Piggy’s
At A Glance
Address:
501 Front Street South, La Crosse, WI, 54601
Phone Number:
(608) 784-4877
Hours:
Lounge:
- Lunch Monday–Friday 11 a.m.–2 p.m.
- Dinner Sunday–Thursday 4 p.m–10 p.m.
- Dinner Friday and Saturday 4 p.m.–11 p.m.
Dining Room:
- Monday–Thursday 5 p.m.–9 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday 4 p.m.–10 p.m.
- Sunday 4 p.m.–9 p.m.
Signature dishes:
Smoked meats, fresh seafood, 24-hour-cooked ribs
Average plate cost:
$20-25
Top Features:
- Private dining rooms and banquet hall
- Live music
- Catering
- Pasta buffet
History
Piggy’s opened in the early 1980s as a barbecue restaurant. In 2001, Chef Chris Roderique purchased the restaurant, adding in-house smoked meats and always fresh and never frozen seafood to the menu. Chris relocated Piggy’s to its current location in 2004 after a major renovation on the Pioneer Foundry building. The foundry was built in 1871, where parts were built for paddle boats docked in the La Crosse area. This type of building is one of the last of its kind, the downstairs being built entirely without support posts in the main room of the lower level (now the ballroom). It is constructed similar to a suspension bridge, with steel rods supporting the second level above the first. Certain features of the decorations and architecture within the building have been salvaged from buildings all over La Crosse, like the downstairs main bar and some of the stained glass windows.
Features
Piggy’s is actually two restaurants running within one building. On the main level, the Blues Lounge is open Monday–Friday for their “express lunch,” offering an enormous salad bar and some sandwich options. The Lounge is open seven days a week at 4 p.m. for dinner, offering happy hour specials from 4–6 p.m. The lounge menu offers appetizers, sandwiches, salads, and casual entrées. Guests may also order from the upstairs dining room menu starting at 5 p.m. The Lounge also offers a special all-you-can-eat “Lotsa Pasta” buffet for dinner every Thursday night from 5 p.m.–8 p.m. Guests can create their own pasta dishes to be prepared right before their eyes. The Blues Lounge also features a live jazz or blues band on Saturday nights.
The dining room on the second level of Piggy’s offers a more formal dining experience. The mood lighting, fireplaces, and cozy decor combined with beautiful views of the Mississippi River make for a memorable dining experience. Both the lounge and dining room offer private dining rooms for meetings, small parties, or intimate gatherings.
Piggy’s caters extensively off-location. They also cater in-house, hosting many weddings, reunions, and other celebrations in their banquet hall/ballroom. The ballroom is able to accommodate up to 180 guests banquet-style, and up to 300 guests cocktail-style. The hall is a spacious 2,000 square feet with audio and visual equipment available.
Food
The menu at Piggy’s features in-house smoked entrées, sous-vis style ribs, always fresh seafood, homemade soups and salad dressings, and a much more. Piggy’s menu is what you might consider “casual fine-dining.” The menu offers many combination entrées in case you can’t choose between steak or seafood. The menu changes seasonally, so there’s always something new to try. Piggy’s is very conscious of dietary restrictions. Servers are knowledgeable about entrées that are gluten-free or entrées that can be easily made gluten free.
Contact
Piggy’s Restaurant
501 Front Street South, La Crosse, WI, 54601
(608) 784-4877
Fax: (608) 784-5756
Email: ribs@piggys.com
www.piggys.com