Name: Porkey’s Bar-B-Que
Date: 12/5/14
Address: 805 W Lebanon St, Mt Airy, NC 27030
Order: Pork barbecue tray
Price: ~$7

Have I ever told you, dear readers, how great Mrs. Monk is? Bear with me a minute, but of all of the restaurants I visit for this blog I drag her to close to 75% of them. And while I think she likes barbecue well enough, I do think she’d prefer to mix in a Mexican or southern restaurant a little more often. But of course, I always try to find a new barbecue restaurant when we travel and she usually obliges my obsession, whether she’s in the mood for barbecue or not.

I mention this because for a short weekend trip to visit Yadkin Valley wineries to celebrate our wedding anniversary, I brought up the possibility of stopping by a wood smoked barbecue joint I had spotted on my NC BBQ Map. And while I don’t think she was exactly thrilled about it, she once again humored her barbecue-obsessed husband.

As we pulled into Porkey’s BBQ on a Friday evening, we first wondered if it was open since there didn’t seem to be much activity in the restaurant or parking lot. This, after passing several other joints that were packed, didn’t leave Mrs. Monk exactly thrilled with our dinner restaurant choice. But with a little convincing we went inside and ordered.

Inside, a bright and colorful diner interior looked as if it hadn’t changed in maybe 40 years (or however long this building had been standing) – my guess is that it probably hadn’t. The menu boards were the old black ones with the white letters and I’m sure there is a bucket of extras somewhere in the back. We’ve been to some posh or yuppie-fied barbecue restaurants in our travels, but this definitely wasn’t one of those.

The main attraction in choosing Porkey’s was the fact they smoke over wood, and that came through in the barbecue. It had the right consistency and was moist and smoky. Being a Lexington-style joint, there was also a nice amount of bark in the pork. The two table sauces were of the thicker variety, and after trying both I’d suggest not using them. Use the table side Texas Pete’s instead.

Porkey’s had some of the smallest hush puppies I’ve seen, but the size didn’t mean they lacked flavor – quite the opposite in fact. They had both a red and white slaw available, and the tangy, crunchy red slaw on my sandwich was a perfect compliment. The fries were fresh out of the fryer and were fine, but unfortunately the mac and cheese was pretty disappointing. Mrs. Monk guessed it was probably velveeta poured on top of the noodles, and she likely wasn’t far off.

Porkey’s BBQ is the only wood smoked joint in the Mount Airy area, and based on this meal I can recommend it if you are visiting wineries in the area (which we enjoyed greatly the following day despite some less than ideal weather). A big thanks to Mrs. Monk for putting up with me and my silly barbecue obsession, and here’s to many more anniversaries and barbecue joints with her…though with maybe with a couple Mexican restaurants thrown in there too.

–Monk

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 4 hogs
Pork – 4 hogs
Sides – 3.5 hogs
Overall – 4 Hogs