Hog Heaven

For lunch today my wife and I decided to try the new local barbecue joint, Hog Heaven BBQ.  Beebe already has one place for great bbq, a little portable log cabin deal called Road Hog BBQ, but it’s only open on Fridays and Saturdays.  This new place was kind of exciting because it was a normal sit down restaurant open all week, and on the whole we’re a little short on normal, sit down restaurants.  The problem is, this isn’t the first time barbecue has been served at this location.  The first was a branch of Craig’s BBQ from De Valls Bluff, a place supposedly famous for the BBQ.  I’ve never been to the original, but the one here was pretty terrible.  The first sign that it wasn’t going to be world-class barbecue was the lack of a smoker anywhere around the restaurant.  Then we got the food.  The pulled pork had a weird texture, and the sauce was some bright orange, runny concoction that tasted more like a vinegar and pepper sauce than anything I consider real barbecue sauce.  Come to find out, they had all their meat cooked at De Valls Bluff and shipped in.

It did not travel well.

When it came to today’s lunch, we were trying to decide between Road Hog, which we know is great, or this new, unknown Hog Heaven.  I still wasn’t sure which I would choose as I drove through town, but I came to Hog Heaven first and pulled in.   The choice, I decided, would come down to one factor.  Did Hog Heaven have a smoker on the premises.  So before I even stopped the car, I drove all the way around the restaurant to check.  Sure enough, there in the back was a big, shiny smoker puffing away.  So that was it, we would try Hog Heaven.  When I opened the door and stepped in, I knew immediately that it would be better than the former occupants.  The whole place was filled with the smell of smoked meat, and man did it make my mouth water.  You order at the counter before you sit down, they call your number, and you pick up your food.  No wait staff to speak of.  I ordered the two meat platter with pork ribs and sausage, and I got my wife the pulled pork sandwich, all to go.  They seemed a little understaffed – there was only one person outside of the kitchen and she was taking orders and dealing with any problems – but any hitches could be blamed on the fact that they are still in the early stages of business.  I’m sure, given a month or two, that it’ll smooth out.

But the food, oh man, the food is delicious.  The ribs were fairly meaty and very, very tender.  The sausage had a perfectly crisp skin and the meat in the middle was succulent and tender.  It never really occurred to me that smoked sausage had degrees of tenderness until today.   My wife’s sandwich was the smaller size, but it was it was still plenty big enough.  It was piled high with pulled pork, and the barbecue sauce came on the side so you could dress it yourself (coleslaw on the side as well, but that’s only because neither of us like coleslaw, and we planned on letting Gabe eat that).  Everything had a nice smoky flavor that you expect, but none of it so smoky that it overpowered the taste of the meat.  The barbecue sauce was that perfect deep red (I only got mild for my wife’s sake, but in the restaurant itself they have squeeze bottles with all of the different varieties at the tables.  It looked like at least four types.) and thinner than bottled sauce, but not runny at all – more like what I see in Memphis.  The baked beans were delicious.  My only disappointment was fries.  They didn’t have any, even though they were on the menu.  My hope is that they were just out today.  It is my belief that more barbecue places should serve fries instead of just chips (although Road Hog has some cheesy potatoes with their dry rub sprinkled on top that are a delicious alternative).

It was a great meal.  I’m afraid Road Hog might have some competition.

Advertisements