Excentric
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| May I Seat You? Food and More
by Lon Walters,
Staff Food TasterHog Wild of Sedona; 150 Highway 179, Suite 1, 928-204-5975.
Barbecue enjoys one of the more remarkable places in history. No doubt it was the first method to prepare foods long before the Food Channel introduced us to other far more complicated techniques. Records tell us this has been the cooking choice for homo sapiens well over 100,000 years.
In the America’s, as we moved our population from caves to stick-built structures, grilling and cooking with smoky flavorings became a dying art. Then came post World War II, with anxious young families departing city life to create new ones in the suburbs. Outdoor cooking reclaimed its roll and became the trendy thing, only this time for entertainment too. Portable cookers and fixed barbecues took over the task from campfires and hot rock pits. It no longer required a day of collecting to have enough fuel to cook dinner. Barbecue had hit the big time.
As a population of over-achievers, we developed a wide variety of dishes, and as we tend to do with most popular ventures, we also attempted to compartmentalize all this. While the list of barbecue recipes is endless, there are generally four accepted regions preparing their own unique flavors. Beginning with the Carolinas, the meat of choice is always pork, over hickory, then pulled or chopped and served with a sauce. In Memphis, we move to ribs, either pork or beef, cooked over charcoal. Texas steps up with, surprise, mostly beef cooked or smoked over mesquite, often served without sauce, just very crisp. Then, of course, America’s favorite, Kansas City. They fold in just about everything in the way of selected meats, and use lots of sauce. As an amalgamation of every other barbecue known to man, Kansas City ensures its success with smoking and grilling over hickory and charcoal. We have our own merger of methods right here, enter “Hog Wild” in Sedona.
Started a number of years ago in Chicago, Hog Wild ventured into the West with three locations in Verde Valley. Their Sedona location is the latest, operated by a local couple bent on trying a new adventure with some very good food. Open about seven months or so, they took a tried and true formula of preparation and seasonings to bring us some great barbeque. It is far less regional than many other barbeque restaurants - that is a good thing. The mix and match of ribs, pulled pork and brisket is worth the trip. I love variety.
The location has plenty of parking just south of the “Y.” On entry, there are windows with the names and comments from hundreds of customers. It’s a good way to kill a few minutes and when you’re leaving, easy to add your own scribing for all to read. The decor is basic, but in their defense I have never been in any barbeque restaurant in the country that was anything but. Seating is for about 60 or so, it’s comfortable and friendly, easy to relax after a hard day of scrambling up red rocks.
Their menu holds everything from pulled pork to baby backed ribs. For the non-bbq fan, there is chicken salad and hamburgers and such, too.
We have a number of friends who have tried Hog Wild, so we have favorable reports for just about everything they serve. The most popular with them, and us, is the pulled pork. While the most spectacular is certainly the one pound Pork Chop Dinner, one of my wife’s all time favorites. Choices are right and selection depends upon just how much you’re able to put away at one sitting. Sandwiches hold the same good meats as the dinners and range from $7 to a bit under $10. Even with these, you won't walk away feeling hungry.
Dinners are a bit pricey, from $14.95 for the spectacular one pound pork chop, to $44.95 for a Family Feast of just about everything.
However, the quality is superb, ribs are tender and tasty, the pulled pork is outrageously delicious and just how one can get a one pound pork chop so moist and perfectly done is a mystery to me. About the only thing not twisting our whistle was the beef brisket. Again, very tasty, but a bit chewy and not worth the effort if you like pulled pork too.
Rib, beef brisket and pulled pork dinners are available as carry out, but a better bet might be to take advantage of their deal to sell it by the pound. A full slab of ribs is $16.95, brisket is $10.25 a pound and pulled pork comes in at $9.75.
Hog Wild serves plenty of napkins, and you’ll need them with most dinners. They also encourage you to be greedy with the sauce, a container is sitting within reach at every table. So it’s possible to literally float your ribs in delicious bbq sauce if you’re so inclined.
These folks do a very nice job and keep their business spotlessly clean. We enjoyed the casual nature of the evening and brought home a pile of leftovers to do it again. I wouldn’t hesitate to take visiting friends from any barbeque area in the country to Hog Wild, it will stand up against any of them. Just be sure they are hungry.
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