This popular Miami barbecue spot is starting a weekend pop-up in Hollywood

Food admin October 27, 2026 0 Comments

This popular Miami barbecue spot is starting a weekend pop-up in Hollywood

One of Miami’s most popular barbecue spots is starting a weekend pop-up in Hollywood — and its creators are considering the possibility of opening a full-time restaurant there.

Drinking Pig BBQ, created by chef Raheem Sealey, his wife Yohanir Sandoval and partner Mark Wint, opens Saturday at the former space of J&C Oyster on Harrison Street in downtown Hollywood.

Sealey, who created the menu for J&C Oyster and is executive chef for KYU globally, says that the space’s owner, Cesar Cifuentes, reached out to ask if he was interested in opening in the space. When Sandoval and Wint signed off on the idea, he said yes.

“I thought a pop-up could be a good move, and selfishly, I live five minutes from downtown Hollywood,” Sealey says. “We’ve always talked about doing a pop-up on the weekends, but I was so busy. But the stars aligned, and I’m tired of using that as an excuse. I’ve got to make time for something I want.”

The first Drinking Pig pop-up opened during the 2020 pandemic in a north Miami-Dade front yard, where neighbors and other locals could show up, order and eat at an outdoor picnic table while sipping cold drinks from the cooler. The spot provided people not only with good barbecue but also a safe way to get out of their homes.

In November 2025, Sealey and his team opened the first permanent Drinking Pig in Coconut Grove at 3444 Main Highway, serving the items that drew the crowds to that front yard: brisket, beef ribs, chicken, sausage and spare ribs, with classic sides like mac and cheese, cornbread, collard greens and baked beans.

Coming up on its first birthday, the Grove restaurant has proved successful, Sealey says, so he feels the time is right to open a second location closer to the northern part of Miami-Dade.

“Our customers come from Aventura, Hollywood, Sunny Isles, so it was easy for them to get to North Miami,” he says. “The Grove is a longer drive. We want to feed our customers who have been super loyal up in the north.”

At first, the menu will be more limited than it is at the Grove Drinking Pig. The team will go back to its roots, Sealey says, focusing on the five core meats — brisket, chicken, pulled pork, ribs, sausage — and some of the popular side dishes. The pop-up will serve barbecue until the food runs out or 8 p.m., whichever comes first. Hint: Don’t show up at 7:30 expecting everything on the menu to be available.

You can eat there or takeout, but Drinking Pig won’t be on the delivery apps, at least not yet.

“We want people to come to Hollywood and enjoy the space, the people who used to see each other in the front yard,” Sealey says.

El Monito will provide coffee drinks in the space, which Sealey hopes to eventually open on Thursdays and Fridays. There’s no timeline for this expansion or making Drinking Pig into a permanent Hollywood destination; the team plans to wait and see how the concept is received and will decide after the season concludes sometime in April.

Bringing a personal concept to Hollywood is something Sealey would dearly love to do.

“I love Hollywood,” he says. “I’m hoping we can create something that becomes a destination. The Grove’s still going to do well, and I hope we can make this into a cool thing for downtown Hollywood. I just want to see good things happen here.”