LAPEER, MI — As a child, Patrick Hingst didn’t get too many chances to go out to eat.
But on his birthdays, he got the chance to pick a spot for a meal out and would always choose a Chinese restaurant, enjoying the stark flavor profiles.
When Hingst founded Woodchips BBQ in 2014, there’s one thing he absolutely wanted on the menu.
Six months after opening, Hingst debuted his first BBQ-inspired egg roll.
“That instantly became one of our best sellers,” said Hingst, a 2000 Lapeer East High School graduate.
From that point, it was time for Hingst to play in the kitchen, fine-tuning what made the best combinations for a larger egg roll menu.
Rolled in a wonton, the restaurant boasts four specialty egg rolls on its regular menu jam-packed with protein including brisket, chicken or pork.
There’s always a fifth option of the egg roll of the day, which is a constantly changing menu item inspired through the chef’s creativity.
Some have coleslaw, others have cheddar and jalapeño or Swiss cheese and caramelized onions or even bacon cream cheese — each has a flavorful combination in every bite, Hingst said.
And just when you thought that was it, you can get their mozzarella sticks or fried pickles, also served in egg roll form.
“Being a chef, I know flavors that go together and I’m always big on bold flavors. That’s the kind of idea behind barbecue in the first place is that nothing should be under-seasoned in barbecue,” Hingst said. “Every egg roll, you’re gonna get one of the most flavorful bites you’re gonna find in any restaurant anywhere.”
Jessica Harold, marketing director, said people are still surprised by the egg rolls, both in seeing them on the menu, but more so in rave reviews after trying them for the first or 14th time.
“It’s the most beloved item,” Harold said. “It’s been cool to witness, but it’s also really fun in terms of flavor because it’s always something pretty tasty. Anything wrapped up in a wonton and fried is just better, and these egg rolls are exactly that.”
Beloved is an understatement as Woodchips sells more than 80,000 egg rolls annually, while serving 150,000.
With that figure and the restaurant’s tenure, Hingst proudly stated they have served more than one million customers since opening.
The egg rolls sell two for $10 or four for $18, and they’re quite filling.
Woodchips also provides some from scratch house sauces tailored for each of the egg rolls served up, as well as five in-house sauces that borrow flavor profiles from all regions of U.S. barbecue.
Hingst said they have created between 15 to 20 sauces that compliment not only the egg rolls, but a variety of the other barbecue and barbecue fusion food that they offer.
Woodchips offers four specialty burgers, smoky chicken wings, burnt end loaded fries, sticky ribs, pork belly burnt ends, three styles of salad, two soups, including a brisket French onion.
The restaurant also offers a variety of barbecue entrees, barbecue bowls, barbecue-inspired nachos, quesadillas and sandwiches too with all of the sides that come with the American-style plates, such as coleslaw, cornbread, pit beans, green beans, macaroni and cheese, hand-cut French fries, Brussels sprouts and more.
“We’ve always called ourselves real Michigan barbecue, because while there’s other established areas in America where barbecue is featured, like Carolina style or Texas style, a lot of places already kind of had their own unique identity, but Michigan really didn’t,” Hingst said. “Michigan was actually kind of a hodgepodge, borrowing from lots of the styles, taking the best from a lot of different areas. So that is what I kind of modeled Woodchips after.”
Hingst’s goal has always been to build something Lapeer could be proud of in an effort to provide something in the city that he didn’t have as a teenager.
“I grew up in this town. When I was in high school, I couldn’t wait to get out of Lapeer. There wasn’t a lot here for me as a young person, and I felt like nobody really appealed to us. All the cool restaurants were in the bigger cities. All the happenings and concerts and stuff that we wanted to do wasn’t here,” he said. “I want to make sure the next generation has what we didn’t. I don’t want them to feel like their growing up to have that same impulse to want to leave, but instead stay and thrive.”
Nestled into the heart of downtown Lapeer, Woodchips BBQ, located at 315 W. Nepessing St., is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.
From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, Woodchips offers a happy hour that they call “Half off Happy Hour,” which provided half off of the price on a majority of their appetizer menu, as well as bottled beer and all of the craft-cocktails, made only with fresh-squeezed juices and house-made mixers.
“We love happy hours. So I wanted to make the best happy hour possible,” Hingst said. “So literally, we’re almost paying you to have a great time.”
