Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Po' Pigs... a family affair

Petunia, pudding, Pee Dee Pepper.

Po' Pigs Bo-B-Q on Knox Abbott Drive gets better every time I visit, and is fast becoming one of my favorite buffets.

Tonight Mama treated Hannah Jane, the kids and me to some great barbecue, served up Po' Pigs style. As usual, they had good-time music playing in the kitchen, clean high-chairs at the ready, four varieties of Sandlapper sauces, and they came correct with variety of sides: squash casserole, creamed corn, okra & tomatoes, baked beans, green beans, rutebaga, cuke/vidalia/tomato salad, potato salad -- not to mention your basics like pulled pork, fried chicken, hash & rice, and cole slaw. All this, and never a line... there's even a drive-thru.

Petunia, with 14 teeth in her whole head, loves the barbecue, and has an affinity for the banana pudding that rivals my brother's prom date. Gervais Jr. doesn't quite have the wherewithal for solid food yet, but I could tell he wanted me to fasten the nipple of his bottle to the top of the Orangeburg Sweet sauce.

And here's a throw-away fact for you: the word cole slaw (also spelled without the space) comes from the Dutch "koolsla." Kool means "cabbage," and is rooted in the Latin caulis, and sla is shortened from the French salade, meaning "salad." Cabbage salad...who knew?

Gervais says, next time you get the hankerin' for good 'cue and decent koolsla, stop by Po' Pigs Bo-B-Q -- and put some Dutch on your fork.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

couldn't agree with you more...my wife and I have become Po'Pig regulars since they opened...I like having four sauce choices, but the cue's so moist you hardly need any sauce.

____________ said...

Gervais,
Where abouts in SC is PoPig located at?

Anonymous said...

Come on! Everyone knows "cole" is a derivitive of the German "kohl" or cabbage. As in Prime Minister Helmut Cabbage. This begs the question of the root of the vegetable name kohlrabi. Is that kosher cabbage? You know the the kids' song, "Ol' King Cabbage is a Merry Old Soul..."

Sometimes my brain changes channels and I can't find the remote.

Feel free to quote.

Word roots are a fascinating thing. Take Sanford for example. A combination of the noun San for sand, and Ford, as in cross, or ford the river or whatever. I wonder then if the people of SC realize the Gov's Bedouin roots with a name that translate out to "Cross the sand". Are the people OK with having a man that is such a security risk as governor?

Anonymous said...

...and surely everyone knows that kool is the name of the cigarette that contains menthol additives added by the government for the purpose of sterilizing black men. Come on!

You don't smoke cabbage man. Well, then again, can you get a buzz?

Anonymous said...

Michael,
Knox Abbott Drive in Cayce (or is it West Columbia?--I'm never quite sure where one leaves off and the other begins). Anyway, maybe about a mile west of the bridge across the Congaree River, on the south side of the street. SC Farm Bureau Office Building is directly opposite, I think. Convenient if you're going to something at Colonial Center, or if you have business at USC.

Laurin Manning said...

Gervais,

I ate at Po' Pigs today for the first time. Delicious!