Baker’s Ribs – Eden Prairie, MN (Rib Quest 2011)

HotGirlsBrother and I finally tricked Low-Vee’s schedule into allowing her to come along on a Rib Quest 2011 adventure. We confused her by sending out many different meeting invites until she accidentally said yes – it worked, since she showed up this time!!! Hooray!!! We were also honored with the presence of TheDoctor at this outing, which always raises everyone’s spirits!

This is also the first head to head match we’ve had of the Rib Quest 2011. Baker’s Ribs vs Market BBQ. So keep in mind we’ll be comparing things to Market BBQ, rather than just reviewing it in a vacuum.
Baker’s is close to my office, so I didn’t have to go far to get here. It’s also in a strip mall which bodes well for most places in Minnesota. We popped in and checked out the specials board, which thankfully, had a four-piece rib lunch with a side! Lucky us. Normally it’s a half slab and fries for this challenge, but Baker’s doesn’t have fries. I went up to the counter where all the sides are displayed behind a sort of glass wall and ordered a four-piece rib lunch with a side of coleslaw (I’m new at coleslaw, but trying to learn) and I also got some baked beans (which I paid extra for). The sides get added to the plate and the plate goes back to the man behind the chopping counter. He’s madly chopping up pieces of meat into individual ribs and brisket and such. He throws what we needed onto the plate and hands it back to the cashier guy.
I grabbed a Sioux City Sarsaparilla as well, since it’s been probably 20 years since I’ve had one of those. I paid the man, grabbed plasticware, and we all found a table in the large dining room. Points for having a roll of paper towels on the table! There is a bottle of sauce on each table, so we were good there.
I started with the toast this go around. It looked really big, but wasn’t as awesome as I had hoped it would be. I’m not even sure why. It looked like there was enough butter on it, but it just wasn’t toasty enough. If you’re going to give me bread, then give me bread. If you’re going to give me toast, then make sure it’s toasted. Not some halfway point where it’s sloppy and just this side of crispy.

The coleslaw was actually pretty good. I’ll remind people I’m not a connoisseur or anything (maybe I will be by the end of this Rib Quest), but it was good. Not as good as Market BBQ, but according to HotGirlsBrother, that’s going to be difficult to beat anyway.

I moved to the baked beans. They were REALLY BBQ saucy. I didn’t think there was such a thing, but they were all BBQ saucy. TOO BBQ saucy, in actuality. The flavor that wasn’t BBQ sauce wasn’t all that stellar, so we pretty much decided the beans weren’t good on their own, but made out alright if you dipped your bread or ribs into them.

The ribs we thought were going to win us over from Market BBQ. The meat fell off the bones here at Baker’s. Really juicy pieces of meat. And there was pretty good smoke flavor from them, which we were all pretty happy with. However, the BBQ sauce on the table detracted from the flavor, rather than enhanced it, and it was really really liquidy. This was a pretty big disappointment, since it was looking so promising for Baker’s. The bean juice tasted better than the BBQ sauce, sadly.

In the end, it was a really tough call trying to pit (pun intended) these two places against each other. Market BBQ’s ribs were tougher and didn’t have smoke flavor, but the sauce was really quite good and helped the rib. So if you’re a sauce person, you’re going to like Market a lot better. If you can eat your ribs without sauce, then you’re probably going to like Baker’s.

In a close match, we decided Market BBQ would stand above Baker’s Ribs. Not by much, but the sides and sauce at Market pushed them ahead. We’re trying to go for the whole rib experience, not JUST the ribs (though we still think Market would be slightly ahead in this solitary race, as well). And if you factor in the fact that Market has a full bar, it is inching its way further and further past Baker’s. This means our first battle – between the 9th and 10th seeded rib places – goes to Market BBQ!

And as a bonus, since we’ve already eaten at the place where the winner of this battle was going to compete against, we can safely say that Baldy’s BBQ certainly beats out Market BBQ on pretty much all counts. So we’re well on our way.

In the next few weeks, we’ll be taking down a couple of rib places in the First Four division that we’ve been looking forward to. Stay tuned for the results of those matches.

Top 5 things about Baker’s Ribs
1. Fall of the bones meat on the ribs
2. Coleslaw
3. Lots of delicious soda to choose from
4. Plenty of daily specials (we liked the fact that there was a diet rib plate with four bones instead of six)
5. Super close to work for me

Bottom 5 things
1. BBQ sauce wasn’t that good
2. Baked Beans were basically BBQ sauced beans
3. Underwhelming Texas toast
4. It isn’t very cheap
5. We had to look for wet naps, which we really needed

www.bakersribs.com

Lee’s & Dee’s BBQ Express – St. Paul, MN (Rib Quest 2011)

We needed to work on some of the Eastern division BBQ places for Rib Quest 2011, so we thought we’d hit up Lee’s and Dee’s BBQ Express. I reviewed it last year, but it’s a new Rib Quest challenge, so I had to go back (not that I haven’t been back a time or two since then). It’s close to my house, so we decided to make an evening out of it and grab some ribs and bring them back to my place to watch a couple movies. Low-Vee and HotGirlsBrother were available, as was EJens for this particular trip. Our excitement might have had something to do with the fact that we seeded Lee’s & Dee’s number one in the Eastern division, based on our meals there in previous trips. We knew this one was going to be good.

First off, this isn’t fancy BBQ. It’s not flashy, and it’s not a place you might take your rich uncle. But the inside of the place is clean and the people that run it are really nice people. I know I brought this up last time, but they have an old stand-up Galaga video game in the dining room, and to get to the booths by the window you have to step over the radiator to sit down. It’s pretty low-brow and doesn’t have a lot of uptight attitude. Frankly, I feel right at home here. It reminds me of my Alabama grandma’s house. A couple of kitchen chairs are out on the sidewalk with people smoking in them, and a screen door to get inside the place. It’s homey.
You order your food at the counter if you’re going to take it away. There’s a small Xeroxed menu next to the window that gives prices and such and there are a few regular specials taped to the wall near the window. I already knew what I needed. Half slab of ribs, which comes with two sides – baked beans and coleslaw. I also ordered some cornbread, since I remember it being good last time. I paced around and looked at the photo of Ice-T and Don King hanging out at Lee’s & Dee’s. That should tell you something there. While I waited, EJens and HotGirlsBrother showed up. I had to grab my food and go since I still had a bit of cleaning to do before those guys got to my house.
(Whoops, how did that glass of Templeton Rye get next to my food?... Thanks, HotGirlsBrother!!!)

Once at my house, we decided to eat first and watch movies later. I dug into my coleslaw – again, I’m not a coleslaw person, but this was ok. No complaints, but I don’t think I order a bucket of it to bring anywhere. That’s just me. Next up, the beans. The beans here have this weird phenomenon in that they are flavorless. The first bite has a delicious BBQ sauce flavor, and then there’s nothing. And by nothing, I mean the flavor disappears. It’s is a flavor vacuum. I’m not even sure how it works, but all four of us experienced the same thing. We’ve tried to spice these up, but that ends up flavorless as well. So far, the sides aren’t the greatest.

The ribs on the other hand are stellar. I can’t explain how good these things are, but you pick up the bone and the meat slides right off into a lovely pool of sauce in the bottom of the container. Serious tenderness. Almost no fatty bits and aside from a couple of rib tips, no cartilage to speak of. Just delicious meat with incredible BBQ sauce flavor. We ranked these ribs in the number one spot for a reason. They are fantastic. And they aren’t small, by any stretch. They’re heavy on the meat, so don’t think you can get away with polishing off a full rack of these things. It won’t happen.

The cornbread is similar to the other times I’ve had it here. It’s a dry cornbread, which a lot of people don’t like. I don’t mean that it’s old or dried out. It’s just there are buttery and moist cornbreads and there are dry, less sweet cornbreads. I think this might be a little more southern to have it be dry since that’s how grandma used to make it. I like it both kinds, thankfully, but I know the others think the cornbread here is too dry. Depends on your preference, but I’m really happy with it.

I will note that Low-Vee had a less than stellar meal. All of us kept saying there was something wrong with her that she wasn’t very happy with her meal and giving her a hard time about it. She actually gave up, which is unheard of, and put the remainder in my fridge. I ate them the following day, and conceded she was totally right. The ribs she got were full of cartilage and less meat than the rest of us got. She was 100% right. I’m not saying there are consistency issues here or anything, since we’ve all had really good luck here in the past. But I guess everyone has a bad day at work, and unfortunately, she got a bad batch of ribs.

Also, word on the street is the beans somehow regain flavor when eaten as left overs and reheated. So keep that in mind.

I can’t wait until the final four of this Rib Quest, where we get to try the top 4 restaurants one more time. The others have a lot of work to do to beat these ribs. The only downsides to Lee’s & Dee’s are the sides and possibly consistency. The outcome remains to be seen.

That being said, I’m still recommending Lee’s & Dee’s to absolutely everyone. They’re going to be number one in my book, unless someone else beats them out.

Top 5 things about Lee’s & Dee’s BBQ Express
1. Some of the best ribs around
2. Cornbread – old school and dry, like grandma used to make
3. Coleslaw is still considered pretty awesome
4. Really awesome people working here
5. These ribs are relatively inexpensive, in comparison

Bottom 5 things
1. Baked beans still are a flavor vacuum
2. Low-Vee’s bad batch of ribs
3. I had absolutely no quarters to play Galaga this time around
4. I felt bad for interrupting a smoke break when I drove up
5. This place needs some T-shirts or something so I can tell even MORE people about them!

Lee's & Dee's BBQ Express
161 Victoria St N
Saint Paul, MN 55104

Rib Quest 2011

Big Daddy’s BBQ – St. Paul, MN

It’s probably about time to resurrect the Twin Cities Rib Quest that HotGirlsBrother and Low-Vee and I started last year. We were trying to find the best ribs in the Twin Cities and would randomly descend upon various rib joints and compare and contrast them. We ate a lot of ribs in 2009. One place we kept meaning to go was Big Daddy’s BBQ. This place used to be called Big Daddy’s Saturday BBQ and was only open on Saturday – which is a brilliant work strategy for those of us who prefer to work about 10-12 hours a week. HotGirlsBrother and I had eaten here a couple of years back, but we needed to pit it against (get it? PIT is against… nevermind) the other rib places in the Twin Cities.

D.Rough and I found ourselves hungry on a Saturday recently and because we’re of like mind, we both thought we needed to eat at Big Daddy’s. She was concerned that I didn’t have my usual rib partners to partake in this venture (well not THAT concerned), but I assured her, as good as it was last time, I’d be THRILLED to eat there twice in a short period of time. No worries at all on that front. We had already sleuthed out the location since the old building where it had been had been torn down. They moved across the street to a much smaller, but cleaner operation. There’s a small front area where you order your food and there is even a small railing/counter where you could stand and eat your lunch, unlike the previous location where you HAD to leave to eat your food.

We walked in checked out the menu. Simple, but to the point. Pork Ribs, Pork Rib Tips, Southern Style Beef Ribs, whole or half chickens, and some sides (collard greens, potato salad, and cole slaw). After a great deal of deliberation, we decided on a half slab of beef ribs and a half slab of pork ribs. Each half slab comes with a Ziploc bag of bread (white or wheat), so we scored that as well. A couple of drinks (strawberry pop – dur) and a side of potato salad and we had our order in. Most of the food is pre-made (meaning smoked for hours and hours) before you get there, so it’s super fast to get your food. The guy and girl working the counter are really fun people. They genuinely appreciated we were there and had some fun with us (especially when I couldn't decide on things). These people are great.

We grabbed our food and headed home for a little living room picnic in front of the television. We jumped right in. The beef ribs were really awesome. Very tender and came right off the bone with a fork. They’re served dry (without sauce - not technically "dry"), but they give you your choice of hot or mild bbq sauce – we went with the hot. The hot sauce is a sneaky one: it starts out really flavorful and you comment that it’s really not that hot. Then the minute you stop eating for a tiny bit, your mouth starts to feel the burn. I love this kind of spicy sauce burn. The beef was perfect paired with this sauce. The pork ribs were a little tougher than the beef ribs. They took some maneuvering to get the meat off the bone, but it did come off mostly intact. While the pork was a little tougher than the beef, it wasn’t bad by any stretch. None of the ribs went to waste. I didn’t get a verdict on the potato salad, so I can’t vouch for it, but I’m not a potato salad guy. We finished up the meal with pieces of white bread (mainly, that was stop our mouths from bursting into flame when we stopped eating).

Seriously, Big Daddy’s has some awesome ribs and I will be back. I’m looking forward to my Rib Quest partners to go there with me as well. I know they’ve been to the same places I have so I’m curious as to how they’ll rank these ribs against the others in the area. I’m going to rank them pretty high. I don’t think they’re going to beat out Lee and Dee’s, but I still think Big Daddy's is up there really close.

Here’s where the Twin City Rib Quest ranking stands right now:
1. Lee and Dee’s
2. Big Daddy’s Saturday BBQ
3. Ted Cook’s 19th Hole BBQ
4. Rudolph’s
5. Rooster’s BBQ Deli & Catering
6. BBQ Carwash (J.J.’s Ribs)
7. Scott Ja-Mamma’s
8. Cap’s Grille

RIP: Mr. B’s
Still to try (let me know if I’m missing one): C&G Smoking BBQ, Market BBQ

Top 5 things about Big Daddy’s BBQ
1. Beef ribs
2. Pork Ribs
3. Spicy Hot BBQ sauce
4. Super awesome staff there
5. They’re open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday now!!!

Bottom 5 things
1. Can’t eat inside very easily (though there is room to stand with a railing now – great idea)
2. There is nothing else bad about Big Daddy’s – they do everything right.
3.
4.
5.

www.bigdaddysbbq-stpaul.com

Cap’s Grille – Minneapolis, MN

Well, I had a hot date tonight... with some ribs. Thankfully, LowVee came along to make sure things didn’t get too serious between the bbq sauce and I. After a few schedule changes and furiously exchanged text messages, we decided to go get some ribs tonight . Since HotGirlsBrother had band practice, we decided to go to Cap’s, since he’s been there before. Turns out he didn’t end up having band practice, but decided not to go anyway.

On the way to Cap’s we drove past Scott Ja-Mama’s Ribs, which has a long history of giving us trouble with ribs. Oddly enough, they had the closed sign up in the window AGAIN!!! If you can find Scott Ja-Mama’s open, it’s worth stopping in, but good luck with the open sign. We had major trouble getting to Cap’s. Not because we were lost, but because no streets go though and when we did find one, we had to drive half a mile back towards downtown to make a U-turn. Hilarious. And if HotGirlsBrother were with us, he would have blown a gasket.

Cap’s is a sit-down kind of bbq place. Clean and everything – not a good way to start – ha ha ha. Lots of seating inside and even some patio seating where they very explicitly do not allow smoking nor dogs. There was an interesting mix of clientele including some inbred bumpkins from the hills. (I apologize if this is your father, but seriously…)

The waitress was very friendly and helped me decide what I wanted. I was torn between a few things and she helped me make up my mind at every turn. Brilliant. I ended up with the ribs and chop combo. I was in an eatin’ mood and indecisive, so I just went with both. Steak fries and baked beans for sides.

The food came out ultra fast, which rules. Everything looked really good. Really good.

The steak fries were pretty good. Not amazing, but they were seasoned really nicely and there were plenty of them. The baked beans were excellent. Just a hint of spice to them and very flavorful. I started in on the porkchop, which I had asked for the Cajun seasoned one (as opposed to the maple glaze or the bbq sauce one). I was really surprised to find the sauce had no kick whatsoever to it. I couldn’t tell it was Cajun at all, but I didn’t taste maple at all either, so I fell back on the Cajun spice, but a flavorless one. That being said, the porkchop was perfectly cooked. Very juicy and tender, so no matter what spice they put on it, it would have been good. Just not GREAT, without some zing to the Cajun seasoning.

I was surprised at how many ribs came with the combo – it was a half slab. I expected four ribs, but was pleasantly surprised. The ribs were the kind that were slightly dried out/overcooked. Not super juicy and falling off the bone. So depending on your preference, you may or may not like there. I liked them just fine. There was a small bit of sauce on the ribs, but the bottle of extra sauce on the table went to good use. The ribs had plenty of meat on them (not as much meat as Lo-Vee’s), and had lots of flavor.

I would eat here again, for sure. HotGirlsBrother says the brisket is the best thing on the menu, but I had to try the ribs to give an accurate apples-to-apples comparison for the Twin City Rib Quest. Once all of the rib places have been sampled, I’ll try to put up an accurate listing of ratings. So if you’ve got suggestions, please don’t hesitate to speak up.

Top 5 things about Cap’s Grille
1. Good bbq sauce
2. Super juicy pork chop
3. Got a half-slab with my combo
4. Baked beans
5. They had DEW

Bottom 5 things
1. Gerd loved to eat ribs and missed out on the rib quest
2. Cajun seasoning was pointless (and spice-less)
3. Curse of the rib-acquiring-difficulty still haunted the rib quest
4. HotGirlsBrother couldn’t join us
5. Never got a refill on my dew

www.capsgrille.com

Jim n Nick’s Bar-B-Que – Aurora, CO

My cousin, X-Copper, asked me if I liked BBQ, so I had to tell her about the 2009 Twin City Rib Quest (which in not so many words means “yes, I do enjoy an occasional bbq rib”). So, we decided we’d give it a shot tonight, depending on how I was doing after the Grande Breakfast Burrito I had eaten that morning. When the time came, I was proud to step up to the plate and head 8 blocks to Nick and Eddie’s with my aunt PhotoLady and my cousin’s husband, Houston.

They had told me about these cheesy biscuits this place brought out to your table. The rest of the food they said was delicious, so I had high hopes for the ribs I was about to order. The rib quest would not be a comparison to the twin city one, but I like to gauge where the Twin Cities ribs are in the grand scheme of things.

I scoured the menu even though I knew I was going to be getting ribs. But if some of the sides jumped out at me, then I would need to know what I was going to end up with. They had a choice between spare ribs and baby back ribs, so I went with the baby back ribs (based on the fact that I looked at the table behind us and saw someone gorging themselves on a full slab), with Mac and cheese and also BBQ baked beans. Also, this place had coke products, so I went with lemonade. I’m glad I did – the lemonade was delicious and sweet, not tart at all.

The cheesy muffins came out (the lady forgot our honey butter) and they were really quite tasty. I like them even better than the cheesy biscuits people rave about a Red Lobster. I could eat a couple dozen of these babies watching a movie by myself sometime. Oh yeah, if someone else made them for me – I’m lazy. The dinners came out for us a short while later. Quickly actually. The ribs looked delicious – they were dry rubbed, not covered in sauce. I know some people feel this is blasphemy, but I think dry rubs have their place in the ribs world. I won’t complain about the pickle slices on top, since I am a grown up and can remove them without causing a scene (cough…Coach…cough). I cut a couple apart and jumped into the first rib. Actually, these ribs didn’t taste all that great and weren’t very tender at all (sometimes dry ribs are like that). When the rib tastes like ham on a bone, I tend to think they are either undercooked or poor quality ribs. I added some of the original sauce to them (in a squeeze bottle on the table) and this helped a lot.

The sauce had a great flavor and just a little bit of zing to it. I tried the habanero sauce next just to see how hot it was and it honestly wasn’t that spicy. It also had a weird aftertaste to it, so I went back to the original sauce. It helped a lot. The Mac and Cheese was decent. Not great, but better than cafeteria mac and cheese at the very least. The BBQ baked beans were actually pretty good. Not even close to the best I’ve had, but still pretty darn good. Before we headed out, the waitress offered a piece of pecan or chocolate pie. For some reason, it sounded right, so I got a piece of chocolate pie to go. She brought it out in a togo bag for me and we headed home. I’ll be honest, the pie didn’t seem home made at all and was kind of gummy instead of fluffy chocolate cake. It really wasn’t good.

If this were in the rib challenge in the Twin Cities, it would rank pretty close to the bottom if not AT the bottom. But out of all the rib places I’ve been to, it wasn’t even close to the worst. It’s decent, but the dry rub, in combination with the ham-taste, made for a pretty sub-par experience.

Top 5 things about Jim n Nick’s Bar-B-Que

1. Cheesy muffins
2. Lemonade
3. Baked beans
4. Original BBQ sauce
5. The fact that I was able to eat while still housing 3+ pounds of breakfast burrito in my gut

Bottom 5 things

1. Ribs were either poor quality or undercooked and tasted like ham on a bone
2. Habanero BBQ sauce was not very spicy nor very tasty
3. Mac and cheese could have been way better
4. No Dew
5. Super bummed about the chocolate pie, especially since I’m not usually a dessert guy

www.jimnnicks.com

Rooster’s BBQ Deli & Catering – St. Paul, MN (Bar-B-Quest 2011)

The Rib Quest continues… Next on the list was Rooster’s.
We’d been to this place before and had decent luck here, so we had a good feeling about it. LowVee and HotGirlsBrother were stuck in traffic when I arrived, so I ordered them a surprise batch of deep fried cheese curds. Just as they came out of the fryer, LowVee and HotGirlsBrother walked in the door. Perfect timing. The cheese curds are delicious, by the way. Just order them while you’re spending time trying to decide what to order. All the menus are on the wall (they’re in print form, as well, but it’s not as much fun as staring at the wall is), so you get a good idea how many things this place offers.




We all got a half slab of ribs (spicy), which comes with French fries and coleslaw. We also got a pint of baked beans to split. There were really nice people working the counter were cracking up that LowVee couldn’t decide on her drink choice (she really did make it harder than she needed to – twss). We had already finished the cheese curds, so we made sure we knew the standings of the rib quest and who was going to be the next on the chopping block.

The food arrived in multiple waves, sides first. We dug into the fries and were fairly happy with them. Nothing special on these fries, no magic dust, just a tiny bit of salt, and done, but not crispy or anything. These were pretty standard fries. The coleslaw was also decent. I was amused to see the cabbage cut into very very very tiny pieces, so it was more cabbage shrapnel, than slaw. The flavor was decent, though it could have had more flavor, as opposed to just the mayo it was in. The roll was just a standard roll. Nothing too fancy, although it did come with a little container of something buttery tasting – not exactly butter – but buttery tasting, as indicated on the packaging.


The ribs arrived and we were impressed with how they looked. These large slabs of meat were sitting in a pool of delicious looking BBQ sauce. The sign on the wall talks about how the ribs were a Memphis style rib – dry rubbed and smoked, and THEN you add the sauce after they’re cooked (and then apparently the sauce is also poured into the bottom of the dish used to serve the ribs). Apparently, this was a pretty rare occurrence back in the day. We started in on the ribs. They were much more tough than we expected them to be. Not sure if they were cooked to short at a high temperature or just some tough meat, but I won’t pretend to know, either. They were pretty tough to get through. It took a lot of work to get most of the meat off the bone.

You can tell how much meat was left on the bone by this amazing rib bone-quet I created with my leftover coleslaw bowl. Yeah, I’m creative like that. There was a lot of meat on the bone and not much gristle, but you really had to put in some significant minutes to get the meat. Sad but true. The BBQ sauce in the bottom of the paper boats these things arrived in was good for dipping French fries into, but that was about all the use we got out of the sauce at this place. We were a little disappointed with the ribs here, to be honest. We remember them being a lot better tasting last time, with much less effort, and having more kick to them.

We were discussing this, in fact, when we realized we hadn’t even cracked open the container of baked beans. I scooped some out first and reported back to the other two: wowwwwwwww, these beans are sweet. Not a little bit sweet, but like they dumped a ton of sugar in them. And not delicious brown sugar. Like the white sweet kind. HotGirlsBrother couldn’t even eat them (he tried a bite and didn’t finish it) and LowVee didn’t even try after our raving reviews. Not a fan.

We were more than a little disappointed with Rooster’s showing. They had won some awards for heir food back in 2010 and many years before that, but tonight they weren’t “on”. Bummer for us. But it made our decision to move Rack Shack up in the bracket. Rack Shack would have won anyway, unless Rooster’s put up a game changing performance. But alas, Rack Shack moves ahead.

Here’s the updated bracket:


Top 5 things about Roosters BBQ Deli and Catering
1. Deep fried cheese curds
2. Super friendly folks working
3. Very diverse menu
4. Sauce in the bottom of the boat was excellent match for the fries
5. They had Dew

Bottom 5 things
1. Tough rib meat
2. Painfully sweet baked beans (we’ll henceforth refer to them as Wonka Beans)
3. Boring unseasoned coleslaw
4. French fries were underwhelming
5. The sit down Galaga game was unplugged… sigh.

www.roosterbbq.com

C&G Smoking Barbeque – Minneapolis, MN

My father was in town visiting, and I had to come up with an idea for lunch. I had read a review of this place that mentioned it had loose meat sandwiches like the Maid-Rite in Illinois. The Maid-Rite is one of my father’s favorite restaurants in the world, so I thought we’d both try this new place together. And the C&G Smoking Barbeque is relatively close to my neighborhood – It’s on Nicollet and 47th. I knew it had just opened according to the other review I had read. In fact, there is still a grand opening sign still on the grass out front.

There’s a small parking lot outside the building that houses a gas station, a gluten-free, dairy-free, ice cream and treat shop, and C&G Smoking Barbeque. We found a spot and strode in like we owned the place, which was funny because we saw the guy that DID actually own the place back in the kitchen.

The place had four tables with three chair each at it. I’m no mathmatologist, but that means that 12 people MAX fit in this place. Just a warning, you might be eating your food outside. Thankfully, we got a table.

There are hand-written dry-erase board signs in this place for menus. And another one for daily specials. From the review I had read, I knew I wanted to order the loose burger and the hot water bread. I didn’t know what either one was, but I was going to do it anyway. I knew I had to get the loose burger without onions or mustard, which are actually the condiments that generally arrive on the thing. My father ordered the loose burger and some baked beans. I saw they had a ton of other things I needed to try as well as adding this place to the 2009 Twin Cities Rib Quest list, so I would be back, no matter the food turned out. Thankfully, it gave me hope for the ribs. The guy that took our order was super helpful and made sure we got what we needed, and was generally a super nice guy.

The food came out and wasn’t at all what we expected.

The hot water bread was really interesting. It was good, also, but it was more interesting than good. It was like deep-fried corn meal nuggets. Or maybe cornbread deep fried. Really awesome idea and I think they would go good with the ribs I’ll be ordering next time I go here. The baked beans were some of the best I’ve ever had. Know why? Because they have ground beef and beef brisket cooked in with the beans. The guys from C&G are dead serious about their beans. The first bite I stole from my father’s beans was good. The second one was even better. I’m assuming they would just keep getting better, but he totally cut me off after bite two. But he did confirm they got better with each bite. In fact, and I’m not kidding you, my father walked over to another table who was preparing to order and basically demanded they get the baked beans. The best he’s ever had. He brought his bowl of beans to their table and moved things around with his fork while raving about it. It was seriously awesome. My dad rules. He’d better rule, since I’m turning into a longer-haired version of him (which my friends point out with glee everytime it happens).

The loose burgers were not at all what we thought they were going to be. It was in fact loose meat, but it was in a hot dog bun and then there was chili poured on top. It doesn’t really lend itself to eating like a hotdog, as it would get quite messy REALLY quickly. So basically, what you have is a chili dog but without the dog. I understand these things are a Detroit staple, so there’s your culinary history lesson for the day. It was good chili and not spicy enough that my dad couldn’t eat it, which was my first concern. In fact, he even put ketchup on it. Maybe he was trying to jazz it up a bit. It was not Heinz ketchup which we all know is the best, but rather Chef’s Quality ketchup. I didn’t even try it, so I won’t make any comments about that.

After we finished, we raved about the food to the guy behind the counter and in fact, I sent out a couple of text to Low-Vee and HotGirlsBrother to let them know we WOULD be going here for the Rib Quest and it was awesome. So we told the guy we were in fact spreading the word as we spoke about how good it was. The cook came out from the back to make sure our food was good and we assured him it was fantastic and I would be back for sure. Despite the fact that “sandwiches” was spelled “sandwhiches”, I think this place has a lot going for it, and I’m hoping I get to be enough of a regular that they recognize me. It was fantastic. I’m crossing my fingers for the ribs. I generally try not to do two reviews of a place, but I’ll make the exception for the Rib Quest.
And Low-Vee, they do have moist towlettes (or mouse toilets as my nephew Stealth Buffalo calls them). They’re also open until like 10pm, which is awesome for us being on weird work schedules.

Top 5 things about C&G Smoking Barbeque
1. Homemade baked beans
2. Loose burgers
3. Hot water bread
4. They have Dew
5. Super awesome people run this place

Bottom 5 things
1. Gerd would have been house hunting in this neighborhood so we could have moved closer to C&G
2. The hand drawn signs (which I realize might be there temporarily) with misspellings
3. Chef’s Quality ketchup
4. NO bathroom
5. It’s small, so you’d better get there early enough to score a table

Mr. Pig Stuff – Shakopee, MN (Bar-B-Quest 2012!)

We knew it was another long drive to the next contender in the Bar-B-Quest, but LowVee, HotGirlsBrother, and I booked a day to have lunch in Shakopee. Mr. Pig Stuff is only open from 11-3, so this was our best bet for knocking this one off our list. I had been to this place before, and knew they only had picnic tables outside in the summer, so we came prepared. I give you… Mobile Rib Picnic!!!!

The menu at Mr. Pig Stuff is pretty straight forward. Ribs, pulled pork, chicken, and a bunch of sides to choose from. We ordered our half slab, but we all got different styles. LowVee ordered Memphis Dry Rub, HotGirlsBrother ordered Kentucky Bourbon, and I ordered the Original style. That way, we could try a bunch and compare and contrast. We all go the baked beans and coleslaw (though I was feeling adventurous and got the jalapeno coleslaw). And we all got sides of the spicy mac and cheese. It already came with cornbread, so we didn’t have to order extra of that. We were so excited about the impending picnic in the car that we forgot to order drinks until we were all situated in our positions. I went back and ordered them. They guy told us he’d bring out the ribs to our car when they were ready. Perfect.

We set up everything, including a small table and got cozy while waiting. We didn’t feel like eating at the Rib Bar on the side of the building, since it was still a little chilly, but maybe next time.
Then, LowVee blurted out, “I never thought I’d have a rib picnic in my back end!” … which is when I started emailing everyone I know.

The food took a little longer than they told us it would, but we were very impressed with how many cars came into and out of the parking lot for lunch. Not sure if they were call-aheads or non-rib orders, but this place honestly does pretty good business for being just outside of Shakopee. Crazy. They brought it out in shifts and laughed when they saw us set up in the back of LowVee’s SUV. In fact, a lot of people that walked past to get into line laughed at our set up. Clearly they were jealous of it all.

We got out the food and started to eat. This is how we should eat every rib meal (provided there is only window service and no seating)!


I’ll do the sides first, as usual.
The spicy mac and cheese was a little soupy. I think the general consensus was the parts of the mac and cheese that didn’t have the chili powder on them were the best parts. The salt and pepper and seasoning on the non-chili-infused parts were quite tasty, in fact. The chili flakes sort of ruined it for us. We’d all recommend the plain mac and cheese – knowing full well (from last time here) the plain really has a great seasoning.

The coleslaw was decent. Nothing to rave about (which is good, since we don’t carry glow-sticks with us). A little soupy, but had good flavor, especially when paired with the ribs. The Jalapeno coleslaw was a little like the spicy mac and cheese: the chili powder used to spice it up (as if the jalapenos weren’t enough) just gave it an odd flavor. I was actually more of a fan of the regular coleslaw than the spicy. Odd for me.

The baked beans were a little meh. They had decent flavor and there was a generous portion of them, but they didn’t taste that much different than baked beans in a can with a little BBQ and ketchup in it. Decent but not groundbreaking.

The cornbread was pretty good. Moist and sweet little muffins that were great for sopping up the left over BBQ sauce. Nothing amazing, but good little muffins.

The ribs themselves were not what we were expecting. I’ll start with the Kentucky Bourbon ribs. The meat absolutely falls off the bones. We think these ribs were cooked really well. However, the sauce that is cooked on the ribs wasn’t really doing it for us. We didn’t get a bourbon flavor at all – and we KNOW bourbon, if you know what I mean (wink wink). In fact, HotGirlsBrother said he would have liked to get his without any sauce at all, and then dip it in the side of sauce that he got. And that was weird because that’s when we realized he was the only one that actually got a side of sauce. The meat was pretty fatty – something we’ll see in all the ribs – and we think that may have helped with the meat falling off the bone. The re was a lot of cartilage in the meat and they were the greasiest ribs we’ve had the whole quest. Not overwhelmed by these ribs at all.

The Memphis Dry Rub ribs were again falling off the bones like they WANTED to be eaten. However, the amount of salt on these ribs made them borderline inedible. LowVee and I are both salt fiends, so we don’t mind when you crank up the salt a bit. However, these both caused and then immediately cauterized canker sores in your mouth instantaneously. They were painful to eat. I kept putting pieces of my ribs onto LowVee’s plate, so she could have a reprieve from the salt lick she was eating. Again, the flavor of the meat was good, but you really had to scrape off the top layer of meat to get something you could actually finish chewing. And again, they were incredibly greasy and left major pools of grease in the container. LowVee seems to get the shaft the most in some of these Rib Quest adventures, so I feel bad for her. But don’t think she’s a wuss at all. She powers through and shows fortitude. It’s just she gets stuck with whatever crappy ribs the place has that day – repeatedly.

Now, the original ribs were likely the best of the bunch. The sauce was decent and seemed to go with the flavor of the meat very well. Again, the meat fell off the bones, but again, the meat was really fatty and left pools of grease in the bottom of the containers. There was a major amount of cartilage in my ribs, so I was left with a hilarious looking pile of white soft bendy things (make your jokes here) in my container when I was done.

And, we were all surprised how flat the sodas were that they gave us. It’s like the whole restaurant was having a sad day. No bubbly fun in anything, despite the fact that we were having a MOBILE RIB PICNIC!!!! Incredibly, I didn’t spill a single drop of BBQ sauce (or grease) on my work shirt or pants, so I call that a win. Despite a few ill-timed leg cramps, we had a fun time picnicking. We had a moon roof and plenty of head room. But now it’s judgment time…

We didn’t see any way that Mr. Pig Stuff beat Q Fanatic in this particular bracket of the competition. Sorry to say it, MPS, it wasn’t your day. (That’s alright, since it is – according to the GPS – the furthest drive from LowVee’s house – the center of her universe.) Which puts up Q Fanatic against Ted Cook’s 19th Hole BBQ. Ted Cooks is good, and I really like Ted Cook’s. In fact, Ted Cook’s is the number TWO seed in the Western Division. But based on the incredible meal we had at Q Fanatic last week, Ted Cook’s didn’t have what it takes to win this one. Another upset in the bracket! This moves Q Fanatic into the Elite Eight of the competition. Can you feel the excitement in the air? It’s blended in with hickory smoke and black pepper. Just take it all in…

Top 5 things about Mr. Pig Stuff
1. Plenty of really tender meat on the ribs
2. Mobile Rib Picnic!!!
3. Cornbread
4. We totally Tetris-ed our to-go containers to make them fit on the tiny table
5. Came with wetnaps (always a bonus)

Bottom 5 things
1. Really greasy ribs
2. Super salty dry rub
3. Spicy mac and cheese
4. Jalapeno coleslaw
5. Flat sodas, oddly enough

www.mrpigstuff.com

Tony Roma’s – Bloomington, MN

While this isn’t part of Rib Quest 2011 (mainly because it’s a rib chain), I do enjoy going to Tony Roma’s, mainly because my family has eaten at these restaurants since I can remember eating ribs. They’re not ground breaking or trendsetting, but I’ve never had a bad meal here (I’ve had a funny meal here, but not a bad one). My family wanted to go to the Mall of America while they were visiting D.Rough and I in the Twin Cities, and I didn’t realize we were going to Tony Roma’s until my mom brought it up. Then I knew we were going.

We were a larger group, so we had to wait half an hour for a table, but that wasn’t bad on a Saturday around lunch time at the MOA. Once seated, we got menus from our waitress (who sadly, didn’t get any of our jokes or teasing), and tried to figure out what to get. I opted for the lunch time half slab of original ribs (which oddly, is the same price and amount of food as the dinner portion). I got fries and baked beans as my two sides. D.Rough got the lunch portion of chicken – a quarter-chicken with white meat and some sides.

My sister, Notmomsfavorite, ordered some potato skins for us all to share – I’m not usually a huge fan of potato skins. I’m fine with eating them, but I don’t think I’ve ever ordered them at any restaurant I’ve ever been to. They were good skins though. Lots of toppings and lots of cheese. Good call on the appetizer!

The food generally comes out pretty quickly here – like at most rib places. Most of the times, the ribs are already cooked and are just heated up, since they take so long to cook in the first place. The baked beans were really BBQ saucey – like really. That was most of the flavor, in fact. I wasn’t a huge fan of these beans, but that obviously didn’t stop me from eating them all up. The fries were pretty standard fare and were good. And there were an appropriate amount of fries. Not too may, not too few. This has always been an issue with me, but probably because I’m not a fry person. I just use them to break up the flavors a little bit. I don’t think of them as a meal component or anything.

The ribs themselves were really good. This place seems to have the constancy thing figured out. The meat was juicy and about halfway between tender and tough. You knew you were eating meat, but you didn’t have to fight it off the bone or gnaw on the bone to get all the meat off of it. People who like tough ribs would like these and people who like tender ribs would like these. They’re just good ribs. No gristle or cartilage to speak of, so these ribs would have already ranked higher than some of the places we’ve gone for rib quest in the past. AND they have HOT wetnaps after your meal. Low-Vee, you hear me? HOT wetnaps.
And, as a bonus for me, my niece’s fiancé, Porky, couldn’t finish his cheese burger, so I got to polish that thing off before we left. It was a pretty decent burger. Again, not life-changing, but a truly solid attempt at a restaurant-sized cheese burger. And finally, my mother couldn’t finish her ribs either, so I got to polish off her honey glazed ribs. I still had room for more, but sadly, everyone else finished their food. hahahahaha

Top 5 things about Tony Roma’s
1. Original ribs
2. Honey glazed ribs
3. Cheese burger
4. D.Rough said her ¼ chicken was really quite good
5. Potato skins

Bottom 5 things
1. Baked Beans were too BBQ saucey
2. Waitress was a little daft (yes, I used the word “daft”)
3. D.Rough didn’t get some of the items she asked for after her food came out
4. They used to put the sauces out on the table, but I think they ended up getting stolen. Sad.
5. My niece’s 7-month-old daughter didn’t get to eat “baby’s first ribs” just yet. Soooooon, though.

www.tonyromas.com

Big Daddy’s – St. Paul, MN (Bar-B-Quest 2011)

HotGirlsBrother had to utilize a coupon he had purchased for Big Daddy’s and he invited me along so we could knock out another BBQ place from our large list on the Bar-B-Quest 2011. We have both been to Big Daddy’s before and it’s always delicious. Seriously, one of the most consistent places for rib (and sides) quality in the area. Plus, the people that work there are really fun and upbeat and friendly.

Here’s some history of Big Daddy’s. When I moved up to the Twin Cities, Big Daddy’s was actually called Big Daddy’s Saturday Barbeque. It was seriously only open on Saturdays. There was always a line out the door and you had to take it someplace else to eat it – we preferred local parks and a picnic atmosphere. Big Daddy’s added another day to the sign (Friday) and then, due to the building they were in being sold and redeveloped, they moved across the street and reopened a smaller location… but then added another day (Sunday). So needless to say, they dropped the “Saturday BBQ” part of their name and just went with Big Daddy’s. Now they’re open for lunch on Wednesday and Thursdays as well. You can tell people absolutely love this place, which is why they’re doing REALLY good business. That should tell you something, Twin Cities – GO HERE!!!!

HotGirlsBrother and I rolled in and said hello to the officer working the place (it’s not the greatest part of town, so they actually have an on-site police officer – he probably works for free since it smells so delicious in there and the people are so awesome). We always tend to get the same thing on this Bar-B-Quest, so we walked up to the counter and ordered a full slab of ribs for us to split. I got a side of baked beans and HotGirlsBrother got a side of coleslaw. They ask whether you want spicy or mild BBQ sauce with it: we both wanted spicy. They ask if you want white or wheat bread: we both wanted white. HotGirlsBrother got a Diet Coke (you gotta watch your figure when you’re on a Rib Quest) and I got a strawberry Fanta.

The nice thing about the new Big Daddy’s location (aside from it being bright, happy, and clean), is that you can sit along the walls and eat inside. There are bar stools and a small counter for you to put your food. They also have plates and silverware for you to use if you’re eating inside. Great move, Big Daddy!

We grabbed our goods and sat down to feast.

I started with the baked beans since the ribs were too hot to handle right away. They were very smoky without tasting like liquid smoke. I’m not sure what they put in them, but they’re delicious. Very flavorful. HotGirlsBrother said the coleslaw was top notch, and with a pinch of salt, would be near perfect. We swapped sides for a bit to try each others, and we both concurred: amazing sides.

We dug into the ribs. The amount of meat on these ribs is insane. I don’t know who their supplier is, but he needs a big ole high-five. Sooo much meat on each bone – more than any other place we’ve been on this rib adventure. You can pull the meat right off the bone without trying, that’s how tender these things are. The meat isn’t sloppy nor greasy, it just comes off the bone so you can chew it. The meat has a nice char on the top, so you get to work a little bit to break it down, but it’s exactly how ribs are supposed to be. Very little gristle and cartilage and the funny thing is that even when you DO find some, you don’t mind gnawing on it a bit to make sure you’ve gotten all the meat and flavor off of the bones. You’ll be surprised how clean you’ll lick these bones (twss). The extra sauce they give you is the perfect accompaniment to the meat and isn’t too spicy – just about right.

The bread is simply bread in a zip loc bag. Nothing fancy. But it’s really soft, so you can almost use it like a napkin to clean your hands off or use it to sop up sauce that you dripped all over your face. It’s a simple but effective side.

We were sooo stuffed after all this meat, but we were 100% happy with this meal. As usual, one of the best tasting BBQ meals I’ve had. I look forward to going back here again and again. Whoever goes up against Big Daddy’s in the Eastern Division bracket is going to have its work cut out for it.

Top 5 things about Big Daddy’s
1. Baby back pork ribs
2. Baked beans
3. Cole slaw
4. Super friendly awesome staff
5. Their slogan is “The giants of Outdoor Cooking” – they don’t mess around
6. Best funk music EVER playing over the speakers
7. If you can find their pumpkin creamcheese swirl cake, GET IT!

Bottom 5 things
1. There’s no downside. At all. “I ain’t lyin’” -Dolemite
2. N/A
3. N/A
4. N/A
5. N/A

www.bigdaddysbbq-stpaul.com

Rudolph’s – Minneapolis, MN

Since HotgirlsBrother had already been to this BBQ place, and he had to work late, LowVee and I went by ourselves to knock this one off our list of rib places. We had heard some things about the place, both good and bad, but we have to try it out ourselves for it to be officially ranked on the list of Twin Cities Rib Quest 2009.

The place has a bar area and also a full service restaurant area. The bar area we walked through seemed pretty nice, so I’d have no problem eating in there sometime. But tonight, we needed to be seated and pampered. We also noticed an inordinate number of wheelchairs in the place – weird. We grabbed a tabled and began to scour the menu. Brandon, one of the best waiters ever, came to help us out and answer questions. And, he surprised me with 1919 root beer on tap – oh, that cheeky Brandon. Brilliant suggestion!

We knew we needed a skillet of cornbread so we ordered that right off. Then LowVee got a half slab of spare ribs and some coleslaws (it’s called the Rudy – as in the retarded munchkin football player, also from the Cosby Show, also retarded), and I got the Hollywood which is a full slab of spare ribs and some baked beans. I also got a Caesar salad because I’m classy like that.

The cornbread came out still in the cast iron skillet and with a scoop of butter on the top. Amazingly awesome! Sweet without being sugary (like me), and PLENTY to go around (also like me). This cornbread was also very moist, not all dried out like it had been back there a while. The coleslaw (according to LoVee) was really quite good – as good as Scott Ja-Mamma’s coleslaw, but slightly less good than Lee and Dee’s. The Caesar salad was also really good – it’s hard to wow someone with a Caesar salad, but sometimes, you just gotta have one.


The ribs they brought out looked fantastic. Brandon told us they don’t cook the spare ribs with any sauce, so they’re a bit more dry than the baby back ribs. That’s the way LowVee likes her ribs, and she really liked these spare ribs. The baby back ribs were really juicy and flavorful and almost no fat at all on them. I’m glad I went with the full slab. I was really hungry. LowVee developed some concoction of the original BBQ sauce and the spicy BBQ sauce which tasted quite good. Both sauces on their own were just meh, but together, they were pretty awesome. The sweetcorn on the cob was dangerously hot - I could tell because LowVee yelled out and basically threw the cob onto her plate immediately after picking it up - sorry for laughing LowVee. The baked beans were some of the better ones I’ve had on this Rib Quest, despite their being large chunks of onion in them. The flavor was really nice and not liquid smokey like some places.

Bottom line is this place was waaaaay better than I expected it to be. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb and throw out a preliminary ranking of the places we’ve been so far, just so you know the standings.
1. Lee and Dee’s (sleeper bbq)
2. Mr. B’s
3. Big Daddy’s Saturday BBQ (will need to re-affirm this with a more recent trip)
4. Ted Cook’s 19th Hole BBQ
5. Rudolph’s
6. Scott Ja-Mamma’s
7. Cap’s Grille

The best part is we really haven’t had BAD BBQ anywhere, so don’t hesitate to try any of these places. But someone has to be at the top of the list and someone has to be at the bottom of the list. That’s how rankings work. Cap’s Grille is just fine (don’t be offended, Cap) – in fact, go there and spend some money and prove me wrong.

Top 5 things about Rudolph’s
1. Baby back ribs
2. Spare ribs
3. Cornbread
4. 1919 Root beer
5. Brandon, the best waiter in the world

Bottom 5 things
1. Gerd did love her some ribs, and I know she would have eaten a full slab with me. She was courteous like that.
2. HotGirlsBrother couldn’t join us. You’re a part of this team, brother! Don’t ever think differently.
3. I get yelled at when I say I had a date with Ribs and LoVee is just coming along as a third wheel – ha ha ha
4. I really really want to comment on the waitresses working in the back dining room where we were, but I’m a gentleman (but only on Tuesdays)
5. It’s not a cheap place to get ribs, that’s for sure

www.rudolphsribs.com

Market BBQ – Minneapolis, MN (Rib Quest 2011)

HotGirlsBrother and I set up a date to continue the Rib Quest 2011 adventure. Even though Low-Vee cancelled on us at the last minute, she gave us her blessing to sally forth without her. This round, Market BBQ was on the slate. I had heard some negative things about the place, but tried to keep an open mind when I went in.

For starters, the place has a huge parking lot behind the restaurant, so don’t be a dummy and look for a meter spot like I did. HotGirlsBrother eventually saved me with a txt msg that said to park behind, so I didn’t waste any quarters. I walked in the back door and down this really long hallway to the front of the place.

To my surprise, the front of the building has a full bar. Perfect. However, I was a little low on cash, so I decided to skip the exploitation of the full bar. I got seated back in the dining room with my partner in BBQ crime. It’s much larger and brighter inside than I expected, based on comments from friends. There’s a lot of checkerboard table cloths and mostly-functioning personal jukeboxes at each table. Oh yeah, and also a giant fat stuffed pig sitting on top of the main juke box.

One hilarious thing we saw while sitting there was the astonishing number of single males sitting by themselves eating ribs. Just a heads-up: if you’re a single lady who likes BBQ, this could be the next hot pick-up place to bag a gentleman lover. It’s already got a meat market feel to it… hahahaha (please tell me you got that joke)

The menu had some good looking things on it, but we were here for one thing. Ribs. Half slab and maybe some fries, and that’s it. Oh yeah, I had to talk myself out of ordering a Mike’s Hard Lemonade for comedy factor, as well. Maybe if we had sat out on the three-table patio out back I might have. I got a bottle of Cream Soda instead (Henry Weinhard brand). HotGirlsBrother got a beer, since they have that there – this may be one of the first place (aside from Rudolph’s) that we could get drinks at – awesome! The server was really nice to us and assured us it wouldn’t be long. It wasn’t, actually!

The food comes out just like I like it – on cafeteria trays without plates. The ribs are on a piece of waxed paper and the buttered toast and fries are thrown right on there as well. The cole slaw does come in a bowl, which I suppose makes sense. Then the server brought us out a handful of wet-naps (which we all know is a make-or-break deal for Low-Vee) and toothpicks.
I started with the cole slaw. I’m not a cole slaw eater, but lately, I’ve been trying to like it. And honestly, it was one of the best ones I’ve had to date. Again, I’m not a connoisseur, but I did really like it. It looks like it’s going to be super mayo-ey, but it isn’t. It’s creamy and doesn’t have a lot of vinegar taste in it, so maybe that’s why I liked it. HotGirlsBrother also raved about it and said ti was one of the best he’s had and he IS a connoisseur of cole slaw.

The fries went next (still waiting for the ribs to cool down). They were crispy and delicious. Well-cooked ad perfect, frankly. The fries were good with both ketchup or BBQ sauce (I preferred the original flavor to the hot flavor for the fries). Fries aren’t my favorite part of any meal, but these still really hit the spot.

I finally got to the ribs. And oddly, they were still amazingly hot. I’m glad I waited for them. The ribs here are a dry rub and not saucy. I dug into the first rib and really liked the flavor of them, but they were pretty tough. They didn’t fall off the bone at all and you really had to work to get some of the meat to come away from the bone. It didn’t come off in pieces – I didn’t have to keep gnawing on the same spot to get all the meat – but it seemed like the meat had fused to the bone, like it had been cooked too long or not a low enough heat. I’m not sure if these things were smoked or not, but I couldn’t find any hint of smoke flavor. Maybe just too clean of a burning fuel or whatever, but I like a little bit of smokey flavor present.

I tried both the original and the hot BBQ sauce that was on the table. The Hot was my favorite for the ribs, like it usually us. It’s got some tang, and just a little bit of heat. It could have been way hotter, but it did have good flavor, which is more important than heat. The original was pretty good flavor as well. Not very vinegar-y, which is nice (for my personal taste).

Finally, the Cream Soda was decent. About middle of the pack. It isn’t up there with Sprecher or anything, but it’s pretty good, especially when served in a frosty glass like they do at Market BBQ. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten that kind of fancy treatment.

All in all, it’s a solid performance by Market BBQ, especially based on some of the comments friends have made. The ribs were tough, but had good flavor and no fat/gristle. Also, the sides helped out a lot, and the fact they have a full bar doesn’t hurt them. It’s one of the pricier rib places we’ve eaten at, but sometimes, you just have to suck it up and pay what they ask for ribs.

Top 5 things about Market BBQ
1. Rib flavor
2. HOT BBQ sauce
3. Full bar
4. Cole slaw was excellent
5. Served on cafeteria trays, old school style

Bottom 5 things
1. Ribs were tough
2. Our personal jukebox didn’t work
3. There didn’t seem like there was any smoke flavor in the meat at all
4. My toast wasn’t buttered enough – personal preference, but still a let down
5. Low-Vee couldn’t make it. I really value her insight in BBQ matter and the team was severly lacking without her. Next time!

www.marketbbq.com

Q Fanatic – Champlin, MN (Bar-B-Quest 2012)

I’ve heard about this place in Champlin from a few people who have raved about the food. But, to be honest, it’s a little out of the way for me – it’s just before you hit Montana, if you’re coming from St. Paul (that MIGHT be an exaggeration). But since they’re on the Bar-B-Quest 2012 list, we have to go there. LowVee, HotGirlsBrother, and I hit the road after work one day for the long drive. It was my birthday, so we were all really looking forward to birthday ribs. I think it should be a new tradition and requirement for everyone.

We arrived and saw there was a huge smoker outside the place with smoke and delicious smells coming out of it. That’s always a good sign. Also, it’s at the end of a strip mall – another good sign. Also, once we got through the door, we saw the most people eating that we’ve seen since we’ve started this Rib Quest – an amazingly good sign. Just inside the door is a huge menu on the wall for you to stare at and change your mind 529 times. Thankfully, Q Fanatic is very helpful and gives you an explanation of the menu and how to go about ordering, which is super thoughtful. Thank you for dumbing it down for the first-timers!
It shouldn’t be this difficult, but they do have like 15 different delicious-sounding sides. Wow. Then, you have to decide which sauces you’re going to get – they have like 8 more of those! When we finally decided and headed to the counter, we saw an additional board behind the register with specials on it. AAAGGHHH!!!

We all got our usual half slab of baby backs (we got ours dry, but you can get them with sauce on them), which comes with a side and a roll. We all ordered coleslaw as our side, so we didn’t have to share. Then we all got different sides to share. I got mac and cheese, LowVee got spicy potato wedges, and HotGirlsBrother got baked beans. And since I’m a sucker for bacon, I totally caved when I saw the Grilled Slab Bacon Sandwich (which also came with a side – I got corn fritters). Seriously, this was going to stuff our guts to bursting.

We grabbed our plasticware and wetnaps (bonus!) and straws and napkins and REAL butter and found a table in the main dining room. Q Fanatic has Coke products, so you won’t find Dew here. Sadface, but I’ll get over it. We were amazed at how awesome everyone’s food looked. People were genuinely happy with their food from the comments we heard. We were also amazed by the handwashing station they had setup in the corner of the dining room. Sometimes wetnaps aren’t enough. Well played, Q Fanatic.

The food came out and absolutely filled our table. I’ll try to hit all the high points. Sides first.Arial Shot (thanks, HotGirlsBrother!)

The corn fritters were balls of deep fried dough with corn niblets in them. They weren’t bad, or anything, but you could tell right away they would take up valuable rib real estate in your guts, so we all just ate one. Deliciously fried flavor though.

The spicy potato wedges were awesome, actually. They came with a chipotle sour cream dipping sauce, which was really nice, since these things were actually spicy. And delicious. Seriously, we ended up fighting over these things.

The mac and cheese was also the best we’ve had since we started this rib quest. Very good cheese to noodle ratio and the right amount of salt and pepper in it. Really top notch stuff (turns out it was even better reheated the next day).

The coleslaw we THOUGHT was plain, and it was (basically shredded cabbage and mayo with no pepper or carrots or anything). However, it was the perfect accompaniment to the spicy sauces we all ordered for the ribs. Really, we stopped complaining right after we tried the coleslaw with the ribs, since it was perfect.

The best side of all were the baked beans. These not only had amazing flavor in them, but also had huge chunks of meat in them. I’m not even sure what kind of meat this was, and that’s the way I like it. Meat and beans – the best we’ve had on this adventure. I didn’t think anyone would be able to beat C&G Smoking BBQ’s beans, but this actually pulled ahead in the bean category.

Moving to the Grilled Slab Bacon Sandwich – it came with three half-inch-thick pieces of pork belly, so we all divvied them up and put them on our own buttered garlic rolls (which were also worth fighting over). The bacon was incredible. It melted in your mouth and had us shocked with how good it was. Killer bacon, it was. Pair amazing bread with amazing bacon, and yo’ve got yourself a winner.

On to the ribs themselves, which is what this is all about. They were REALLY tender and falling off the bones, like they should be. Perfect flavor, even without the sauce. Excellent meat with no gristle at all. Very thick meat sections and even the end pieces were tender and juicy and not burned up. The rub I can’t say enough about – sometimes the rub is an afterthought, but not here – they took time to nail this rub. Awesome. There were at least six bones in each half slab, and we even think we had more than six in a couple. They don’t skimp on anything here. Including flavor – these ribs are going to put up much more of a battle than we expected. The hype people threw at me was actually not hyped enough. I told HotGirlsBrother and LowVee that I was going to find the people who raved about it and then yell at them for not making me come out here sooner. That’s just rude.

You didn’t need the sauce, but we got so many different kinds, we had to try them all. The honey BBQ was mild, but had a great flavor, so I ended up eating most of that, even though I like the spicy stuff. The chipotle BBQ sauce was a medium heat, but also had a great flavor to it. A little smoky, without the overwhelming flavor of chipotle. Just about perfect. The pepper vodka BBQ sauce was the best though. Very hot and had some tang to it, as well. Really, this was fantastic BBQ sauce. They do have a ghost pepper sauce behind the counter if that’s your thing, but none of us went for it.

We thought we were done. Everything worked out really well, though we did have the most number of to-go boxes we’ve ever had. We all left with like three containers. Thankfully, they have a self-serve to-go area, so you don’t have to keep asking for more containers and lids. Very well thought out, if I do say so.

And of course, we had to hit the hand washing station. You know, because it’s THERE.

And on the way out, you can check out the blueprints of the place, in case you're planning a break-in or think you'd like to suggest a new addition or seating configuration. Helpful!


As we went to leave, we passed a small OTHER counter that had a couple of really large cookies behind the glass. They looked awesome. So awesome that LowVee couldn’t help herself. She went and asked the girl at the counter about them. The girl nonchalant-ly commented that her mother calls her at work every day begging her to bring home some of those cookies. Well, that’s a pretty good endorsement. LowVee got one. It was a chocolate chip, white chocolate chip, and butterscotch chip oatmeal cookie. And, it smelled amazing. We got out to the car and she broke off a piece for each of us. All of us went insane for a second. I’m not kidding you. These were life-changing cookies. We started to drive away and then made HotGirlsBrother stop the car and go back, so we could buy the remaining two cookies behind the counter. LowVee and I ran inside, and the guy at the counter had JUST bought the last two cookies of the night. Seriously, our life was over THAT fast. It was such a spirit crusher. Which made it even more hilarious when we went back out to the car empty handed and LowVee discovered HotGirlsBrother had eaten a much larger bite of her cookie than she expected. Like, a relationship-crippling size bite of this glorious cookie. I’ll quit going on and on about this cookie, but I’m not kidding you – you HAVE to have a cookie when you leave here. And you can’t take it home and eat it. You need to eat it right away. Best cookie I’ve ever had (sorry, Mom).

Q Fanatic is a fantastic restaurant. There are very fun people working there. Very delicious food. Great variety of sides and sauces and rib combinations. If you’re impatient while waiting for ribs, they sell the pig dice game at the counter – the one where you drop pigs onto a table and depending on how they land, you win or lose. It’s like some sort of pork necromancer game of the devil, clearly.

And you also have the beauty of an incredibly long drive home so you get to hash and over-hash every detail of your meal and compare it to the rest of the ribs you’ve eaten over the past year. This little excursion fared VERY well on the rib-delicio-meter. Mr. Pig Stuff in Shakopee has its work cut out for it next week…

Here is the bracket so you can keep track of who’s still in the game and who’s out!


Top 5 things about Q Fanatic
1. Amazing ribs
2. Baked Beans
3. Grilled Slab Bacon Sandwich
4. Spicy Potato Wedges
5. Mac and Cheese

Bottom 5 things
1. It’s quite a drive from the Twin Cities
2. I only have 3 stomachs, this place requires 8
3. We didn’t get enough of the life-changing cookies
4. You WILL change your mind a ton of times while trying to decide what to order
5. Honestly, there was not a single thing bad about the food or experience. We loved every second of it!

www.qfanatic.com