We decided to take a ride to Chapel Hill and check out The Pig. They are not too far off of I-40. It’s a nice location in Cedar Falls Courtyard on Weaver Dairy Rd. The restaurant is on a corner in this plaza. I couldn’t begin to tell you how we got there. I argued with my GPS lady half the way there. It probably took us 6 or more hours to make the 3 hour trip. But was a fun ride none the less. We did take I-40 to I-85 to get back home. Much quicker. The scenic route did allow us to hit up a couple really cool antique shops along the way. So here we go with The Pig.
The Restaurant and Staff:
The Pig has been in business for about 8 years. The restaurant is set up similar to an old diner. You walk in and can sit at the counter or at one of the tables lining the wall. There are also tables outside you can sit at. You have to place your order and pay for it at the counter. They will bring it to you wherever you are sitting. We grabbed a couple menus and sat down to study then I went up to place our order.
Two very pleasant young ladies, Emily and Tamika, were working the counter. They were both really nice and not only helped with our choices, but also gave us information about the restaurant. The Pig works with The NC Natural Hog Grower’s Association to serve fresh local meats. They even have a line of meats which are sold in the Weaver Street Markets locally. The market is worth a trip to also if you are in the area. Now it’s time to see how all this works out with our meals.
Tammy’s Choices at The Pig:
Sliced Brisket Plate,
The Pig Chapel Hill, NC
Tammy chose the Sliced Brisket Plate. The regular size plate comes with Slaw, Hushpuppies and Homemade Sweet Pickles. A large plate gives you more meat and an extra side of your choice. So having a cooler in the Jeep she went large and chose the Fried Green Tomatoes for her side.
The tomatoes were wonderful. They had a dipping sauce that featured their sweet pickles shredded into it. The sauce
Fried Green Tomatoes
was really good but you can eat the tomatoes with or without the dip. Tammy’s brisket at The Pig was very good. It had a light smoke flavor and was lightly sauced. The brisket itself had a top quality flavor. The hushpuppies were like strings. Like the way the dough is pushed out to make funnel cake if that helps you to picture them. Not like regular puppies but were still good. The homemade pickles were great. And even though I’m only an amateur pickle fan, I loved these.
My Choices at The Pig:
Pulled Pork Plate.
The Pig Chapel Hill, NC
So, I started with a cup of Gumbo. It had a really good flavor. The sausage had a little spice but wasn’t too hot. They served it on rice for a very nice starter. For my meal I went with the Pulled Pork Plate, large of course. I went with Mac & Cheese and Fried Okra for my sides. The okra was good. It had no special seasoning or spices to perk it up but good none the less. The mac & cheese was very good. It was homemade and had a great cheesy taste.
Here at The Pig the pork is some very good NC Style Q. It had good smoke and just the right amount of vinegar sauce. They don’t over sauce the pork. Some people think NC BBQ has to be swimming in vinegar sauce but it doesn’t. It just needs enough to give you that flavor. If you’re looking for some good Eastern NC Que, this is it.
Final Thoughts:
I have to be honest here. When we decided to go check out The Pig I didn’t have high hopes for a really good bbq joint. I was figuring on an average hometown type place. We checked out some reviews and I looked at the website and Facebook pages prior to going. Everything looked and sounded good but still I was not looking for fantastic.
I’ll admit right here that my preconceived impression was wrong. Very wrong. And I couldn’t be happier that The Pig showed me yet again to quit judging before I try it. We really enjoyed our visit. Emily and Tamika were wonderful and the food was fantastic. Add to that the fact that they try to use local products. You just can’t ask for more. We loved our visit and look forward to a return visit some day. Thanks to everyone there at The Pig for a great evening.
Now For Your Thoughts:
So how many of you have eaten here before? How did your visit go? Did you try something at The Pig that we didn’t? Tell us about it. Fill us in on your visit. We’d like to hear your opinion of The Pig.
What do you regulars think?
And for you regulars. What keeps you going back? Being in business for 8 years, they must have a strong local fan base. Your thoughts could greatly enhance this review. Get some comments in and I’ll get them posted with this article. We’d love to hear from you. Here’s your chance to tell everyone why you love your local bbq joint and what makes it special to you.
I look forward to hearing from you.
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You can check out their website at: https://thepigrestaurant.com/
You can also find them on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/The-Pig-125462124144003/
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