Ted Cook’s 19 Hole BBQ – Minneapolis, MN (Bar-B-Quest 2012)

I’m a huge fan of Ted Cook’s BBQ. These guys know what they’re doing when it comes to BBQ. Top notch, all the way. I was excited to eat here, even if it was a little out of order for the bracket system. I’ll eat here every chance I get, to be honest.

I swung by Ted’s after work and picked up food for a handful of us that were going to be eating dinner. Two slabs of ribs – one regular, one spicy (which both included jo-jo potatoes and coleslaw, and then another side of baked beans and another side of coleslaw. Also a couple sides of spicy sauce. That should do it.

This place is fast. The inside isn’t much to look at and there isn’t any place to sit in here. So you order your food, grab a seat along the window and wait for the guy to call your order up. You also get to chuckle at the hilariously inefficient design of the kitchen – it’s up two feet from the counter and there’s a small window to pass food through. It’s a pretty weird set up.


Regardless, these ribs are amazing. The meat is really smoky and flavorful. The meat was almost falling off the bone, but not quite. The sauce has some zing to it, which means the ones that were already hot (we couldn’t tell which were which), were that much hotter when the spicy sauce was poured on them. I loved it, but I think all of us were wiping our noses by the end of the meal. It’s got serious heat to it. This is a place that will fill you up – there is a lot of meat on the bones and you won’t want to see the end of the ribs. It’s a sad time. The potatoes were a little soggy, but when you cover them with sauce, they were delicious. The baked beans were pretty good, though they weren’t the best we’ve had. The coleslaw, however, is pretty delicious. It’s creamy and not too vinegar-y, but it’s one of the better versions of this picnic classic. We basically fought over the last of it – I’m glad I got the extra side of coleslaw to go along with the smaller ones each of us got.

Ted Cooks is going to be a contender in the Bar-B-Quest, without question. I have reviewed this place in the past, and it’s clear, they’re going to continue to be awesome. I’m curious to see if the raved-about Q Fanatics can put up a fight with Ted’s. I think the real winners are Low-Vee, HotGirlsBrother, and I, though. I have high hopes for an underdog in this division. We’ve already seen it in the Eastern Division with CG Hooks. Will we see another upset??!?!?

Here’s the Bar-B-Quest bracket (no major updates yet):

www.tedcooks19thholebbq.com