It’s menu-sampling day at The Hen and The Hog Smokehouse & Cantina in Pompano Beach, and restaurateur George Abbondante has brought brisket nachos, shrimp and grits, smoked brisket melts and pulled pork sandwiches for hungry coworkers seated at a long communal table.

Except, all of a sudden, something is missing.

“Wait, where’d the brisket nachos go?” Abbondante asks, pointing to a near-empty tray of tortilla crumbs and pickled red onions. The restaurant’s marketing manager, Maddux Kintz, sheepishly raises a chimichurri-stained hand and admits to hoovering them in two minutes flat while everyone’s backs were turned. (“Haven’t had a thing all day,” he mumbles, his mouth full.)

“We should’ve done a barbecue restaurant a lot sooner, I guess,” Abbondante says with a laugh.

The concept — fr

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