Many restaurants succeed first inside the comforts of a brick-and-mortar building, then look to expand with a new outdoor patio.
The staff at Pig Trail Harley Davidson in Rogers, home of the Rockin’ Pig Saloon, hope to reverse the process. A new food trailer next door to the motorcycle dealership and its beer garden is equipped with a full smoker unit, grill and fryer space and more.
“This ain’t no taco shack,” says Buck Blanchard, the dealership’s marketing and events manager. Open since April, the eatery promises “grub, guaranteed gourmet good.”
The recipes offered now in Rogers have been tested the past few years at the Rockin’ Pig Saloon in Eureka Springs.
Likewise, it is a neighbor to a Pig Trail Harley-Davidson location in that city. It’s all part of the Harley-Davidson lifestyle, Blanchard says.
Motorcycle enthusiasts enjoy wearing Harley-brandedproducts, he says, and they also support live music venues such as the new 1,265-capacity beer garden that separates the dealership’s chrome-rich fleet of new bikes and the preowned lineup.
Many Harley-Davidsondealerships have their own cafes or restaurants, Blanchard says, and the ownership at the Rogers location wanted one for some time, especially considering the success of the Rockin’ Pig Saloon to the north.
Because it’s operated out of a trailer, the newer Rockin’ Pig Saloon cannot reproduce all of the menu items available in Eureka Springs. But even though it omits the steaks and wood-fired pizzas, it comes close. With a nod to the welltraveled clientele that come to the business and the eatery, the restaurant focuses on grub - burgers, barbecue, tacos andgrilled appetizers.
The burgers, which are never frozen - “the only thing frozen here is the ice,” Blanchard says - are made from fresh-ground filet mignon and come in several varieties.
Available is the cheeseburger, with choice of cheese ($7.50);
a Baja Burger, with guacamole, pepper jack cheese and jalapenos ($9); a BBQ Bacon Burger, with barbecue sauce, bacon, white cheddar and an onion ring ($9); and the mushroom-Swiss burger ($8).
Several barbecue options are also sold by Rockin’ Pig in Rogers, such as a pulled pork sandwich ($7), brisket ($8) and smoked baby back ribs ($12 for a half rack, $18 for a full rack).
Like all the items sold at the Rockin’ Pig, they are toppedwith homemade sauces.
Rounding out the menu at Rockin’ Pig are tacos that include smoked brisket, pulled pork or ale-battered fish ($7.50-$8) and a host of appetizers featuring smoked treats, such as the Rockin’ Smoked Poppers, an order of bacon-wrapped jalapenosfilled with homemade salmon cream cheese and served with avocado-cilantro dressing ($7.50). There is lighter fare as well, including several salads, among them the strawberry salad, with mixed greens, white cheddar, bacon, fresh strawberries, dried cranberries, candied walnuts andhomemade croutons ($7.50).
It’s all topped with strawberrypoppy seed dressing.
Owners of the Rockin’ Pig Saloon would like to expand into a nearby indoor location with seating for more than 100 as soon as next year, depending on its early success.
Whats Up, Pages 17 on 06/21/2013