punkerque

If you head south on I-95, you are bombarded by Sonny’s BBQ billboards. While they do tend to make one hungry, the thought of having to eat at one keeps us looking for local BBQ eateries. The problem with looking for M&P food while driving on an Interstate is that they tend not to advertise. As we were just about to cross over in Florida, I spied a small sign near Brunswick, GA “GA Pig BBQ”. We we got off I95 and turned left onto Route 82 into a swath of gas stations and fast food joints. We were encouraged by the sudden appearance of what looked like a large shack that had been ripped from its life in the swamp and deposited amid some weeping willows and pine trees. Perfect! The parking lot was dirt and gravel and there were no sidewalks other than pine straw. It was 3 in the afternoon, so the lot was empty; however the OPEN neon in the window was lit. Several signs on the outside warned against 4-legged animals on the porch and cameras on the inside. Better and better.
It was nearly 100F outside and not much cooler inside even though there was a window unit or two cranking away. Once inside, you realize that this shack had never been moved as the ceiling doubles the roof and the exposed rafters and beams were actual pine trees. Their open pit is inside and next to the counter which makes for a hot and smoky atmosphere. Enough about the building, on to the food.

Husband ordered a pork plate with stew and potato salad.
Punkerdoo had a pork plate with stew and slaw.

The pork plate is served open faced on toasted buns and is pre-sauced. Personally, I prefer to sauce my own food, so this was a strike against the pig. They did have an amazing assortment of hot sauces available, but the only BBQ sauce on the table was the same ketchup based sauce as what was on the plate. We also don’t really like ketchup based sauces, but when in Brunswick…..

We found it really amazing that there was so much smoke and flavor in the air but none in the pork. The meat was fresh and moist (we watched the guy chop it up), but the lack of smoke made us realize why they slather their sauce on the meat.

The stew was really good though, you could actually pick out recognizable vegetables such as lima beans and corn. So many times stew looks like it has been run through a food processor, so this was a treat. I guess if you want good Brunswick stew, you need to order it in Brunswick, GA.

I had ordered a bottle of water, but Punkerdoo ordered lemonade which was served from a communal thermos at a center table. There must be some heavy concentrations of sulfur in their local water supply because the lemonade smelled so much like rotten eggs that it was undrinkable.

We are not sure what the deals was with the meat, they had obviously been doing this for quite some time, maybe we just expect too much flavor? We would still pick it over Sonny’s though.

Ambiance rating: 4 Squealers

(Looks and smells EXACTLY like a proper Southern BBQ shack

Food rating: 1 Squealers

(no smoke, no sauce choices, meat moist but pre-sauced, stew was excellent!)

Beer rating: 0 Squealers

(No beer, and stick to bottled drinks)

Air Quality rating: 3 Squealers

(if you are a piece of meat)