The latest Raleigh barbecue joint will showcase the Latin side of pork
The barbecue trade-off usually favors smoky pork over crispy skin, a lesson in life that we can’t have everything..
But the new Lechon BBQ in Raleigh aims to flip that script.
Lechon Latin BBQ Joint will open this weekend in Raleigh in Triangle Town Center, turning a former California Pizza Kitchen into a fast-casual rotisserie house.
Owners Richard Camos, Randy Hernandez and Jorge Thorne present Lechon as a barbecue joint, but you won’t find a smokehouse or pig cooker. Instead you’ll find lovingly roasted pork and a restaurant aiming to introduce a new kind of fusion.
Originally from New York City, Hernandez grew up in the Bronx and Camos grew up in Queens and said he had his first hushpuppy when he moved down to North Carolina 15 years ago. It quickly sparked a love affair with barbecue, he said.
“My head exploded,” Camos said. “I was taken aback; I thought, ‘This place is crazy.’”
Triangle restaurant veterans
Camos and Hernandez are veterans of the Triangle’s restaurant industry. Most recently, Camos sold his Honest Abe’s Kitchen and Bar over the summer and Hernandez previously owned the Red Monkey Latin Fusion Kitchen, which closed last year in Crabtree Valley Mall.
The Lechon owners have been inspired by local pitmasters like Chris Prieto of Prime Barbecue, Camos said, calling the Knightdale restaurant’s brisket among the best they’ve tried in the nation, dropping trips to places like Austin’s Franklin Barbecue as a way of flexing their bonafides. But with that they knew they didn’t want to compete on the smoky side of barbecue and instead set out to build something closer to home.
“We got together and said, ‘Let’s do a hardcore Latin barbecue joint,’” Camos said. “The barbecue thing is coming back hard. We wanted to do something authentic; you can’t fake the funk.”
The Lechon menu will focus on its namesake, the Puerto Rican suckling pig, marinated for three days in garlic, lemon and cilantro and roasted for eight hours in a rotisserie oven until the skin crackles and drips with fat.
“It’s a lot of Latin love,” Camos said.
‘Changing up the idea of barbecue a bit’
Lechon BBQ will also feature pernil, a slow roasted pork shoulder, Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken, pork ribs basted in a Hennessy barbecue sauce and sides like mac and cheese, elote and rice seasoned with pork drippings.
“We’re changing up the idea of barbecue a bit,” Camos said. “I think the Triangle has a great palate and will get it.”
On the bar side, Lechon will focus on versions of mojitos and rum-based cocktails, plus a slushie machine dedicated to a frozen sangria. The bar itself is wrapped in copper and the sprawling 5,600 square foot dining room has given new life to the former California Pizza Kitchen. Even the former pizza oven has been retooled and will use wood fire to cook wings and ribs.
Before COVID, Lechon was planned as a full service Peruvian restaurant, but Camos said the pandemic pushed the concept toward fast casual. Camos believes malls will see a post-pandemic rebound and hopes his restaurant will offer that spark.
“I’m a true believer; malls will come back,” Camos said. “Downtown, there’s no parking anywhere. Here we’ve got lots of parking.”
This story was originally published January 19, 2022 at 8:00 AM with the headline "The latest Raleigh barbecue joint will showcase the Latin side of pork."
