Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ is a

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...

restaurant in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

. Specializing in

pulled pork Pulled may refer to: * Pulled rickshaw, a mode of human-powered transport * Pulled wool, wool taken from a dead sheep * Pulled pork, an American dish * Pulled hamstring, a straining of the hamstring * Pulled elbow, an elbow injury * "Pulled", ...

barbecue and owned by Rodney Scott and Nick Pihakis, it opened in February 2017.

Description

The restaurant is in

, and can seat close to 128 diners.

Drive-through A drive-through or drive-thru (a sensational spelling of the word through), is a type of take-out service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products (or use the service provided by the business) without leaving their c ...

and delivery are also available. It specializes in

barbecue slow-smoked with

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

charcoal and served with a spicy vinegar sauce. Scott uses

MSG Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is a sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a flavor enhancer with a ...

, which he calls a "flavor maker", in his

spice rub Spice rub is any mixture of ground spices that is made to be rubbed on raw food before the food is cooked. The spice rub forms a coating on the food. The food can be marinated in the spice rub for some time for the flavors to incorporate int ...

. Other dishes on the menu include fried

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

, a

rib eye steak The rib eye or ribeye (known as Scotch fillet in Australia and New Zealand) is a boneless rib steak from the rib section. Description Ribeye steaks are mostly composed of the longissimus dorsi muscle but also contain the complexus and spi ...

sandwich,

spare ribs Spare ribs (also side ribs or spareribs) are a variety of ribs cut from the lower portion of a pig, specifically the belly and breastbone, behind the shoulder, and include 11 to 13 long bones. Meat and fat cover the bones. Spare ribs (pork) ar ...

, and

banana pudding Banana pudding (sometimes banana cream pudding) is a dessert generally consisting of layers of sweet vanilla-flavored custard, vanilla wafers or ladyfingers, and sliced fresh bananas which are assembled in a dish and served topped with whippe ...

History

Rodney Scott was raised in the hamlet of

Nesmith, South Carolina Nesmith is an unincorporated community in Williamsburg County, South Carolina, United States. It was a station on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (now CSX Transportation) line which was built about 1912. Today it consists of a post office, fire st ...

. His parents, Roosevelt and Ella, were hog farmers who opened the

Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized f ...

-based Scott's Variety Store and Bar-B-Q around 1972. Having assumed full ownership of Scott's Bar-B-Q in 2011, Scott partnered with restaurateur Nick Pihakis to expand the family business. Their joint venture, Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ, opened in February 2017. The restaurant's premises previously belonged to

fried chicken Fried chicken, also called Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or ...

restaurant Chick’s Fry House. Scott and the restaurant were featured in the third episode of the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

food documentary series '' Chef's Table BBQ'' (2020). Following the release of the ''Chef's Table'' episode, the restaurant "set sales records three days in a row", with queues lasting for up to an hour.

Reception

In May 2018, Scott was named "Best Chef Southeast" at the

James Beard Foundation Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awar ...

s. In May 2020, he was nominated as a semi-finalist for the Barbecue Hall of Fame. Maria Yagoda of ''

Food and Wine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine, wine pa ...

'' listed the restaurant as one of the "40 Most Important Restaurants of the Past 40 Years". Daniel Vaughn of ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. Founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, ''Texas Monthly'' chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the Natura ...

'' wrote that Scott was "an undeniable master of the pit". Writing for food website

Eater Eater may refer to: * Eater (band), an English punk rock group * "Eater" (''Fear Itself''), a 2008 episode of the NBC television horror anthology ''Fear Itself'' * ''Eater'' (novel), a 2000 science fiction novel by Gregory Benford * ''Eater'' ( ...

, Bill Addison praised the "uniquely wonderful spirit" of the restaurant, but suggested that the quality of the barbecue was inconsistent. Allston McCrady of ''Charleston Magazine'' described the restaurant's rib eye sandwich as "better than any

Philly cheesesteak A cheesesteak (also known as a Philadelphia cheesesteak, Philly cheesesteak, cheesesteak sandwich, cheese steak, or steak and cheese) is a sandwich made from thinly sliced pieces of beefsteak and melted cheese in a long hoagie roll. A popular ...

I’ve ever tasted". Hanna Raskin of the ''

Post and Courier ''The Post and Courier'' is the main daily newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina. It traces its ancestry to three newspapers, the ''Charleston Courier'', founded in 1803, the ''Charleston Daily News'', founded 1865, and ''The Evening Post'', f ...

'' wrote that the food at Rodney Scott's BBQ was a "shade less satisfying" than that of the family restaurant in Hemingway.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ Restaurants in South Carolina Buildings and structures in Charleston, South Carolina Barbecue restaurants in the United States Restaurants established in 2017