Smokin’ Pig

There are 3 things outside of God, family, and friends that I love. And that’s Beef, Pork, and Chicken. And of the Pork fam, Bacon tops the list with Baby Back Ribs and Pulled Pork (Kalua Pork in Hawaii) coming in tied for a close second place. Sometimes I think I should’ve been born down South and not in Hawaii because I love BBQ so much!
Which brings me to the Smokin’ Pig. I’ve seen it many times before while frequenting the food cart pod that it’s located in; however, I was always craving Korean tacos so I never made a stop until this one chilly afternoon while running errands in the area.
The menu is very simple, almost too simple. You’ve got pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, and cole slaw. In fact, they don’t even have soda or water for sale? Now that’s simple! You’ve got a choice of mild, medium or hot. And there’s two sauces, Carolina and something else. I chose to go with the Carolina which is sweet and tangy with a bit too much mustard.
The pork itself was fairly decent — according to the guy, it was slow cooked for 10 hours — but I think the sauce ruined it for me. I ordered the «jumbo» size sandwich and for $ 4.50 I thought it was a steal. That is, until I saw it. Another big letdown. And to top it off, the bread was your basic cheap supermarket brand hamburger bun which was a bit dried out and stale.
I really wanted to like this place, if anything, just for the name. How could you not love a place called Smokin’ Pig? But it honestly wasn’t that good. Sorry.

I’ve been dancing around this cart for over 2 years, never wanting to make the leap and order from a cart that to be honest, looked sketch.
After an amazing pork-​experience @ Clay’s Smokehouse yesterday, I was jonesing for more. Gave in and ordered the pulled pork with South Carolina sauce. Got the platter because a friend told me it’s the best bang-​for-​buck option.
Was a little apprehensive, about the whole thing. Generally I like the people inside the cart to be friendly or at least efficient. The guy greeted me but it felt like I was returning movies @ Blockbuster. Completely impersonal transaction.
The pork itself was good, almost wished I’d gotten it dry with sauce on the side. Sauce was good and mustardy, but was drowning the flavor and texture of the pork. The bun was awful, stale and dry and out of a pack of 30 from Costco. Boo. There are so many great bakeries whose bread could’ve really kicked the sandwich up a notch.
The platter comes with 2 sides, and from the sounds of previous reviews it’s typical that they’ll be out of at least one of the four sides. I got the potato salad and coleslaw.
Was pleased with the coleslaw — crispy and vinegary — but it really could’ve used a little more zing. I piled it on top of the pork and ate it with a fork and was much happier. If I ever go again, i’ll order just the pork (if possible) with coleslaw on top and nix the rest.
Wish I could say otherwise but all my interaction with potato salad in PDX have been pretty unexciting. Undercooked potatoes, slathers of mayo based dressing, little or no extras like pickles, egg and onion.
This place was no exception but they did try to dress it up by adding something pink. I don’t think it was a spice or mustard, because it tasted like regular picnic salad.
Overall, meh. Not super impressed and it will probably be awhile if I ever go back.

Had the pulled pork sammich platter (+ 2 sides) with «medium» sauce. It was pretty much as advertised, and $ 7.
The sandwich wasn’t really assembled, though, just a pile of pork with a bun thrown on top. This was kinda tricky to put together while balancing on my lap on a park bench.
The sides were baked beans and cole slaw (they were out of potato salad…) The cole slaw was different, had a tangy poppyseed-​dressing type of sauce on it, and it was still crunchy, so that’s a big plus with me. Baked beans were meh — tasted like they were straight out of a can, even though I could see that they had them simmering in a saucepan.
Dude behind the counter wasn’t super friendly, but nice enough. I’d stop here again.

I feel bad because there are so many options at the carts but no matter how many times I peruse the other menus I keep coming back for the pork!
Mild sauce pulled pork sandwich with a side of baked beanss and life is good. Perfect amount of sauce and just the right size so I know I’ve had a good lunch but don’t want to crawl under my desk for a nap midafternoon. The crew is always friendly and even funny sometimes and the prices are good. It’s an easy choice to make!

When I was a college kid, my appetite was enormous. I never had leftovers. I could never get portions big enough. I KILLED IT at buffets and all-​you-​can-​eat wing nights.
Those days, are behind me. My metabolism is slower, I drink expensive beer, I might see Haley’s comet one more time (if I’m lucky). I always have left-​overs. I make almost every meal into two (I can comfortably stretch a meal at Screendoor into 3)…
Having said that, Smokin’ Pig did not fill me up… at all. I got the platter, which consisted of a pulled-​pork sandwich and two sides (I got coleslaw and beans). I could’ve quite easily eaten two.
How is the pork? Well, it’s pretty alright. It’s also pretty cheap (the platter was only $ 6). The bun was bleach-​white Costco faire (but that’s necessary to be «authentic» in the BBQ biz)
So why the two stars? Well, there are so many other delicious treats around this cart, for the same price, and they will definitely fill you up.
Also: Hillbilly Bento is very close by. They offer some of the best pulled pork I have ever had, their portions are much bigger, the sides are huge, the cost is the same (technically cheaper at $ 5.95), AND they except credit cards (including American Express, which pretty much no one in Portland excepts).
This place isn’t bad, but given all these factors I simply cannot justify coming here.
(that’s what she said)

A packed day it was at the food carts since the sun burned away the clouds. There wasn’t a line at the pulled pork cart so I asked for a sample. I went for the medium BBQ sauce as a taster tester and it was pretty good with a little heat kicked in afterwards. I bumped it up a notch and went for the combo platter with the hot sauce instead. For my sides I picked the baked beans and cole slaw. Within in a minute later my dish arrived and I was ready to devour.
I liked that the bun was on the side so I could put in as much meat as I wanted without «ahem» attempting to slop all over. I somewhat succeeded until one of my friends said some of it landed at the bottom of my shirt… The cole slaw was delicious simply because they didn’t drench it with the typical mayo. The citrus vinaigrette added a nice touch and that was the first item gone.
I then made my sandwich and ate in silence. I saved some of the pork to mix it in with the baked beans. It certainly boosted the baked beans flavor and heat for me. The pork is very tender and I didn’t think it was dry. The hot BBQ sauce certainly packs some heat even after I finished the sandwich. The portions and for the price of $ 6 certainly satisfied by appetite. The service was very friendly and they didn’t mind when I kept going back for more napkins due to the sloppiness I endured.

I want to give Smokin’ Pig four stars, but…
The Pros first: Very affordable prices (pulled pork salads are $ 5ish, platters are $ 6), great downtown location, decent portions, and generally good and often great food quality. I think the cole slaw is fabulous – fresh, snappy, with tons of texture and citrusy and mustardy tangy sweetness. The barbecue sauces are damned good as well; I also grew up in the south, and the mixing of their sweet and mildly spicy sauces is on par with some of the better barbecue joints and school cafeterias I ate at as a kid in Atlanta. The pork itself is often good – the meat’s beautifully seasoned with some mustard notes in addition to the basic barbecue set-​up – but I agree with other reviews who indicated that it’s a little on the dry side. That said, I don’t always want melt-​in-​your-​mouth pork (Delta Café delivers every time on that front); in a perverse bout of nostalgia, the slightly chewy pork is exactly reminiscent of my elementary school cafeteria’s barbecue pork sandwiches. Which is a complement. Elementary school cafeterias in the south achieve culinary brilliance with their barbecue pork and fried okra. Everything else they serve is poison.
I digress.
The mehs: The beans are basic. Tasty, but nothing that’ll knock your socks off. I don’t have a problem with that – I think they serve as a nice «baseline» that allows the pork and cole slaw to shine.
The cons: The staff can be up-​beat and friendly or cliquish and brutish (in that they’ll bail on waiting on you to wait on friends who cut ahead of you), and I’m not surprised by the other reviewer’s comments about their inconsistencies of availability. Whatever, though: Those kinds of hit/​miss uncertainty and half-​present attentiveness are standard operating parameters downtown.
That said, I’ll be back. It’s damned good barbecue pork.

pulled pork sandwich for dinner stand out was the bbq sauce and fries from the stand across the lot.

It was good but the small was too small. I would have gotten the larger size but he said he only had enough for a small. Then after he gave it to me he said oh I guess I have more than I thought.
There are better pulled pork sandwiches around town both food carts and restaurants. Try the Portland Soup Company cart, the cart at the PSU farmers market or Russel Street BBQ to name a few.

This is the best bbq pulled pork sandwich I’ve had in Portland. All the sauces are made from scratch. When I stopped by, I was given a very generous sample and was immediately sold.
Stick your fork in this pork for fine swine dining.

I’m convinced there’s no place in Portland that serves BBQ like I’ve had in Kansas City or Austin. So let’s just preface this review with that.
I got the pulled pork plate: lots of pork with two hamburger buns, side of cole slaw and a side of beans. The beans were beans. The coleslaw was really good (I’m usually not a fan) with a tasty tangy flavor. The pork was a mixed bag. I enjoyed it, but really hoped the next bite was the magical tender one instead of the chewier been-​sitting-​too-​long-​on-​top-​of-​the-​cooker one.
They have several sauces: mild, medium, hot and then a mustard version called the Carolina (North or South, I can’t remember). I got the mustard one and love it.
I love my BBQ and this place is as good as any other Portland establishment.

Ah the Smokin’ Pig. You toy with my emotions more than any other cart. As a former resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia, I was exposed to countless pulled pork sandwiches. The «Jumbo, with slaw» is right up there with the best of ‘em.
The only downside to this cart is you never know what you’re going to get. In the 8 – 10 visits, I’ve walked away empty handed 50% of the time. Literally empty handed because they didn’t have any food. Excuses have ranged from «We forgot to turn on the oven» to «Sorry Bro, i didn’t get up in time to prep the meat.» With a 15 hour cook time, it seems you would develop a system to ensure a smooth process. Maybe that’s why they are still working out of a cart instead of a store front. With their quality BBQ and emphasis on pulled pork, the Pig should be able to establish a successful catering service. Perfect to take with you to any tailgater.
The unpredictable nature of availability of food adds slightly to the mystique, but hampers my ability to give it five stars.

Okay, admittedly there isn’t a whole lot of pulled pork I DON’T like, but I will say the Jumbo Pulled Pork Sandwich (mild, no slaw) has been my safety lunch for the past three months of working in downtown Portland (only to recently be replaced by Tabor’s schnitzelwich). To the point where, instead of asking «where are you going to lunch?» my colleagues ask «off to get your pulled pork?»
The Smokin’ Pig doesn’t disappoint. I think the $ 1 sides are a bit extravagant compared to the $ 3.50 — $ 4.50 sandwiches, but other than that, I can’t complain. And they offer up free samples for the skeptics, so worth the walk by.

Rationally speaking, a cart called Smokin’ Pig would hold no appeal for me.
First off, not a big fan of smoke. Cough cough… I apparently have pansy lungs. Fine. And moreover, I generally tend to avoid pig, whether it be the literal consumption of their various edible bits, or as a figure of speech for other subjects. (I will however make exceptions if they are wearing lipstick…)
Eff rationality… Smokin’ Pig is divine. (Must be the BBQ lipstick I am now adorning.)
Tender, oh so tender-​piggy-​piggy pulled pork. Spicy, tangy, thick BBQ sauce. Soft potato buns. Feisty, confident, sample-​pushin’ owner. So magical. So perfect. So nice on the piggy bank.
Oink.

i got so excited when i saw this place. «tennessee-​style bbq» said the sign. as i have found it ETREMELY rare to find this outside of the volunteer state, i spent the next several weeks trying to find the time to get over to 5^th & stark, all the while anticipating the taste of home.
ugh. what a disappointment. for starters, they don’t even have cornbread or corncakes. in tennessee, bbq is nearly always served with corn-​cakes. sometimes cakes are used instead of a bun for the sandwich. as it is a food truck, i was willing to look past this oversight, so i moved on to the rest of the menu.
i didn’t really want a ton of food so i just got a regular pulled pork sandwich (about $ 3) with a side of mild sauce. as soon as he started to make it, i knew i was in for a disappointment. as he pulled the tong-​full of meat out of the chaffing dish, a stream of liquid flowed downward.
allow me to enlighten the uninitiated: tennessee pulled pork is very simple. the meat is smoked and then pulled/​shredded (usually by hand). that’s it. any sauce is kept off of the meat until it makes the transition to a sandwich or plate. it’s all about the smoke-​filled, porky goodness.
perhaps in denial that all was not lost, i took the first bite. the texture of the meat was good (hence 2 stars) so at least the sandwich was edible. however there was very little smoky goodness to be had. it made me wonder if the meat was roasted, rather than smoked. the aforementioned dripping liquid turned out to be very sweet, further obstructing the pure flavor of the pork.
needless to say, i won’t be going back for more.
also, i’m pretty sure this is the end of my non-​south bbq quest. guess i’ll just have to get my fill at home.

Pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and soda for $ 5! I love food trucks.
The guy even ran out and did a little shake-​shake dance with a tub of coleslaw for our entertainment. We applauded.
After we left with our bags of pork, the owner addressed the waiting customers (surely regulars) with a loud, cheerful, «OK, what do you want, fuckers!»