While we go into these visits with an open mind, we certainly recognize that we are comparing them to what we were/are used to in Central Texas. When ordering, for the most part, we stayed away from sides so that we wouldn't completely fill up before day's end.
Pastor Hamilton's BBQ, St. Paul
When we go into a place, we try to explain that we are on a roadtrip and would like to get a sampler of all the bbq meats that are offered. Pastor Hamilton said he didn't give free samples, misunderstanding that we would pay for it. He finally put together boxes of ribs, pulled beef and pulled pork for us.
Unfortunately, we didn't impress on him that we didn't want sauce on anything. But, because he evidently is more known for his sauce, he slathered it on everything. The sauce was very tasty, but overwhelmed the meats.
The ribs were falling off the bone, which some people like, but I think it shows they are overcooked. They tasted ok, but there was no smoke ring or flavor what so ever.
The beef was bland for what we could tell under all that sauce.
The pork was better than the beef, but still no smoke.
After we ate, the pastor came out to see what we thought. When I said that I couldn't taste any smoke and thought everything was grilled, he got defensive and stated that no one can tell the difference and that the meats had been smoked. When asked what kind of smoker and wood he used, we basically told us it was a trade secret. He insisted though that we should come back when he "cooked outside" and he would call me to let us know when.
Big Daddy's BBQ, St. Paul
I had been to Big Daddy's before, when they were in Union Station and when they were only open on Saturdays. They wouldn't put together a sampler plate for us, but the menu had small portions available so we tried the beef ribs, pork ribs and smoked chicken.
The beef ribs had the proper smoke ring, the meat had a good bite to the bone and were the perfect size. Often beef ribs are the size of the brontosaurus ribs from the Flintstones and are just too much everything. They had a good smoke flavor, but could have used some pepper rub on them.
The pork ribs had the same great smoke ring (not pictured) and had a good bite. Very flavorful, but could also use a little more pepper rub.
The chicken had a slight smokiness, but great flavor and was very moist!
Smoker: Southern Pride
Wood: Hickory
Interlude number 1 - Mears Park
The disadvantage to staying in the Cities is that there isn't much time in-between stops. There was no way we could taste and digest everything back-to-back. So we decided to make a couple of stops between the BBQ visits. The first such stop was Mears Park in downtown St. Paul.
Mears Park was a perfect place to enjoy the beautiful sunny day that we had and to walk off our first two stops.
Rack Shack, W. St. Paul
After our break, we were ready to resume our meat adventure.
At the Rack Shack, we chose brisket, ribs and pulled pork.
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The brisket was the worst of the bunch. It had no smoke ring and no fat (I don't like it completely trimmed). It basically tasted like roast beef. They told us that it had been smoked for 14 hours, but I couldn't even taste that it had been smoke for 1.
The ribs, however, were very good. They had a nice smoke ring, a good bite and a very nice flavor, although still not a lot of smoke penetration. I'm guess they wrap their meat in foil pretty early in the process.
The pulled pork had a good crust and a nice smoke ring. It had good flavor as well.
Smoker: Southern Pride
Woods: Hickory, Apple, Maple
Interlude number 2 - Centennial Lakes Putting Course, Edina
From their website:
Players use only a putter to negotiate these heavily undulated greens. This par 51 layout is 1,662 feet in length and takes approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes to play.
It was so nice to be outside of the first nice sunny day in a long time. I'd like to meet the people that can actually be at or below par on this challenging course.
Ted Cook's 19th Hole BBQ, Minneapolis
I would like to be able to report on the quality of their BBQ, but we never ate there. When we went in and explained what we were doing, they had no interest in accommodating us with a sampler platter. They also had no interest in selling us anything but full portions of their meats. In particular, when we wanted to order less than a pound of beef or pork, they said we had to order a minimum of a pound each. Needless to say, we decided not to give them any of our money.
Scott Ja' Mamas, Minneapolis
Scott Ja' Mama's was a late addition to our agenda. After the issues at Ted Cook's, Scott Ja' Mama's was a complete 180 degrees in accommodation. They went out of their way to fix us a nice sampler of baby back ribs, chicken and pulled pork. With sauce on the side, we dug in.
We quickly found out that the meats there had been grilled, not smoked. So while not BBQ in our minds, it really didn't matter as all of the food was very good. The ribs had a nice pepper rub on them and the chicken had a nice crispy skin and was very moist. The pork was tasty as well. About half-way through the meal, the owner brought out some beans for us to sample. And then to finish everything off, he brought us each a cupcake.
The price they charged us was ridiculously low and I would definitely recommend this as a spot to try and will go back myself.
Interlude #3 - Minnehaha Falls
We had some time to kill before our last stop, so we headed over to Minnehaha Falls. The line for Sea Salt Eatery was long as usual. The thing to see, however, was the falls.
The amount of water rushing over the falls in staggering. Especially since I've been there when there is no water running at all! The massive amounts of rain are making this a sight to see!
C & G's Smoking BBQ
C& G was supposed to be the first stop on our first roadtrip back in December. Instead it was our last stop of this tour and we were joined by Darren's wife and some other friends. We ordered brisket, ribs, smoked turkey and pulled pork. As it was our last meal, I finally ordered a side!
The brisket barely had any smoke flavor and no smoke ring but was at least better that the Rack Shack's.
The ribs, like the brisket, lacked any discernible smoke flavor, but had a light rub on them that was good. I would have like to have seen a heavier application of the rub.
There was nothing special about the turkey and in fact, it was dry,
The pulled pork was the best of the bunch and was a little sweet, but again, no smoke flavor.
They were very accommodating to provide us with the sampler platter that we requested. Some in our party also ordered the banana pudding and it was very good.
Smoker: Southern Pride
Wood: Hickory
Overview
Maybe it's a Minnesota thing, but these places seemed to be afraid of putting much smoke flavor into the meat. If they would do that, they would have a much better product. Big Daddy's seems to "get it."
Hopefully, we will travel north sometime this summer to sample more places around the state.
