Cock Pit Barbeque
Address: 905A Bluff Road, Columbia, SC 29201
Phone: 803-269-4167
Cards: yes
Hours of operation: Mon-Thurs 7am-7pm; Fri.7am- Midnight; Saturday 11am -until
100 Mile beef brisket as well as 100 Mile barbeque.
One of the beauties of the barbeque scene is that you can’t judge a book by its cover, so to speak, or the quality of the barbeque restaurant by its facade. This is exactly the story on Cock Pit Barbeque on Bluff Road in Columbia.
Cock Pit is a new operation and it is in a small space (about six tables and booths and maybe five seats at the bar) in a building that is next to a filling station and convenience store. It takes its name from the fact that it is close by Williams Brice Stadium, home of the USC Gamecocks. One doesn’t generally find great barbeque at strip malls, either large or small ones like this, so from the outside it doesn’t promise much. There is this one good omen, however. On the outside by the door is a pull-along pit that is generally smoking. A smoking pit is almost always a very good sign and at the Barbeque Pit it is a very good sign indeed.
Robert Herron is the pit master and he uses real oak for his pit (pit masters from the Pee Dee generally favor oak over hickory) and he cooks up the kind of 100 mile barbeque that one generally only gets at championship barbeque cook-offs. His just-right smoked barbeque is pulled and his ribs are as tender as you are going to find. What he does that is different from almost everyone in South Carolina, however, is his wonderful beef brisket. In South Carolina really good barbequed beef is a rarity but here it exceeds good; it is the best I’ve had in this state. One of our Master Judges told me that he has eaten there four times in the last month and his order is always beef brisket with a side order of ribs. And while I’m not the world’s biggest fan of barbequed beef I plan on getting it the next time I go there too, which will be soon. Plus, you can order a brisket sandwich and everything there as a “basket” so you can get a barbequed beef sandwich with slaw and fries. Of course your can also get a plate with barbeque and various sides. Plus they also have a sample plate with ribs, pulled pork and beef for those who want to see how everything is.
The Cock Pit serves your food as if it were a British pub, which it vaguely resembles. There is a counter which also serves as a bar and you place your order there. You can eat at the bar or take a seat at one of the tables or booths. When the order is ready they will bring you your plate. They give you a cup for your drink which you fill yourself at a dispenser.
The sides are pretty good, above average actually. There is an institutional slaw that is good, not too sweet as so many other places serve it. The baked beans are those small, dark kind that one associates with those expensive little jars that you find in the grocery store that claim to be “Boston Baked,” in other words, they are very good.
Cock Pit doesn’t have rice and hash which is different from all the other places around Columbia and the midlands but rather he has French fries that he doctors up with some sort of flavored salt. They are above the average also. So his sides are more than adequate to accompany his outstanding barbeque and barbequed beef.
His sauces, which he makes himself, are in keeping with his lack of midlands hash; that is, he has vinegar and pepper sauces that are true vinegar and pepper. He has a “regular” that I liked, a “sweet” that is only slightly sweet, a “hot” that is only slightly hot and a special sauce for his beef. All of those sauces are fine with the barbeque which is often not the case in barbeque restaurants. In other words, his sauces do not detract from the barbeque rather they might even enhance it a bit if you are looking for a slightly more vinegary bite. But the real delight is that the barbeque, the ribs, and the beef do not need any sauce at all. They are best as they come right from the pit. Try it that way before you add any sauces.
Then there is this other thing that is different from almost everyone else in South Carolina – his breakfast menu. Yes, breakfast. You can get a barbeque, cheese and egg biscuit as well as a brisket, egg and cheese biscuit. Plus they have the usual sausage and bacon and cheese biscuit and even a bologna biscuit. Or they can make one up to suit you. Then there are biscuits and gravy and just plain buttered biscuits. But were else are your going to get a barbeque biscuit or a barbecued beef biscuit? And remember, that’s 100 mile barbeque you are starting off your day with.
The Cock Pit is a real gift to the South Carolina midlands since the midlands is the heart of mustard based ‘que and does not generally offer any true vinegar and pepper style barbeque. The Cock Pit is 100 mile vinegar and pepper barbeque just waiting for you in this most unassuming location.
The Pink Pig
Address: 3508 South Okatie Hwy, Hardeeville, SC 29927
Phone: 843-784-3635
Web site: the-pink-pig.com
Cards: yes
Hours of operation: Tuesday-Wednesday and Saturday, 11:00am-3:00pm,
Thursday-Friday, 11-3 and 5-7:00pm
"A fun trip"
The Pink Pig is a bit out of the way but it’s not so far from I-95 or Savannah, Georgia that it can’t be gotten to easily enough. Indeed, the writers of Southern Living, Travel and Leisure and The Sandlapper Magazine, among others, have made the trek to taste the fare. And tasty it is.
The Pink Pig is a low country eatery which is near the coast so it offers Brunswick Stew as one of the sides with your meal or as a dish in itself (gets some), along with some sea food such as shrimp and flounder. They will also make up the standard hamburger and cheeseburger along with fish sandwich and chicken finger sandwich if you wish. But it’s the barbeque that you need to go for.
The Pink Pig has four different sauces on the table for you to try. They also automatically put some “original” sauce on the barbeque you order but you don’t want them to do that, so be sure to tell them to leave the sauce off. That way you can try a little bit of each of the four sauces on your barbeque and see which one you like best. It’s fun!
The four sauces are: Low Country Fire which is a bit spicy but it isn’t as hot as its name implies and is more like a Pee Dee thick tomato sauce; Original Honey Mustard in which I didn’t taste any honey but it was very good anyway; Original Gullah Spice which is a red sauce and Sweet Vermont Sauce (Vermont!, how did Vermont get in there?) which is, as you would expect, quite sweet. All of the sauces tasked like quality so you decide which one you like best.
The pork is slow cooked and it is as juicy and tender as you will ever find it. The flavor is such that after experimenting with all of the sauces I ate mine without any sauce to distract me from the flavor of the meat.
The Pink Pig offers a few sides but they are the usual ones you need such as Baked Beans, Coleslaw, French Fries, Hush Puppies and the mentioned Brunswick Stew. I recommend the Hush Puppies and Stew, by the way, but they were all good.
But it’s the barbeque you come for and that is the treat. It may not be 100 mile barbeque but it is certainly worth the trip.
Ronnie's Ribs
Address: 2435 Main St, Elgin, SC 29045
Phone: 803-438-8522
Cards: yes
Hours of operation: Monday-Friday, 11:00 – 8:00; Saturday 11:00 – 9:00pm.
"Probably the best ribs in the whole state."
Ronnie’s Ribs is relatively new. It has been there for about three years and those have all been recession years so things have been tough. One can only hope that Ronnie holds out until the good times because he puts out what are quite possibly the best ribs I’ve ever had served in a restaurant and when you consider that I live near 100 Mile Belly’s in Lexington and had to pass two 100 Mile Maurice’s to get to Ronnie’s, that’s saying something.
Ronnie’s is takeout only although they do have one picnic table under a roof off to the side of their building.
His prices are reasonable and his barbeque is very good. He makes his own mustard style sauce that is quite good and it actually goes with the barbeque, but his barbeque and ribs don’t need any sauce, so when you order tell them to put the sauce on the side. He will and he will give you plenty of sauce in small plastic containers.
Elgin is still quite small since Columbia has not grown out that far yet, but it has two barbeque houses in it. It must serve more barbeque per capita than any town in South Carolina including Leesville (which has Hite’s and Shealy’s), but which is much larger. Elgin is also the home of Smokehouse Restaurant, which is right across the street from Ronnie’s. I’m sure that Smokehouse is very stiff competition (see the review for Smokehouse). If Smokehouse served ribs like Ronnie’s then it would unquestionably be a 100 mile barbeque restaurant.
Unfortunately, Smokehouse doesn’t serve those magnificent ribs and Ronnie’s is not a sit-down restaurant. Too bad.
If I were headed to a tailgate party and was within 50 miles of Ronnie’s I would load up on his ribs. If so, my tailgating friends would be singling my praises for years to come.
Ronnie’s is, without a doubt, 100 mile ribs. You have simply got to try some.
Smokehouse Restaurant
Address: 2436 Main Street, Elgin, SC 29045-8999
Phone: 803) 438-3249
Web site: http://www.smokehouserestaurant.org/
Cards: yes
Hours of operation: Friday-Saturday, 11-9; Sunday 11-2:30, Thursday is Seafood Night, 11-9:00pm
"A truly 'fine dining' experience."
In Elgin, SC, in Kershaw County just over the Richland County line, there used to be a barbeque house named Hammy’s. It had a large and loyal following. They served up a great buffet and they had the best banana pudding, bar none, in the whole state. But, after years of dishing it out, the owner retired.
Now that same restaurant is under new ownership and it is called Smokehouse Restaurant.
The name Smokehouse is similar to a good many other barbeque restaurants, but don’t be lulled into complacency by the name. Smokehouse is a star in our barbeque firmament. It is one of the only two barbeque houses in the whole state (the other being Shuler’s in Latta, SC) that I’ve said I wish were in my home town.
I had to drive slightly over 50 miles to get to Smokehouse (51.4 to be exact) and, in truth, it isn’t true 100 mile barbeque, but it certainly is 50 mile barbeque and the whole restaurant experience is worth driving even farther than that.
First of all, as we entered I saw a man with a mike in his hand and some loud speakers on stands. Since there was no band there I assumed that he was a DJ. Once we helped ourselves at the buffet and sat down the music cranked up. We were behind a wall and I had my back towards where the music was coming from so I couldn’t see him. After about four songs I assumed the DJ was playing from an album since the voice was the same on each song. It was only a bit later that I realized he was doing the singing himself, karaoke style! Listening to it I thought it was some big-time country music star that was being played. What a great voice, and I generally don’t like to have music playing when I’m having supper, but he was an unexpected treat.
But, if the music was the “first thing” I noticed the food was the encore.
Smokehouse has a few extra touches that others don’t have and they are so good I wish all of them followed their example.
For instance, they have fried cornbread. That takes time and talent and I’ve never seen it anywhere else. My wife, who loves fried cornbread, commented that it was almost as good as mine, which is actually a fine compliment.
And while they have a dessert bar (I was way too full to try it) I saw peach cobbler on it that appeared to be made in the restaurant. But the biggest surprise in the dessert arena was the waitress who brought around a tray of hot doughnuts fried up fresh from the kitchen and dished out all we wanted. Now I consider myself something of a doughnut aficionado and I’m telling you, those were as good as I’ve ever put in my mouth and I’ve had some of the fanciest doughnuts in some of the fanciest places you can imagine.
As I say, at Smokehouse you find things that you don’t see in other places.
But what about the barbeque, you might ask? Well, it was fine, better than average but the real treat was the two shoulders they put out, without any sauce, just as they come from the pit, and you get to pick the meat yourself. My advice is to forget the standard barbeque on the buffet line and go for the picking. It was very, very good.
They had ribs on the buffet and while they were pretty good they were the soaked-in-sauce type one too often finds on buffets, as was the barbeques chicken. Good but not great.
They had fried chicken and they even had catfish stew (shades of the Pee Dee) which I sniffed but didn’t try. I was too busy going back to pick more of that shoulder meat.
They even had a baked potato bar with all the fixings there for you to make up your potato just the way you like it, but, again, I was too full of barbeque, rice and hash, and assorted other vegetables to attempt that.
Speaking of vegetables, the butterbeans were very good and cooked without sugar. The collards had only a touch of sugar, but not enough to interfere with their taste. There were mashed potatoes, chicken gravy, fried okra, corn on the cob and more. But it was the barbeque straight from the pit, the fried cornbread and the doughnuts that stole the show.
They have three kinds of sauce; there is vinegar and pepper that is pretty good, a sweetish mustard that is actually better than I expected, and a thick red sauce that tasted like an institutional sauce improved a bit. The only one that didn’t detract from the barbeque was the mustard sauce. But forget the sauces. Go for the picked shoulder, have some hash and rice, a couple of fried cornbreads, a few doughnuts and you will see what truly “fine dining” is.
As we headed for the door the singer (Julian Brown who has some CDs available) was singing “How Great Thou Art,” which was actually the first hymn he had mixed in with his soft country selections. I put a nice tip in his tip jar and gave him thumbs up. Yes, how great it was.
Smoking Stokes BBQ
Address: 1622 Augusta St., Greenville, SC
Phone: 864-242-9716
Web site: http://smokinstokesbbq.com/
Cards: yes
Hours of operation: Mon-Thursday, 11-3; Friday 11-8; Saturday, 11-5
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"Barbeque like that found at championship cook-offs."
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The first thing I noticed about Smoking Stokes BBQ is that I had to park around the corner because the parking at this strip mall restaurant is remarkably limited.
The second thing I noticed when I went in was all the trophies that lined the walls around the restaurant. The owner of Smoking Stokes was on the cook-off circuit for years and has, literally, won hundreds of trophies. In fact, in 2000, back when the SC state championship was still being held in Charleston, he was named State Champion. (Now the SC State Champion is named by the South Carolina Barbeque Association after a year-long contest over 35 different events around the state in which winning teams are awarded points based on their placement in those contests.)
But the third thing I noticed about Smoking Stokes was how good the barbeque is.
Smoking Stokes has lots of regular followers in Greenville (they were voted Best of Greenville back in 2003) and he serves up a big plate of barbeque with or without sauce, as you request. Request it without, by the way, and then try his sauces, all of which are quite interesting and most of which are very good.
Smoking Stokes lives up to its name in another way; you can really taste the smoke. Which reminds me, I’ve found it interesting that in the Pee Dee every restaurateur that I’ve asked (and that’s a fair number) tells me that their customers don’t like their barbeque to be too smoky, whereas in the up-state the people seem to like a healthy dose of hickory and oak smoke. It’s simply a regional difference that one should be aware of.
But, as I was saying, you get real championship style barbeque at Smoking Stokes and the sides are all good, at least all of those I had. The ribs were superb.
The next time I went in I didn’t mind having to park across the street and walking a bit.
