Smoke ‘n Pig BBQ
908 Elmwood RoadAnother day in Lansing.
I actually started my day with a drive to Lansing, had a quick assignment there, then headed back to Kalamazoo to finish my day.
Of course, I had time to stop for lunch.
I was out by the airport on the northwest side of town. I started looking around me to see what was in the area that I could grab quickly. I saw a BBQ place by the mall. That was my place.
Smoke ‘n Pig BBQ is on Elmwood Road north of Saginaw Highway across the street from Lansing Mall in Delta Township. The restaurant is in the back corner of a shopping plaza next to Lansing City Arena. The restaurant opened in late 2019 in the space that underwent a major transformation from a dance studio to a BBQ joint.
I ended up ordering using the online ordering option on the restaurant’s website. I had no idea if Smoke ‘N Pig was a counter service restaurant or a full service so I took the easy way out and put my order in a ahead of time.
Turns out, the restaurant is counter service. There’s a counter near the back of the first dining room when you enter.
The restaurant is rather large. The dining room in the main room is bigger than I expected but on top of that, there’s another large dining room with a full bar right next to it. The dining areas are pretty simple and feels like a BBQ joint. There are bottles of BBQ sauce and paper towels on all the tables..a must for any good BBQ.
I put in an order for 1/2 lb of brisket with two sides. I chose the regular fries and mac & cheese. The cost was right around $18 and it was sitting under the heat lamp waiting for me when I got to the restaurant.
I grabbed the box and headed back to the car. I was going to take it back to Kalamazoo with me, but it smelled too damn good.
I started with the box of fries. The fries were frozen, out of the bag battered French fries. Had I dined in, I would have drenched these in BBQ sauce to eat them. I didn’t have a whole lot of sauce in the take out box so I just ate them as they were. They were fine and very filling. The battered fries aren’t really my favorite type of fry, but fries are fries.
The meat is really what I couldn’t wait to get in to.
I ordered a 1/2 lb of brisket. It’s actually been quite a while since I’ve had any type of BBQ so I was really excited for the smell of smoke meat.
The sliced brisket was a mix of point and flat pieces. Some were a little fatty but it didn’t matter. It all just melted as soon as I got it in my mouth. The brisket was so tender and offered very little resistance when I bit in to the piece. The flavor just exploded with each bite. It was a pretty simply seasoned brisket with salt and pepper driving the flavor. Like I said, I hadn’t had brisket in a while and this brisket brought back all the reasons why I love BBQ.
I did wait until I got back to Kalamazoo to eat the Mac & Cheese. It was still pretty warm by the time I got back. There was a little bit of BBQ sauce left in the to-go container and I poured that over the mac & cheese. I love the combination of cheddar cheese and a sweet BBQ sauce. This mac was made with shells and a very thick, cheesy sauce. It’s the kind of mac that would be really great as a main meal and not just a side.
I had never heard of Smoke ‘n Pig BBQ before I found it on a Google search. And man, am I glad I did. The BBQ was fantastic. It’s been so long since I’ve had great BBQ and this was great BBQ.
SW Michigan Dining 