Pig & Grits / Burnsville, NC

I did not mean to eat another BBQ sandwich so soon. I’m trying to be good, you know, but when you’re on a road trip for work with the Bog Boss and it’s where the Big Boss wants to eat lunch, then, well, you eat another BBQ sandwich - next week’s doctor’s appointment be damned. Sure, I could have chosen to eat a salad instead, but... ha! Who am I kidding?

Pig & Grits has been through a lot lately, but the issues following Hurricane Helene do not show any signs of having an effect on the hickory-smoking Boston butt purveyor of country cooking. Gov. Stein recently stopped by Pig & Grits while promoting tourism and visiting our western counties still struggling post Helene. It's been on my list to stop while visiting my son, Ridge, and while I had not planned on it this go-round, my convoy of co-workers were stopping, so this was probably not a time to skip lunch with the Big Boss. And you know, for taste-testing blog purposes too, I guess.

My first impression was not very favorable. The sandwich came out with the Pig & Grits logo branded into the bun. While everyone else's sandwich roofs were fairly hipster neat looking, my brand was a messy, illegible blackened sear of burnt bread that neither enhanced the appearance nor added any enjoyable flavor to the overall experience. That's a solid two point deduction right off the top on appearance alone. Not appetizing.

I want to inhale hickory goodness at first sniff, but the pork lacked any stimulating aromatics of wood. Unsure if they actually cooked over wood, I asked the owner, Nathaniel Howell, about his wood choice. He shared with me that they've been having trouble sourcing hickory, but he's managing. He added that a friend's mother lost a huge hickory tree during the hurricane and they have dibs on that once dried. Maybe easier access to more wood might help, but for this visit, I did not experience a smokey 'cue.

The meat was very tender and had a nice mouth feel. There was no heat or vinegar or salt to speak off as the meat was not sauced at all. As they say on the menu: "We’ve smoked it – now you sauce it." They offer various "regional" sauces on the table. None were Eastern NC as they claim on the website. There was Lexington, Memphis sweet, a fruity bourbon something-or-another, and something hotter than what I can handle. The Lexington was far more Eastern than "Western" without that thick ketchup base considered "Lexington." It was quite enjoyable with a balanced, lingering heat (the good kind).

Our server did not ask if I wanted slaw on my sandwich, so as far as I know, they do not offer any for sandwiches. They do offer slaw as a side dish, so I wonder why there's no sandwich slaw. I always try to "eat like a native," so I guess no one wants sandwich slaw in Burnsville.

On a sides note: my sandwich came with a choice of two sides. I went with Mac & Cheese and Bacon-Cheddar Grits (duh - grits is in the restaurant's name). The Mac & Cheese was one of the absolute best Mac & Cheese dishes I have ever had. Sharp and tangy and creamy - everything I love about Mac & Cheese. The grits, were, well, not good. Bland and dull and tasteless - everything I hate about 80% of the grits I have had. The cheddar seemed nonexistent. The bacon bits were tiny dark dots that looked more like fresh cracked black pepper than bacon. Speaking of pepper - I very rarely season my food as I feel the "chef" has graced their creation with everything I need to enjoy the dish. In the grits case, I added salt and pepper. Not once, but twice on the salt and three times on the pepper. I recommend doubling the Mac & Cheese.

But back to the meat... It was pulled nicely. Not too long. Not too short. It had a nice traditional "standing over the pig cooker" pig pickin' feel to it - which I like a lot. That stringy pull has a "natural" feel to me. In some cases (like Pik-n-Pig), this type of presentation makes for a super dry sandwich. Fortunately, Pig & Grits' pork was perfectly moist and very tender. Easily a pleasant chewing experience. Big thumbs up for tenderness and that stringy pull.

Overall, this sandwich is good. The meat was cooked nicely, but could really use more smokiness and maybe a little bit of vinegar, red pepper, and salt added to create a tasty base suitable for the sauces. Not having slaw (for that extra crunchy crunch and sweetness) and that burnt bun (Why? Why do the cliche branding thing? It adds nothing to the sandwich except an opportunity to fail, like mine) drags down the score considerably. I will drop by again and give it another chance. Even if just because the governor wants me to. 7.7/10

Pig & Grits

620 W Main Street

Burnsville, NC 28714