The Winston-Salem Playbook

Peyton Smith left a pharmaceutical career to build the Carolinas' most decorated pizzeria — a James Beard Best Chef: Southeast semifinalist ranked No. 21 on 50 Top Pizza's America list, the highest placement of any pizzeria in the Carolinas. It runs like a chef's-counter osteria, not a slice shop: wood-fired Neapolitan pies, handmade pastas, and a bucatini all'Amatriciana with a cult following.

Reservations: Tock — small room, Wed-Sat only, game weekends vanish fast

Winston-Salem's celebration room for more than four decades — a wood-and-glass supper house built into a hillside forest, where anniversaries and signing days both end. It's the rare steakhouse where the setting — creek, trees, firelight — carries as much of the memory as the beef.

Reservations: OpenTable; big-game Saturdays require real lead time

Wayne 'Honey' Monk opened Lexington Barbecue in 1962 and turned a wood-and-coals pork-shoulder joint into the definitive temple of Lexington-style barbecue — the style the 'Barbecue Capital of the World' is named for. Shoulders over hickory coals, a peppery vinegar-ketchup dip, and red slaw that has settled arguments for sixty years. Closed Sunday and Monday — go Friday.

Reservations: Walk-in only — the line is part of it

Named for Katharine Smith Reynolds and set in the ground floor of the 1929 R.J. Reynolds Building, The Katharine plays French brasserie with a Southern accent — escargot and oysters beside NC-sourced beef, live jazz nights, and a bar program that respects the marble it's poured on. Open until midnight on Saturdays, which makes it the post-game room that actually works with a night kickoff.

Reservations: OpenTable; book the late seating on game Saturdays

Justin and Heather Webster opened Heff's in August 2022 and were a James Beard Best New Restaurant semifinalist within a year — grass-fed NC beef smashed thin, Martin's potato rolls, punk rock on the speakers, cartoons on the TV. Webster also won his episode of Chopped, and the line hasn't shortened three years in.

Reservations: None — counter service

Dinner is served inside the Zevely House, an 1815 Moravian residence that ranks among the oldest structures in Winston-Salem — moved brick by brick to its West End corner and now the city's standing answer for a special occasion. The Continental menu, escargot to filet, is old-school on purpose.

Reservations: OpenTable; the small rooms book out on game weekends

The in-town keeper of the Lexington flame — pork cooked over hickory the old way, a dining room wallpapered in Americana, and a catering operation that parks at Allegacy Stadium's Gate 3 on game days. If Friday's Lexington pilgrimage doesn't fit the schedule, this is the honest local substitute.

Reservations: Walk-in; call ahead for big groups

A Winston breakfast-and-dessert fixture since the 1980s where the city's Moravian food heritage shows up on a daily menu: chicken pie by the slice, sweet-potato pancakes, and a dessert case that has closed more deals than any conference room in town. Opens at 7 AM every day of the week.

Reservations: Tock weekday reservations and waitlist; Saturdays are a walk-in line

Jennifer Smith's West End bistro has spent nearly two decades proving modern Southern doesn't need a metro zip code — fried chicken with peach chutney, a grilled pimento cheese that shows up on every 'iconic Winston foods' list, and a sister spot, Betty on Burke, that proves the operator pedigree.

Reservations: OpenTable for indoor tables; bar and patio are first-come

Winston natives John and Lucia Bobby opened Bobby Boy in October 2019 and earned a 2024 James Beard semifinalist nod for Outstanding Bakery — Vermont Creamery butter in the croissants, Valrhona in the pastry case, naturally leavened breads, and a second location in the restored Coca-Cola bottling plant. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Reservations: None — get there before the case empties

A family-run drive-in that has been slinging red hot dogs 'all the way' to car windows for generations — curb service survives here the way it barely survives anywhere. The pimento cheese dog is the city's contribution to hot dog canon, and locals plan their week around it.

Reservations: None — curb service or counter

A biscuit-and-brunch room that arrived post-2020 and immediately became downtown's consensus weekend answer — stone-ground grits, bananas Foster pancakes ordered as an appetizer, and a seven-day breakfast trade in a downtown that historically didn't have one. The review base runs deep and the weekend line proves it.

Reservations: Walk-in; put your name in and wander Fourth Street

A family-run grill styled like a golf-course clubhouse that Deacon fans have treated as pregame headquarters for decades — same ownership, staff who recognize you after one visit, and a parking lot that fills with old gold on Saturdays. It sits four-tenths of a mile from Allegacy Stadium: the only true walk-to-kickoff bar in town.

Clubhouse casual, screened patio, multi-generational regulars.

Reservations: None — arrive early on game days

A mid-century gas station on the edge of campus reborn as Wake Forest's neighborhood bar — garage doors up, students and professors on the patio, tacos off the flat-top, and a genuinely serious beer list hiding under the old canopy. The name isn't a bit; you're drinking where the pumps were.

Garage-door patio hang, dogs welcome, gold-and-black on Saturdays.

Reservations: None

A shotgun-narrow, Old-West-fronted dive that has anchored Trade Street for ages — graffitied bathrooms, an open order-window to the sidewalk, and bartenders who run the room like a house party. It's the dive locals send you to when you ask for the real one.

Tiny, loud, perfect.

Reservations: You're kidding

A small corner bar across from Bailey Park whose menu never sits still — English pea gin drinks one season, a bourbon sunset the next — with fire pits out front ringed by regulars and their dogs. The name is a Stranger in a Strange Land reference, which tells you the wavelength.

Cozy-eccentric speakeasy energy, indoor-outdoor.

Reservations: Walk-in

The Bambalis family opened 'Rec' in 1947 after WWII and the third generation still runs it — a genuine mid-century pool hall with an R&B soundtrack, well-kept tables, and the Whiskey Box bar hiding downstairs. Seventy-eight years of chalk dust and counting.

Old-school pool hall, unpretentious, all comers.

Reservations: None — grab an open table

A corner bar dressed like 1925 — floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, portraits, round leather booths — two doors from Mozelle's, which makes it the natural before-or-after for a West End dinner. The upstairs bar opens weekends only and feels like a secret even after you've found it.

Dark, moody, vintage; conversation-volume by design.

Reservations: Walk-in

Named for Old Salem's Single Brothers' House and beloved for fifteen-plus years as the bar where craft cocktails and dive-bar prices coexist — a dark hole-in-the-wall opening onto a string-lit covered patio where half of Trade Street ends up. Karaoke and spelling-bee nights keep it from ever taking itself seriously.

Dive-meets-craft; artists, students, professors, everyone.

Reservations: None

Foothills put Winston-Salem on the Southeast beer map in 2005, and its Sexual Chocolate stout release still draws overnight lines every winter. The Fourth Street brewpub is the everyone-meets-here room downtown: full kitchen, long bar, live music nights, and the state's most decorated porter on tap.

Big, buzzy brewpub; families at 6, bar crowd by 9.

Reservations: Walk-in; large parties can call ahead

Incendiary pours inside the restored Bailey Power Plant — the coal-fired plant that once powered R.J. Reynolds' tobacco empire — with a sunken outdoor terrace beneath the original smokestacks. The name is the building's history; the beer program earns the room.

Industrial-cathedral taproom, family- and dog-friendly terrace.

Reservations: None; private-event spaces available

A country-leaning bar and kitchen across from The Ramkat with more seats than any bar in town, live music most weekends, and a fried-bologna sandwich with its own following. It's the pre- and post-show room for the whole Industry Hill music block.

Big, loud, Southern; TVs for the late games.

Reservations: Walk-in