Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [114]
The GA Pig
Route 17 and I-95 (Exit 29 for Jekyll Island)
912–427–2628
Brunswick, GA
LD | $
On the sign of the GA Pig you see a merry pig playing a fiddle and doing a jig. You, too, will dance for joy when you eat at this oh-so-convenient restaurant just yards from the exit ramp off Interstate 95. The perfume of hickory and sweet meat that laces the air tells you that you are in pork country; and GA Pig pork, slow-cooked over hickory wood, basted with a tongue-teasing red sauce, then hacked into juicy hunks and shreds to be served on a platter or stuffed into a sandwich, is soul-of-the-South classic. There are ribs, too, a joy to gnaw, and on the side, sorghum-sweet barbecue beans.
A fun place to stop, the GA Pig is log-cabin rustic with picnic-table seating and a genuine pine grove set back from the road for al fresco dining. Eating here is a welcome break from the monotony of highway travel, or if you are really in a hurry, you can get anything to go and pig out as you drive along the highway. However you experience the GA Pig, we guarantee you will find a sweet place for it in your bank of culinary memories.
Harold’s Barbecue
171 McDonough Blvd. SE
404–627–9268
Atlanta, GA
LD | $
Harold’s is one of the South’s grand old smoke pits, with a reputation built on velvet-soft sliced pork, racks of meaty ribs, and bowls of old-fashioned Brunswick stew. Outside a cheerful pig in sunglasses occupies the sign by the side of the road—a beacon of comfort in an otherwise scary neighborhood near Atlanta’s federal prison. Although it is a stark building with bars on every window, Harold’s interior has a comforting patina of age and hickory smoke. The wood-paneled walls are hung with earnest religious homilies, including this one above the door to the rear dining room: “God has time to listen if you have time to pray.”
Tables are comfortable, but we much prefer seats at the worn black counter to the right as you enter. Here you see the wood-fired pit, where just-sliced barbecue is heated over hot coals and white bread for sandwiches is toasted until light brown. It is a mesmerizing sight, unchanged for decades.
The sliced pork is unbelievably tender and fairly glowing with the subtle perfume of wood smoke; pork ribs come as a magnificent rack—ultra-thick, heavily glazed with beguiling sauce, their crusty-lush meat pulling off the bone in messy strips. On the side of any platter come squares of excellent, gritty-textured corn bread and a small bowl of Brunswick stew loaded with meat, corn, and tomato shreds. A couple of items we’ve yet to try off Harold’s menu, but hope to someday: barbecue salad (green salad topped with pork and sauce) and a stew dog (a hot dog blanketed in Brunswick stew).
Hot Thomas’ Barbeque and Peach Orchard
3753 Hwy. 15
706–769–6550
Watkinsville, GA
LD Mon–Sat | $
Hot Thomas’ used to be only a peach orchard. It’s still in the middle of fruit-growing country, and inside the restaurant you can buy jams, chutney, and syrup made from peaches and bearing the Hot Thomas brand.
The main reason for coming to this sunbleached white building in Watkinsville, outside Athens, is to eat pork. Step up to the counter and order a plate, and while it is being assembled, nab yourself a Coke or Mr. PiBB from the cooler.
Find a seat and fork into delicious hickory-cooked pork, hacked to smithereens with a good measure of “Mr. Brown” (crusty dark meat from the outside) laced among the supple, sweet pieces from the center of the shoulder. Traditional Georgia side dishes to accompany this lovely entree (really, the only one on the menu) include Brunswick stew (a kind of tomato-onion-and-some-other-vegetable mélange with a mild pork flavor), sweet coleslaw, and soft white bread suitable for dunking in the stew and mopping up hot sauce. The sauce is available mild, hot, and extra hot, that last one being extra hot with a breathtaking pepper punch. Like the peach products, sauce is available in bottles to take home.
Len Berg’s
240 Old Post Office Alley
912–742–9255
Macon, GA
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