At Bar-B-Cutie, you have a choice about your barbecue.

Do you want pulled pork barbecue or sliced beef brisket? Would you prefer eastern North Carolina vinegar-based sauce or sweet Memphis-style sauce?

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Rhett Butler/The Daily Reflector Clayton Gzell holds two plates of food offered at Bar-B-Cutie. The restaurant opened Monday.

The Nashville, Tenn.-based fast-casual chain, which was founded in 1950, opened its second North Carolina location in Greenville Monday at 610 Red Banks Road. It's beside Moe's Southwest Grill in the former location of Port City Java.

Clayton Gsell, who is one of four Bar-B-Cutie franchise owners from the Wilmington area, said the pork shoulder is cooked for 17 hours at a low temperature using hickory wood; the fat is removed and the pork is hand-pulled. The ribs, turkey, brisket and fried chicken also are slow-cooked. Other entrees include baked ham, country-fried steak with gravy, roast beef with brown gravy, chopped sirloin steak with grilled onions and brown gravy and fried shrimp.

The 18 country-style side dishes include turnip greens (cooked for five hours with ham hocks and vinegar) and macaroni-and-cheese and Brunswick stew made fresh daily, along with other Southern favorites like cole slaw, cream-style corn, fried okra, hush puppies, white beans and sliced tomatoes. A choice of three sides with bread is $4.99.

Traditional Southern dinners, with a choice of three side items, are $7.99-$8.99. Platters, with two sides and bread, range in price from $6.99-$9.99. The Bar-B-Cutie Sampler, featuring three meats, is $12.99. Platters and family packs are available.

Hamburgers and hot dogs are offered in addition to barbecued meat sandwiches. Salads and stuffed potatoes also are served. Appetizers include wings, chicken tenders and chili. Desserts include banana pudding and cookies.

Patrons order at the counter or the drive-through window.

The renovated dining room is red and black with wood accents. Awnings are covered in tin to provide a barn-like atmosphere. There is seating for 65 people at booths and tables in the main dining room and a private dining room. There are two fireplaces and two flat-screen televisions.

Each table is covered in red-checked tablecloths and features a large roll of paper towels and squeeze bottles of four Bar-B-Cutie special sauces: Mild, Hot, Sweet and vinegar-based Pit Sauce.

Hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. Call 329-1BBQ (329-1227) or visit the Web site www.bar-b-cutie.com.

CD's burns

Lawrence Manning, who owns CD's Chicken and Barbecue at 2711 Mill St. in Winterville with his wife and sons, said he doesn't know at this time whether he will reopen his restaurant after the restaurant was damaged by fire recently.

Flames destroyed much of the restaurant in Winterville on Sept. 13. A faulty air conditioning unit appeared to be the cause of the fire, although firefighters are still investigating.

Manning and his wife and sons formerly owned CD's Grill in Wintervillage Shopping Center. They opened CD's Chicken and Barbecue in spring 2005.

Wimpie's lunch

Winterville restaurateur Scott Joyner is going back to his roots for the new lunch menu he plans to offer beginning Monday at Wimpie's Steam Bar and Cajun Café and in Winterville.

"When I opened Wimpie's in 1991 (in Winterville's Wintervillage Shopping Center), we had cheeseburgers and cheese steaks. "We served that for 8-10 years prior to opening this restaurant up," he said.

In addition to the burgers, the Wimpie's lunch menu will feature lunch-size portions of the dinner entrees, along with a daily blue-plate special — a meat and two vegetables — for $5.95.

Lunch hours are 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays.

Wimpie's is at 206 Main St. in Wintervile. Call 355-4220.

Nibbles

• The Met Deli, 115 Red Banks Road, will begin offering wine tastings from 6:30-8 p.m. on first Tuesday of each month. Four to six wines will be sampled, along with hors d'oeuvres. Cost is $10 per person. Call 493-0001.

• Panera Bread, 518 S.E. Greenville Blvd., has recently introduced some new seasonal items including Fiesta Con Queso Soup, Chipotle Chicken Sandwich, Orchard Harvest Salad, Pumpkin Spice Latte and such pastries as caramel apple, chocolate crumb, fresh strawberries, and citrus and pecan braid. Call 317-8787.

Hot Dish is a weekly column of restaurant and food news. To submit items for consideration, call Jane Hudson at 329-9577, fax 754-8140 or e-mail jhudson@coxnc.com.