Longhorn Saloon

1181 S. Main St., Shawano
(715) 524-9195

With her Nuttin but Butts food truck in the rearview mirror, Ronni Schweyen is back in the driver’s seat at the Longhorn Saloon in Shawano, a bar she previously owned before going into the food-truck business.
It all started in 2011 when she and her husband, Roger, took over the Longhorn.
“It (the Longhorn) always had great food, and over the years, we wrote our own menu and tweaked the food that was served there,” Ronni said.  During that time, I mastered the smoking process. We now have pulled pig, brisket, smoked corn beef and ribs on the menu.”
But COVID made her take a detour.
“After the COVID shut down, things changed, and I needed a break,” she said. “We leased the bar, and I bought a food truck. My food truck specialized in pulled pork, which led to it being named Nuttin but Butts. I made a niche menu which included pork in every item. I also started smoking mac and cheese as an accompaniment. Nuttin but Butts was a fun little enterprise, and I absolutely loved it. I was able to work my own hours and had a great time serving great food to everyone. On Aug. 1, the Longhorn lease was up, and I decided to go back into the bar.”
While the Nuttin but Butts menu is no longer traveling around the area with the food truck, it is now part of the Longhorn menu, and while Schweyen said she has spent much of her working years as a bartender, you’ll now find her spending much of her time in the kitchen.
While she’s working at the Longhorn, her husband, who is a driver for Johnsonville, is usually out on the road.
“Roger has always been a truck driver,” she said. “He enjoys coming into the bar and visiting with friends. He is in charge of the charity motorcycle rides that we have done through the bar. He does not do anything at the bar but helps clean and do the shopping in Green Bay. He’s my sounding board.”
“I am the only one who does the smoking, we have a smoker in the kitchen,” she said. “I mainly cook right now as we are looking for more employees. It’s important to me to always serve the best food, so I cook while others can man the front of the house. I am working toward being able to bartend more, but for right now, I’m happy in the kitchen.”
She smokes pork, brisket, corned beef, ribs and mac and cheese on a regular basis and is looking to add new items to the menu. “I have been experimenting with different smoked foods and am going to be introducing new things as specials,” she said. “Burnt ends, pork belly and in-house smoked bacon are a few things I’m working on.”
Her Mac Butt Bowl and Pulled-Pork Nachos have been a huge success, she said. The Mac Butt Bowl has smoked mac and cheese topped with slow-smoked pork topped with sweet and smoky barbecue sauce, in-house pickled red onions and jalapeños. The Pulled-Pork Nachos are made with in-house fried chips smothered in nacho cheese, pulled pork with barbecue sauce, and topped with house-made corn salad, black olives, jalapeños, pickled red onions, and sour cream.
The Longhorn menu, though, offers more than just smoked items. It has a variety of appetizers, listed on the menu as “Drinking Buddies,” such as cheese curds, wonton mozzarella sticks, onion petals and Jalapeño Bottlecaps — hot and spicy jalapeño slices dipped in a premium draft beer batter and fried until golden.
Burgers, made with a half-pound of angus beef on grilled French bread, include offerings such as a classic cheeseburger to more exotic items such as the Shorthorn with hickory-smoked brisket, caramelized onions, Swiss cheese and barbeque sauce on a beef patty. There’s also a Western Burger with crispy bacon, beer-battered onion rings, barbecue sauce and cheese and a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich with sliced beef on a chargrilled patty topped with sauteed onions, greens peppers and cheese.
Breaded or grilled chicken is also an option along with a variety of fish plates, wraps and salads.
Rounding out the menu are what the Longhorn calls Local Favorites — chicken wings and tenders, Firecracker Shrimp, Chicago-style hot dogs, nachos and spinach and artichoke dip. Poutine, made with fries, cheese curds and brown gravy is also offered. Brisket or pulled pork can be added for an extra charge.
There are daily specials such as barbecue ribs fresh out of the smoker on Wednesday, wing-day is Thursday and there’s a fish fry on Friday.
“The ribs,” Schweyen said, “are rubbed with my own recipe and slowly smoked. I try to have enough on hand to serve them all week. We also serve fish any day of the week. On Friday, we also serve in-the-shell peanuts and you can throw the shells on the floor all weekend.”
For the kids, there’s mac-n-cheese, grilled-cheese sliders and hot dogs.
The Longhorn has also partnered with Build a Brat, another Shawano business, incorporating 8-ounces of their fresh Italian sausage into a sandwich topped with peppers, onions, marinara sauce and cheese served on fresh French bread from Shawano’s Fannita’s Bakery.
For those who are hungry and daring, there’s Longhorn Saloon’s food challenge. The 7-1/2 pounds of food include five half-pound burgers on a loaf of grilled French bread served with a pound of fries. The burgers are topped with slow-smoked brisket, fried onions, barbecue sauce and two pieces of Swiss cheese.
Big eaters who take on the challenge have one hour to complete it. If they do, it’s free. If they fail, it’s $50.