YOU CAN EAT LIKE A PIG AT THE PIG.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

You know you're in a hip place when your server has a blue beard.

Affable Bluebeard works at The Pig on La Brea Avenue near Melrose, about as hip a barbecue spot as you'll ever find.

Next door to the shuttered Louis XIV French dinner house, it purveys top-drawer Memphis-style barbecue to the trendoids who frequent the hot dining places in this area.

Masterminded by spouse-chefs Liz and Daly Thompson (she handles the desserts), The Pig is tres busy, often with a line of patiently waiting customers, some ordering food to go, others hoping to find a place to park and eat from among the 40 available chairs inside and outside the cramped, but colorful, quarters.

Being Memphis-themed means, of course, that Elvis has to be present. And he is. No, not yet in person, but via his recordings from an old- fashioned jukebox and his framed visage.

Barbecue begins with ribs.

And the hickory-smoked babybacks ($15.95 for a rack of 11; $8.95 for a rack of five) here are superb. That means they're meaty, relatively juicy and not overly sauced. Accompaniments of barbecued pinto beans, cole slaw and skin-on potato salad denote no lowering of standards, with the sweetly flavored beans noticeably outstanding.

You won't go wrong at The Pig with either the pan-fried catfish ($8.95) melting softly on the palate, served with potato salad, piquant red cabbage slaw, barbecued beans and a lemony remoulade sauce, or the applewood-smoked brisket of beef ($8.95).

The latter provides another example of the Thompson brand of kitchen skill. Each slice of the meat comes up as tender and flavorful as one could ask, along with one of the house's special sauces, this being the sweet mustard. And with it come well-executed mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables (usually a half-husk of corn-on-the-cob, carrots, yellow squash and broccoli).

But if you're really into the Memphis thing, you'll remember to try the pulled pork platter ($7.95). This gets you a hefty pile of pork shoulder meat somewhat shredlike in texture that goes extremely well with a shaking or two from the bottle of house hot vinegar barbecue sauce.

You'll see what I mean if you try the charred rib ends ($4.95), a generously portioned appetizer billed as spicy rib tips, which arrive glazed with the same spicy, vinegary liquid.

Other starting diversions here include a pretty good, thickish, peppery gumbo ($3.95 or $5.95) served with a smattering of rice on top and jalapeno cornbread; and crunchy, beer-battered, fried pickle chips ($4.25) delivered with a roasted pepper mayo sauce.

Save some room for one of the chef Liz endings, particularly her apple- rumble crumble ($4.25) - ask for it heated.

Deliciously satisfying.

Like everything else consumed to date at The Pig.

THE PIG

Where: 612 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles.

When: Open for lunch, dinner and snacks from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday.

Recommended items: Gumbo, spicy rib tips, fried dill pickle chips, babyback ribs, crusted catfish, smoked beef brisket, apple-rumble crumble.

Children's menu: Four items (grilled cheese sandwich, fried chicken fingers, hamburger, macaroni and cheese) at $4.95 each (includes one side dish and beverage). Children's desserts are $1.75 each (orange sherbet cup, ice cream sandwich or large cookie).

How much: Starters from $4 to $6, sandwiches from $6 to $7.25, entrees from $7.50 to $16, desserts from $1.75 to $4.25. No alcohol. Beer and wine license pending. Major credit cards.

Reservations: Not taken. It's first come, first serve via the take-a-number method.

Our rating: Three and one half stars for food; three stars for service.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Daly Thompson holds a plate of St. Louis-style spare ribs in his La Brea Avenue restaurant, The Pig.

(2) A slice of apple-rumble crumble s one of the enticing desserts served at The Pig.

John Kennedy/Special to the Daily News