Pig BBQ Joint - Johnson Street Location

A week and a half ago we spent the weekend in Victoria to visit Shane's family. One of the things we wanted to do was return to Pig BBQ Joint, which was one of the many highlights of our last trip. I thought about their pulled pork sandwich a lot. Perhaps this was part of the reason we ate at this place not once, but three times.

To our surprise, when we walked over to the restaurant, we found that the location had (temporarily) closed and that Pig had moved a few blocks away to the corner of Johnson and Blanchard. What a difference! The old joint had seats for about five people and was literally a hole in the wall, but the new digs are large enough to seat about 30 or 40 people and are very swanky in comparison. Apparently, they had only been open at that new location for two weeks.

The decor was full of personality and cool, from the chalkboard menu, to the multi-layered wooden pig, down to the blue water spout above shelves of mason jars.

The iced tea was a steal at $1.50 and arrived in one of the aforementioned mason jars. This was not too sweet and utterly refreshing.

The first time, both of us ordered a pulled pork sandwich ($6), and we saw a curious thing on the menu: the deep fried macaroni ($4), which of course we had to order. The sandwich did not disappoint; it was as good as we remembered, with tender, subtly smoky pork, a tangy sauce, and a mustardly coleslaw. Delicious.

As for the deep fried macaroni and cheese, it was as you'd expect: amazingly crunchy on the outside while being soft and creamy on the inside. The only flaw was the seasoning - the macaroni and cheese should have used a tad more salt and cheese.

For our second visit, we tried the pulled pork meal ($10), which consisted of 1/2 pound of pulled pork, beans, and cornbread. The pulled pork is again excellent. The beans are a little sweet, but the cornbread is very good, especially with the sweet herb butter they provide.

On our third visit, our gluttony continues, with Pulled Pork Poutine ($9), which arrived steaming hot. The portion was huge. This dish was interesting, though neither of us knew if this was entirely successful. The pork didn't add much to the poutine, strangely enough, and the curds were too 'melty', and should have had more of a squeak when you bit into them. Lastly, the gravy was a tad salty. However, we were really glad we tried this.

Finally, the Fried Chicken meal ($12), consisting of 3 pieces of chicken, coleslaw and cornbread. The chicken was wonderfully crispy and well-seasoned, and the meat was wonderfully juicy, even for pieces of white meat. After sharing that huge poutine, we couldn't finish all the chicken, so we saved a piece for the next day. The chicken was even really good cold.

Every time we paid Pig a visit, the place was jumping and incredibly busy, which made us ever so happy. However, a part of me is glad we don't live in Victoria - coming here so often would really fatten us up!
Anyhow, Shane got himself a Pig BBQ t-shirt and wears it proudly.