize you’re not missing it at all, here it is, back from the far reaches of wherever McRibs go when they’re not on a McDonald’s menu.
It is in that void that I found The Ribbler, a special Sunday sandwich from Raleigh barbecue restaurant Longleaf Swine.
The McRib is a kind of cartoon sandwich scratching at an impossibility: Ribs are delicious, but you can’t eat bones. So instead, here’s a piece of pork, pressed to look like bones are sticking out, coated in a sweet and zippy barbecue sauce, studded with pickles and onions on a football shaped bun.
The Ribbler spends two days untangling the impossible. The sandwich is a small slab of spare ribs, smoked the day before then chilled overnight. The next day the bones and seam of cartilage are picked out, then the sandwiches are warmed to order, slathered with a particularly tangy barbecue sauce made just for the dish and topped with see-through-thin onions and pickles. All of that sits on a squishy, griddled Union Special bun baked just down the road.
Longleaf Swine opened in November 2022 as the long-awaited barbecue dream of Marc Russell and Adam Cunningham. But the pair said The Ribbler has existed in some form since 2017, in the days when Longleaf Swine was just a “maybe someday” kind of restaurant idea. In the years since, the duo have hosted countless pop-ups in dozens of venues, made gallons of their signature esquites and hundreds of pounds of smoked meats.
“We have the belief in ourselves to make something extra special,” Cunningham said.
Today the inside of Longleaf Swine feels like the 5-month-old restaurant has been there forever. The ancient brick walls from a century-old service station have been peeled back and exposed. And diners have already embraced how the restaurant might fit in their lives. On this Sunday, young softball players are in their purple uniforms, grabbing a bite after the game. The patio is full and steady as the sun of the gentle spring afternoon warms but never burns.
For all the modern upheaval in the North Carolina barbecue universe, Longleaf Swine seems to occupy the past and the present. There are large vats of both sweet and unsweet tea across the dining room from a corner bar pouring draft beer and hard-to-find bourbons.
While the taste for brisket is fueling the current barbecue boom, Cunningham and Russell said their whole hog remains the runaway best seller, served already dressed with a sharp vinegar pucker and precision seasoning.
Watch: Take a tasty journey to some of our favorite NC barbecue joints
The Ribbler’s siren call
But I was there for The Ribbler, called by the siren glow of my phone and the sandwich’s digital succulence from a post on Instagram.
My Ribbler was peppery and tangy and had the chew of a great spare rib that doesn’t simply ease off the bone, except there were no bones to speak of. The crunch of pickles and onions broke up the juicy pork and buttery bun.
It’s been about a decade since my last McRib, and I’m in no hurry to hop in a time machine when I know we can get these every Sunday.
Russell has worked in some of Raleigh’s best kitchens, including Death & Taxes, and has the talent and skill to tackle any culinary obstacle. Turning a rack of ribs into a sandwich is perhaps an unnecessary barbecue indulgence, but I admire the engineering and whimsy it took to create a fancified McRib.
Fast food riffs are all the rage right now, born out in the rise of chicken sandwiches and smashburgers, which Longleaf Swine is also famous for.
But Cunningham said the Ribbler goes deeper than just fast food, tapping into the nostalgic flavors of childhood. As children of the 90s grow up and open their own restaurants, these dishes seem to recreate tastes that can live up to those memories.
“I remember getting fast food after soccer practice” Cunningham said. “I’m seeing kids in JNCOs. What we grew up on is back again.”
Longleaf Swine also makes a smoked meatloaf with gravy and a smoked chicken pot pie, each aiming for that warm comfort of something from the past.
I noticed there was barbecue sauce on my notepad when I got home, a smear from my own trip through the time machine.
Details
Longleaf Swine is at 300 E. Edenton St., Raleigh. It’s open Wednesday to Sunday. See longleafswine.com for hours.
TASTY TRIANGLE
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This story was originally published April 10, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
