Page 6 - Best of the Best 2016 Awards

6H • BEST OF THE BEST
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2016 • ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
MATT JOHNSON/ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Whole Hog Café cooks its meat in a 24-hour cycle, and although staff members clearly know their
way around a smoker, the restaurant still seeks to improve on its products.
BEST BARBECUE, BEST BARBECUE RIBS
Whole Hog Café >>
Restaurant continues to perfect championship recipes
To the staff at Whole Hog Café, craft- ing great barbecue is both an art and a science. Although the restau- rant’s award-winning recipes have garnered a loyal following, Whole Hog’s owners strive to make each meal better than the last.
That is one reason why readers of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette voted Whole Hog as Best Barbecue and Best Barbecue Ribs in the newspaper’s annual readers’ poll.
“We’re totally excited about it. That’s what we strive for every year — to make Best of the Best,” said co-owner Mike Davis, also known as “Sarge.”
Davis, Steve Lucchi and Ron Blasingame, who is now deceased, started Whole Hog on Little Rock’s Cantrell Road in 2000 after competing at barbecue championships as the Southern Gentlemen’s Culinary Society.
“We came in at the right time at the right place, and overnight, it became a success. It was that fast,” Davis said.
The company now has a 16-store fran- chise that stretches from New Jersey to New Mexico, and Davis partners with Blasingame’s wife, Kathy, and son-in-law, Chris Maynes, to run the establishment. The restaurant also employs a dedicated crew that works to serve barbecue that is
fit to be judged at a competition, Davis said. “I think what makes us stand out is that we cook fresh every day, 24 hours around the clock,” he said, adding that over a 24-hour cycle, choice cuts of meat are smoked for just the right amount of time and kept as fresh as possible until reaching customers’ plates. The process functions like clockwork, but Davis said he still tries out new recipes in order to
improve the final product.
“Once you set the bar, you’ve got to main-
tain the bar,” he said. “The only way you can stay at the top of your game is by ex- perimenting and trying to make what you’re doing better every day.”
Owners also monitor customer reviews online in search of feedback, he said, adding that managers may contact patrons who have written negative reviews in order to find ways to improve the dining experience.
“We’re the best because we have the greatest support in the world from the community around here. We have the great- est customers, and without customers, we wouldn’t be anything,” he said. “We strive to have 365 good days a year, but every once in a while, everyone has a bad day. So if we do have a bad day, we want them to tell us about it.”