Adam & Eats: Whole Hog Cafe

Editor’s note: Adam Brandt is a graduate from the Cobra Kai School of Culinary Callousness, where he received their highest award, the Red Apron of Merciless Eating. Aside from eating and talking about eating, he makes pots, paintings, prints, books, photographs, and generally, a big mess. He has been the studio assistant at Mudpuppy Pottery for almost nine years and is attending a local university in a desperate attempt to earn a biology degree.

I’ve been hearing about a barbeque joint on the Southside of town, for a while now. I hear they have stellar ribs. And even though ribs are not normally my favorite thing at BBQ joints, I figured I should investigate what all the buzz was about. The ribs turned out to be spot on, but the place, overall, didn’t blow me away.

Located off of U.S. 71 South is the newest branch of the Whole Hog Café franchise. They are open six days a week from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

The interior of the place is what can be referred to as “industrial chic.” You know, the unfinished dropped ceilings where all of the duct work is painted matte black, the concrete floor is stained with iron oxide, and there is lots of metal and brick. You know the look. They have combined this look with the traditional BBQ joint tradition of rolls of paper towels on the standard restaurant tables. It is the type of restaurant designed for the kind of person who wears Carhartts to work.

They somehow manage to successfully combine the chain restaurant business structure with the down home service we come to expect from barbeque restaurants, and they do it very well. The service is fast, friendly, and incredibly helpful.

They also rely on the tried-and-true honor system for serving drinks. If you want a drink, you order one. If you don’t want a drink, or if you just want water, you order that. Then they direct you to a standard soda fountain setup around the corner from the check out where stacks of cups await you. If you were a dishonest person, you could order water and get a Coke and they wouldn’t be the wiser. Hence, honor system. It is pretty a brilliant actually because it is one less thing they have to think about in order to focus their attention on serving you some “World Champion BBQ.”

Speaking of which, the barbeque in question is good, but not the best or the cheapest in town. Ralph’s has better pulled pork, Imajerk has better brisket, Lawrence’s has better beans, and Al’s is cheaper than them all, but if you are on that side of town and jonesin’ for smokey meat, it is not a bad place by any means. It’s just not my first choice for barbeque in this meat-smoker friendly area.

Now, since I mentioned the ribs earlier, I feel I should talk about them, lest I get the usual comments about not talking about the food enough. The ribs are pretty friggin’ good. Seasoned well, cooked the appropriate amount of time so that the meat doesn’t fall off of the bone, but doesn’t cling on for dear life either. They are what Goldilocks wants when she orders ribs.

I can understand why they have won awards for them. It is also impressive that they cook them consistently with as many branches as they have. But still, once you expand your business into a franchise, you always seem to lose some of the charm of the original. I haven’t personally eaten at the original shop, but you can definitely feel that this branch is missing something. It feels a little like a copy of something great.

Overall, Whole Hog Café is not a bad place to eat. The service is friendly. The food is good and relatively inexpensive. It is just missing something that would take it from alright status to greatness.

Until next week, good eating.

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