Pork Barrel BBQ Downtown D.C. Pop Up

This might turn into a barbecue week, basically by accident, if you can believe it.

Thanks to a tip from Jessica Sidman, Washington City Paper's newly installed Young and Hungry food writer, I got lunch today from the Pork Barrel BBQ pop-up at the downtown D.C. Living Social location (918 F Street NW).

Pork Barrel BBQ is a barbecue restaurant in Alexandria, Va. The pop-up runs just this week everyday through Friday at 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. And they're only serving one thing but it's really good: a barbecue pulled pork sandwich with your choice of sides.

The sandwich is really good, the tender pork has a wonderfully smoky flavor and just a little spice. I like that they put the sauce on the side; it's good, but the meat isn't drenched in it, which is nice. The chewy potato bun provides a nice cushion to the meat. This is probably the best barbecued pork sandwich I've eaten lately.

The setup is a little odd, but it works fine. You order your food from the Living Social lobby area. The people working there were certainly friendly. They run upstairs where your food is prepared and bring it down when it's ready.

For my side, I considered coleslaw or potato salad but opted instead for the more mysterious "Texas Caviar," a black eyed pea salad with red, yellow and green bell pepper, onion and a touch of spice. You also get corn bread, which is so fluffy and sweet it's rather more like corn cake.

For anyone who works downtown and loves barbecue, I definitely recommend a stop this week.