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Whole Hog Cafe ~ regional chain : North Little Rock, Arkansas


First visit: Jan 2026

After some thrifting in Memphis, we headed due west to Little Rock. This would be our Friday night destination. Continuing on with our barbecue desire, we decided on Whole Hog Cafe which was very close to our hotel.

Similar to Jim 'N Nick's, you order at the counter. And since it was dinner time we also each had a beer. We went with the pilsner, which was flat as a pancake. For some dumb reason I drank it anyway, but Mrs. RJG was smart and said she didn't want it. I asked to switch out, and received a much better IPA. And I got to drink that one too weeeee.


As for the meal, I settled on a two meat platter rather than a sandwich. They don't serve hamburgers. Having decided we weren't going to get mac n' cheese anymore, I crazily went for a salad. That's new behavior. It actually was pretty good, despite the packaged dressing as if I was on an airplane. The other side was the spicy baked beans, which were very good, and had a mild kick. The meats you see are the homemade sausage and pulled chicken. The latter being very moist and tasty. The sausage had a unique, almost Polish like flavor. Good stuff. Mrs. RJG had the beef brisket sandwich, which proved to be very expensive, but at least she really enjoyed it.

As for the locations, Whole Hog is based in Little Rock and there are currently 6 in Arkansas. Other states include: Missouri (2); New Jersey (2); New Mexico (2). Sort of a far flung empire, but it's this latter state that caught our attention. They have one each in ABQ and Santa Fe. Well then, that means we can try it again! So next year, 2027, we'll certainly make an effort to visit Whole Hog again. I'll add to the rotation, though it's probably temporary.

1/9/26

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