The place is new enough that they’re still working on signage, but there is a nicely done computer generated sign taped to the inside of the window with prices and such on it. It actually works just fine and there’s no reason to drop a bunch of cash on a fancy sign when this thing works perfectly well. The guy in front of me in line was giving me the scoop on the whole operation as he had just hammered the kid behind the counter for information about the place. There hasn’t been any advertising for the place just yet – in fact, there is a large sign out front and a small sign taped to the back of the owner’s pickup truck out back. That’s all the advertising they have right now. I’m going to do my part to spread the word.
The talkative guy in front of me told me he had just gotten a sample of the pulled pork and it was delicious. There went my easy “get a half slab of ribs and move along” strategy I had been planning. So I got both. Yes, I’m an idiot, but a hungry idiot. I got a half slab pork rib basket (with two sides and cornbread), a pulled pork sandwich, and a root beer (no Dew at this place). The guy behind the counter put the thing together and handed me a couple of bags full of food. Next to the ordering window, there is a table where you can put your own sauces on: Regular BBQ, Spicy, and Extra Spicy. I got some of each, since I didn’t know what I wanted just then.
In the parking lot next to the building are a couple of picnic tables so you can relax and enjoy your food. There is also a small counter railing on the side of the building to enjoy your food if it’s raining (but you‘ll have to stand). I went over and scored a picnic table and set about devouring some tasty BBQ.I’ll start with the sides: The Mac and Cheese was pretty outstanding. There were flecks of some seasoning – likely some black pepper and something else I can’t put my finger on – that made it awesome. I should have gotten a larger size of this to bring back to work with me. The baked beans were also good. Not stellar, but above average, especially for a place that doesn’t specialize in baked beans. Well done on the sides, Mr. Pig Stuff.
The pulled pork sandwich was pretty darn good. The meat was a tad dry without sauce, but a simple dousing of any of the three sauces I acquired made the meat much better and really tasty. Plenty of meat on this sandwich, as well. They don’t want you to go hungry at this restaurant. The sauces are all good in their own right. The regular sauce had great flavor and was probably my favorite taste-wise. The spicy was a little bit spicy and was sweet and tangy, also very good. The extra spicy was like a thick smoky chipotle spice that packed a decent amount of heat to it. I ended up combining the extra spicy with the regular to make a better sauce for my palate. 
The ribs themselves came in a heat-insulated bag which was kind of unwieldy to eat at the picnic table. I’m glad I saved the to-go container the sandwich came in so I could dump out the ribs into the black styrofoam. There was a lot of meat on these ribs. They had sauce on them (I know some people like them dry and tough, but I like my ribs both ways) and they were really juicy. They fell off the bone really easily and were really easy to eat with a fork (I say that, and I still managed to get sauce all over my dress shirt – hahaha). The rib tips were a bit on the fatty side, but the rib meat itself was really quite good. By the time I finished these ribs (and the awesome sweet cornbread that comes with the ribs), I was bursting and ready for a nap. Stupid work, cutting into my nap time…
So you know, Mr. Pig Stuff is located across from some sort of train yard grain/malt factory with noisy trains loading and unloading. If that doesn’t bother you (it didn’t bother me at all and in fact gave me something to watch while eating), then you should go here and have yourself a little picnic. The picnic area is shady and nice and the staff that work at Mr. PS are super friendly and made sure I got the hook up. There are free refills if you eat there in the picnic area, which is nice even though I rarely need a refill on pop. I’m hoping to spread the word on this off-the-beaten-path BBQ place. The food is really good and I’ll be looking forward to the next time I can go there and bring some friends. Next time, I’ll get either the ribs or the pulled pork – not both… so sleepy…The question now is… do we include Shakopee in the Rib Quest 2010 challenge? Are they too far away? What’s the food radius for this challenge? I’ll take a poll and if I need to revamp the list, I will. For now, let’s just leave it at “better than average white-guy BBQ”.
Top 5 things about Mr. Pig Stuff BBQ
1. Mac and Cheese (really)
2. Pork Ribs
3. Pulled Pork sandwich
4. Super staff
5. Fun outside picnic area
Bottom 5 things
1. Needs some advertising so this place gets crazy huge on the rib circuit (is there a circuit? If not, there should be!)
2. It’s not by anything at all
3. Could get a little noisy due to train and truck activity across the street
4. No Dew
5. Not thrilled about the rib bag, but it worked. Would be better off with the to-go package
www.mrpigstuff.com (and they will be updating their site soon with new information on the new restaurant location…)
Mr. Pig Stuff
835 1st Avenue W.
Shakopee, MN 55379
6 comments:
Sometimes when I order that much food, I pretend I'm on my cell phone like I'm ordering for some mysterious other person also.
You must have ate there on a better day..worst BBQ that we have ever had. We've lived in KC and Omaha, where BBQ is King. The slaw was mayonnaise and cabbage, no vinegar or seasoning. Our BBQ pulled pork and the beef brisket and the beer can chicken were so dry and greasy (it was not smoked long enough) it was difficult to eat (we ended up throwing most of it out). The sauce spicy and mild, was just gussied up ketchup. The fries were heated up leftovers from lunch (we ordered around 5 PM on a Friday). The mac and cheese, weird flavor to it; so kind of weird tangy cheese, along the lines of bleu...wasn't good. Problem is we are acquaintances of the owners and don't know how to tell them their food can't compete with other BBQ joints in and around Shakopee. Price was cheaper than others (Famous Daves and the new place near the Walmart in Shakopee)...but even with those prices it wasn't worth it.
I would have to completely disagree with Anonymous, this is the best BBQ I have had and I too have lived in the South. The ribs had an amazing flavor and the beans were the best I have ever tasted. The pork was moist and had a great flavor.
I heard about this place from several friends who tried it and loved it and I am glad I discovered this new BBQ joint in town!!
Anonymous-if you are an aquaintance of the owners and a true BBQ expert maybe you should actually speak to them about your true feelings of their food.
I want to love this place - but I don't. The beans, while good, still can't compare to Famous Dave's. The pulled-pork wasn't bad, but not at all special in any way. Sure, you can add some sauce (you need to, it's pretty much just plain meat flavored otherwise - no smokiness). I also have had the beer can chicken. That was pretty good, but hard to go wrong.
Maybe they'll improve with time, and I wouldn't doubt that it depends on the time of day that you go there. I haven't been there during lunch time, only after work.
I'm glad it's there, but I was hoping for more. Still, I'll go back. But not if there was a Famous Dave's nearer than Savage.
BTW, the place across the street is the Rahr malting plant. The provide the malt for Budweiser beer.
I stumbled upon Mr Pig Stuff during a Friday lunch hour and it reminded me of something seen on "The Food Network". I found a group of about 8-10 working class people awaiting their orders. I was very impressed by the large smoker running in the parking lot and promptly ordered the beef brisket sandwich with sides of slaw and fries.
I thought the sandwich was excellent - tender and smokey. The sauce was hot and tangy. The sandwich had a little bit of fat on it but was juicy and had excellent smoke flavor. The slaw was crisp and tart and the fry's were homemade and way above average.
I am very excited to find a local authentic BBQ shack that can hold it's own against these boring chain restaurants.
I will definitively be making many more trips to Shakopee, Minnesota.
Long live Mr Pig Stuff !!
This place is quite delicious. Myself and 5 other coworkers near Mr. Pig Stuff have eaten there half a dozen times now and have yet to be disapointed about going there.
We usually eat there at 11am and bring our food back to work. I have tried the pork, brisket and chicken on a bun. Favorite is pork, then chicken, then brisket. Three of my coworkers love the brisket over the pork.
We all agree that the beans and cornbread are great. The slaw, potato salad, mac & cheese, and fries are good. Some days the fries were over done, some of us like them that way, I didn't. But I don't recall any instance when food was thrown out, someone ate it!
The brisket and pork were never too dry, some times too saturated that the bun got wet, but it's a great flavor and we all have to remember that this isn't a fast food place where the food will ALWAYS taste the same. One day it could be cooked longer, less, more grease, less sauce, who knows! It's original and satisfies.
The sauce is different, almost a western dressing. I'll eat the sandwich with or without sauce, it tastes good either way. Spicy mixed with regular is good. Extra spicy is good on sandwich, too spicy to dip fries for my taste.
Overall, great place for the money and we've been eating there for weeks and some times the line is 2-3 people and other times there was 14 guys behind us! LOVE IT!!!
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