Cock Pit Barbeque
Address: 905A Bluff Road, Columbia, SC 29201
Phone: 803-269-4167
Cards: yes
Hours of operation: Mon-Thurs 7am-7pm; Fri.7am- Midnight; Saturday 11am -until
One of the beauties of the barbeque scene is that you can’t judge a book by its cover, so to speak, or the quality of the barbeque restaurant by its facade. This is exactly the story on Cock Pit Barbeque on Bluff Road in Columbia.
Cock Pit is a new operation and it is in a small space (about six tables and booths and maybe five seats at the bar) in a building that is next to a filling station and convenience store. It takes its name from the fact that it is close by Williams Brice Stadium, home of the USC Gamecocks. One doesn’t generally find great barbeque at strip malls, either large or small ones like this, so from the outside it doesn’t promise much. There is this one good omen, however. On the outside by the door is a pull-along pit that is generally smoking. A smoking pit is almost always a very good sign and at the Barbeque Pit it is a very good sign indeed.
Robert Herron is the pit master and he uses real oak for his pit (pit masters from the Pee Dee generally favor oak over hickory) and he cooks up the kind of 100 mile barbeque that one generally only gets at championship barbeque cook-offs. His just-right smoked barbeque is pulled and his ribs are as tender as you are going to find. What he does that is different from almost everyone in South Carolina, however, is his wonderful beef brisket. In South Carolina really good barbequed beef is a rarity but here it exceeds good; it is the best I’ve had in this state. One of our Master Judges told me that he has eaten there four times in the last month and his order is always beef brisket with a side order of ribs. And while I’m not the world’s biggest fan of barbequed beef I plan on getting it the next time I go there too, which will be soon. Plus, you can order a brisket sandwich and everything there as a “basket” so you can get a barbequed beef sandwich with slaw and fries. Of course your can also get a plate with barbeque and various sides. Plus they also have a sample plate with ribs, pulled pork and beef for those who want to see how everything is.
The Cock Pit serves your food as if it were a British pub, which it vaguely resembles. There is a counter which also serves as a bar and you place your order there. You can eat at the bar or take a seat at one of the tables or booths. When the order is ready they will bring you your plate. They give you a cup for your drink which you fill yourself at a dispenser.
The sides are pretty good, above average actually. There is an institutional slaw that is good, not too sweet as so many other places serve it. The baked beans are those small, dark kind that one associates with those expensive little jars that you find in the grocery store that claim to be “Boston Baked,” in other words, they are very good.
Cock Pit doesn’t have rice and hash which is different from all the other places around Columbia and the midlands but rather he has French fries that he doctors up with some sort of flavored salt. They are above the average also. So his sides are more than adequate to accompany his outstanding barbeque and barbequed beef.
His sauces, which he makes himself, are in keeping with his lack of midlands hash; that is, he has vinegar and pepper sauces that are true vinegar and pepper. He has a “regular” that I liked, a “sweet” that is only slightly sweet, a “hot” that is only slightly hot and a special sauce for his beef. All of those sauces are fine with the barbeque which is often not the case in barbeque restaurants. In other words, his sauces do not detract from the barbeque rather they might even enhance it a bit if you are looking for a slightly more vinegary bite. But the real delight is that the barbeque, the ribs, and the beef do not need any sauce at all. They are best as they come right from the pit. Try it that way before you add any sauces.
Then there is this other thing that is different from almost everyone else in South Carolina – his breakfast menu. Yes, breakfast. You can get a barbeque, cheese and egg biscuit as well as a brisket, egg and cheese biscuit. Plus they have the usual sausage and bacon and cheese biscuit and even a bologna biscuit. Or they can make one up to suit you. Then there are biscuits and gravy and just plain buttered biscuits. But were else are your going to get a barbeque biscuit or a barbecued beef biscuit? And remember, that’s 100 mile barbeque you are starting off your day with.
The Cock Pit is a real gift to the South Carolina midlands since the midlands is the heart of mustard based ‘que and does not generally offer any true vinegar and pepper style barbeque. The Cock Pit is 100 mile vinegar and pepper barbeque just waiting for you in this most unassuming location.