Jeff Houck

The Tampa Tribune’s food writer since 2005, Jeff Houck covers the way people live through their food. He also hosts the Table Conversations food podcast and believes that everything crunchy is good.

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Going Holy Hog at Holy Hog Barbecue [Lunchtime Excursions]

Posted Jul 18, 2010 by Jeff Houck

Updated Jul 18, 2010 at 09:25 AM

A little over four years ago, I did a story about Noche Buena, the Latin holiday celebrated on New Year’s Eve, and the traditional foods cooked and eaten the night before Christmas.

In that December 2005 story, I featured Danny Hernandez, owner of Pipo’s Cafe on North Armenia Avenue:

Not everyone has the ability to cook a pig in the ground, though. Sometimes it’s easier to just order out.

For those people, Danny Hernandez is happy to serve. His family - starting with his mother and father, Sinarah and Raymond - has operated Pipo’s Cafe restaurants in Tampa since 1979.

“I think Latinos’ lives revolve around food,” he says. “Ask any Latino housewife what the most popular room in the house is, and she’ll say the kitchen.”

Last year, Hernandez sold the Pipo’s on Davis Islands and took time off. In October, he reopened in West Tampa on North Armenia Avenue in the former Mauricio Faedo’s Bakery. Hernandez’s brother, Raymond Jr., operates Pipo’s restaurants on Northdale Boulevard and Waters Avenue.

Pipo’s caters all the components of the meal - from pork shanks to salad, yucca, and black beans and rice. A gigantic oven with six rotating levels will roast about 20,000 pounds of pernil (the hind quarters of the pig) for the holiday, Hernandez says.

“The holidays are when the food shines,” he says.

“It’s an incredibly festive night full of food. We’re blessed to have all of the family around.”

That Pipo’s location eventually closed and became more of a catering and production facility for the other restaurants in the Pipo’s chain.

In April, Hernandez reopened the location as Holy Hog Barbecue.

I ate lunch on Friday at Holy Hog. It was good to see Danny is still there and still working the pig.

Danny made us a sampler plate with brisket, chopped pork, ribs and sausage. I really enjoyed the ‘cue. I’m a bit of a brisket snob and this was top-notch brisket.

Everything is homemade, including the greens, which Danny serves with the stems (I dig the stems when cooked right. Danny cooks them right.)

We tried the corn nuggets (great), the fries (great), and the mac-n-cheese (also great).

See for yourself. Here’s a gallery of the restaurant and its food:

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