Here is the thing about being fifteen minutes west of Asheville. Everybody has an opinion about where to get barbecue, and none of them account for the fact that you are staying out here and not downtown.
So we put together the list we wish somebody had handed us. Ten places, sorted by which direction you would head out of our driveway and how long it takes to get there. Some are ten minutes. The furthest is thirty-five.
We will be straight with you. This is a researched list, not a lifetime of eating. We checked addresses, days, hours, and whether places are even still standing, because Western North Carolina lost restaurants in Helene and a lot of “best of” lists never got updated. Every entry links to the source so you can see for yourself.
One thing to know before you go. We verified all of this in September 2026. Hours in the mountains change, seasons shift them, and several of these places close when the meat runs out rather than when the sign says. Tap the link in any entry for current hours, or call. A two-minute check beats a twenty-five-minute drive to a locked door.
Ten barbecue stops, sorted by which way you’d turn out of our driveway. Not to scale.
Ten minutes: right here in Candler
Doc Brown’s BBQ
Five miles down Smokey Park Highway, the same road you came in on.
David Brown left New England in 1994 to get a doctorate in American history at South Carolina, ate at a barbecue joint down there, and apparently never fully recovered. He ran a food truck for three and a half years before opening this place in Candler. His kitchen has no freezer, no fryer and no microwave, which he will tell you is on purpose.
The recipes are family. His grandmother’s potato salad, his aunt’s baked beans, his mother-in-law’s macaroni salad. There are also coleslaw flights, which is a thing he invented and which is exactly as fun as it sounds.
Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday. This is the one our guests find on the night nobody wants to drive. docbrownbbq.com
Fifteen to twenty-five minutes: east toward Asheville
Luella’s Bar-B-Que
Named for Luella Fern Yoder, born on an Iowa farm in 1922, one of eight kids, who married Monroe Yoder on Valentine’s Day 1943 and cooked for both her five children and the public school system. Her grandson Jeff Miller opened the first Luella’s in 2007 and named it after her.
Eastern North Carolina chopped pork, brisket, Brunswick stew, deviled eggs, hushpuppies. The buns come from City Bakery a few miles away.
Two locations, both open every single day. The original at 501 Merrimon Avenue in North Asheville is about twenty minutes, and dogs are welcome on that patio. The second, in Biltmore Park, is about twenty-five. If you do not want to think about what day it is, come here. luellasbbq.com
Bear’s Smokehouse
About fifteen minutes, at 135 Coxe Avenue in the South Slope.
Kansas City style, opened in Asheville in 2020. Counter service, a big patio, a full bar, live music. It is the easiest one on this list with a group of people who all want something different.
Open every day. One warning: there is a second Bear’s on Sweeten Creek Road that is closed Mondays, so make sure your phone is pointed at the right one. bearsbbq.com/asheville
Huli Sue’s BBQ and Grill
About fifteen minutes, in the Grove Arcade downtown.
Lisa Vann and Ben Krueger spent fifteen years running a restaurant called The Fish and the Hog in Waimea, up in the cowboy country on the Big Island of Hawaii. Then they moved here and opened Huli Sue’s in 2021, in a Grove Arcade storefront that used to be a real estate office. Texas barbecue and Hawaiian food on one menu, which should not work and does. Southern Living put them on its 2024 list of the best new barbecue in the South.
Smoked meats, poke, smash burgers, pineapple upside down cake.
Open noon to 8, but closed Tuesday and Wednesday. That is the part people miss. hulisuesbbq.com
Little Pigs BBQ
About twenty minutes, at 384 McDowell Street, across from Asheville High and right in front of Mission Hospital.
It opened on April 20, 1963, in an old gas station, as one of roughly 200 franchises of a Memphis outfit called Little Pigs Barbecue of America. That chain went bankrupt by 1967. Joe and Peggy Swicegood kept theirs open anyway, independently, and it is now the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Asheville under the same family. Broasted chicken went on the menu around 1969 and some days it outsells the pork.
It took no damage in Helene, but it went a month and a half without power or water and came back anyway.
Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday. Hours and directions
Iron and Oak Brisket Co
About twenty minutes, at 995 Riverside Drive in Woodfin, cooked out of a shack and eaten at picnic tables next to Riverside Rhapsody Beer Co.
This one has the most particular schedule on the list, so here it is plainly. They are open Wednesday through Sunday. Sliced brisket is Thursday through Saturday only, until it is gone. Wednesday and Sunday you can still get brisket, just as burgers and chili instead. Baby back ribs are Saturday and Sunday, and they do not come out until after 3.
Worth planning your week around rather than hoping. They post sellouts as they happen. Check before you go
Twenty to thirty-five minutes: west toward Waynesville and Maggie Valley
Fat Buddies Ribs & Barbecue
About twenty minutes, at 193 Waynesville Plaza in Waynesville. There is a second Fat Buddies over in Franklin, which is a much longer drive, so put the Waynesville address in.
Ribs and brisket in a real sit-down dining room, and it stays open latest on this side of the map. Good if you are running behind or feeding a crowd.
Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday. Hours and directions
Haywood Smokehouse
About twenty-five minutes, at 79 Elysinia Avenue in Waynesville. A little red cottage.
Texas style, dry rubbed, with briskets and butts that go on without sauce for as long as twenty hours. They smoke fresh every day and stop when it is gone, so late is a gamble rather than a plan. There are sister locations in Dillsboro and Franklin, but those are a whole different drive.
Wednesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. haywoodsmokehouse.com
Ben’s Backdraft Barbecue
About twenty-five minutes, at 3028 Jonathan Creek Road. The address says Waynesville, but it sits out toward Maggie Valley.
Ben Hooper started with a fire-engine-red food trailer in 2021 and moved into a building four years later. He runs the pits with his wife Bayley, a nurse, and still pulls three twenty-four hour shifts a week at the Waynesville Fire Department. Everything comes off oak and apple wood. Southern Living named it number 9 on its 2026 list of the best new barbecue in the South, which is the kind of thing that changes a Saturday around here.
Get the MoonPie banana pudding.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday only, and they sell out. Go early. bensbackdraftbbq.com
TeTe Will’s BBQ
About thirty-five minutes, at 2549 Soco Road in Maggie Valley. The longest drive here.
Will and Denise ran a stall in a flea market, then a food truck, then this. Hickory-smoked pulled pork, brisket, and potato bombs. They cook until it runs out and then they are done for the day, so earlier is better.
Open every day, noon to 8, which out in that direction makes it genuinely useful. Hours and directions
Two you have heard of, and should not drive to
Both of these still come up in search results and in AI answers. People still show up.
Buxton Hall Barbecue on Banks Avenue closed for good on November 22, 2023, after eight years. It is on plenty of lists nobody has updated since.
12 Bones in the River Arts District was destroyed by flooding in Hurricane Helene. That one still stings around here. The location in Arden on Hendersonville Road is the only one left, and it is about twenty-five minutes south of us, the opposite direction from everything else on this list. Their smokehouse counter and their taproom list different hours, so call first. 12bones.com
If you only get one barbecue night
Thursday through Saturday, everything here is open. If you are picking one night, pick one of those.
Sunday is thin going west. Every Haywood County place on this list except TeTe Will’s is closed.
Going early matters at Ben’s, Haywood Smokehouse, Iron and Oak and TeTe Will’s. These are people who started the smoker before dawn, and when it is gone it is gone.
If you would rather not plan at all, Luella’s, Bear’s downtown and TeTe Will’s are open every day.
Where you will be staying
Engadine is an 1885 Victorian on the National Register, with six suites in the inn and six mountain cabins, twelve units in all, on twelve acres in Candler. Doc Brown’s is ten minutes down the same road. Downtown Asheville is fifteen. Waynesville is twenty-five.
Guests in the inn get a hot breakfast made fresh each morning, served in the dining room around 9 am. Cabin guests are welcome to join for $22 per person, or we will bring it out to the cabin for $20, based on availability.
All six cabins are pet friendly at $50 per night. Cabins only, not the inn.
Engadine is a self check-in property by design. You arrive on your own schedule and let yourself in with a private code, with no front desk and no meeting time to coordinate. An innkeeper lives on the property, so if you need anything at all, a call or text reaches someone who is already here.
Verified September 2026. Hours change. Check before you drive.
Stay at Engadine
A historic 1885 inn and six private cabins on twelve acres in Candler, fifteen minutes from downtown Asheville.
Planning a wedding, elopement, or group retreat? Request pricing and available dates, or read the frequently asked questions.
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