Squealers BBQ

Restaurant Name: Squealers BBQ
Address: 5515 West 86th Street, Indianapolis, IN
Social Media: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Squealer Favorite

My construction day job has me located on the northwest side of Indy and this BBQ joint is a staple place for me and coworkers to visit pretty much weekly. On my most recent visit I took one of our new office interns and another coworker there for lunch and enjoyed this dish: The Squealer Favorite.

 This BBQ sandwich is hands down one of my absolute favorite sandwiches to get and probably in the top 5 of all pulled pork sandwiches I’ve ever had. So let’s begin this critique analyzing the APPEARANCE of this dish. A pulled pork sandwich doesn’t typically jump out to the eyes but this particular dish has a few eye catching features that are quite nice to the eye. The thin line of the smokey sweet BBQ sauce on the pulled pork and the side dish of collard greens do provide some color to the eyes at first glance. The plate is well covered with food but they do hide the onions and pickles that accompany the sandwich. 

Taste wise…let me start with the sides. The kettle chips aren’t anything too fancy, but it is great to know that they are made in the restaurant and not bought at the grocery store. The collard greens were cooked to the perfection that I like which is a little bit of crunch or rigidness to the leafs and not mushy. The greens have some smoked meat and onions in it for accent flavors which is a nice touch. I typically eat my collard greens with Tabasco sauce but watching my sodium intake on this particular day I laid off on the hot sauce and the greens were “salty” enough. Of course I’d like to have more greens than chips, but side dishes are what they are.

The sandwich itself is a sesame seed bun, pulled pork meat, and creamy coleslaw. The bun is sufficient for the sandwich and both the pulled pork and coleslaw aren’t really runny so the buns typically stay dry. The pulled pork is a good combination of smokey, tender, and flavorful. The coleslaw is a great sweet touch left hook kind of topper that really accents the sandwich as a whole. I usually get the hot BBQ sauce and let the creaminess of the coleslaw cool down the tastebuds but I went with the smokey sweet sauce this time around and it was still delicious. I did add the fresh onions and pickles that were buried under the kettle chips and had truly amazing bites pretty much each and every time.

Negatives about this dish…I would’ve toasted the buns a little bit to get a little bit of a crunchy texture to the sandwich. The little sliver of sauce on the sandwich could definitely be more as well (need to ask for a side of sauce typically). The chips to greens ratio was a little heavy on the chips side, but as I mentioned earlier side dishes are what they are…side dishes and not the main thing.

SUMMARY

Overall, the Squealer Favorite is one of my favorite BBQ sandwiches I’ve ever had! Coleslaw and pulled pork are complimentary foods. If you’re a little more daring, ask for a vinegar based sauce instead of the smokey sweet, mixed, or hot sauce. The tangy zing of a vinegar based sauce accented with the sweet creaminess of the coleslaw will make for another must have BBQ sandwich.