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Hog Pit Pub & Grub is at once 'laid-back place' and 'West Texas roller-coaster'
by Ed Todd
Midland Reporter-Telegram
The amiable fellow -- "Boss Hog" -- who runs the show at The Hog Pit Pub & Grub just west of Midland is bolstered by the missus -- "Mrs. Hog."
Theirs is a most pleasant union for a down-home pub and eatery. The place has the ambiance of a Luckenbach dance hall but without the joyfully creaky wood floors and rustic planking and without the flow of Grape Creek nurturing the Pedernales River in Texas Hill Country of live oak and browse and, so far, is without Texas legend Willie Nelson singing and playing live "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" and "Whiskey River."
What the Hog Pit and its proprietors, Boss Hog, played by Glen "Cuatro" Aaron IV, and Mrs. Hog, enacted by Shawnna Aaron, do appreciate under the West Texas sunshine and stars (and occasional rainfall) are the charms and diversity of the Staked Plains and the graciousness of the people. There is the durable mesquite, whose character is hardiness, and whose usefulness takes in fence posts, shade and firewood for barbecuing.
The Hog Pit is within dusty sight and rumbling sounds of the Desert Thunder Raceway.
But the Hog Pit's most important features are its very own character of hospitality and its customers, regulars or passers-by, who drop by for a plate of barbecue, beer, shot of whiskey or live or recorded Texas music fit for listening or dancing inside or outside in the beer garden and, if they dare, in the rodeo arena.
The Hog Pit's flair is for "The Taste of Texas" and "The Sound of Texans."
"We have a good time out here," said Cuatro who, at 34 and supporting a 6-foot-2 frame, is built like a robust boar hog as wide as a barn door. "Everybody calls me 'Boss Hog.'"
A maverick of sorts, he keeps his head shaven, sports a dark goatee and moustache with a touch of gray and smiles a lot but not as broadly as does his wife.
"It's a laid-back place," Shawnna, 28, said. Standing next to her spouse, she is lean in her 5-foot-10 frame topped with long flowing hair. "It's been a good ride for four years," she said of the Hog Pit's operation.
"It's a West Texas roller-coaster," Cuatro said.
If there is a centerpiece in the Hog Pit's gymnasium-size metal building other than the shuffleboard and pool tables, the steamy kitchen, the wide-screen television set, more TVs and more games, the band stand and the corps of peppy, good-looking, bustling waitresses from Becca to Sherrye who charm their customers with casual "Dear Heart," "Honey" and "Sweetie" greetings, it is the bar.
Behind the bar is Terry, the bartender who is hardly anonymous, though she guards her surname. She is a most likeable, no-nonsense person with a touch of American Indian features, and seems somewhat of a mystery, which she surely enjoys. She is smart and sassy and wins over customers with her straight-forward lingo and empathy.
"She will give a rash of hell to anybody for anything," Shawnna said. "It doesn't matter if she knows you or not." Terry is expert in dishing out "tough love."
"You better come in here with a sense of humor," Cuatro said, "because we 'mess' with everybody."
Terry, who signed up with the Hog Pit when it first opened in 2004, said that many of her former customers followed her to the Pub & Grub place.
"We have the best customers in the world," Terry said. "We even like our few old soreheads -- the crabby ones. We've still got to like them, too."
For many folks, the Hog Pit is a "home away from home," agreed Boss Hog and Mrs. Hog.
For many, it is a relaxing atmosphere, a friendly way station.
"Yesterday, we had a guy come in from Scotland," Shawnna said. "I don't think he came in (from overseas just) for the ribs, but I tell myself that."
Aside from barbecuing pork ribs with fired-up mesquite wood, "Boss Hog" Cuatro cooks beef brisket, steaks, hamburgers, sausage, Mississippi Madness and catfish, simmers a pot of spicy beans, serves potatoes and other vittles, and prepares peach cobbler. Jerome "Big J" Anderson helps out with the cooking. "I learned it from the best."
"People come out here to get away from their problems," Cuatro said. "It's a home away from home."
People, including those who are common folks and those who may think themselves not so ordinary, show up at the Hog Pit Pub & Grub. There are "judges to janitors," Shawnna said.
"I guess we've got everybody from judges to janitors and from outlaws to preachers," Cuatro said.
Perhaps the Hog Pit's main attraction is its hospitality and amiability. "The atmosphere is friendly," said Dan Hogan, a building contractor who plays shuffleboard. "It's real laid-back, ... good music."
"I love it," said his friend, Donald "Shotgun" Young, who is an aircraft lineman at Midland International Airport. "I get them ready to go back up."
Hog Pit's food portions are generous, Shotgun said. "If you leave here hungry, it's your own fault."
Cody Hughes Davidson, a Texas band leader, songwriter, vocalist and guitarist who heads up his own five-piece band, is a regular artist at the Hog Pit where he plays Americana and blues. The place features "good food, first of all, great food," he said, and the management treats its incoming guest musicians "very well. The hospitality is fantastic."
At the Hog Pit, family and friendship are honored. As a salute to his late grandfather, Glen Aaron I, "Boss Hog" Cuatro has framed a photograph of his grandfather piloting a Royal Canadian Air Force biplane during flight training. He and two buddies from Big Spring had left the States in 1940 or 1941 for Canada to join in the World War II effort before the United States entered the war in late 1941. Cuatro also has on framed display his grandfather's brass plumb bob and two slide rules which he used as a landman and oilman. Of his grandfather's skill with the slide rule, Cuatro said, "He was deadly with those things." His grandfather was "a great, great man."
Cuatro, who also admires his author-father Glen Aaron II and his "great accomplishments," acclaimed the "wild spirit" shared by his father and grandfather. For well over a decade, Cuatro was office manager and investigator for his father's law firm. He has famed mementos of father's first year as a lawyer in 1967.
The Hog Pit Pub & Grub offers an informal forum. "We talk about everything," Cuatro said. Whining is prohibited. Friendship and sportsmanship are required. And the Hog Pit is a "place where people come together and build friendships."
Theirs is a most pleasant union for a down-home pub and eatery. The place has the ambiance of a Luckenbach dance hall but without the joyfully creaky wood floors and rustic planking and without the flow of Grape Creek nurturing the Pedernales River in Texas Hill Country of live oak and browse and, so far, is without Texas legend Willie Nelson singing and playing live "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" and "Whiskey River."
What the Hog Pit and its proprietors, Boss Hog, played by Glen "Cuatro" Aaron IV, and Mrs. Hog, enacted by Shawnna Aaron, do appreciate under the West Texas sunshine and stars (and occasional rainfall) are the charms and diversity of the Staked Plains and the graciousness of the people. There is the durable mesquite, whose character is hardiness, and whose usefulness takes in fence posts, shade and firewood for barbecuing.
The Hog Pit is within dusty sight and rumbling sounds of the Desert Thunder Raceway.
But the Hog Pit's most important features are its very own character of hospitality and its customers, regulars or passers-by, who drop by for a plate of barbecue, beer, shot of whiskey or live or recorded Texas music fit for listening or dancing inside or outside in the beer garden and, if they dare, in the rodeo arena.
The Hog Pit's flair is for "The Taste of Texas" and "The Sound of Texans."
"We have a good time out here," said Cuatro who, at 34 and supporting a 6-foot-2 frame, is built like a robust boar hog as wide as a barn door. "Everybody calls me 'Boss Hog.'"
A maverick of sorts, he keeps his head shaven, sports a dark goatee and moustache with a touch of gray and smiles a lot but not as broadly as does his wife.
"It's a laid-back place," Shawnna, 28, said. Standing next to her spouse, she is lean in her 5-foot-10 frame topped with long flowing hair. "It's been a good ride for four years," she said of the Hog Pit's operation.
"It's a West Texas roller-coaster," Cuatro said.
If there is a centerpiece in the Hog Pit's gymnasium-size metal building other than the shuffleboard and pool tables, the steamy kitchen, the wide-screen television set, more TVs and more games, the band stand and the corps of peppy, good-looking, bustling waitresses from Becca to Sherrye who charm their customers with casual "Dear Heart," "Honey" and "Sweetie" greetings, it is the bar.
Behind the bar is Terry, the bartender who is hardly anonymous, though she guards her surname. She is a most likeable, no-nonsense person with a touch of American Indian features, and seems somewhat of a mystery, which she surely enjoys. She is smart and sassy and wins over customers with her straight-forward lingo and empathy.
"She will give a rash of hell to anybody for anything," Shawnna said. "It doesn't matter if she knows you or not." Terry is expert in dishing out "tough love."
"You better come in here with a sense of humor," Cuatro said, "because we 'mess' with everybody."
Terry, who signed up with the Hog Pit when it first opened in 2004, said that many of her former customers followed her to the Pub & Grub place.
"We have the best customers in the world," Terry said. "We even like our few old soreheads -- the crabby ones. We've still got to like them, too."
For many folks, the Hog Pit is a "home away from home," agreed Boss Hog and Mrs. Hog.
For many, it is a relaxing atmosphere, a friendly way station.
"Yesterday, we had a guy come in from Scotland," Shawnna said. "I don't think he came in (from overseas just) for the ribs, but I tell myself that."
Aside from barbecuing pork ribs with fired-up mesquite wood, "Boss Hog" Cuatro cooks beef brisket, steaks, hamburgers, sausage, Mississippi Madness and catfish, simmers a pot of spicy beans, serves potatoes and other vittles, and prepares peach cobbler. Jerome "Big J" Anderson helps out with the cooking. "I learned it from the best."
"People come out here to get away from their problems," Cuatro said. "It's a home away from home."
People, including those who are common folks and those who may think themselves not so ordinary, show up at the Hog Pit Pub & Grub. There are "judges to janitors," Shawnna said.
"I guess we've got everybody from judges to janitors and from outlaws to preachers," Cuatro said.
Perhaps the Hog Pit's main attraction is its hospitality and amiability. "The atmosphere is friendly," said Dan Hogan, a building contractor who plays shuffleboard. "It's real laid-back, ... good music."
"I love it," said his friend, Donald "Shotgun" Young, who is an aircraft lineman at Midland International Airport. "I get them ready to go back up."
Hog Pit's food portions are generous, Shotgun said. "If you leave here hungry, it's your own fault."
Cody Hughes Davidson, a Texas band leader, songwriter, vocalist and guitarist who heads up his own five-piece band, is a regular artist at the Hog Pit where he plays Americana and blues. The place features "good food, first of all, great food," he said, and the management treats its incoming guest musicians "very well. The hospitality is fantastic."
At the Hog Pit, family and friendship are honored. As a salute to his late grandfather, Glen Aaron I, "Boss Hog" Cuatro has framed a photograph of his grandfather piloting a Royal Canadian Air Force biplane during flight training. He and two buddies from Big Spring had left the States in 1940 or 1941 for Canada to join in the World War II effort before the United States entered the war in late 1941. Cuatro also has on framed display his grandfather's brass plumb bob and two slide rules which he used as a landman and oilman. Of his grandfather's skill with the slide rule, Cuatro said, "He was deadly with those things." His grandfather was "a great, great man."
Cuatro, who also admires his author-father Glen Aaron II and his "great accomplishments," acclaimed the "wild spirit" shared by his father and grandfather. For well over a decade, Cuatro was office manager and investigator for his father's law firm. He has famed mementos of father's first year as a lawyer in 1967.
The Hog Pit Pub & Grub offers an informal forum. "We talk about everything," Cuatro said. Whining is prohibited. Friendship and sportsmanship are required. And the Hog Pit is a "place where people come together and build friendships."
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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of mywesttexas.com.
Betty Moudy Robbins wrote on Jul 25, 2008 5:35 PM:
" Oh, how I miss Joe and the Thursday morning bridge games! - and, I miss all
of those who aren't with you any more.
I live in Newmarket, NH, and belong to a duplicate bridge club in North Hampton, NH. Our director, Dave, is a very dedicated director, but can never match the dedication of Joe.
Keep on bidding!!!!!! "
of those who aren't with you any more.
I live in Newmarket, NH, and belong to a duplicate bridge club in North Hampton, NH. Our director, Dave, is a very dedicated director, but can never match the dedication of Joe.
Keep on bidding!!!!!! "
jody wrote on Oct 5, 2008 7:24 AM:
" Yes! People need to take their conversations outside! or use their INSIDE VOICE! HA!
I wonder if we start following these inconsiderate people around if they will know we are listening they will take it to a more private area? Doubt it..people are so clueless about manners these days.. "
I wonder if we start following these inconsiderate people around if they will know we are listening they will take it to a more private area? Doubt it..people are so clueless about manners these days.. "
Leslie Duckworth Earnhart wrote on Nov 8, 2008 2:47 PM:
" I am the great grand neice of W W Lackey and I am so glad to read articles with not only substance but that refer back to and educate us on our past generations. Nice work. dr Lackey(Uncle Willie) would be proud! "
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Barbara Tillman wrote on Jun 6, 2008 12:41 PM:
Barb T. "