As a kid in the Atlanta area one of our Christmas traditions was to drive to see some extravagant lights. One of my fondest memories of the Christmas season was making the drive from Norcross to Roswell. Why is this relevant you may ask? Well the answer is because it involved a now closed but always remembered barbecue restaurant The Georgia Pig. To make a long story short you ate on picnic tables outside no matter what the season. Well, there is still outside seating but the old dive has been replaced with something that brings back the same nostalgia. The restaurant is Swallow at the Hollow and it has turned into a barbecue hot spot in Roswell. I was hesitant to try Swallow even though I love Greenwoods (their sister restaurant).
My hesitation is purely out of principal. I feel that barbecue should be a cheap economical meal. It is hard for me to bring myself to pay $9 for a sandwich with no sides included. That being said my Dad was in town from Washington State and we were cruising around looking for a place to eat lunch. I asked if he was in the mood for barbecue and he said “absolutely”. So we pulled in the gravel parking lot. We walked in the dining room which I instantly fell in love with. It has an open kitchen which gives it that down home feel. The interior looks like the inside of an old barbecue shack I grew up eating in on our trips to the beach.
After being seated I looked over the menu seeing all of the options. There are a good many veggies as well as meat choices. We opted to start off with the smoked wings. They come out on a skewer dipped in the sweeter of the 3 sauces. The wings had a rich smoky flavor and the sauce complemented them perfectly. For our main course we both had the pulled pork sandwich and split some fries. I always get fries my first visit to a barbecue restaurant to dip in their variety of sauces to truly explore them. The sandwiches came out and upon first glance I knew why they were pricey. They were big enough to split. The bread was fresh bread that the Swallow turns into texas toast my favorite thing to encase my barbecue. The pork is moist without sauce, it is lightly smoked with a few pieces of bark. My only complaint is my preference would be for more smoke. However, this was some of the best pork I had tasted in quite a few years. They have 3 sauces one is a sweet tomato based, one mustard base and one pure vinegar pepper sauce. All are good and unique. Being a sweet sauce guy I went for the tomato based but used the other two for my fries. After eating half my sandwich I picked the pork out of the other half as it is that filling
My experience at the Hollow is one I will not forget anytime soon. My father was in town and the whole experience took me back to a simpler time of Christmas lights and my biggest concern being homework. For that I thank you Swallow at the Hallow. I will most surely be back.
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