When you hear there’s a barbecue place called The Hog Bowl in your region, a road trip is practically a given.

Turns out there is a place by that name, in Brewton. Word of mouth, wafting through the social-media ether, made it small and quirky, with mouth-watering daily specials. That was enough for myself and an accomplice to make the drive. We wheeled up right at opening time on a Friday, which in retrospect might have been a questionable decision: We were somewhat confident that we had correctly identified which side of the small facility was the front, because it had a courtyard on that side, and an archway with a welcome sign above it. But we couldn’t find a door.

Finally someone came out and undid a couple of padlocks and rolled back two panels of rusty siding that had camouflaged the entrance. And there it was, right under the arch – which incidentally, was made from a boat. It’s a homey vibe, for those of us whose own backyards are full of dead boats and rusty metal.

The contemporary pre-postmodern rustic theme continued in the interior, lavishly decorated with sports memorabilia, coastal clutter and album covers. University of Mobile folk, take note: When we sat down at the table of our choice, we found ourselves next to a vintage TRUTH album cover. (The two adjacent albums were “The Music of Rodgers and Hammerstein” by The Melachrino Strings and Orchestra and “Symphony for Glenn” by the Hamburg Philharmonia, for what it’s worth, but the restaurant soundtrack skewed more to the wholesome tones of AC/DC and other classic rock.)

Consequences of your dining duo’s bad timing continued to ramify. The staff was making a Herculean effort to get two big catering orders out the door, so table service was running a tad slow (though it was still attentive and friendly). The daily special – smoked cabbage with Conecuh sausage, onion and bacon – was just going into the smoker.

Fortunately the menu had the basics covered. Plates with two sides run from $10.99 for chicken and $11.99 for pulled pork up to $18.99 for a half-slab of ribs and $22.99 for a combo with ribs, pulled pork and chicken.

My companion went with the basic pulled pork sandwich ($9) and a side of mac and cheese. The latter was highly recommended by the waitress, who said she ate it for lunch every day. I opted for the “loaded tater,” also with pulled pork.

Both of us found the pulled pork to be a solid choice; my friend reported that his sandwich was workmanlike, with a kiss of smoke and big enough to satisfy. But it was the mac and cheese that really got his taste buds jumping. It was incredibly creamy, he said, and he was pretty sure it used a combination of more than one kind of cheese.

“This stuff didn’t come out of a box,” he said. “Somebody put it together who knows what they are doing.”

But I won this match. For starters, my baked potato was the size of a football. (Okay, a Nerf football, but still.) And there was a little bit of a surprise underneath the mound of pulled pork that topped it: A scoop of mac and cheese hidden in the mix.

That was a first, and it may sound a little strange. But the mac and cheese was just as good as promised.

A little surprise came at the end. Because the smoked cabbage hadn’t been ready up front, the waitress served us side portions of it on the house. Now that’s customer service.

Friends, it was out-of-this world good. If we’d gotten our hands on meal-sized portions, we’d have had to ride all the way back to Mobile with the windows down.

Delving into the story of The Hog Bowl revealed that the cabbage, and the venture itself, has an interesting origin. Proprietor Brandon Chavers didn’t start out as a pitmaster. He started out as a welder with a problem.

Work was taking him out of town for months at a time, and he was struggling with that. He was feeling the separation from his two young children, and it wasn’t a good feeling. When the opportunity to work in Brewton for a few months came up, he told his son he wasn’t going to go back on the road.

When the local work ran out, it was time to make a tough decision: Go back on the road or find something else to do. Chavers drew his line in the sand. He sold the camper. “I promised my son, and if I can’t keep a promise to my son, then who am I?” he said. “It drove me really hard.”

Chavers said he was willing to consider just about anything. He was looking for a sign, and he got it while visiting his barber.

It gets better. Like, Hallmark-Movie-better. The barber in question was Monte McGougin, a law enforcement veteran who served for 15 years as Brewton’s police chief. When he retired from that, he opted for a more tranquil second career and went into barbering in 2020. You’ve got to figure that between what a police chief has seen, and what a barber hears, this is a guy who knows what’s going on in his corner of small-town America.

“I was in his chair and I said, ‘Man, they’re trying to send me out of town again and it just tears me up.’ When Chavers said he was thinking about maybe opening a food truck, it clicked.

“He said, ‘I know just the guy you need to talk to.’ He was talking about Josh Godwin, who owns David’s Catfish.” A few minutes later, McGougin’s phone rang. It was Godwin, calling out of the blue. To Chavers, that was a sign. They arranged a meeting to talk about a small restaurant property right behind the catfish restaurant, and a deal was struck: This would be the site of Chavers’ new career. (It was formerly known as The Fish Bowl, which probably explains the nautical entrance arch.)

“I got my LLC and I went on faith,” Chavers said. He scraped together every bit of money and credit he could, he said, and “I just stepped out faith, because I knew God had opened that door for me.”

Chavers wasn’t a complete novice. Remember that camper he spent so much time in? He says he never used the stove in it. When he was on the road, he did his cooking on a smoker. He’d cook enough for dinner that he and his crew could carry the leftovers for lunch during the next day’s 12-hour shift. Over time, naturally, he tried his hand at different things. “The cabbage was one of the favorites of the guys,” he said.

Chavers said people seem to especially like his ribs and smoked chicken. But it’s hard to get him to brag on himself. His outlook seems to be founded on hard work and humility. “It’s been close to eight months and I’m still not making home runs yet, or anything,” he said. “But we’re doing some stuff and the bills are getting paid.”

So the lesson here is, if you’re thinking about paying a visit to The Hog Bowl, keep an eye out for the specials. The wings, the brisket, the nachos. Chavers described a “Hog Bowl Tater” that sounds pretty amazing: “It’s got six meats with queso dip and barbecue sauce and jalapenos on it,” he said.

And don’t show up when the doors are still closed. Give ‘em a minute.

The Hog Bowl is at 24 The Trails Suite A in Brewton, Ala. For information and updates, visit https://www.facebook.com/HogBowlBBQ or call 251-286-8286.