Muscatine restaurant named Pulled Pork Madness winner

The Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) has crowned a Muscatine restaurant the winner of Pulled Pork Madness after a few weeks of bracket wins and defeats across the state.

Skinny’s Barbeque in Muscatine held off fellow finalist Barrel Smoke BBQ of Templeton for the win in the social media driven contest, announced March 29.

The bracket competition started earlier in March with 16 Iowa restaurants narrowed down in a process similar to the NCAA tournaments. The IPPA received about 850 nominations this year for almost 70 Iowa restaurants.

The two restaurants with the most votes in each of IPPA’s eight districts made the final lineup before the madness began. In each round, the IPPA asked the public to determine which contenders would advance.

Skinny’s Barbeque owner Cord Kleist uses pork butts coated in mustard, salt and a generous helping of black pepper to grow a Texas-style bark cooked over oak wood. Only recently did he start to add a proprietary blend of seasonings.

Kleist cooks his pork 14 to 15 hours over low heat on a gas-powered rotisserie smoker, wrapping the meat toward the end to seal in juices. His sandwiches are served on toasted brioche buns with housemade pickles and onions on the side. For sauce, he offers three options: sweet, spicy or mustard-based.

Sandwiches start at $9 and include a side like creamed corn, cornbread, sidewinder fries or potato salad.

The restaurant, opened in September 2019, goes through 250 to 350 pounds of pork weekly. With Texas techniques gleaned from a visit to Austin, Kleist opened Skinny’s Barbeque after the passion was first sparked by a grill gifted to him on his 21st birthday.

“It’s crazy to see how far we’ve come and adapted and changed,” the winner said. In addition to the title, Klein won $250 and a plaque.

The last Eastern Iowa restaurant to win Pulled Pork Madness was Starbeck’s Smokehouse in Cedar Falls in 2022, which has since relocated to Waterloo. Last year’s titleholder, The Flying Elbow, is in Marshalltown.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.