hog wallow

After a long day of [me not yet working and H having to be at] work, it was time for Date Night! We decided to try a new place, one that I’d read about in our trusty SLC guidebook and which had been recommended to us by some young Porcupine patrons: the Hog Wallow Pub (3200 E Big Cottonwood Canyon Rd.). Apparently it’s got a bit of history and used to be all notorious back in the day; perhaps it’s still notorious later in the evening – there’s live music Thursdays through Saturdays but Friday’s entertainment was still setting up his equipment when we left – but it was pretty mellow when we were there.

We sat at the bar and split a pitcher of Uinta Cutthroat Pale Ale and while our guidebook didn’t say anything about the food (“The staff is friendly, the atmosphere relaxed and the regulars are interesting.”), we figured we’d give it a shot. They have a small smoker and serve barbeque on the weekends, so I had a half-slab of pork spare ribs. The bartender warned me that it was a LOT of food, but as the ribs didn’t come with any sides, I was able to finish with no problem. The ribs were super-tender and moist, the meat falling off the bones, although I thought they could have been smokier and were served with thin, store-bought sauce. H had a 10-inch “house” pizza (pepperoni, olives, onions, no mushrooms and about a field’s worth of garlic ) which he demolished in short order. I quote: “They sure like their garlic here.”

The atmosphere was indeed mellow with several large-ish tables settling in for the evening and the bar full of locals. There was an NBA game on one of the bar’s televisions but upon request one of the waitresses switched over to the PBR Finals in Las Vegas. That’s got to be proof that we’re way out west – when the clientele prefers bull-riding to basketball.