Old Cape Fear Smoked Meats held its grand opening Tuesday following a successful soft opening last week.

“We received a very good response from our guests and we were so happy to have them at our restaurant, sampling our food,” said owner Lisa Dalton.

Dalton has hired longtime friend David Connor to be her pit master. Connor, whose background is in insurance, has been smoking meats for the past 25 years. Dalton says that she and Connor have been working on the restaurant’s concept for about a year.

“This is really our baby,” Dalton said, “and we think we’ve got a really wonderful thing going.”

The menu consists of hickory-smoked pork shoulders, ribs and brisket. The meats are prepared with a dry rub and served without sauce although a homemade BBQ sauce is available. Homemade sides such a cole slaw and BBQ boiled round out the meal.

The 54-seat restaurant occupies the bright blue building at 3530 Carolina Beach Road that formerly housed Los Primos restaurant. For now, Old Cape Fear will be open for lunch only, though Dalton hopes to expand the hours once the restaurant is established. On-site as well as off-site catering is available with the aid of a mobile commercial smoker.

“Our motto is ‘We smoke it, you inhale it,’” Dalton said. “We love to see people enjoy wonderful food at a great price.”

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