WHAT'S SO GOOD ABOUT A GOOD TIMES VAN'S PIG STAND?

UPDATE: This location was destroyed by the tornado that hit Moore, OK on May 20th 2013. I have not heard any news on if it will be rebuilt or not.

It had been a few years since I ate at the Van's Pig Stand in Moore and to be honest with you the last couple of times had been kind of underwhelming.

I'd been hearing a lot of good chatter about this location recently. So I decided to give it another try.

I've eaten at 4 different Van's locations over the years and they all seem to have their own characteristics. For instance the Van's on Harrison in Shawnee, OK could be credited with starting my BBQ obsession. Some of the best ribs I have ever eaten in my life were devoured at that location. I'm talking counting your fingers to make sure you still have all ten kind of devouring.

 

At Van's you order at the front and they either call your name and you go get your food or occasionally they just bring it to you. I chose the 3 Meat Dinner, ribs, chopped pig, chopped beef, slaw, and curly fries. 

 

The ribs are served St. Louis style and were cooked almost perfectly with just the right amount of smoke flavor. They pulled away from the bone where you bit them and were moist and meaty.

The chopped pig was lightly sauced, a no-no in my book, but wasn't overly sauced where you couldn't still taste the meat. It had about the same smoky flavor as the ribs. So I will forgive them the sin of saucing their meat for me. Let the customer make that decision if you ask me.

The chopped beef  appeared to be from the deckle and had a good ratio of fat to meat. It looked lightly sauced but if it was I couldn't taste the sauce and to sauce it would be a shame because it was really tasty chopped beef. Of the three meats I had, of which all were tasty, it was probably my favorite.

The curly fries appear to be made in-house from fresh potatoes and were good. I added some of their spicy sauce to them instead of catsup. The coleslaw was creamy style made from your typical shredded cole slaw mix. It did have a more vinegary taste to it than most creamy slaws but it it worked for me.

Unfortunately my one sided toast wasn't even completely toasted on the one side. If you've read any of my other blogs you've heard me complain enough about one sided toast. So if you haven't read any of my other blogs before this. You'll need to go read them see my thoughts on the serving of one sided toast.

About the only thing I didn't enjoy about this trip to Van's Pig Stand was this tiny piece of bone I found in my chopped pig. I know it happens but it kind of sucks when it happens to the guy that's going home to write about his experience at your Q-raunt.

If you're traveling the I-35 corridor through Moore and in the mood for some Q. Stop and give Van's a try. It's not out of this world good but it's solid, tasty BBQ. I don't think you'll leave disappointed. Oh and one last thing. The girls working there came by several times and asked if I needed refills or anything. So I gotta give two thumbs up to the service.