RESTAURANT REVIEW + PHOTOS: Hawgz Blues Cafe satisfies soul

The Sunday Gospel Buffet at Hawgz Blues Cafe in North Little Rock is soul-food heaven, with chicken spaghetti, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken and cornbread.
The Sunday Gospel Buffet at Hawgz Blues Cafe in North Little Rock is soul-food heaven, with chicken spaghetti, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken and cornbread.

Fried chicken, green beans, cabbage, macaroni, mashed potatoes, rolls -- just some of the homey, comforting fare of a perfect, Southern, soul food Sunday lunch.

Hawgz Blues Cafe, the new restaurant in the John F. Kennedy Boulevard location that once housed a U.S. Pizza and Aydellote's, knows this. The Sunday Gospel Buffet ($21.99, $5.99 children 12 and under) is a streamlined and hearty take on what you used to eat at Meemaw's house after church.

On a Sunday visit to Hawgz with my wife last month, we took a few passes at the buffet and came away believers.

This is not one of those football-field-length buffets with a little bit of everything under heat lamps. The Hawgz spread, near the front door and manned by a pair of friendly servers, is limited. My wife compared it to the kind of options one would find spread out across the kitchen and sideboards at a large family gathering.

Fried and baked chicken are the Gospel Buffet mainstays, with a rotating cast of main dishes that includes meatloaf, salmon croquettes and chicken and dressing.

On this Sunday, chicken spaghetti and salisbury steak rounded out the choices. I steered clear of the fowl on my first trip through and went with a gravy-and onion-smothered steak, cabbage, green beans and rolls.

The ground steak was tough, but not so much so that it couldn't be cut with the edge of my fork. The obviously hand-patted beef had a peppery zip the gravy nicely complemented. The cabbage and beans were adequate; the rolls were fluffy and perfect for gravy-sopping.

My wife went with fried chicken and chicken spaghetti, the latter a longtime fixture on our at-home menu that was fun to encounter at a restaurant.

She was a fan of the fried chicken, which was crisp, juicy and had just the right amount of salty seasoning. The chicken spaghetti was creamy and, though it didn't seem to have enough flavor at first, seemed to get better with each bite.

Speaking of creamy, the macaroni and cheese is a gooey, golden delight.

I loaded up on chicken during my second pass through the buffet, specifically baked and fried thighs. The former was almost as good as its fried cousin, though my wife felt the crunchy, fried thigh was much better.

Dessert -- included in the buffet price -- was white cake and apple cobbler, fetched from a glass-enclosed carousel. The cobbler, served cold, was a disappointment. A warm spoonful with a dab of vanilla ice cream would have been perfect. The white cake could have been fresher, but was still a sweet little block of dessert happiness.

My wife's mimosa ($3) needed a couple of ice cubes, but once she added those from her glass of water, all was well, she said.

The buffet, 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m., is the star attraction on Sundays. We returned on a Wednesday night to see what else Hawgz had to offer.

The menu is diverse, but not overwhelming, including the Hawgz Blues Burger ($12.99), the Hawgz 8 Slice Pizza (starting at $8.99) and the Kountry Fried Catfish Dinner ($10.99). There's a good selection of barbecue entrees, including Hawgz Southern Smoked Ribs ($14.99 half rack, $22.99, full), Hawgz Smoked Chicken ($12.49) and sandwiches of pulled pork ($9.99) and brisket ($11.49).

The most intriguing item is Kristian's Cowboy Bone-In Ribeye Steak ($46.99), but we passed because it has to be ordered a week in advance. Next time, Hawgz. (There's also an 8-ounce filet for $29.99).

We started with an order of Hawgz Blues Nachos with Grilled Chicken ($12.99). These are not your favorite Mexican joint's nachos. These are multicolored tortilla chips topped with a handful of greens, pico de gallo, sour cream and jalapenos all drizzled with queso and barbecue sauce. The other topping choices are brisket ($12.99) and pulled pork ($11.99).

It seemed more salad than nachos, though that's not a gripe. The chicken was tender and moist, the sauce a bit sweet and the queso -- well, it was queso and that's always a good thing.

Service, by the way, was stellar. We ordered our appetizer and entrees at the same time. When my wife ordered her Classic American Cheeseburger ($10.99) sans onions and tomatoes, our server remembered this and delivered our nachos with the pico de gallo on the side (which I greedily overtook and doused all over my half of the plate). It was an attentive and thoughtful touch, indicative of our treatment throughout all visits.

I went with Hawgz Southern Smoked Brisket Dinner ($12.49). A traumatic experience with a leathery brisket in my early 20s turned me away from smoked beef, but I've recently come back around and am now open to the joys of slow-smoked cow breast when it's done right.

This order was just about there. Slightly tough, but exceedingly flavorful and dotted with little bites of fat that kept me looking forward to the next forkful, the brisket was a good call. Hawgz deserves special credit, too, for its tasty, creamy potato salad and terrific baked beans, which include bits of ground beef. My wife frequently stretched her fork across the table to scoop samples of both from my plate.

And while she was doing that, I was reaching for the thick, perfectly fried french fries that came with her burger.

That cheeseburger, she said, was just fine, with the right amount of salt and pepper on a soft but sturdy bun. She liked, too, that the pickles where chopped and chunky and not the typical slices.

Hawgz also regularly features music. No blues on this night, but a four-piece band played loose covers of popular country tunes while we ate, which was a nice touch. We were seated directly in front of them at first and when they began tuning up, we asked to be moved to the side, much more preferable. Blues and jazz-related art and photographs hang on the walls while sports is shown on the TV above the bar.

Parking is at the top of the hill behind the restaurant; there is ample handicapped parking closer to the door that doesn't require descending stairs.

Weekend on 07/06/2017

Hawgz Blues Cafe

Address: 5524 John F. Kennedy Blvd., North Little Rock

Hours: 11 a.m.-12:30 a.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-1:30 a.m. Friday-Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday

Cuisine: Barbecue, burgers, catfish, steak, Sunday Gospel Buffet, etc.

Credit cards: V, MC, AE, D

Alcoholic beverages: Full bar

Wheelchair accessible: Yes

(501) 478-6300

hawgzbluescafe.com

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