Mr. Pig Stuff BBQ Restaurant - Shakopee, MN

The BBQ pulled pork sandwich from Mr. Pig Stuff restaurant in Shakopee, MN

The potato chips from Mr. Pig Stuff restaurant in Shakopee, MN

Mr. Pig Stuff, a Shakopee BBQ restaurant which recently re-opened in a larger location on Highway 101 / 1st Avenue on Shakopee's eastern side next to Dangerfield's Restaurant (approximately 1 block east of Marschall Rd.) has put itself in an excellent position for growth. Having established themselves at their former location in western Shakopee and offering only walk-up and drive-thru orders, the new location is, in one word, huge.

The former Panzanella Restaurant (now home to Mr. Pig Stuff), nestled between Taco Loco and Dangerfield's Restaurant doesn't look large from the outside but on the inside now offers a salad bar, full line of Coke products with complimentary refills and seating, at my best estimate, for approximately 75 or more patrons.

Building on Mr. Pig Stuff's always delicious BBQ offerings (the pulled pork sandwich is my favorite -- they also offer half and whole beer can chickens, beef brisket, ribs, etc.) the Shakopee restaurant has expanded on their side dish offerings. I have always opted for french fries but when my basket arrived at our table this evening I was greeted with a dish of cole slaw as well. My daughter, being hard to please sometimes, had chicken strips, mac and cheese and a few other offerings to choose form but opted for the grown-up size cheeseburger. Weighing in at what had to be 1/3 lb. or more, this hand-pattied beauty was nicely seasoned with something I couldn't quite nail down. Maybe it was a bit of a spicier rub they made up specially for their new hamburgers and cheeseburgers but my nearly four year-old daughter did mention that it was really spicy. She instead shared in some of the succulent pork from her mom and dad's sandwiches but she did love the "potato chips" that came with the order.

The potato chips, a new side to go with the new location, were amazing. Seasoned with the same spice mixture Mr. Pig Stuff uses as a dry rub on their smoked meats, these potato chips were -- as explained to me -- something they experimented with by simply slicing potatoes the long way (approximately 1/8" thick), frying them and sprinkling them with their amazing dry rub which had a hint of brown sugar as a nice surprise.

All told, in the BBQ community, Mr. Pig Stuff has an excellent handle on their recipes. The service is fast with items prepared to order. The core of the staff is still all family members and the welcome addition of the much-needed inside seating should keep a steady stream of lunch-time workers coming through the doors with families keeping the place busy during other hours. The decor features plenty of Iowa Hawkeye memorabilia, two (or three) large televisions which tonight were tuned to the Green Bay Packers game and with the coming addition of beer Mr. Pig Stuff will have a leg up on their cross-town BBQ restaurant competition (Dickey's BBQ Pit in Shakopee's Southbridge area).

All told, I will definitely be back either during the workweek for a hearty lunch or on the weekend with the family. The best touch, though, was the cashier not only asking my daughter her name as we ordered but remembering it as we left the restaurant. Very nice.

Mr. Pig Stuff BBQ Restaurant
1561 1st Ave E
Shakopee MN 55379
952-233-7306
Mon - Sat 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Sun 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Dickey's BBQ Pit - Shakopee, MN

Finding the best BBQ in our stomping grounds is a bit of a quest. There are a few chains, a few restaurants who offer some sorry excuse for pulled pork alongside their typical midwest fare and a couple of locally-owned BBQ joints but after seeing the Mr. Pig Stuff in Shakopee hadn't yet changed to their summertime hours, we ended up in strip mall hell deciding between Panera and Dickey's BBQ Pit. We debated as we waited at the nearby stoplight. On one hand we know exactly what Panera will be like. However, I can make myself a damn sandwich with cold cuts any time I want. But we had never been to Dickey's BBQ Pit and we both love and were craving BBQ on that day. Once parked we decided on BBQ.

I immediately liked the fact that there were people basking in the sun on the restaurant's "patio" and loved the array of side dishes offered as they build your BBQ sandwich using your choice of meat before your eyes.

That, however, was the end of the fascination for us.

I kept trying to find high points. There were two coolers of freshly brewed iced tea but it wasn't as cold as it should have been and even the sweetened iced tea could have used just a bit more sweetening added. The waffle-cut fries were nicely seasoned using a mix of salt and pepper but the quantity for the two dollar price (this is, after all, a quick service restaurant) was lacking.

But we were here for the BBQ. Having both ordered pulled pork sandwiches, we could at least compare notes about our experience. The beverage island was home to three warm vats of BBQ sauce -- original, sweet and spicy. I ladeled some of the original on my sandwich and grabbed a sauce cup full of spicy for my fries.

The pulled pork, upon first bite, was obviously fresh but was short in the flavor department. At home I typically apply a dry rub spice mix on top of a slathering of yellow mustard for adhesion after soaking the pork shoulder in a reduced apple juice bath overnight and then let the smoke do its thing while the meat slowly cooks. While the pork at Dickey's BBQ Pit was tender and had an acceptable thickness of bark, it wasn't the typical explosion of flavor or juiciness that I've grown to expect from a BBQ restaurant.

I'm aware that taste is subjective but a bit of flavor isn't going to scare off your customers and expecting your choice of three proprietary sauces to do the heavy lifting is a cop out. Your meat shouldn't require sauce to provide the flavor.

Kudos, though, to Dickey's BBQ Pit for providing customers with a complimentary bucket of mighty tasty pickle spears to accompany their sandwich.

Overall, Dickey's BBQ Pit is a serviceable choice for barbecue. It's obvious that they have made compromises to attract a wide audience and that's smart business decision for a franchise but never shoud taste be compromised in an attempt to appeal to the masses. Again, a bit of flavor in your meat isn't going to send people running for the hills.

The free vanilla ice cream is a nice touch as well but it tastes like a generic store bought square reconstituted for use of a soft serve dispenser. It's a nice perk if you don't have high expectations.

Mr. Pig Stuff - the best BBQ

I've been a semi-regular customer of Mr. Pig Stuff in Shakopee, MN for about a year. It's an amazing little hole-in-the-wall joint on the former U.S. Highway 169 across form Rahr Malting in a former walk-up Dairy Queen building. To say that this area of Shakopee is overlooked would be an understatement but it shouldn't be overlooked any longer as Mr. Pig Stuff consistently churns out some of the best BBQ not just in the Twin Cities but in all of Minnesota.

Having lived here nearly ten years now, I've had many quests to find restaurants that measured up to those I became accustomed to frequenting in my teens and twenties. With pizza and Mexican food crossed off the list, it was on to BBQ and having heard of Mr. Pig Stuff through my wife who works a couple towns down the road, I made a run to the hidden gem of the BBQ world on my lunch one day and was instantly hooked. While I took my lunch back to my office there are also a scattering of picnic tables and a BBQ bar on the building's east side to belly up to and pig out.

The pulled pork sandwiches should be considered a drug because they are addictive. Warm, juicy, flavorful and just smoky enough to remind you that it's legitimate BBQ heaped up on a toasted bun and served with a mound of which ever side you choose.

I might stop by to grab a couple sandwiches to take home for supper tonight because it's been months since having their amazing BBQ and months without Mr. Pig Stuff is longer than a lifetime. Check out the family-run operation on Scott County 69 just a few blocks west of the Highway 101 bridge. It's practically in downtown Shakopee and it's heads and tails above the likes of Famous Dave's and Dickey's BBQ Pit which are chains and do little more than occupy cookie-cutter spaces in strip malls and send their profits out of state.