Barbecue Battle Continues at Piggy’s Bar B Q

I was a little excited when I saw the gigantic wood smoker outside Piggy’s Bar B Q. I adore slow smoked barbecue, and the split wood piled next to it promised a world of flavor. The street facing window was painted with prices for meat by the pound, so obviously they were pretty proud of their product.

Piggy’s is a small, open restaurant with half a dozen booths and four tables. The room has a clean red and white theme with minimal decorations, mostly in the form of restaurant reviews and mandatory posted licenses, plus a cowboy themed trim with a hat, rope and horseshoe.

You walk up to the counter and place your order from the very reasonably priced menu on the wall. Other than meat by the pound, the most expensive item on the menu was the meat sampler platter for $11. Platter combos (a meat and two sides) are around $9 while most sandwiches (meat on a bun with one side) hover near $6.

I chose the barbecue brisket platter with corn on the cob and red skinned potato salad while my southern friend picked the pulled pork sandwich with a side of coleslaw because where she’s from, coleslaw is a sandwich topping.

While waiting for our food, we decided to sample the three house sauces; Kansas City Style, Hot and Sassy and Special Recipe. All three were sweeter than I expected. The Kansas City style had the smoky molasses flavor one expects from anything with that name while the Hot and Sassy was a darker, thinner sauce with a hint of cayenne in the background. The Special Recipe tasted like a compromise between the two, so I used it to top my sandwich.

My brisket came in beautifully thin, well trimmed, fat-free slices, just the way I like it. I was pretty disappointed to see almost no evidence of a smoke ring. Sitting inside the red and black decorated restaurant I could see white plumes drifting up from the smoker. Watching it made me wish they’d left the meat in longer. Furthermore, they reheated the meat by dunking it in warm water or broth immediately before putting it on the sandwich. While this does make the meat both warm and moist, it leaves odd cold patches in unexpected places. My friend who had the pork reported the same.

My sandwich was served on a plain white untoasted hamburger bun, just like what people buy at the grocery store. While meat is Piggy’s specialty, I would’ve appreciated a little attention to the bread.

The potato salad was pretty heavy on the mayonnaise, but the addition of some fresh herbs, including what tasted like thyme, really perked it up. If you like very creamy potato salad, this is a very good rendition. The coleslaw was likewise full of crisp cabbage and a hint of herbs, but absolutely drenched in mayo. I liked the flavor well enough I half wished I could put it in a sieve and let half the liquids drain out before eating.

Their corn on the cob made me sad. Fresh corn is finally available in grocery stores again. I adore fresh corn. For some reason, they serve frozen, reheated corn on the cob. The texture of frozen corn is always this terribly mushy affair that makes me cringe after the first bite.

Just as I was beginning to despair over the restaurant, we decided to split a slice of the lemon meringue pie. I’d expected something quietly generic, but this was, hands down, one of the single best renditions  of lemon meringue I’ve had in years. The homemade lemon curd was the perfect balance between tart and sweet. Most commercial lemon pies have the texture of a slightly sticky monotonous jelly. Instead of a translucent sunny yellow, this was an opaque mass, slightly gritty with the addition of real sugar, with a wonderful creamy texture that made me want to roll it around my entire mouth. The graham cracker crust on which it rested was just as good, and the meringue itself was densely fluffy with beautiful, baked on golden brown peaks. It was too good to share. We had to go back for a second slice.

Piggy’s Bar B Q made me think of the best possible church picnic - the kind everyone aspires to but so few actually achieve. As a restaurant, I was a more than a little disappointed, but if I pulled all this out of a picnic basket I’d be delighted. Since Piggy’s seems to serve a lot of takeout, it makes sense for them to cater to their target audience.

I would’ve really liked a toasted bun (especially one with some kind of texture or density greater than white bread) and some fresh corn. Honestly, though, I could’ve forgiven all sins if they left the brisket in the smoker long enough for it to develop the rich flavor and texture that comes with a glorious pink smoke ring. They have the technology.

I wish everything else I tried was as good as the pie. You won’t have a bad meal at Piggy’s, but you won’t have an exceptional one, either. Taking everything together, I give them a C+.