Asheville: Three (very little) Pigs

This is the first of several restaurant reviews. Since food is such a passion of mine, I want to share reviews of some of the restaurants we ate at during our trip. Our first stop was Asheville, NC and since NC is known for their barbecue, Wes wanted to try it out. The problem is, Asheville isn't one of the cities that is particularly known for bbq. After our dinner at Little Pigs, I can see why! The food was mediocre at best. The portions were very small and the selection was minimal. The decor was about what you would expect for an outdoor family bbq - red and white checkered tablecloths, picnic tables, divided paper plates, and the menu was written on a big chalkboard. The choices on the board were not necessarily the choices they had available that day. My nieces wanted hamburgers but they were out?? Wes and I both got the bbq plate, which included a small serving of pulled pork, baked beans, coleslaw, and 2 hush puppies. Yes, apparently in NC hush puppies are synonymous with bbq. They were the highlight of the meal. There were 2 sauces available on the table - one a mustard-based sauce and the other was a tomato-vinegar sauce. The pork was very finely chopped, in fact it was almost mushy it was so fine. The flavor was slightly smokey but otherwise quite bland. The meat came dry so you could choose which sauce better suited your taste buds. Of course I tried them both, and while neither were outstanding on their own, they did combine pretty nicely. The beans were very sweet and had been made with the tomato-vinegar sauce. The coleslaw was pretty standard. The hush puppies were a tad sweet and almost tasted like little fritters. I can't remember exactly, but I believe that meal was around $9.95 per person, a tad much for the portion and quality of the food. Having driven for 4 hours without eating, we were so hungry that this did appease our need for nourishment. Using a 5* rating, 5 being the best and 1 being the worst, I'd have to give Little Pigs 1*.

Luckily, our stop in Asheville on the way home was much more enjoyable on the food front! Let's not get ahead of ourselves though, there are several more posts to come about Charleston and the surrounding area first.