Lake Andes saw a new restaurant open its doors in town this past week. What the Duck? BBQ and Grill held a soft opening on Monday, August 19th and has been open every day since. Owners Chris and Shelly Saunsoci finally made their dreams a reality with the opening of this business.

Owning and operating a restaurant is something that Chris has always wanted to do. Since he and Shelly married, it is something that he has talked about. This past year, the Saunsocis finally decided to find a location. They spoke to long-time friend and classmate, TJ Schacht about using the other side of the Duck In Waddle Out where there is plenty of seating and a kitchen to begin the business. The two parties came to an agreement and after some upgrades to the kitchen, starting with the retirement of the very old stove, nicknamed Big Bertha, got the business up and running. When it came to a name for the new eatery, the Saunsoci family wanted to do a play on the already established name of the bar. As they were playing around with name ideas, they kept saying what in the duck are we going to name it, finally realizing they had found a great name for the business.

When asked why the Saunsocis wanted to open their business in Lake Andes, they said because they were both born and raised there. Both Chris and Shelly went from kindergarten through 12th grade, graduating from Lake Andes High School. Even though they ventured off when they got older, eventually their path led them back home to Lake Andes. They both love to reminisce about days of past, growing up in and around Lake Andes, so it only made sense that they would start their business here. They both enjoy food from the other businesses that serve in Lake Andes, but they wanted something dif-ferent, a place in addition to the other great places to eat in town. They were also hoping that by starting this business it would help draw more people from the surrounding area and river to Lake Andes, which in turn would help Lake Andes’ businesses overall.

Chris is the BBQer. He gets up at 5 a.m. like clockwork because he is a morning person. Everything is cooked the day that it will be served. When asked how long he cooks the different meats on the menu, he said it has nothing to do with time, for him it is all about temperatures. When the meat gets to a certain temperature, Chris will then wrap the meat in foil and continue cooking until it gets to the next desired temperature before he will let it rest until served. What the Duck? is truly a family affair. Chris does the cooking, Shelly makes all of the daily sides fresh each and every morning and their daughter, Shaylah takes orders, serves food, and does anything else to help her parents out.

The menu is a reflection of the types of meats and items that Chris himself likes to cook. He absolutely loves smoking briskets. From there, he added ribs and then Chris asked himself “what else can I smoke?” The menu came together with a variety and array of different offerings including brisket Indian taco, trio brisket taco, pozole (with their own Native American twist on this classic Mexican dish), the duck platter, What the Duck burger, Big Boy sandwich and a Duck Bomb burger to name a few. They do plan to add more items including different proteins as well as new sides to the menu.

The fusion of different flavors, not typically found at most BBQ joints, is what sets What the Duck? apart. Chris makes his own rubs and BBQ sauce. Almost everything is homecooked and cooked with their own family recipes. Shelly said that one thing that does make their food stand out is that everything is cooked with love. Chris and Shelly love what they are doing and it shows in their food and how everything tastes.

Before having a brick-andmortar building, the couple had done some food vendoring at previous Fish Days celebrations as well as entering Ribfest. Before starting his own business, Chris worked at a local steakhouse to wet his feet and get into the swing of how a kitchen needed to be run in order be successful in his own. They also would normally cook for any of the big family holidays and communities’ tribal gatherings. The couple has also been a part of several non-profit organizations including Habitat for Humanity, assisting with food distribution for the United Methodist Church of Yankton in the White Swan community, working with the Red Cross to cook three meals a day during the flood several years ago, etc.

As they have just finished up their first week in business, there are many things in store for What the Duck?. They do plan on having a grand opening in the foreseeable future. What the Duck? is currently open seven days a week from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. They have daily specials that can be found by following their Facebook page.