Category Archives: North America

Posts about countries in North America

Wicked Sausage Lunch

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Well it was more like impish than truly wicked which is ok. That’s what lunch was too, OK. Not great, but good enough.

This Saturday would have been my Dad’s 83rd birthday and the last trip we took together was to Cherokee, NC and the casino there. I figured I’d celebrate his birthday by donating some dollars to the Cherokee tribe and grab some lunch from one of the several restaurants available on site. After an up and down morning at the slots & video poker machines and some mixed luck at the craps and roulette tables it was time for lunch.

I thought about the Gordon Ramsay Food Market but decided I’d go looking for Guy Fieri’s Kitchen & Bar instead. Turns out it’s in the Hotel section not the Casino section so I didn’t find it. However, I did find the Wicked Week Brewpub. I like pub food and beer and they weren’t that busy so I opted to give them a try.

Seating was done quickly and the lady who would be my server was Jenny on the spot. They had flights of beer and I’m not one to pass those up since I love variety. I asked her to give me a minute to pick them out and I’d probably be ready with the food order too.

They have 3 flight options, a set 4 mostly IPAs, a fancy flight from the Funkatorium options and a flight from their Special and Seasonal selections. I wasn’t feeling all that funky so decided to save the extra $ (I was down $50 for the day at that point too) and get some of the seasonal / regular options. This is where disappointment started.

There were 7 options to choose from and the flight was made of up of 4. The Strawberry Kiwi Burst Session Sour, check. Watermelon Burst Session Sour, oops they were out. Lunatic Blonde Belgian, sorry out of that too. Fresh Pressed Wheat Ale, maybe out of that too. At this point she goes away to see what they do have. I ended up with the Fresh Pressed Wheat Ale, Player’s Club Pale Ale, Strawberry Kiwi Burst, and the Hefeweizen Weissbier.

They were all ok. The Fresh Pressed was brewed with pineapple, mango and guava. It tasted tropical but not especially of any of the included fruits. The Player’s club was a very hoppy ale. The strawberry kiwi was mostly strawberry and not much of a sour. The Hefeweizen was actually a nice palette cleanser between the others. All of them went ok with my lunch which was a brat and sweet potato fries.

Again, OK was the theme of the day. The brat is supposed to be chargrilled with caramelized onions and Lusty Monk whole grain mustard. Honestly Johnsonville has a more flavorful brat and if you’re going to name your mustard it should be better than my Food Lion brand mustard, this was not. The caramelized onions though they nailed. The sweet potato fries looked like they were the bottom of the bag where all the little pieces gather. They did taste good but it was kind of sad picking through the little bits and bobs to get a decent sized fry. It was (wait for it), OK. A filling lunch and for being in a Hotel / Casino the price wasn’t bad. Next time GR’s food market will be where I go or maybe a trip to the hotel side for Guy’s joint.

I did manage to have a bit of luck at the roulette table on the way out and not only recouped my losses but paid for lunch and gas. So pretty good day.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

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This entry is as much about lessons as food. Saturday is my eat breakfast out day and today I wanted to try someplace different and since I had two errands that would take me towards Anderson I opted to see what options I had. I decided to try Mr River’s Breakfast Joint downtown even though I had a quibble with them calling themselves a breakfast joint and not opening until 8:00 am. Off I went checking off one errand to kill time until 8:00 and going down a cool little stretch of road that at certain times of the day feels like you’re going through a green tunnel.

I was almost there when I saw a road closed sign barring my path. Pivot and discover downtown Anderson likes their one way streets almost as much as downtown Atlanta. Make the next turn and another block. Apparently they have something going on and Main St is blocked off and the place I want is in the middle of the blocked off area. I could have found someplace to park and walk but I was mad at being inconvenienced and having to drive around looking for a solution so I said “shucks”, or something to that effect and decided to go home mad.

The route home was different and out of the corner of my eye I saw Grace’s Restaurant sign. They were actually the runner up in my search this morning and had the good grace (see what I did there) to open at 6:30 for breakfast. I did a u turn and pulled in to a pretty full parking lot.

I wouldn’t say Grace’s is off the beaten path but it’s not on the main drag either. It’s one of those places that if you know you know. Rather than take up one of the precious open tables I hopped a stool at the counter. It took a minute for someone to get me a menu and some coffee but not much more than that. The menu is fairly standard diner fair and I kept my selections from their Build Your Breakfast section standard too. 2 eggs – over medium please. Pick your meat – sample 2 bacon & 1 sausage patty. Pick your side – buttered grits. Bread – biscuit, thank you.

That out of the way I got to look around a bit. The tag line for Grace’s is Faith – Food – Family and they have a family atmosphere and a reminder to check out John 3:16 in chalk under one of the specials. All they needed was decent food to live up to the billing. One other thing I noticed. The staff weren’t a bunch a chatters. They were pleasant, attentive and purposeful. It was busy and they were efficient which I very much appreciated. My food was delivered.

I was pleasantly surprised at the split grilled biscuit. I hadn’t seen one of those since my list visit to Red’s in Rock Hill a few years ago. As simple as this was it was a very good breakfast. Every element was just about perfect. The grits, ideal consistency. The eggs, just runny enough. Bacon, crispy without being overcooked. Sausage, could have been hotter but otherwise very good. Grilled biscuit, butter or jam would have been extraneous.

To paraphrase the Stones, you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need. I’m glad I made that u turn literally and attitudinally.

Kind of Wrong But Also Good

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This feels a little contrary to the blog premise but I kept it very local this morning for breakfast. The closest to international I got was considering the huevos rancheros and pimento cheese and bacon quesadilla on the menu. What menu? Where? Don’t worry I’m getting there.

I wanted someplace new and maybe different for breakfast today so I drove into Clemson to try the Sunnyside Café. It’s in a place new enough my car’s GPS didn’t have a clue, however Google maps got me there just a few minutes after they opened. I was impressed there were already 4 cars parked when I got there. When I first walked in there was only one person greeting and seating so it took like 3 minutes before I was led to a table. Since both the young woman that seated me and the one that waited on me both apologized for the wait I figured I could overlook the horrific wait time.

Sunnyside can handle a fair number of folks with about 30 or so tables in the main area and a side room with a few more. By the time I got my coffee and made my choice from the menu there were 3 more people working the floor and 3 or 4 more tables occupied. The menu had some standard breakfast fare in addition to the above mentioned hispanic inspired dishes. There is a Cuban inspired breakfast sub and shrimp and grits plus a vegetarian benedict dish right next to one with 2 meats, 2 fried carbs and eggs. Good variety.

There was a dish that intrigued me because it skated on the edge of blasphemy but sounded delicious too. The Sweet Fried Grit Patties were something I just had to try.

Now being a good southerner means putting sweet stuff in my grits is taboo. If others do it I chalk it up to poor upbringing or ignorance of how grits should be treated. These however were grit patties so I could rationalize the choice by the fundamental change in grit structure. The meal comes with 2 eggs and either home fries or cheese grits. I doubled down on the grits. Cheese being savory is acceptable in regular grits in case you were wondering. I did get a side of sausage since it doesn’t come with a meat option standard.

The titular sweet comes in the form of a sorghum peach compote that I was kind of scared was going to be cloyingly sweet but it was a very pleasant surprise. It was sweet but lightly so which allowed the peach flavor to be prominent and go nicely with the grits. I have to say the grit patties were also cooked perfectly. Lightly fried so the outside was crisp and the inside was firm and warm. Great texture and taste combination. The cheese grits had a bit of cream or something in them to make them a bit more, well, creamy. The sausage was good and the eggs were scrambled just right. There was actually so much I had to walk away and leave a bit on the plate.

Doing a call back to the first paragraph I have to talk about the localness of my meal. It’s something they tout and I’m glad to support. The eggs are from one of 3 nearby farms, the sausage is from McCall’s in Honea Path, the grits from Hurricane Creek Farms in Pelzer, and the sorghum was from furthest away, Monterey, TN. Even the coffee was from a nearby roaster.

As a parting thought I have to say the employees were all very friendly and the fact there were at least 15-20 tables occupied when I left testified to that being the normal state of affairs. Along with some good food of course. I will definitely be going back to try a few more items on the menu.

Knocking the Dust Off

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As the young folk say, it’s been a minute since I added new content. The domain and hosting just renewed and college football isn’t taking up my Saturday’s so I figured it was time to do a little something with the Culinary-Passport.

I decided to just pull up Google Maps and scroll around until I saw something that intrigued me. I found Pat’s Cash & Carry in Salem, SC.

Pat’s is in an area I haven’t been through before and the route would take me by Lake Keowee on a mostly sunny winter day so I might see if I could get a good picture of it in addition to lunch. It was a nice drive through the country with the lake on one side and at a certain point the Oconee Nuclear Power Station on the other. The first photo below is the view from my parking place. Restroom outside and around the building, Oh Yeah! This was going to be good.

This was very obviously a converted old country store and if the outside didn’t give it away the interior did even though it is a restaurant you can feel the old store vibe. There was one lady working the place and I got there just behind 2 other parties. A trio of gents was seated and a young lady and her daughter were getting some dog’s to go. I placed my order for two Hot Dogs – Works. The lady’s name working the counter I learned was Karen. She asked me if I wanted “Mustard, ketchup, mayo…” and in my enthusiasm I cut her off and said “all of it, all the works”. Karen told me to have a seat and she’d get them to me. The drinks and chips are in coolers and racks, you grab what you want and pay at the register when you’re done.

I was eyeballing the place while waiting and I liked the atmosphere. The tables have cloth covers but then they are covered by thick clear plastic sheeting. Clean up’s a breeze. Some of the signs look original and some might be newly aged but the big photo of the place from a few decades back is real enough.

I grabbed my soda and a bag of Zapps Cajun dill chips to go with my dogs and settled in to absorb the ambiance and listen to the 3 old guys at the next table gabbing about stuff. I say old, 2 of them were right in my age bracket but that other guy, he was old. Anyway it didn’t take long before Karen showed up as promised.

For those playing at home the Works consists of mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, onion, chili, cheese, slaw, and relish on a tasty hot dog and lightly steamed bun. I don’t think there were any fancy made on premises toppings here but it was all fresh and good quality. In hindsight I should have gotten one hot dog and chips or two hot dog and no chips or any of several other options that meant shoving less food in my mouth but sadly I did none of those things. Consequently I paid cash and carried out a very overfed belly.

I did get a good dose of history when one of the trio asked how long the place had been around. Original building was erected in 1910. The add on where the bathrooms are is actually the side where the original front door was. Also when the county was paving the main roads where this intersection is they brought in equipment to lift and rotate the building. Another add on and shop completed work. After the history class I headed home. I did manage to pull off the side of the road and get some shots of Lake Keowee (created by the damming of the Keowee river for the power plant).

Overall it was a pretty good first outing of 2023.

Boxtys, Sliders & Brats, Oh My

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The trip to the NC State Fair last weekend was just the first of the food experiences of the weekend. After some intense football watching, that included channel flipping and dragging out the laptop it was time to grab dinner. The decision was we’d go to a local (Cary, NC) Irish pub named Doherty’s Irish Pub & Restaurant.

The visit started off kind of weird. Unsurprisingly, on a Saturday night they were busy and when we walked in the hostess was just walking back from seating people. She stood there and stared at us for several seconds like she was trying to figure out what her next move should be. She apparently didn’t have much luck because all she could come up with was “Did you need something?” “We thought we might get something to eat,” was my sisters reply. That was much nicer than what was going through my head but she’s nicer than I am so it was good she took the lead. It did seem to get the hostess jumpstarted and she was fast and efficient after that.

Lynn knew what she was getting, the mixed boxty app. The starter side of the menu worked for me too and I selected the pub sliders and smothered blue chips and of course a Guinness to wash everything down.

The boxty looks like street tacos made with potato pancakes. The fillings for the sampler are chicken, brisket and one with mushrooms. From all reports they are quite tasty. My sliders were also a trio of different items, all of them at least good. The chicken was a little disappointing, kind of bland, but OK. The other two were much better. The corned beef with spicy mustard was juicy, salty and very flavorful. A solid second place. The gold medal was for the Guinness braised brisket with horseradish sauce. It was just an excellent, tender slider with a ton of flavor.

The Smothered Blue Chips were, sadly, not blue. On the other hand they were crunchy house made chips smothered with gorgonzola cream, blue cheese crumbles and green onions. They were pungent but pleasant.

The eating continued the next morning when I was on the way out of town headed home. We grabbed breakfast at a local place called Brigs. This wasn’t a new place to me as we’d had several family breakfasts here before. They have an eggs benedict Lynn enjoys. They also have specials and interesting options that I enjoy. Lynn went with her standard and I jumped on one of their seasonal Bavarian themed specials, the bratwurst basket.

The eggs benedict plate was definitely more colorful than my rather monotone plate (at least I had the yellow of butter and yolk to break the off white). I’m not going to spend a lot of time on these except to say that the food is fresh and of good quality (although light on the salt). Also brats are a very valid breakfast option if you haven’t tried them.

It was, on the whole, a good outing for the Culinary_Passport, got in unusual American food, Irish inspired food and German sausage. I know for a fact there’s another brat in my future and I’ll let you know about it next time. Sláinte

Exploring New Subscription Boxes

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Once you get past Chinese & Mexican the number of international restaurants is pretty slim in the immediate area. As I love my global goodies I decided to have some delivered to scratch that itch. I’ve done Universal Yums in the past which brought snacks from other countries to my door so this time I opted for Try Treats and Eat2Explore. The one I’m going to talk about now is Eat2Explore. Something different this time is trying out a video unboxing. We’ll see how this goes.

I’m clearly not ready to convert this to a video blog but it was something different. So was this whole experience. This box would be really great if you had kids and wanted to get them introduced to foods from other cultures and learning about other places. The two info cards are quick hits of information about the country, food & origins, social studies, math & art. Plus a QR code to take you to more online information. Kind of cool.

The next thing about this box is that it’s about making the dishes rather than dropping a ready made meal on your doorstep. If you enjoy cooking then this could be for you. I also appreciated the fact that each recipe was provided with both with a good version and a vegetarian option (I know my carnivore is showing). I do think it’s a nice touch for those who swing that way. The recipes are fairly straight forward and ingredients included in the box are highlighted in the finished dishes. The included shopping list is quite a nice touch too. That also explained the kitchen gadget I thought was a spoon holder was actually a lid prop to keep the lid open a crack so you can avoid boil overs.

The meals were all tasty and I wound up using them as meal prep for the week to save time and have a tasty homemade meal several more times. The first one I made was jerk chicken thighs with Caribbean rice and coleslaw.

The spicy peppers were evident in the jerk paste but not overly hot. The sweetness of the pineapple I think helped tamp it down. The coconut milk powder I said in the video was for the coconut shrimp was really for this rice recipe. I loved this rice. I did go off book and use some brown jasmine rice rather than white but that in no way detracted from my enjoyment. The slaw was a little juicy but had a nice flavor that went well with the rest of the meal. I looked forward to the left overs. Next up was the curry chicken stew.

Another relatively simple dish that had a ton of great flavor and the left overs were better than the first meal after cooking. I used chick breast in this one and stuck to my brown rice over the white. This was a fairly sweet curry stew and very aromatic. It was also very filling with both rice and potatoes in addition to the chicken. If you’re trying to cut carbs this is not the meal you are looking for. I like curry a lot so this was probably my favorite of the 3 recipes overall. Having said that the next one was an excellent contender.

It doesn’t look like much with only 4 jumbo shrimp but wow these were nice and the meal was sufficient to fill me up. I’ve had coconut shrimp before and they were ok. These were better than any I’ve had before. It wasn’t anything super special other than they had bigger flakes of coconut and they were baked rather than fried. The sauce was like a homemade yum yum sauce and the riced cauliflower with mixed vegetables was not bad at all. I did use the left over egg from the dredging of the shrimp in the cauliflower and vegetables like a stir fry. The shrimp was the single biggest surprise for me and was simple enough I’ll give them another go. They also reheated well in the oven.

I signed up for a few months so we’ll see what it brings. This one certainly was worthwhile.

I Went Viking

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A couple of weekends ago I decided to check out the Lavonia, GA Renaissance Festival. It is a 1 day affair in a local park. The theme was Vikings so it was technically outside the Renaissance period but why quibble with a nice day out.

I was hoping to grab some festival food while I was out but the pickings were slim and nothing grabbed me. However I did check out the sites.

I bought some blueberry blossom honey that was very thick and rich and may wind up in a mead. I also checked out the reenactors giving demos and talking about the period, around 1066, that was the focus. Plus the wolf was cool.

If you’re wondering why this is in the blog and not just on FB, I’m getting there. After I left, unfed, I was inspired to go viking (the verb not the noun) but with less looting and pillaging. Mainly it was exploring. I jumped off on an unfamiliar exit heading down a road I knew would eventually get to familiar territory. Like this post. Well I spotted the Spotted Pig BBQ restaurant and decided to delve into the discovery.

It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere and there was only one other car there so I wasn’t sure what I was going to wind up with but in I went. They have a nice large dining area and a decent sized outside seating area from what I could see. I was seated quickly by one of the several staff members huddled at one end of the bar. The menu had reasonably standard fair along with some flair like the BBQ egg roll. I kept it traditional and got the rib plate with mac & cheese and coleslaw.

As you can see the ribs come pre-sliced with 4 ribs as a serving nicely presented. There was also a mini cornbread muffin on the side that I saved for dessert. I have to say these were the best ribs I’ve had locally. The smokey flavor along with the dry rub and tender meat that resisted just a bit made for a delicious satisfying bite every time. I did try the sauces that were at the table just to see what they might add.

They weren’t bad, the spicy was moderately hot, the sweet was just that. I’m not a big fan of mustard based sauces but this was a good example of what one should be. The mustard was definitely the star with a hint of sweet and a touch of heat. In the end I ate the last two ribs sauceless because I thought they were fine as is.

The coleslaw I really enjoyed. All the ingredients tasted fresh and had a crispness that gave a nice crunch as it was eaten. The mac and cheese was also nice in that it felt more like homemade than a lot you find. The cheese wasn’t a cheese sauce and you got a little more in one bite than you might in another. I like that personally. The mini muffin was pretty sweet and had some kind of additional ingredient that made me save it for dessert.

I was happy with the meal and service overall and will go back however, I won’t be getting another $7 draft beer. That was a bit of a shocker since I didn’t check out the pricing first. It was a nice coffee lager but that just felt too steep to me.

After lunch I continued my exploration and found a farmer’s market / yard sale that was closing down. I did acquire some well priced tomato plants to add to my garden after some fierce haggling (ok they thrust them at me and named a price I couldn’t walk away from).

I think I did that Swedish / Danish part of my DNA proud out there exploring new areas, destroying that rib plate and coming back with fresh acquisitions.

Extra Credit:Hogs and Hops and a Healthy Olive

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Today was a fine spring like day and after doing a little work on the plant bed this morning I decided to investigate a downtown Seneca area, Ram Cat Alley. It’s a couple of blocks long leading to Main Street and an old train depot. I knew there were a couple of restaurants in the area and I figured I’d make a decision once I got down there and see what struck me. What struck me was Hogs and Hops with it’s outdoor seating on such a wonderful day.

The non-BBQ special of the day was chili and cornbread which I almost bit on but figured here was a chance to add just one extra joint to my BBQ database. The other customers and the owners knew one another and didn’t mind chatting while the work got done. To me that was a good sign if people are coming often enough to get to know one another.

BBQ sandwich plate it was for me. For sides I went with the mac and cheese and Brunswick stew. My sauce selection was unorthodox for a southern BBQ sandwich, peach habanero sauce. Hogs and Hops has, hands down, the most interesting selection of sauces of all the spots locally. They also had a pineapple habanero that I almost went with but the pull of the peach was stronger. Speaking of pineapples there was also pineapple upside-down cake. Oh and a diet coke to wash it down cause I’m watching my figure. I was happy to come off the 11 bucks and change for this meal.

The BBQ was smoky and moist and the sauce added a really nice sweet kick of heat. The Brunswick stew also was a fine tasting example of its genre of stew. It had more vegetables than Cole’s that I raved about in a previous blog but I was just fine with that. The mac and cheese was the best of any I’ve had in the area and better than most I’ve had anywhere. The consistency was good and the cheese was just stringy enough to know you had real cheese in this mixture. Really nice. The cake was a little dry except where the pineapple had added some moisture. That didn’t keep me from knocking it out though. I was very happy with my decision to spend the afternoon dining al fresco.

You may have noticed nowhere did I mention hops other than the name. Well apparently they have some deal with Brews on the Alley, a coffee and craft beer bar and if you want to dine indoors you can just cross the street and dine in there and get your beer on. That explains the hops but what about the Healthy Olive I know you’re wondering. Let me tell you.

It’s a little boutique store with way too many cool olive oils and vinegars plus other gourmet type stuff I didn’t know I needed until I went in. I don’t know how many different varieties she has of each but if you can’t find something that intrigues you, you are dead inside. There are little tasting cups so you check them out before committing to a significant purchase. I tasted 2 and bought 2. A blood orange infused olive oil and an aged cinnamon pear balsamic vinegar. Both amazing. Plus a little applewood smoked sea salt and a fancy Italian dinner, just add boiling water.

I will definitely be visiting again. If I bring the bottles back she knocks $1 off the price and there’s a punch card program too.

It’s been a great day already but on the way home I noticed there were two baby goats in the pasture next door. They were just gamboling all over the place. That just leveled up the day.

And the BBQ Was OK Too

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I collected my last Seneca data point on the BBQ front from a relatively new BBQ acquisition spot. I don’t call it a joint because Cole’s Southern BBQ is a food trailer in a semi-permanent spot. They do catering but 3 days a week they park at the same place on Sandifer Blvd. They have plenty of parking and some picnic benches so you can eat on site. You get the food truck experience of ordering at the window and standing around talking to other folks (or not) as you wait for your food.

The day I went was beautiful, blue skies and low 60’s. I didn’t even mind when Random Stranger #2 waiting on his food too decided to start chatting. He did affirm one of my side choices as the best he’d ever had other than his own. That sounded promising.

I did chat with the owner / smoker a bit about his sauces based off the sign below. I knew I’d want a couple for the ribs and wanted to make sure we were cool.

He told me to get what I wanted and that was for the abusers. He said a guy the other day got one sandwich and literally 10 little cups of mustard sauce. Turns out they sell bottles of the sauce and there’s one I’d actually consider, spoilers.

Staying true to the methodology I got 2 plates for 3 meals. I did get him to throw in an extra 3 ribs because the normal platter only comes with 3. I could have been fine with just 3. Let me just tell you right now based on the weight of the plates I was not going to be complaining about skimpy side portions.

With the sandwich I got slaw and Brunswick stew and with the ribs I got baked beans and potato salad. Sauces were Carolina Vinegar, Hickory & Cole’s Southern Sweet Heat.

He was quite generous with the sides as you can see. I just wish they’d all been great, they weren’t. The baked beans were fine, nothing you couldn’t get from a can. Potato salad tasted just like Food Lion deli potato salad, again just fine. The coleslaw continued the just fine trend and seemed like it came straight from a carton. Now the Brunswick stew was very much the best of the lot and was worth the trip. This was the one Random Stranger #2 said was the 2nd best he’d ever had. I have to agree it was pretty dang good. Sweet and smoky tomato based stew with loads of meat and some corn and lima beans thrown in for good measure.

I fixed my sampler plate and proceeded to judge.

I’ve already covered the side so lets talk about the meat. The sandwich had lots of well smoked meat that was probably the most juicy or moist of any sandwich I’ve had during this experiment. In fact it destroyed the bottom bun turning it into a soggy mess on the ride home. That didn’t stop me from eating all the pork with a load of the Carolina vinegar sauce. It was probably the closest to the eastern North Carolina BBQ sauce I grew up knowing was the “right” kind for BBQ pork. On the whole pretty good.

The ribs were quite large and meaty but also the fattiest of any I tried. You could tell visually they were well smoked but there was actually fairly little taste from the smoking. That made a neutral pallet for the sauces if that’s your favorite part. The pork itself was tender but firm so you had to put in a little effort pulling it off the bone. To me that was good. The sauces I tried with the ribs were very different but good in their own way. The Hickory Mild was thick and sweet with a molasses and hickory flavor combo. The Cole’s Southern Sweet Heat seemed like a combination of the vinegar and hickory with a doubling down on the black pepper. To me it was the best of the lot and maybe my favorite of the local sauces I’ve had.

Overall I liked Cole’s and when I crave BBQ and the day is nice this is probably where I’ll head.

Actually after all that I’d say in general Little Pigs is my go to but in certain circumstances I’d recommend Black’s Smokehouse and Cole’s Southern BBQ. I think Black’s has the best tasting ribs and for a beautiful day and a bowl of Brunswick stew burn rubber to Cole’s. As a BBQ place Heavenly Hog is a hard pass for me.

Not so Heavenly Hog

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The Seneca BBQ data collection continued last weekend when I made the decision to try Heavenly Hog. Turns out it happens to be the closest BBQ joint to my home. The outside looked promising; a stand alone building kind of out in the middle of nowhere, screened in smoke room built on to the side, some pig silhouettes on the front of the building, and customers at 11:15.

The inside gave some indication the original look was a good old cinderblock building. The inside block walls are painted a dark color with heavy wood furniture, plastic table cloths and a kind of divey décor. There were a few people eating and another waiting to get a carry out order. So far, so good. Judging by the menu boards they seemed like more of a diner that featured BBQ rather than a straight up BBQ joint. They were really showing off the meat & two options. Well I came for the BBQ and that’s what I got. From the friendly staff I used the same logic as Black’s and got 2 plates to go so I could sample and split. I got the BBQ sandwich plate and a 1/2 rack plate.

They had a decent number of side options and I went with some southern staples to go with the sandwich and ribs. Initial impressions were mixed. The little containers they put the sides in made the portions seem a bit skimpy except for the okra which was plentiful. The BBQ in the sandwich and the rib portion I thought was good for the money. The sauces, both mild and hot, looked kind of ketchupy so I wasn’t overly excited. The proof would be in the pudding, or in this case the pulled pork. I made my sampler plate and plated the rest for future meals.

Let’s get the sides out of the way first. Fried okra competently done and plentiful, number 2 out of the 4. The green beans were right of the can and no seasoning, I think they may even have been the low sodium canned variety. Definitely bottom of the heap, which made me sad because I love green beans. Mac and cheese was again OK, better than Black’s but nothing to get excited about. Number 3 on the side parade. The sweet potato soufflé was by far the standout in this quartet. Nice sweet potato flavor, the brown sugar was prominent but not dominant and the nuts were just the right amount. On to the BBQ.

The pulled pork in the sandwich was, as I mentioned, a decent portion of lightly seasoned and smoked meat. OK by itself but definitely benefitting from sauce. The hot sauce was at best medium and almost a mild spice level to me. It was a little sweeter and tangier than ketchup so the initial impression was overcome a bit. The mild sauce just had no spiciness at all and should just have been called plain.

The ribs had possibility but by the pale look I knew I was going to be disappointed. I do feel like the portion I got for the price paid was more than competitive to other places I’ve been. The meat pulled away from the bone but in the way that seemed to indicate they’d been boiled first before going on the smoker to tender them up. That would have been ok but they weren’t on the smoker long enough to get a really good smoked flavor. The rub was good but if you didn’t get a piece with a fair bit of rub on it the whole thing felt kind of washed out. Dredging it through the sauce helped and on the whole it filled me up.

I think I will go back and try one of their meat & two options because I liked the atmosphere and I want to like the place. Overall though of the 3 local BBQ spots tried so far they are number 3 for BBQ for me.

I think one more new spot and I will have the majority of the Seneca spots covered for BBQ.