Out and About

BBQ with a view: Low and Slow Smokehouse draws crowds to Johnston Regional Airport

People flock to Low and Slow Smokehouse at Johnston County Regional Airport for the views. They stay -- and come back again and again -- for the food.

Posted Updated

By
Jessica Patrick
, WRAL senior multiplatform producer
SMITHFIELD, N.C. — People flock to Johnston Regional Airport for the views. They stay for the food.
Daniel Bailey and his wife, Kim, opened Low and Slow Smokehouse in November 2021.

Low and Slow is located on the top floor of the multi-story building next to the Smithfield airport's main terminal, which also houses Blue Line Aviation flight school.

Guests can savor made-from-scratch meals while they watch small airplanes take off and land a couple hundred feet away from where they sit.

The owner of Blue Line Aviation contacted the couple several years ago while they were still in Texas, where they lived and owned a restaurant.

"He just sort of found us ... this was his vision, and he just needed someone to put it into place," said Daniel Bailey, who knew moving to North Carolina was the right decision. "This was the spot to be. Beyond the standalone restaurant, it's something that no one else has."

Alexander Keeney is training to become a pilot at Blue Line Aviation and is there six days a week. He loves to eat at Low and Slow.

"I've been there more than once," he laughed.

Low and Slow Smokehouse

The restaurant's name doesn't just refer to planes but to the slow-cooked meats prepared all day, every day.

"We do everything low and slow, the old fashioned, hard way," Bailey said.

There is no freezer in the Low and Slow kitchen, and trucks deliver fresh ingredients to the restaurant four times a week. Even the cheese at the salad bar is delivered in huge blocks straight from Wisconsin.

Low and Slow's brisket is a customer favorite, and Bailey said he probably goes through 30 a day.

"That's a lot. It's crazy," he said.

Lunch at Low and Slow Smokehouse

The meats are all cooked on wood, and it takes between 12 and 16 hours to smoke each pork shoulder and brisket.

There is an all-you-can-eat lunch and dinner buffet stocked with ribs, pulled pork, fried chicken, baked beans, mac n' cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans and cornbread. The salad bar has fresh chopped vegetables, grilled chicken and banana pudding made from scratch.

There's also a full lunch and dinner menu, local craft beers and an entire cocktail menu with aviation-based concoctions.

Low and Slow's success in Smithfield has been so incredible that the owners plan to announce an expansion any day now. They will also be competing in the World BBQ Championship in Memphis in the coming weeks.

Bailey said no one in his family is a pilot, and this whole experience has been new but exciting.

"At an international airport you're only there to fly in and out for business or vacation ... you have to have a ticket to get in, so to be able to come to a location like this and experience the planes coming in and out in on a very personal level, it's just different," Bailey said.

Daniel and Kim work seven days a week.

"We don't have a personal life," Bailey laughed, but he still meets someone new everyday.

"We have people come in from all over," he said. Many people use the airport for recreational flying, and members of the military -- who can dine with a discount - use it daily.

Even the presidential Osprey unit, which carries support staff and media for the president, flew in and ate at Low and Slow in January.

"You hardly ever see those," Bailey said. "It's like Christmas, you never know who is getting off those planes and helicopters."

Visit Low and Slow Smokehouse at the Johnston Regional Airport at 3149 Swift Creek Road.

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