BBQ Review- Whole Hog Cafe- Cherry Hill

Went out to the Cherry Hill location to try some Whole Hog Cafe. Now the interesting thing about this restaurant is that the building is really plain, it is just gray cement and does not look like it should be a resturant but once you step inside it is exactly what you would expect a BBQ restaurant to look like.  It is counter service, order at the counter and take your seat and the cashier will bring out your food to you. The owner is the winner of world championship for the whole hog in 2002, hence the name and has several runner ups for the ribs.

I walked in and was prepared to order the Hog platter, which is 2 meats and 3 ribs, but noticed that they had added burnt ends to the menu from last time I was there and if you read my KC blog post you will know how much I enjoyed burnt ends. Well I stuck with the big three of brisket, pulled pork and the ribs, but will definitely be going back to try the burnt ends so keep an eye out for the update when that happens. 

As you can see above I got the mac and cheese and cheesy corn as my sides to go along with the ribs, brisket and pulled pork. Starting with the pulled pork which I matched with the number 5 sauce which is there sweet sauce, don't worry I'll give you the breakdown later. The pulled pork has a nice bark to it and the meat has a good flavor to it even without the sauce.  The pulled pork is served with no sauce on it so it is a completely blank palette to showcase the sauces that they offer. Now, the only issue that I have with the pulled pork here is that it runs on the dry side so the sauce is basically a necessity to enjoy the full course of pork. This would be a major problem when you get the pulled pork sandwich. Fortunately, there are enough sauces that you can sufficiently wet the pork to make it tolerable. If you do not sauce on your meat I recommend another item on the menu. 

The second meat was brisket. Alright so this is not to the level of some of the KC brisket but it still pretty solid. This brisket has a brown sugar rub on it which you can taste it when you eat the brisket dry. The nice thing about the brisket is that you can eat it without the sauce and you get blast of flavor. The meat is not dry but it is not nearly as tender as the KC brisket that you can eat with only a fork. Here you have to pick a knife as well to cut off a piece.  There is a good amount of fat on each piece that gives it a great amount of flavor. 

I dipped my brisket in the number 1 sauce which is there mild sauce, or basically the average BBQ sauce that most restaurants have. I think it compliments the sweetness of the brown sugar rub that is used on the brisket. Overall the brisket is a solid choice and when I stop in for lunch during the work week I get the brisket sandwich, which the issue with the sandwiches is the bun is a bit to big for the amount of meat that they put on the sandwich. It still is a good choice when you can't risk getting sauce on your shirt. 

Now for the main attraction at whole hog; the ribs. 

 The ribs here are babyback still instead of St. Louis Spare Ribs. That means it is a bit less meat per bone but the meat is normally tender and falls off bone, where the St. Louis Ribs it is more common to find a drier rib. Here at whole hog the rib pulls apart almost with no effort at all, just a slight pull.

The sauce on this one I think is the number 1 sauce as well but I am not entirely sure. It doesn't taste or look like the other ones so by process of elimination I think it is the 1 sauce. The ribs also have a brown sugar rub on them which gives them a sweet touch but it is not overpowering. It is easy to tell why this place was able to do so well in competition, enough though there is always a drop in quality from competition to commercial production, these ribs are excellent. Every so often they have a special with the rib meat where they put it on a sandwich and on those days I recommend that and toss the bun. (The sandwich meals are a pretty good deal, drink sandwich, coleslaw and a side for around $12) 

Now the sauces:

 I am going to be honest I don't like mustard based sauces so I did not try the #6 sauce. None of the sauces here are going to rock your world and it is unlikely that you are going to walk out buying one of the sauce but they get the job down and there is something that works for all ranges of people. My personal favorite is #5 but I have a major sweet tooth. 

Quick note about the sweet tea, it is not that sweet here, it's not that it is bad it is just that for the taste I rather stick to the plain old regular tea. It's not bad just not super sweet. 

Whole Hog Cafe is a nice BBQ restaurant that has excellent ribs. It's a place where you can stop in and grab a BBQ sandwich for a quick lunch or a quality dinner if you have some more time. If the urge to have some ribs hits you this is one of the places to go. 

I really look forward to going back to try the burnt ends. 

Overall Ratings

Ribs: 4.5 

Brisket 4

Pulled Pork 3

Sides 2.5