After owner Kern Tyler watched Atlanta’s herd of barbecue restaurants thin out over the decades, he took matters into his own hands. Although his application to erect a two-building facility is still under the City of Atlanta’s consideration, Tyler said that he and builder Jason Aaron are “ready to go” on construction whenever permission is granted.
In fact, although the future site of Da Pig, The Cow and The Chicken is currently a vacant lot, half of the restaurant is already built. Somewhere, an 810 square-foot trailer outfitted with a deep-fryer and refrigeration unit waits patiently to be carted to its final destination at 41 Peyton Road, the former site of Rahim Seafood.
“When I was growing up in Atlanta, there used to be a lot of BBQ spots on Martin Luther King [Jr. Drive],” said first-time restauranteur Tyler, who has been a life-long resident of the city and lover of Georgia-style barbecue. “When the late ’90s came they all went away, and by the mid 2000’s there were no more barbecue places on the West Side. You should be able to go anywhere on the West Side and get barbecue, but you don’t see that now.”
The trailer will serve as the new restaurant’s front-of-house building where customers will order and pick up their meals. More complicated is the larger building slated for the back of the lot: a kitchen and smokehouse where, soon, racks of ribs and whole chickens will take on deeper flavors. According to the development plan for the future barbecue joint, the project will cost an estimated $50,000 to build.
“We love authentic barbecue. [Now], a lot of food is being pre-made, pre-cooked [and] warmed up,” said Aaron, Tyler’s business partner and owner of JBA Diamond Construction. “We want to bring authentic barbecue back. We’re native from Atlanta—we’re using to eating, smelling, being around barbecue. One of the ways that we know to bring back the culture that we’re used to growing up around is through barbecue. You’ve got cities like Memphis, you’ve got Texas barbecue—we want to give the world, not just Atlanta, the Georgia barbecue feel.”
The two smoked meat enthusiasts have yet to draft a menu for their restaurant but spoke enthusiastically about their favorites that will surely be served—brisket, whole-smoked rib, hamburgers, sausages, collard greens, baked beans, all manner of grilled offerings and “the best macaroni and cheese.”
Before their grand opening, the owners of Da Pig, The Cow and The Chicken are looking for an experienced pitmaster who is equally enthused about everything smoked, roasted and Southern—interested parties can contact Nichola Hines of Hines HOS-pitality at 678-744-5954.
