By Marty Rosen
Special to the Courier-Journal
When it comes to barbecue fanaticism, I take a back seat to nobody.
Last winter when I heard that one of my favorite spots was shutting down, I grabbed my pal Pat and lit out on a whirlwind one-day, 500-mile roundtrip to Urbana-Champaign just so I could grab one last pulled pork sandwich at a little tin roof barbecue shack named Po' Boy's. (Wow, that meal had one heckuva carbon footprint, I'll betcha.)
 Pig City serves up its barbecue with six different sauces and a tasty assortment of side dishes. By Bill Luster, The Courier-Journal |
But here's the thing: The folks who make great barbecue do care. They care about everything: meat, wood, smoke, dry rubs, wet sauces and the ineffable interaction among all those elements that makes barbecue great. The folks who make great barbecue tend to be an uncompromising lot. They cut no corners. They hedge no bets.
For a small operator looking to cast a big net, that's a problem — since lots of barbecue fans tend to be more persnickety than I am.
Pig City BBQ, a promising independent spot that opened last fall, skirts the issue with an opinionated approach to wood and smoke, coupled with an eclectic approach to sauces.
The restaurant Web site claims an affinity with Memphis barbecue, and the smoker is filled with cherry, which allegedly imparts a slight sweetness to meat.
But the table is set with six different sauces that cover several important regional variations, including a very fine Texas-style hot sauce, an attractive mustard-based sauce that evokes South Carolina, and a dark, sweet sauce tempered for folks addicted to Western Kentucky barbecue.
They serve those sauces in convenient squeeze bottles, and an indecisive person could spend plenty of time deciding which is best.
That big assortment of sauces suggests that Pig City is hedging its bets — and maybe that's a winning formula.
On recent visits, we tasted chicken, beef brisket and baby back ribs, and found all of them so mildly smoked — virtually neutral in flavor — that any of the sauces would work just fine, leaving plenty of latitude for everyone in a group to have their Q the way they want it.
If the barbecue lacks the idiosyncratic uniqueness that makes for greatness, the meats were nevertheless very good. Chicken ($6.99 for a half chicken; $8.99 for a whole chicken; all dinners come with two sides) had a ruddy complexion and moist flesh, but slightly soft skin.
Baby back ribs (a half-slab is $11.99 with sides; a full slab, $18.49) were crisp and meaty, a tad dry, but quite palatable nonetheless, thanks to a mellow dry spice rub.
Beef brisket ($10.99) fell apart at the touch of a fork and had a lovely deep brown color after smoking for some 24 hours (no pink smoke ring here), but even 24 hours in the smoker didn't lend it a very pronounced smoky flavor.
The menu is filled out with sandwiches (in the $6-$9 range for chicken, pulled pork, brisket, burgers, etc.; there are a few salad options, as well as soups and burgoo.
Side dishes — deviled eggs sprinkled with paprika, a colorful summery coleslaw made of red and green cabbage, green bell pepper and carrots dressed in a tangy vinegar-based dressing, and creamy macaroni and cheese — showed a nice attention to detail.
So did the dining room, an attractive space trimmed with bright wood and rustic gestures in the form of an exposed stone wall near the kitchen.
Even better was the outdoor dining area; a comfortable deck of brick and concrete sits on piers overlooking a pond with a pleasant little fountain — a great place to sip Sam Adams and while away a summer afternoon.
And service seems all that one could want: brisk, knowledgeable and friendly.
Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@gmail.com.
Pig City BBQ12003 Shelbyville Rd. Louisville, KY
502-244-3535
2.5 Stars
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