I thought ya'll might find this interesting.
Now for the real deal. There is a joint (and I mean a small little
joint) on Bypass 17 at 62nd Ave. N. called Little Pigs.
Little Pigs Barbecue and Catering
62nd Avenue North in Myrtle Beach by Hwy 17 Bypass
and Surfside Beach on Business 17 across from Ocean Lakes.
(this review is of the Myrtle Beach location)
As soon as I walked in, I knew I was in the right place....red and
white checked tabletops, and pictures of John Wayne, Ernest T. Bass,
and Andy and Barney with the loaded goat. The dining room is small,
and there is a tv tuned to CNN.
Little Pigs smokes hams only in Cookshack smokers over hickory chunks.
The mat is unsauced when it is served, and there are 4 homemade sauces
to choose from. After eating, I spoke with Robert Huffling, one of the
owners. Little Pigs is a family owned venture that started in
Greenville, South Carolina, and opened in Myrtle Beach in 1998. In
2003, the Surfside Beach location opened.
Robert told me they only smoke hams for several reasons. The hams
contain less waste than the shoulders, and less fat. He didn't mention
anything about the flavor, but I know several experienced pig pickers
who start at the hams if the tenderloin has been removed by the
pitmaster (fairly common). He also prides himself on making sure the
leaner meat doesn't contain chunks of fat and gristle. Now that
doesn't bother me, but in todays health conscious world, it does make
a difference for some. In fact, Robert told me that a lady told him
his bbq had changed her opinion about bbq completely. Her husband had
forced her to eat there and she loved it because it wasn't greasy.
Now you may think this means the meat is dry, but it wasn't. Again,
personal preference is all the fat and grease you can get, and I can
pick out dry q in a heartbeat, but this was almost perfect.
I order the chopped plate ($5.99) and an iced tea (1.49). The plate
comes with two sides. I chose slaw and hush puppies over the baked
beans, potato salad, onion rings and french fries. Again the meat is
unsauced, and I sampled all four choices (vinegar, mild tomato based,
hot tomato based and mustard).
Sitting down, I tried the meat first and taste the hickory smoke right
off the bat....fabulous. Not wanting to cover up the smokey flavor, I
added the vinegar sauce to most of the meat. Although I again sampled
the other three sauces with the meat, I stuck with the vinegar (well,
I am an eastern Carolina boy).
The tomato based sauces were not industrial sludge like Texas sauces,
but just a little thicker than traditional
Lexington style. The vinegar sauce was thin and peppery, just a little
wang (I like more) but not too hot...a pretty typical eastern sauce.
Not bad considering Little Pigs came from the western Carolina's,
where vinegar sauce is almost impossible to find.
The meat was chopped to a perfect consistency for me. I don't like it
minced, and I prefer a medium chop over the big pulled chunks. There
were flecks of Mr. Brown (the outside skin) mixed in, although I
couldn't distinguish the rub. The slaw was also right up my alley in
consistency. It is mayo based instead of vinegar, and the amount of
mayo was perfect..not too much, but enough to flavor the slaw without
overwhelming it. I felt the slaw was a little bland, but that's pretty
common in bbq restaurants. Opinions on slaw are as varied as the sauce
and cooking techniques of the meat. I make mine with vinegar and mayo,
with lots of pepper, and the only one that likes it is me! Still, a
good companion to the cue.
In my mind, hushpuppies are also a criteria for judging a q joint.
Little Pigs' hushpuppies are the bullet shaped types, with an
excellent outside crust and a moist interior. Not a lot of seasoning,
but the texture was near perfect. They are light, not filling
doughballs like you sometimes get.
I have long held that I do not like the South Carolina mustard sauce
on bbq, but this was the best I have tasted. It's thicker than the
midlands style that you find around Florence, very similar to
Maurice's in consistency, but I liked the flavor much better than
Maurices. It was sweet and spicy, and I kept dipping my hushpuppies in
it. I've been in South Carolina for 15 years now, and I hope this
isn't the start of a switch to mustard style sauces for me....what
would they say back home in Chinquapen!
Little Pigs smokes their hams for 18 to 20 hours, and the meat I had
was chopped right when I ordered it. I don't know if it's always done
that way, but it keeps the pork from drying out. I was impressed.
Little Pigs is located less than a mile from my house, and I've driven
by it many times before trying it. I'll be back.
And I'm not the only one. Little Pigs has won at least three Best BBQ
Spot in the annual readers poll from the local newspaper.
Rating: Five Pigs out of five--Highly Reccomended.
Little Pigs is open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner. Call
them for catering or take out orders at 843-692-9774, or at the
Surfside Beach location at 843-238-3080.
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