savor — guide to food & dining on the azalea coast
A small chalkboard sign on the screened in porch is all the advertisement
needed for Big Mac’s BBQ, as most regulars already look forward to the
Fridays and Saturdays when it’s available. Right: The group of employees at
Lanes Ferry is comprised of family members and friends like Marie McManus,
Big Mac’s wife.
T
he Lanes Ferry building
was never intended
to be a restaurant, and
it appears that Big
Mac’s BBQ only adds
to the limited number of mix-matched
tables and chairs available.
“Seating is a problem here now,” he
says. Yesterday we had a S.W.A.T. team
in here standing up, then the cops came
in to eat, then the judges came in,” he
says on a particularly busy Friday. “I
believe I’m about to get it again today
because here come all the people from
the insurance place.”
The confined nature of the space fits
with that high demand and forces people
together, McManus says.
“What is cool around here is people sit
with other people they don’t know,” he
says. “You get to know people in here.”
While he could offer his BBQ
every day of the week and cook more,
McManus says he prefers to limit his ’cue
to two days a week.
“Every day somebody says, ‘why don’t
you do it all the time,’” he says. “But
then nobody would look forward to it.”
Visit Lanes Ferry Dock and Grill at
11016 N.C. Hwy 210 East.
84
WBM september 2013