Smithfield's Chicken 'N Bar-B-Q

Barbecue pork—pulled, sliced, chopped, smoked, vinegared up, whatever way you like it is pretty much a dime a dozen in this state. Or, more precisely, $8-$10 or so a pound really. We do love pig meat here and this is one of those places where ALL parts of the pig can be found. They really don’t waste it, though pickled feet, pork belly, deep fried ears and pig liver pudding (yes that is a thing) aside, it is the white meat, slow cooked or smoked then seasoned with vinegar and spices which is what we all crave.

Fortunately there are any number of places around town serving it up. However, unlike that old joke I make about pizza (even bad pizza is still pretty good) the same cannot be said of pulled pork. You can hid a lot of sins with tons of cheese but overcooked pork is dry and no sauce will save it. Undercooked won’t save you either, in fact it will make you sick and quite possibly kill you. Fun times!!

It is on the menu from from mom and pop specific bbq spots to local restaurants with a moderately Southern bent to roving food trucks and even our local mini hot dog chain has it—but it sucks there so they should really stick to hot dogs. One place you can find it feeding the masses is Smithfield’s Chicken ‘N Bar-B-Q. They are something of a local kid makes good and opens lots of branches kind of story. While some spots have two, maybe three locations, they seem to have built themselves up into 39 locations. They started in 1977 in what some consider the hot bed of bbq Smithfield (duh, the name!) and just took off from there.

It’s one thing when it is a local restaurant but what happens when things scale up to chain size and you have to try and recreate the consistency and taste people glommed onto initially into feeding the masses without disappointing them with all the things they loved before? Interesting question I wanted to check out but, sadly, I had not been to try the original location and can’t really compare the two. What I can do is see if the mass production holds up to what the moms and pops down the street do on a daily basis.

The menu is not extensive, which means they are not trying to throw all these extras at you but sticking with the basics. Hopefully with the premise to do the simple stuff but do it good. It’s pulled pork, fried chicken (bone and tender) and a few side dishes. Good thing too as I can oder a combo of plate of the two things they are known for—fried chicken and pulled pork.

Two pieces of fried chicken, pulled pork, two sides (I got potato salad and cole slaw) and some hush puppies all for about $12. Yes, a lot of food and more than enough to get two meals. Right off the bat I will say the chicken was the best thing here. Hot, tender, juicy and super crispy. It was as if you got it right out of the fryer without it being all greasy. This they seemed to have nailed.

The second best thing here were the hush puppies. Big crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, hot, fresh and all ready to melt the butter to slather them in. Plus I got six of them which was more than enough to satisfy any cornbread like craving. The two sides I had were underwhelming. The potato salad was more like a thick soup. Something you had to eat with a spoon as it would run right through the fork. The potato was not in chunks but tiny pieces. It also veered to the sweet side. The same can be said for the cole slaw, a little sweeter than I really like my slaw. It didn’t seem balanced with enough with vinegar tang. It didn’t help they seem to use sweet pickle relish in theirs which is something I like, just not in my slaw. It was not the classic Carolina slaw I wanted or needed. But what about the pork you say?

Yes, let’s talk about it. I mean it looked okay yet it bordered right on the edge of being close to dry. Not to mention it seemed to lake some kind of flavor or seasoning. Again, it felt to me like it was missing the vinegar kick of North Carolina barbecue one comes to expect here. You can see a few red pepper flakes here and there but they did not seem to enliven it enough. It was like terrible or anything, I just didn’t think it stand out special. But I didn’t let it stop me from giving the place another shot.

I did a quick stop through the drive thru for lunch one day and got the pulled pork sandwich with slaw which will run you only about $6. Again, I thought the meat was right on the edge of being too dry which is kind of where the slaw comes in to help, though again, it was still rather sweet with all the relish. I think had the vinegar content in the meat or even the slaw been upped they might have complimented each other better. I will say you do at least get a generous helping of meat. Skimping on the size of food portions is not something they do much of in the South, which really explains a lot if you think about it. Just saying.

As an alternative to going the burger route, Smithfield Chicken ‘N Bar-B-Q is an option. And while I can’t say they did pulled pork better than say my local neighborhood place, the fried was pretty darn good and the hush puppies were tasty. Though not sure that is enough to keep me coming back since a number of places also do those two things quite well. I know this place has a following but even looking at reviews online, it still has a rather average 3.5 stars which is close to what I’d probably give it even though I really only liked two of the five items I had. So maybe closer to three then. Barbecue in the South is like pizza, everyone has their favorite spot and there are enough places where I like it that not adding this to my list isn’t a big loss.