LITTLE ROCK — Narrowing down more than 40 local barbecue restaurants to a top three is a tiring yet delicious job. It also causes a lot of handwringing because several of the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place finishers in our individual judging round were just a half point in the texture, flavor or sauce ranking from advancing to the second round. Here are some of our near misses in no particular order:
Feastro’s
Barbecue might not be the main attraction at this little buffet-style diner in Sherwood that serves up home cooking like catfish and sides like fried okra and mac and cheese on a daily basis. The smoky meat on the pork sandwich was finely chopped and soaked in a syrupy sweet barbecue sauce that could turn any top athlete into a diabetic. No other place in town has a sauce as sweet and as incredibly addictive as Feastro’s. This reviewer thinks this sandwich is worth a taste, but only once. The ribs also looked mighty tempting and alone are probably worth a return trip.
Grandpa’s Bar B Que
Just northeast of downtown Cabot, where Second Street surrenders itself to a country, two-lane road sits Grandpa’s. This reviewer didn’t meet grandpa on his visit, and isn’t really sure if grandpa even exists, but what he did discover is Cabot’s best pulled pork sandwich. Finely chopped, the meat is very moist and so tender it almost melts away in the mouth. And the flavor is smoke-filled.
But the sauce? Man. The sauce is close to being the best in the area. The spicy sauce was great with a nice bite to it but not too sweet. And $3.75 for a regular sandwich? It feels like you’re stealing, considering the delectable taste of the pork.
Hog Pen
The meat here is served pulled and is the most tender, juicy meat among strong competition in Conway. If only the smoky flavor were a little more ambient, this would be at the top. As it is, it’s still among the best in the whole four-county metro. The sauce was an excellent mix, very sweet but heavy on black pepper to give it a little something extra, too. A beautiful combination that just barely comes short of being top of the class, particularly because of the incredible value: a regular sandwich is only $5, and that price includes two sides.
Jo-Jo’s Barbecue
The pulled pork sandwich had large chunks of smoky meat with the occasional crunch of tasty charred sections. The flavor was nearly perfect, and the meat was tender but inconsistently so. The slightly sweet and vinegary mild sauce (also available in medium and hot) brought all of the aforementioned flavors to a sweet harmony.
Also worth mentioning is the incredible homemade bread. It’s too bad we didn’t include sandwich buns in the judging because these almost dinner-roll-like buns at Jo-Jo’s would have easily catapulted this barbecue place into the second round of judging.
Meat Shoppe
Here are verbatim judging notes on Gravel Ridge’s local barbecue restaurant and meat market at the corner of Arkansas 107 and Fra Mar Drive: “Best advertiser of the bunch. A smoker located curbside on Arkansas 107, blowing the smell of freshly cooked meat across the intersection.”
The older brother of Kent’s Downtown in Little Rock’s River Market was close to the top three of the 12 barbecue restaurants this reviewer dined at, with that downtown smoker generating tender, smoke-infused meat. But even if he hadn’t been on a mission to dine there, this reviewer would have been forced to stop anyway. The smoke drifting across the intersection is not enough to be a driving hazard, but just enough to lure passers-by into the Meat Shoppe with the mouthwatering smell of smoking meat.
Whole Hog
There’s no doubt all the trophies lining the walls of the Cantrell Road location are well earned. One of the first places visited in this quest, Whole Hog was among the top contenders until some strong finalists just barely bumped it out of our taster’s top three. It ranked fourth on his list. The well-smoked meat was nice and tender, though just a hint dry. And while the selection of six sauces is varied and quite good, none jumped out like those rated among the best.
In our opinion, that’s not very much.