July 19, 2024

Backyard BBQ has added three food trucks this season: another barbecue offering and new concepts of loaded fries, and ice cream along with fresh-squeezed lemonade.

Willy’s Fries made its debut in mid-June at Golf Addiction’s Food Truck Tuesday.

“It’s a pretty interesting concept and pretty new to the Sioux Falls area,” said Eric Elenkiwich, whose father started Backyard BBQ as a restaurant in Brookings and expanded to Sioux Falls with a restaurant in 2014.

The new Willy’s Fries features loaded shoestring-style French fries, including a classic chili cheese version. An early favorite, Elenkiwich said, are  Gyro Fries, which are seasoned with garlic and Parmesan and topped with lamb gyro meat, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, feta cheese and tzatziki sauce.

Other offerings include Poutine Fries, which are seasoned fries topped with beef brisket, cheese curds, brown gravy and chives. Cowboy Fries are seasoned fries topped with pulled pork, jalapenos, shredded cheese and barbecue sauce.

Customers also can order a side of regular fries or sweet potato fries.

Eventually, the plan is to add Texas taters, which are long, thin ribbons of potato, Elenkiwich said.

The other addition this year is Street Sweets. The bright yellow and green truck sells local Stensland Family Farms ice cream by the dip in a dish or waffle cone. Each outing includes four flavors of ice cream and fresh-squeezed lemonade.

Street Sweets is booked for every concert at Levitt at the Falls, Elenkiwich said. That’s 50 concerts, held for free Thursday through Saturday for most of the season.

Backyard BBQ has had a food truck operating out of Sioux Falls since 2016. “Q2” was added a few years later, Ollies in 2019, “Q3” in 2021, and in early May, “Q4” joined the lineup to keep up with demand for selling barbecued meats at public events and catering private gatherings, Elenkiwich said.

“There were a handful of times last year when we had to take Ollies and do barbecue off it,” he said.

The Backyard BBQ menu includes pulled pork, brisket and smoked chicken sandwiches, along with sides such as molasses baked beans, mac-and-cheese and coleslaw.

Ollies features gourmet burgers, smoked wings, hot dogs and fries.

Backyard BBQ isn’t done yet.

“We’re going to keep going,” Elenkiwich said. “We’re going to have something new for next year, but we just haven’t nailed it down yet.”

Love food trucks? Here’s your complete guide to the 2024 season