Second Review Of Hog Heaven Bar-B-Q 2419 Guess Road Durham, NC By H. Kent Craig Initially Reviewed on February 2005; New Review (Below) Written & Affirmed in November of 2005 {click here to go to the original review}

Well, good folks, my frequent barbecue lunch dining companion Russell Smith & I did go back to Hog Heaven Barbecue in Durham after I've received many disagreeing emails about my initial unfavorable review of them in February of this year and the bottom line is: nothing has changed, including mine and Russell's original opinions of it, the excuse for barbecue they serve there is still just as bland, just as tasteless, just as absolutely ordinary to borderline-bad-tasting depending on which mouthful happens to hit your tongue as it was all those months ago.

I still don't get why HH was voted "Best BBQ In The Triangle By Readers Of The Independent Weekly Magazine" for the years 2004 & 2005 respectively by the readers of The Independent or whatever their claimed local poll-winning awards were.

Am I still missing something that apparently hundreds of other local barbecue patrons see/taste that puts Hoggie Hell over and above such other in-town stalwart true 4-pig rated by anyone's standards barbeque institutions of Bullock's and Byrd's? Maybe I am missing something, but whatever that something is, perhaps I'm glad I'm missing it.

My barbecue was so bottom-of-the-shoe-sole tasteless that even after slathering it with a redcoat of Texas Pete, all I could taste was the 'Pete and what barbecue taste did come through (and I had eaten about ten or twelve healthy bites before going to the last resort of adding enough Texas Pete to make my poor rear protest later) was, well, not as bad as Allen & Son but near-wince-making enough to where I had to wash it down with healthy slurps of their dark and rich sweet tea, their sweet tea being the one saving grace of their fare.

And poor old Russell, even after absolutely drowning his similar barbecue tray to mine with a swimming pool's worth of their in-house-recipe Lexington-Style sauce, complained openly that the 'cue wasn't even a decent base for their okay-level-Western-NC-Style sauce, that like my shared gestalt simultaneous experience what meat flavor he could taste underneath the sauce (and he had eaten about a third of his before deciding to drown it, as I had) either was beyond bland or even unpleasant.

Gentle and loyal readers, it's my job to inform you of my opinions and my experiences I have about different barbecue places, and yes, I was a bit hypocritical the first time around by doing a review of Hog's Hoodoo on the basis of just one visit but I genuinely was so disappointed I didn't see the need of going back. Well, so many months and a true open mind on my return visit later, my opinion of the place if anything has gone downhill even worse than the first time around. In the words of friend Russell which he asked me to include: ". . . while it's truly not completely awful, it's definitely not worth the money or the time coming to Hog Heaven, and it is bad and bland enough to where if you had a half-pig checkoff point, I'd give it a one-and-a-half pig rating, not even a full two-pig designation." That's all that needs to be said.

If you disagree with the above, feel free to voice your opinion either with complete anonymity or you may sign your name or handle as you wish, by going to my totally in-house NC BBQ Forum by clicking here , and yes, anything short of completely profane rants full of cuss words are welcome no matter how strongly you disagree (or agree) with me on this or any other review posted here at my website.



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