Triple Crown BBQ, Luray VA

July 2024

I just ate the best pulled pork sandwich of my life.

I turned off the highway into a gravel parking lot (more on that later) next to a little barbecue stand. Triple Crown BBQ looked just like any number of other roadside food stands: a metal trailer where a teenaged girl leans out to take your order, a few picnic tables sitting slightly askew to one side. The decor is kitschy but intentionally so, and somehow not grating for this.

I wasn’t that hungry, so I ordered a pulled pork sandwich, which came with two cornbread muffins. Fair enough. It took a little while to get my order, during which the owner of the place came by with a tray of beef to feed the smoker that poured out heat next to the trailer. He chatted amiably with another customer, apparently a friend and regular.

My food came out, and despite the upper-80-degree heat, I couldn’t bring my food back into my van; I’d been on the road for hours. I chose an empty picnic table in a bit of shade, opened the Styrofoam box, poured the house sauce onto the sandwich, and bit in.

I’ll repeat myself: It was the best pulled pork sandwich of my life. The meat was perfectly tender, the house sauce sweet and tangy. Even the muffins were somehow pillowy, light but full of flavor. I ate in silence, savoring every mouthful, wishing it didn’t have to end.

I returned to my van enlightened: weird roadside restaurants are worth stopping at. It took a while to get out, and now I’ll explain the one downside of the place. The BBQ stand is in front of a commercial building that has a gravel entrance where, uh, people park vehicles. There’s no indication if you’re parking somewhere inconvenient for the folks using the commercial building, or if it’s okay to park in front of someone who presumably parked there at 9:00am and won’t leave until 5:00pm. I wish I could give advice, but you’ll have to figure it out. It’s worth it.

Conditions: 88° F and sunny