Let's start off with a confession. When I moved from Florida to North Carolina in 1995, I used "barbecue" as a verb. Whoops, my bad. I get it now. Not only have I learned to truly appreciate the history and preparation of Lexington-style and Eastern-style whole hog barbeque over the last 20-plus years by eating from countless trays filled delicious pork, I understand how it's an integral part of North Carolina's cultural identity.

So when Munchies, Vice Media's food website, promoted a story titled "Why is Brooklyn barbecue taking over the world?" I knew it wouldn't take long for North Carolina barbecue purists to throw this tweet into a burn barrel.

Why is Brooklyn barbecue taking over the world? https://t.co/aiemJpWxZw pic.twitter.com/dGPyQ7X912 — MUNCHIES (@munchies) March 4, 2018

Just look at that struggling piece of meat accompanied by some pickles and squished Hawaiian rolls. That is supposed to be taking over the world? The very notion motivated North Carolina Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) to release a statement calling for a "a bipartisan defense of our state’s finest food" and that "Brooklyn barbecue – whatever that is – won’t be taking over North Carolina anytime soon."

Since nobody actually reads articles in 2018 (if you made it this far into my post, thanks!), folks furiously wiping hush puppy grease off their fingers so they could type pithy takedowns failed to notice the author wasn't evangelizing barbecue from Brooklyn. He was annoyed by the amount of barbecue joints in major cities replicating Fette Sau, a highly regarded purveyor of smoked meats located in Williamsburg. Fette Sau sits in an old garage, they have well curated beer list that's poured into Mason jars, food is sold by the pound and served on metal trays, and they warn customers their menu can run out of items at any time. It's all very "Brooklyn," right down to the analog decor, and it makes plenty of sense for other places to take their cues one of the trendiest towns in America.

The 99.9FM The Fan crew & I visited Fette Sau during last year's ACC Tournament and it looked nothing like the picture Munchies decided to use for their article.

We ordered everything that was available. Beef brisket, pork belly, pulled pork, chicken, and sausage. From my perspective, "Brooklyn barbecue" is actually about the exquisite mashup of styles, from Texas to Kansas City to North Carolina. Think of it as barbecue fusion. It was all excellent and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a fantastic dining experience, as long as they can get over their own regionalism.

But if you want to replicate the full North Carolina experience of ending a day of watching tournament basketball with a tray of traditional barbecue in Brooklyn, places like Fette Sau in Williamsburg or Hometown in Red Hook aren't going to meet your needs. For that, a trip to Arrogant Swine in Bushwick is required.

I'd heard of Arrogant Swine through word of mouth and various write-ups in magazines like Southern Living and Garden & Gun. The barbecue joint's origin story is rather fascinating, with pit master Tyson Ho quitting his office job after a transformative whole hog experience at Skylight Inn in Ayden, North Carolina. He threw himself into the world of traditional North Carolina barbecue, studied and worked with iconic pit masters like Ed Mitchell. Ho's experiences culminated with the opening of Arrogant Swine in 2014. Today he can be found serving up his take on North Carolina barbecue at various festivals, including the whole hog championships during the IBMA World of Bluegrass festival in Raleigh.

Arrogant Swine has an unpretentious setup in a warehouse district. It's vibe is the antithesis of Brother Jimmy's in Manhattan, which is known more as an ACC themed restaurant where you can catch the Tar Heels and Wolfpack on TV than its barbecue.

There's a giant North Carolina flag hanging off the brick wall to the left of where you walk in, a lone Carolina Panthers flag hanging by the kitchen. There's a beer list scrawled on a chalkboard above the bar. Tucked away in an outside corner surrounded by graffiti art you'll find stacks of oak wood, the burn barrel and massive smoker. Everything about their whole hog process is straight out of the places you know and love around North Carolina.

Admittedly I chuckled when the menu pointed out "whole hog" doesn't mean you get the whole pig to yourself. The menu also took on an educational slant for people who have never eaten vinegar or tomato based barbecue. "East Carolina Whole Hog" was described as "slow smoked pig over hardwood embers, pulled, chopped and seasoned with the vinegar pepper sauce and topped with crackling." The "Western North Carolina Outside Brown Shoulder" was described as an "off-menu" item in the Piedmont region, where the pork shoulder is "cut into steaks and slow smoked to make the entire shoulder into 'bark' and served with a Lexington tomato based 'dip.'" Granted, I've never heard Lexington sauce referred to as dip, but they can call it whatever they want as long as it tastes good.

Each style came in a half pound serving, along with slaw and cornbread for $15. I ordered both. For research purposes, of course.

Arrogant Swine provides the vinegar sauce and "dip" on the side, enticing you to try the pork on its own. The Eastern style was good, with the mixed in pork skin providing a nice texture and smoke flavor, and would stand up to any skeptical North Carolinians. However, the Lexington style shoulder was some of the best pork I've ever had and it went next level with a light drizzle of their "ketchup" on top. It was like getting a chunkier rough chopped tray at Lexington Barbecue, but with an extra crispiness packed with smoked flavor.

My only gripe was the Lexington-style red slaw. The flavor was there, but the slaw was not finely chopped and difficult to mix in with the pork. That's a crucial part for my taste preferences.

Where Ho adds his Brooklyn spin to the menu are items like smoked wings in a Vietnamese caramel sauce and a mac and cheese waffle served with a cup of queso. Yes, you read that correctly, a mac and cheese pressed in a waffle iron with queso on the side. And yes, it's worth every calorie.

Before my food coma kicked in, I struck up a conversation with the bartender. She lit up after explaining why I was in town and why I wanted to check out Arrogant Swine. Turned out she grew up in Ayden, but family connections brought her to New York. I jokingly asked her to be honest about how the barbecue here compared to places like Skylight Inn back home, and she provided a great answer that illustrates how closely this place is tied to North Carolina.

"Yeah, it's funny, I texted Sam Jones when I started working here," she said. "He said 'tell Tyson I said hello.'"