BBQ

8/22/2008 3:30:52 PM

Need to go get some bbq tomorrow after all this talk.

Am still undecided where to go.

[Edited on August 22, 2008 at 3:32 PM. Reason : ...]

8/22/2008 3:31:30 PM

Coopers...........

8/22/2008 3:49:36 PM

Give 'em a second chance? Even their fans say they have off days. I want bbq that'll be delicious every time.

8/22/2008 3:53:42 PM

DEY AINT PUT NO MAYO IN DER CUE!!

8/22/2008 3:54:15 PM

Any place that doesn't have an off day doesn't have a brilliant day, either.

8/22/2008 4:21:15 PM

THEY LIED ABOUT THE KETCHUP, PAW

8/22/2008 4:26:28 PM

DEY LIED ABOUT DER KECHUP!!!?!?!

8/22/2008 4:27:23 PM

I had coopers yesterday and it was fucking awesome

some of the best bbq in raleigh

8/22/2008 4:31:22 PM

do they have french fried pertaters?

8/22/2008 4:32:22 PM

indeed they do!

and they've been really good lately

8/22/2008 4:34:24 PM

reckon they make me some biscuits

8/22/2008 4:36:56 PM

BOY YOU CAINT EAT NO CUE ON BISCUITS!!

8/22/2008 4:39:31 PM

ok so burping Coopers up later sucks ass



these things are horrific

8/22/2008 4:57:54 PM

Fuck all this nonsense about no longer being able to get shitty food at Fat Daddy's, today is the last day to eat at Coopers' current location!!!

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/03/25/4793904/clyde-coopers-barbeque-moves-from.html

3/28/2014 11:29:48 AM

moving =/= closing down

3/28/2014 11:40:07 AM

Quote :

"RALEIGH After 76 years, this is the last week to dine at the original Davie Street location of Clyde Cooper’s Barbeque, a downtown Raleigh landmark of slow-cooked pork shoulders, crunchy pig skins and thick, tangy Brunswick stew. Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/03/25/4793904/clyde-coopers-barbeque-moves-from.html#.UzWY1vldWHQ#storylink=cpy"

76 years is a pretty long run! Def more than 29, but luckily it is just a forced move not closing.

3/28/2014 11:45:22 AM

Quote :

"The original Clyde Cooper’s building, believed to date to 1884, will be torn down to make way for the Edison, a mixed-use development that will include a 13-story office building and two apartment complexes. One of the apartment complexes, the 23-story SkyHouse Raleigh tower, is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/03/25/4793904/clyde-coopers-barbeque-moves-from.html#.UzWY1vldWHQ#storylink=cpy"

Quote :

"The change is bittersweet for the staff. Waitresses and best friends, Johnsie Worsley and Fredia Pennington, who have worked at Clyde Cooper’s for 24 and 12 years respectively, watched their children grow up there. Worsley’s son and Pennington’s daughter did countless hours of homework sitting on stools at the counter. (Joshua Worsley, now 24, works at the restaurant alongside his mother.) “They came here every day after school, and then we put them to work wiping tables,” Pennington said. Worsley added: “It’s our second home.” Head cook James Bolton, who has worked at Clyde Cooper’s for 32 years, is ready for the new space. Many people may not realize that the restaurant’s two pig cookers are upstairs on the second floor. Twice a week, the restaurant gets a delivery of nine boxes of pork shoulders; each box contains four shoulders and weighs about 65 pounds. Bolton has to lug those boxes up a narrow staircase to the second floor coolers and then carries tubs of cooked barbecue back down those stairs, now sticky from years of use, 21 steps each time. “I hate those steps,” James Bolton said. “I’ll be glad to be rid of those steps.” Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/03/25/4793904/clyde-coopers-barbeque-moves-from.html#.UzWY1vldWHQ#storylink=cpy"

A lot of history in that place. Now all its gonna be is a plaque on a new building mentioning the original clyde coopers.

3/28/2014 11:50:44 AM

Quote :

"moving =/= closing down"

Look buddy. 76 years of delicious BBQ in Coopers' current location trumps a few decades of being able to pump as much cheese and dollop as much mayonnaise as your plate can hold.

3/28/2014 12:01:17 PM

Yeah...well...that's like, just your OPINION, man!

3/28/2014 12:13:21 PM

Never been to Coopers.

3/28/2014 12:14:16 PM

^^

3/28/2014 12:15:47 PM

Quote :

" a 13-story office building and two apartment complexes. "

\

Aren't there already PLENTY of apartment buildings downtown that they CAN NOT fill the way it is??

3/28/2014 12:40:20 PM

it's a damn shame.

coopers is awesome. is there going to be a transition period while they move?

3/28/2014 12:40:29 PM

I think I read they're re-opening April 8th.

3/28/2014 12:41:58 PM

^^^ no, there is a shortage, its why rent is so damn high downtown.

3/28/2014 12:43:58 PM

^

3/28/2014 12:44:36 PM

ugh, they've been talking about doing this since 2007, yet it wasn't news until recently when they started to move forward with breaking ground.

Everyone was crying foul because a "historic" building was being torn down, when in fact its not a historic building, its a historic business, which is just moving down the street.

The real travesty is that an entire city block in the heart of downtown has sat completely vacant except for cooper's and a parking deck. The rest is just packed dirt and grass.

3/28/2014 1:40:00 PM

Quote :

"Aren't there already PLENTY of apartment buildings downtown that they CAN NOT fill the way it is??"

That was true three years ago. It's not three years ago.

Quote :

"is there going to be a transition period while they move?"

I think the original plan was an almost seamless transition, but I stuck my head in the new spot yesterday after my last sandwich special at 109 E. Davie and there's a long way to go. They're directly transitioning as much stuff as possible; the old building's awning is now over the new kitchen space.

Quote :

"The real travesty is that an entire city block in the heart of downtown has sat completely vacant except for cooper's and a parking deck. The rest is just packed dirt and grass."

Untrue. Half of that block has a parking deck with ground retail (where the new Cooper's is), and the Wilmington St. frontage of the other half has been occupied all along. The barber shop and Helping Hand Mission store just closed this week; they've been priced out.

[Edited on March 28, 2014 at 2:31 PM. Reason : w]

3/28/2014 2:29:35 PM

Today is supposed to be the last day at Coopers original location. They hope to open up again in a few weeks.

If you know nothing about Coopers, here are three reasons to love them:

1) It's tradition. One of the oldest Raleigh restaurants still in business.
2) The food is good and cheap. Comparatively, their prices have changed very little in the last decade.
3) It's the only place I know of that you can get course chopped BBQ this far east.

3/29/2014 8:43:21 AM

^don't even start bro.

3/29/2014 8:50:45 AM

I had my last plate there last night before they closed

3/29/2014 12:42:32 PM

it's funny to say that prices have changed little over the years

it's true, but the sandwich special went up 50 cents (9.1%) just a few weeks ago

3/29/2014 2:15:16 PM

everything went up a few weeks ago. i think it may have had something to do with the cost of the move.

3/29/2014 10:24:33 PM

I went Friday, and stuck my head in the new location too. Looks like it will be a a pretty nice place.

I originally thought it was crappy they were going to be booted from the location they've been in, but its probably for the best. I don't think they've done a very good job maintaining their building, so a fresh location might be for the better.

3/29/2014 10:34:32 PM

i mean the building was built civil war era...

but yeah, at least they won't have to lug shit upstairs to cook every day (I didn't realize they cooked uptstairs... what a pain in the arse.)

3/29/2014 10:57:57 PM

i occasionally want to backhand people that say "Cupper" instead of "Coop-er"

3/29/2014 11:55:37 PM

iswydt

3/30/2014 12:15:10 AM

This is always my top must-do place when I am back visiting Raleigh. It's sad that they are being forced out, but it sounds like their new location may be an improvement in a lot of ways, and its great that the development on that site is finally going to start coming along.

3/30/2014 12:44:00 AM

Except for the fact that that development = 6 story bland apartment complex (when the former project was a pair of ~32 and ~50 story towers)

3/30/2014 9:47:46 AM

Does anyone else think Coopers tastes like old lard? So much hype and nostalgia about closing and I'm yet to have good BBQ from there.

3/30/2014 9:54:42 AM

Quote :

"Except for the fact that that development = 6 story bland apartment complex (when the former project was a pair of ~32 and ~50 story towers)"

What is the problem with this, other than that it won't look as cool from a distance?

Also I thought it was going to be 13 stories.

[Edited on March 30, 2014 at 10:01 AM. Reason : .]

3/30/2014 9:59:52 AM

cooper's has good days and bad days

on a bad day, it's not worth much

on a good day, it's fucking spectacular

also the fried chicken is A+++++

[Edited on March 30, 2014 at 2:36 PM. Reason : 3]

3/30/2014 2:35:56 PM

Quote :

" Does anyone else think Coopers tastes like old lard? So much hype and nostalgia about closing and I'm yet to have good BBQ from there. "

Only eaten there once and Was Not Impressed.

3/30/2014 2:49:36 PM

My best memory there was a lunch I went to with a coworker. He finished off 3 baskets of the fried skins before our lunch showed up.
The waitress was happy to see someone like it so much that she talked with us for a minute. She lost me though when she explained that fried pork skin was actually a healthier option than bread or french fries as a side, "You know, because we use vegetable oil in our friers which is healthier than lard or peanut oil"
I don't know, it may be true, but NO ONE wants to hear about healthy eating at a BBQ joint.

3/30/2014 2:59:29 PM

cooper's : raleigh :: stamey's : greensboro

the townies swear by each one, and they are generally pretty good.... and full of old ass people.

3/30/2014 3:06:58 PM

lol here come the "coopers sucks" trolls.

3/30/2014 4:51:09 PM

I'm not trolling. I've just never had good BBQ from there. I don't get slaw on my sandwich so maybe the combination makes it better for mayo lovers.

The fried chicken is good though and pork skins.

3/30/2014 5:11:20 PM

Blech, that's the one BBQ thing I've never been able to like, even as a NC native....Cole Slaw, especially on sandwiches.
If you're going to eat BBQ as a sandwich, it should be just bun, pork and hot sauce, and its really only necessary if you're driving.

3/30/2014 5:29:02 PM

^^ cooper's slaw is the marinated type, not mayo-heavy

there may not be any mayo at all, but i'm also not a slaw guy, so i only ever see it when i eat with someone else

3/30/2014 5:35:12 PM