Baldy’s BBQ – Lakeville, MN (Bar-B-Quest 2012)

We were saddened to hear about the closing of the Minneapolis Baldy’s location, especially since they are the number one seed in the Bar-B-Quest 2012 bracket (notice the year change, since we’re way behind on eating BBQ). Thankfully, their original location is still open. HotGirlsBrother and I thought we should give them a shot to see how it compares to the Minneapolis location and, if up to snuff, we’d leave them in the bracket system this year – despite the distance.

The building is set in a small strip mall behind a group of gas stations, just off I-35. The sign is out by the highway, but the restaurant is actually behind the gas stations – it took us a while to find it. Once inside, we were impressed with how large the place is. Lots of tables, and plenty of room inside. We pretty much knew what we were going to get, so it didn’t take us long. It DID, however, take the server forever to come and take our order. Over 20 minutes. We both got a half-slab and a side of meat (I got the brisket as my side-meat) (we had coupons), which comes with two sides – baked beans and cheesy corn bake for me, cole slaw and potato salad for HotGirlsBrother. Then we also got an order of fries to split, since they’re always so good. To top it off, HotGirlsBrother got a beer and I got a Mike’s Hard Lemonade – BAM. 6 degrees outside and I’m ordering like I’m a girl on spring break! (I’d say I did it for the laugh, but I actually don’t mind Mike’s)


The food came out pretty quickly, but the server messed up our order and he had to come back with a new order of fries.
I’ll make this as brief as I can, since we’ve raved about this place when it was in Minneapolis. It’s seriously good. Lots of meat on the bone that falls right off onto your plate. Delicious flavor and very tender. I could go on and on about the sides, which are some of the best we’ve had in the competition. The fries are to die/kill for. They’re twice fried which makes them amazingly crispy and there’s some sort of parmesan or magic dust on them to make them super-addictive. The beans? Awesome. The corn bake was even better here than in Minneapolis – it was creamier or more liquidy, but that made it sooo much better. Fantastic. And to top it all off, the potato salad was some of the best either of us have had. It was quite stellar.

Once we wrapped things up and raved about the place, we waited another 20 minutes for the guy to come back and give us change. Like I said, we had coupons, and this apparently confused the guy something fierce. Seriously, the kid was on the phone with the owner walking through the process. It was excruciating. Thankfully, we’re both fairly patient and trudged through.

The restaurant itself has some winning items, as well.
Big Buck Hunter and a Bowling game, and also tons of Lakeville-area sports teams, including this awesome poster of a girls soccer team. Classic.

We’re going to keep Baldy’s in the running for the Bar-B-Quest 2012, since they put on such a good show. Normally, we might not, but since we started with them in the Twin cities proper, we’ll leave them in there. They’re that good.

No top 5 for this one, since we’ve reviewed it’s other location in a previous post. It’s worth the drive…

Even though it hasn't changed much, I know some people like to see the Bar-B-Quest bracket. Click on it to enlarge it.