The Insiders' Guide to Twin Cities BBQ

SPARERIBS
The ribs against which all others are measured, spareribs are the meatiest of all the pork ribs. Thirteen bones from the belly of the pig make up a full rack. After the belly (the bacon) has been taken off, the ribs are left with a thin veneer of meat on top. The wide end of the rack has big, round-bone meaty ribs with chunks of meat wound around connective tissue that is often cut off to make rib tips, or “riblets” in Applebee’s parlance. Many supermoist, fall-off-the-bone ribs (the most prevalent style these days) are cooked wet. Purists go for racks slowly dry-cooked, allowing the fat to melt naturally into the protein, producing a chewier rib that pulls off the bone nonetheless.

Cap’s Grille
These apple-wood–smoked, grill-finished racks are meaty, chewy, and loaded with big pork flavor. Right before being served, they are swabbed with Cap’s (yes, there really is a Cap, and he’s there every day) signature tomatoey sauce. Cap’s spareribs are the perfect balance of chew and easy eating.

Ted Cook’s
If you like your ribs with a deep smoke flavor, give points for size, aren’t squeamish about big knuckles on the end, and don’t mind getting into it up to your elbows (pit masters Moses and Hernan like to serve their ribs very wet), then Ted Cook’s is for you. Don’t be afraid to order your ribs dry, their crusty mantle has all the great charred pork flavor that makes memorable barbecue dreams.

Lone Spur Grill & Bar
This strip mall Tex-Mex sports bar does a good job of producing meaty, porky, apple- and oak-smoked spareribs, slow- cooked and served dry, with a moist smoke-tinged pink meatiness. If dry-rubbed ribs are your thing and you don’t care much about sides (we didn’t like much else here), then Lone Spur is worth checking out. 11032 Cedar Lake Rd., Minnetonka, 952-540-0181

Lee and Dee’s (tie)
These spareribs are unique in many ways. Fall-off-the-bone tender and supermoist, they are wet-cooked prior to being smoked over hickory and charcoal, producing a soft texture. The flavor, helped along by grill finishing, is smoky, porky, and the ribs are crusted with a mahogany mantle of caramelized fat and sauce that makes Lee and Dee’s one of the more popular no-frills joints on the east side of the river. 161 N. Victoria St., St. Paul, 651-225-9454

Lou B’s BBQ (tie)
This Bloomington newcomer offers only counter service, and like several other full-menu barbecue joints we visited, delivers many things—but really only executes one of them well. These meaty oversized spareribs are dry-rubbed, smoked over apple wood and charcoal, and served with sauce on the side. Great texture and superb pork flavor. 7814 Portland Ave., Bloomington, 952-224-7646

Market Bar-B-Que (tie)
Everything is done the traditional way here. The ribs are hand-rubbed and slow-cooked over apple, cherry, oak, and hickory woods in a real pit and served dry. Ribs have deep pork flavor and a natural crust that is the result of pit cooking. These ribs are a toothsome, chewy experience by intent, the product of slow, dry heat that real barbecue enthusiasts prize.

Rudolphs (tie)
Rudolphs’ ribs are rubbed with a unique blend of herbs and spices, then roasted and slow-cooked, producing a singularly unique crust that has made them legendary. Ribs are well trimmed and uniform, the knuckles removed to make rib tips. Rudolphs’ spareribs have a light smoke flavor, but are not cooked over wood. 1933 Lyndale Ave. S., Mpls.

West Indies Soul
The best Jamaican-style jerk and Jamaican-American barbecue is purveyed at this clean, brightly lit storefront on University Avenue. Every Tuesday and Wednesday, the cooks load up the smokers and slowly smoke the porkiest ribs we have ever tasted, producing fall-off-the-bone, intensely smoky spareribs with bright pink smoke rings descending down to the bone. The rub is traditional, redolent of vinegar and allspice. The sauce is sweet and hot, tinged with a sharp acidic edge that screams of tropical fruit without the phony mango-centric flavors that cheapen so much Caribbean food these days. There are jerk sauces and a really “hot” sauce to choose from as well. Do not fail to wash it all down with iced homemade ginger beer. Go early, and get the ribs right out of the smoker, as the less they sit around, the better they are. If you miss the midweek rib fest, the jerk chicken platter is worth the trip any day of the week (save Sunday and Monday, when West Indies Soul is closed). 625 University Ave. W., St. Paul, 651-665-0115, members.aol.com/westindiessoul.