Fred Sauceman: Little Pigs: An Asheville institution for over 60 years

The restaurant scene in Asheville, North Carolina, changes almost daily. But there has been one constant since 1963. Little Pigs BBQ, on McDowell Street, is — as best the owners can figure — the city's oldest continuously operating restaurant in the same family. When Joe and Peggy Swicegood opened Little Pigs across from Asheville High School, it was part of a chain of restaurants across the South. When that franchise dissolved, the Swicegoods began operating Little Pigs as an independent restaurant. Joe had worked for the telephone company and had done some surveying, so he knew the prime spots in the city, and 384 McDowell was one. Not only is it near the high school, it sits almost right in front of Mission Hospital. Swicegood said that location resulted in "automatic lunch," as hospital staff started lining up for barbecue trays and plates. Little Pigs manager Matt Thomas, who has been working at Little Pigs since 1991, says the cooking method there is simple. "We do hickory-smoked pork shoulders, with no rub and no sauce used in the cooking." He adds that the barbecued pork is chopped, not pulled or sliced. The sauce served today is made according to the Swicegood family's original recipe. Generally, as you head east across North Carolina, tomato content in barbecue sauces drops off and eventually disappears with the vinegar-and-pepper sauces of the far eastern part of the state. The Little Pigs sauce is a signal of that change. It's about 75% vinegar, with some tomato sauce and some mustard seeds, and a few secrets. Another North Carolina touch at Little Pigs, which becomes even more prevalent in the Piedmont section of the state, is the hushpuppy as a barbecue side dish. Slaw, however, is another story. Unlike Piedmont slaws seasoned with ketchup, vinegar and hot sauce, the Little Pigs slaw is mayonnaise-based, similar to slaws served at places like East Tennessee's Ridgewood. And it is served on the barbecue sandwich. As central as pork barbecue is to the Little Pigs experience, there are some days when broasted chicken outsells it. The Swicegoods added broasted chicken to the menu around 1969, and it took off. The chicken is pressure-fried in peanut oil for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, creating a moist inside and a crispy outside. A World War II veteran, Joe Swicegood, who died in 2018, played football at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and his love of sports is still evident in his family's restaurant. Among the pictures on the "Sports Wall" is one of basketball star Michael Jordan, who came to Little Pigs for a private party. His college roommate at UNC, Buzz Peterson, who graduated from Asheville High School, brought him there. Little Pigs still occupies the original building. Although it suffered no damage during Hurricane Helene, the restaurant was without power and water for a month and a half. True to its history, though, the business survived and has returned to its prior level of service. Little Pigs is still driven by Joe Swicegood's World War II-era work ethic. On the menu and on the wall, his words are immortalized: "You have to have good food, a clean place, good help, and you have to work hard." Fred Sauceman has written widely about barbecue, including the book "The Proffitts of Ridgewood: An Appalachian Family's Life in Barbecue."