Lansing's alternative weekly newspaper, the City Pulse, featured Saddleback BBQ in April 2015. The coverage came during Saddleback's earliest months — the restaurant opened in 2015 with Travis Stoliker and Matt Gillett as co-owners, operating out of their South Washington Avenue location in Lansing's REO Town neighborhood.
City Pulse is the Lansing area's established alt-weekly, covering local arts, culture, food, and politics. A feature in the City Pulse introduced Saddleback to an engaged, locally-minded readership and helped establish the restaurant's reputation in a competitive dining market during its critical first year.
The City Pulse coverage was part of a pattern of strong local media support in Saddleback's early days. The restaurant would later appear in City Pulse's Top of the Town awards, win Best BBQ in Michigan recognition from Mental Floss, and earn national coverage in the Food Network — all building on the momentum that local press like this helped create in 2015.
