In my search for the best BBQ in Wilmington, NC, I headed over to Jackson's Big Oak BBQ. Jackson's has been serving up great BBQ to the Wilmington area since the 80's.

Immediately I was excited to go in to sample their fare when I noticed their sign advertising pre-ordering your collard greens for the holidays. OK, take it from me, if you've got a business for amazing collard greens in the South and people pre-order theirs for the holidays, someone in the kitchen knows what they are doing.

The menu is very similar to most Eastern NC style BBQ houses, with BBQ plates, fried chicken and Brunswick stew. Each barbeque plate comes with choice of sides, hush puppies and corn sticks. I, of course, had to try the collards and boy am I glad I did. They are truly amazing. I'll have to go back to try and figure out what makes them so sweet and tender. But who am I kidding? I'll be back for the barbeque first. The portion was huge (for a medium plate), lean, not too dry and perfectly seasoned. I didn't even need to douse it in sauce, even though theirs' is perfectly peppery.  And I'm a sucker for hush puppies AND corn sticks.  I think I just might have found the best BBQ in Wilmington.