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The People's Pig

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Coordinates: 45°32′47″N 122°40′01″W / 45.5464°N 122.6669°W / 45.5464; -122.6669
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The People's Pig
Exterior of the restaurant on North Williams Avenue in 2021
Map
Restaurant information
Owner(s)Cliff Allen
ChefMorgan Brownlow
Food typeBarbecue
Street address3217 North Williams Avenue
CityPortland
CountyMultnomah
StateOregon
Postal/ZIP Code97227
CountryUnited States
Coordinates45°32′47″N 122°40′01″W / 45.5464°N 122.6669°W / 45.5464; -122.6669

The People's Pig is a barbecue restaurant in Portland, Oregon, United States. Cliff Allen started the business as a food cart in 2009, before opening a brick and mortar location on Williams Avenue in the north Portland part of the Eliot neighborhood in 2014. A second brick and mortar location began operating in January 2018, but closed permanently by 2020.

Description

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The barbecue restaurant[1] The People's Pig has served brisket,[2] fried chicken, pork shoulder, and St. Louis-style[3] ribs as plates or sandwiches. Sides include beans, collards,[4] coleslaw, cornbread,[5] French fries,[6] macaroni salad, and potato salad.[7][8][9] The porchetta sandwich has roast pork loin, pork belly, and a rub with fennel and garlic.[10] Time Out Portland has said the restaurant is "perennially packed with pork-lovers who seek out various preparations of expertly smoked cuts".[11]

The restaurant's logo, which depicts a pig, is painted in black and blue on the side of the location of the brick and mortar space on Williams Avenue, in the north Portland part of the Eliot neighborhood.[7]

History

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Owner Cliff Allen started the business as a food cart in 2009. As of 2010, The People's Pig operated at the intersection of Southwest 2nd Avenue and Stark Street in downtown Portland, serving seven sandwiches with pork on ciabatta. The options were coppa, porchetta, sopressata, toscana, and three pulled pork varieties.[12]

Allen opened the Eliot restaurant in August 2014, in the space that previously housed Tropicana BBQ. He also kept the food cart operating at the Alder Street food cart pod at the intersection of 10th Avenue and Washington in downtown Portland.[7][13][14] Morgan Brownlow was the chef at the Eliot location.[15]

In September 2017, the business announced plans to open another location on East Burnside Street in October.[16] Following a delay, the location opened in January 2018.[17][18] The 40-seat[16] outpost was short-lived. In November 2019, Flying Fish Company announced plans to move into the space.[19][20] Flying Fish opened in February 2020.[21]

In May 2020, the Eliot location was vandalized and spray painted with a "veganarchy" symbol.[22]

Reception

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The restaurant's logo on the side of the North Williams Avenue location, 2021

In Food Lovers' Guide to Portland, Oregon (2014), Laurie Wolf wrote: "Pork belly, porchetta sandwiches, ciabatta bread ... heaven".[23] In Insiders' Guide to Portland, Oregon (2014) Rachel Dresbeck said The People's Pig's "amazingly savory" sandwiches "might be the very best in Portland".[24]

Karen Brooks of Portland Monthly said The People's Pig offered Portland's best new barbecue in 2015.[25] In a 2015 review of the Eliot restaurant, Michael Russell of The Oregonian wrote, "The People's Pig ... might not be a traditional barbecue spot -- there's no Texas-style brisket, no North Carolina-style pulled pork -- but for the last year their best dish (the gorgeous sliced pork shoulder) has been my favorite smoked meat in Portland. Almost as good is the fried chicken sandwich, with its bacon-like smokiness, a contender for Portland's sandwich of the year."[26]

Time Out Portland said in 2016, "[The restaurant's] sandwiches, served on excellent sourdough rolls, are fantastic: our favorite features those juicy slices of pork shoulder, stacked with braised greens and shot through with spicy vinegar."[11] In Willamette Week's 2017 overview of recommended eateries in north Portland, Matthew Korfhage said the fried chicken was "wonderful" and recommended the potato salad.[27] The People's Pig ranked third in the Best Barbecue category of the newspaper's annual Best of Portland readers' poll in 2018.[28]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "The People's Pig". Portland Monthly. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  2. ^ Coleman, Ben. "Getting Hanukkah to Go". Portland Mercury. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  3. ^ McCollom, Hollyanna (2019-05-14). Moon Portland. Avalon Publishing. ISBN 978-1-64049-368-1.
  4. ^ Lonely Planet Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest. Lonely Planet. 2020. ISBN 978-1-78868-740-9.
  5. ^ "Revisiting Portland Restaurants That Had Us Wondering in 2015". Willamette Week. 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  6. ^ "Cued Up". Willamette Week. 2015-04-22. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  7. ^ a b c Sawyer, Cassie (2014-08-08). "The People's Pig Goes Brick-and-Mortar in North Portland, and It's Open NOW". Eater Portland. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  8. ^ "The Barbecue at People's Pig Will Leave You in Hog Heaven". Portland Monthly. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  9. ^ "People's Pig". Willamette Week. 2016-03-22. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  10. ^ "The People's Pig". Willamette Week. 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  11. ^ a b "The People's Pig". Time Out Portland. December 14, 2016.
  12. ^ "Top-Flight Food Carts". Willamette Week. 2010-10-20. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  13. ^ Russell, Michael (2015-01-16). "Smoking at the People's Pig: Portland's pork king on 'living the dream'". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  14. ^ Jackson-Glidden, Brooke (2019-06-28). "Portland Reflects on the Impending Closure of the Alder Street Food Cart Pod". Eater Portland. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  15. ^ Centoni, Danielle (2015-06-02). "Morgan Brownlow Cooking at The People's Pig; Le Happy Changes Owners". Eater Portland. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  16. ^ a b Bamman, Mattie John (2017-09-27). "The People's Pig Is Bringing Its Killer Barbecue to East Burnside". Eater Portland. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  17. ^ "The People's Pig Is Now Smoking Brisket on E Burnside". Portland Monthly. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  18. ^ Forster, Tim (2018-02-07). "Philippe's Bread on N Williams is Now a Mexican-Leaning Bakery". Eater Portland. Archived from the original on 2022-12-31. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  19. ^ Russell, Michael (2019-11-08). "Flying Fish Company to open seafood market, restaurant in former People's Pig space". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on 2022-01-16. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  20. ^ "Flying Fish Company is Opening a Full-Service Restaurant and Market". Willamette Week. 2019-11-08. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  21. ^ Russell, Michael (2020-02-10). "Flying Fish Co. opens new Portland seafood market, restaurant". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on 2021-04-13. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  22. ^ "A Portland Barbecue Restaurant Was Vandalized and Defaced With "Veganarchy" Symbols". Willamette Week. 2020-05-08. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  23. ^ Wolf, Laurie (2014-01-14). Food Lovers' Guide to® Portland, Oregon: The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4930-0670-0.
  24. ^ McCollom, Hollyanna (2019-05-14). Moon Portland. Avalon Publishing. ISBN 978-1-64049-368-1.
  25. ^ "Portland's Best New Barbecue: The People's Pig". Portland Monthly. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  26. ^ Russell, Michael (2015-06-18). "The People's Pig in North Portland -- Diner 2015 review". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  27. ^ "Where to Eat in North Portland, Home to the City's Best BBQ, Ethiopian and Soup Dumplings". Willamette Week. 2017-11-20. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  28. ^ "Here are the Winners of the Best of Portland Readers' Poll 2018". Willamette Week. 2018-07-11. Archived from the original on 2019-01-06. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
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