Short Sugar's Pit Bar-B-Q

Worn leather stools line the lunch counter at Short Sugar's Pit Bar-B-Q in Reidsville, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

North Carolina barbecue pit owners and masters that we’ve talked to follow the same business model: consistently cook the same product the same way everyday. This change-nothing attitude is readily apparent at Short Sugar’s Pit Bar-B-Q, where time appears to crawl at the same pace as their pork shoulders’ slow hickory-smoking. Located in downtown Reidsville, Short Sugar’s looks nearly the same as when it opened in 1949 (excluding a dining room addition three decades ago). Sit at the lunch counter and you soon come to terms with the goodness of this antiquarianism. Elbow-jostle with men who take the same stool every afternoon. Wave greetings to second-generation owner David Wilson, who was dressed in a 1950s drive-in cars shirt the day we spent there. Whether you order your chopped pit-cooked barbecue in plate, tray, or sandwich form, you’ll douse it in Short Sugar’s idiosyncratic sauce. The stuff is many shades darker than that found anywhere else in the State; undoubtedly worcestershire-based, it’s runny and salty-sweet. Every week they sell gallons of the sauce because it’s good, it complements their barbecue, and it’s the same as it ever was. 


- Rien Fertel/ The Barbecue Bus

Short Sugar's chopped barbecue sandwich with their unique sauce. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Short Sugar's Pit Bar-B-Q, Reidsville, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Short Sugar's patrons socialize after breakfast at the 62-year-old, Reidsville, N.C. establishment. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

1328 South Scales Street
Reidsville, North Carolina

Open 6am-8pm Mon-Thurs & 6am-9pm Fri-Sat

(336)342-7487