Ted Cooks 19th Hole BBQ

2814 E 38th St
Minneapolis, MN
612-721-2023
http://www.tedcooks19thholebbq.com/

Category: BBQ

Rating (Scale 1-10, with 10 being the highest):
Food: 9
Service: N/A (pick-up only)
Ambience: N/A (pick-up only)

Recommendation: Excellent. This take-out only place is special, and one of our favorite restaurants in the Cities – you get serious BBQ at very reasonable prices.

To be honest, the idea of take-out BBQ didn’t appeal to us at first. We were worried about the food being cold by the time it reaches home and we’ve always enjoyed eating BBQ in a small family-run establishment that doesn’t offer much in terms of ambience, but just great food. Ironically, there’s no restaurant we’ve frequented more in the last six months than Ted Cook’s (we also catered our son’s first birthday party from here.) It all started when a group of ten friends were coming over to hang out – we didn’t want to go out so a little bit of research led us to Ted Cook’s. It’s located just off the light rail stop on 38th St. A non-descript building that you’d easily walk past if it weren’t for the smoky goodness of the BBQ (or the large crowd with growling stomachs.) Poke you head in and you see a limited menu, a few chairs to sit on while you wait, and a porthole that connects the front of the house to the kitchen. Don’t be surprised if one of the guys from the kitchen pokes his head out of the porthole to take your order. These guys are cool, relaxed and don’t have a sense of urgency or panic, regardless of how many patrons are waiting. Good BBQ takes time…and love.

The menu is standard BBQ fare with one omission – the brisket. We’ve tried everything on the menu and have been thoroughly impressed. The place to start is the Rib Tips ($12.50 for a dinner). Smoky, fatty, piled high, and full of flavor – at this price it might be the best value in town. Following closely on the heels of the tips is the BBQ Pork ($12.30) and the BBQ Beef ($12.30). The mouthwatering pork (with a dollop of coleslaw) makes for an amazing sandwich while the tender, thinly sliced beef, lathered with their spicy sauce does wonders to a piece of white bread. Needless to say, they also serve Ribs ($19.90 for a full slab), which are good but not as juicy as the tips. If you want BBQ Chicken ($9.60 for half), they have that too, but chicken just can’t stand up to pork when it comes to BBQ. You have a nice selection of sides to pick from. We can’t say a bad thing about any of them but we prefer the classic Coleslaw, Beans, and Collard Greens. If you order a “dinner,” a side of JoJo’s (fried sliced potatoes) comes with – these hot potatoes are the only thing that don’t transport well; they tend to get soggy pretty quick. We forgot to mention that you get to pick a sauce for your BBQ. The hot has a nice amount of heat and won’t work for everyone, so we’d recommend sticking with the medium that provides good heat along with the sweetness and smokiness (we usually get a side of the hot sauce to make it more interesting.)

This place can get busy at dinner so be prepared to wait or you can call in an order (with a minimum of four dinners). Lots of street parking is available.

$$. Great value for food. We catered a large dinner for around $12 per person.