Willow Run Barbecue Company
FOOD TRUCKHoliday weekends are for relaxing.
We spend most holidays at J’s parents in St. Joseph County. We’ll always do some grilling but lunches are a lot of leftovers are pre-made meals.
We headed to the lake Friday morning for the holiday weekend. Not long after getting there, J’s mom asked if we wanted to head over to Klinger Lake to pick up lunch from Mamazzoni’s Italian beef. I never turn down an Italian beef.
Saturday was kind of the same. J’s mom always makes breakfast but for lunch, she said there was another food truck nearby that she wanted to go to. It was BBQ and just like Italian beef, I never turn down BBQ.
The food truck was Willow Run Barbecue Company out of Ypsilanti. They were parked at The Parlor on M-66 south of Finley Road in Sherman Township north of Sturgis. Being from Ypsilanti, we had never heard of this truck but the kids wanted ice cream from the Parlor and J’s mom and I wanted BBQ so it was a win-win for everyone.
The truck is actually an old bus painted navy blue. The menu is permanently painted on to one of the rear windows. They have all the usual BBQ staples and even throw in smoked burgers.
The parking lot smelled amazing when we got out because they actually pull a smoker with them. I’m not sure if they have some kind of connection to this area in Southern Michigan but they spent the weekend in Shipshewana, White Pigeon, Sturgis, and Schoolcraft so they were smoking meat on this trailer all weekend for their next stop. The two guys working the truck came out a few times to pull things fresh off the smoker and to drop some more sausages on once they started running low.
They were only dealing with one order at a time. They’d take an order, take the payment, put it all together, then do the same with the next order. We waited in line 10-15 before it got to us. The kids had already eaten their ice cream and asked to get back in the car where it was much cooler.
We put in an order for two brisket sandwich plates, one pulled pork sandwich plate, and a brisket sandwich plus a side of mac & cheese. The total came out pretty close to $90. It looks like they had a square to take cards but my mother-in-law just paid in cash. There’s also an option to “Pay it Forward.” For $2, you can buy a hot dog, chips and a drink for someone. J’s mom thought that was a cool idea so she did that as well.
It took another 5-10 minutes for everything to be packed up and handed to us through the window. I supposed we could have went to The Parlor’s seating area but we had one for Grandpa who didn’t come with us so we just headed back to the in-laws to eat.
I was the one who didn’t get the plate. I knew there was only one side I wanted and it was $5 cheaper to order the way I did.
I got the Brisket sandwich which comes with pickles and onions on a white bread bun with BBQ sauce. The meat was amazing. It was so tender, had a huge but not overwhelming smokiness, and a great bark that added so much flavor. The pickles and the onions weren’t really necessary. The brisket is so good on it’s own. Same can be said for the BBQ sauce. It was just Sweet Baby Ray’s. I wasn’t mad that it was on the sandwich but the meat didn’t need it. This stuff is amazingly good on it’s own.
The same can be said for the mac & cheese. It’s a smoked mac & cheese that is so creamy and so smoky. All four of us were surprised at how good this mac was. It was hard to tell but there may have been small pieces of pork mixed in the cheese sauce. It tasted like there was something else giving it a little bit more of a smokey flavor. This stuff would have been delicious as a whole meal.
J’s parents also got the Brisket sandwich but they did the plates which got them another side. One of them did the slaw while the other did the baked beans. J did the baked beans as well as her second side and loved them too. She said like everything else, they had a great smokiness to them without being overpowering. I think she called them some of the best baked beans she’s had.
J was the odd one out here and ordered the pulled pork sandwich. Typically, when there’s a lot of meat on the sandwich, J’s not a fan. She kind of had that look on her face at first but then took a bite. She still ended up pulling a little bit of it off but not that much. Just enough so I could try it. Like the brisket, it was tender, juicy, and just filled with a smokiness that permeated the meat. It was really good. J’s a big sauce person with her BBQ so she was happy to see her sandwich covered with that sweet stick sauce.
Willow Run Barbecue Company was good. Like really good. It’s kind of expensive. We spent $90 on four meals from a food truck but J’s mom made mention that there was a lot of food in each of the boxes. I’m glad we decided to skip making lunch again and found this food truck. It was easily some of the best BBQ we’ve had in a while.
SW Michigan Dining 