Hogwood BBQ — Restaurant in Franklin

My dad grew up in Texas, so whenever we ate BBQ at home as a child, it was chopped brisket smothered in BBQ sauce. When I went to college in West Tennessee, however, I discovered BBQ as it should be: pulled pork. I ate it for lunch every Thursday for four years, and I never grew tired of it. And though I love living in Texas as an adult, we don't have a lot of places who do pulled pork well. That's why I treasure every trip I make back to Tennessee as a chance to eat high on the hog—literally, in fact.

BBQ joints are to Tennessee what taquerias are to Texas: a dime a dozen. They're everywhere, and of every quality. But a new place in the Cool Springs area of Franklin caught me eye on a recent trip, and when a friend invited me to lunch, I asked if he had tried Hogwood. He hadn't, so we went,and I wasn't disappointed.

I asked the young man at the register if he recommended the pulled pork sandwich or the dry rub ribs. He voted for the pulled pork (though he conceded it was a tough choice), and I concurred, with beans and potato salad on the side. To make full disclosure, the sides weren't much to write home about; I've had better baked beans (Famous Daves) and potato salad (Martin's BBQ) elsewhere.

But Hogwood is now my new favorite when it comes to a pulled pork sandwich in Middle Tennessee. The pork was moist, not dry. It had been pulled apart nicely (not long lumps, nor finely chopped so that it spilled out). The bun was lightly buttered and toasted perfectly. The meat itself has delightful flavor.

It was pulled pork done right.

The cherry on top was the sauce. Two options were given us to sample, spicy and sweet. The spicy BBQ sauce at Hogwood has a pleasant kick to it. But my favorite was the sweet sauce and that's what I adorned my sandwich with. It's among the best sweet BBQ sauces I've ever had. I was impressed so much with both flavors of sauce that I ordered a jar of each and asked if they could ship it to my house (I was flying home and couldn't bring it along in my carry-on).

I was also impressed with the many flavors of craft soda that were offered (cola, sugar free, craft root bear, pineapple cream, and several others). I allowed myself one glass of the craft root beer (I'm diabetic) before binging on the unsweet tea, which was great (I took a cup to go as I was leaving).

I'm in the Greater Nashville area on a regular basis, and so I look forward to trying out more items on the menu at Hogwood (on my next visit, it will be tough to choose between another pulled pork sandwich and the dry rub ribs; maybe I should take a friend and split it?). But my first visit was a delight. If you live in or near the Franklin, TN area, you need to make a trip to Hogwood soon, and let me know what you think.

Note: I was not compensated in anyway by Hogwood for this review. They did not know I would be reviewing the restaurant when I visited. But if I get an extra rib on my next visit, we can...

I've been HW 4 times now and I have to say I'm not overly impressed. The BBQ is OK; the smoke flavor is good. But I don't think most people are thrilled to be paying $12-13 a plate, PLUS $2.50 for a drink, for lunch on a daily basis. For that reason they should offer half-plates at slightly more than half-price, for the convenience. I had been wanting to try their smoked brisket chili bcz it sounded good. Boy was I disappointed! They wound up DROWNING it in some pungent white cheese which totally dominated and drowned the chili. If I closed my ideas I would have had no idea I was even eating chili at all. I went back and looked at the description and it said nothing at all about cheese. The picture did show some yellow/white stuff in the bowl but didn't say what it was. I highly doubt I will eat it again (partly bcz it was $9 a bowl! - for chili?!?!), but at a MINIMUM they should ASK if you WANT cheese in your damn $9 a bowl chili before they ruin it! For the record I never get cheese in my chili, for a reason! They also put sour cream in it, which I'm also not a fan of. All additions besides the chili itself should be optional. Last thing is they have a bunch of weird boutique fountain drinks; no coke or pepsi, sprite, etc. They have "equivalents." But with people being sensitive about whether they will even drink coke over pepsi, or vice versa, they should at least offer some mainstream drinks. All together not a big fan. Could be better on multiple fronts. Lunch for 2 was $26, and one of us didn't have a drink. Won't be going back there often and cannot recommend. Hope they take some good advice and make some changes. There is too much competition for food dollars in...

I really enjoyed Hogwood BBQ. Wife and I were in town on business and decided to give this place a try. When we walked in the door the smell of delicious barbecue just smacked me in the face. There are so many more things I need to try on their menu but we both tried the Hogwood pork sandwich. Fantastic! Nice flavor to the meat. I added some spicy sauce to my sandwich and really enjoyed that. I also love the pickles they used. They might be made in house (not sure). They reminded me of the homemade pickles my mom used to make when she was canning different vegetables when I was younger. Definitely different from any pickles the other restaurants are serving.

We also ordered 2 sides.

I must confess that in all my years on this planet I have never seen grits offered as a side item in any BBQ place so I had to try the hatch chili cheese grits. Nice flavor to the grits and the Chili peppers don't over power them. Second side was potato salad. I love potato salad but rarely order it from restaurants because it's always disappointing. It's a typical fast food style that several restaurants serve and it's very bland.

Wife takes a bite of the potato salad. She loves it and wants me to try it. I declined at first but she talked me into tasting it. Let me tell you I need that recipe. Delicious! Tasted like homemade potato salad. Very rustic and the bacon adds nice complimentary flavor to the dish. We will for sure be back. Looking forward to...