Some Authentic Minnesota BBQ!


 
I read this on a news article yesterday (or was it the day before.) Gotta admit, that is NOT a flattering picture of smoked ribs.

Unfortunately, I'm learned sort of the hard way that I really shouldn't expect too much from barbecue shacks and restaurants that are touted for smoked food. A couple of years back, my siblings & I along with wives, husbands, stagnant others, kids, etc. all got together for dinner and the restaurant did indeed have it's own smoker. When I ordered the brisket, my girlfriend whirled around from the conversation she was having with someone else and said "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THAT??????" Mind you, neither of us had ever eaten here before, but she knows what I can crank out and what my standards are like. I should have listened, it was more like roast brisket than smoked. :(

Having said that,it's about an hour away from us. Maybe dinner on Saturday night. If nothing else, it's a local small business.
 
JKalchik said:
Having said that,it's about an hour away from us. Maybe dinner on Saturday night. If nothing else, it's a local small business.
Click to expand...

We made the run. Unfortunately, I really do have to pay attention to my instincts.

Linsey's is a stall in a strip mall. Between the two of us, we ended up with ribs, brisket, and pulled pork, with mac & cheese, cole slaw, and waffle fries. The sides were between pretty decent and good. The fries were fried well, and the mac & cheese was pretty good. The proteins, not so much. The ribs I got were a little better than the pics from the news article, and were what I like in ribs: a good dry rub, still a little bite to the meat (not sliding off the bone,) and not greasy. Sliding down from there, the brisket was largely non-descript with slices through the point, deckle & the flat, and the pulled pork.... no. All of the proteins has the appearance of more being roasted rather than smoked (very little if any smoke ring.) They do advertise an 8 hour smoke on the brisket, which suggests to me more of a hot & fast method.

We'd stop in if we happen to be in town again, but not much of a drive. I would order the ribs again, and maybe one of the burgers, but probably not the brisket or the pulled pork.
 
JKalchik said:
We made the run. Unfortunately, I really do have to pay attention to my instincts.

Linsey's is a stall in a strip mall. Between the two of us, we ended up with ribs, brisket, and pulled pork, with mac & cheese, cole slaw, and waffle fries. The sides were between pretty decent and good. The fries were fried well, and the mac & cheese was pretty good. The proteins, not so much. The ribs I got were a little better than the pics from the news article, and were what I like in ribs: a good dry rub, still a little bite to the meat (not sliding off the bone,) and not greasy. Sliding down from there, the brisket was largely non-descript with slices through the point, deckle & the flat, and the pulled pork.... no. All of the proteins has the appearance of more being roasted rather than smoked (very little if any smoke ring.) They do advertise an 8 hour smoke on the brisket, which suggests to me more of a hot & fast method.

We'd stop in if we happen to be in town again, but not much of a drive. I would order the ribs again, and maybe one of the burgers, but probably not the brisket or the pulled pork.
Click to expand...

Good review! I'm thinking of going there out of curiosity...Jordan is about 25 min away. Where are you located? I'm in Mayer...about 40 miles west of the cities.
 
We live about halfway between Rochester and St. Paul. All back roads over to Jordan. If you check out Linsey's, and enjoy good beer, check out Roets in downtown Jordan.

Timothy, the ribs are honestly better than they appear. They're served dry, sauce on the side, and are pretty good.
 
Those ribs actually look like a nice alternative to the usual restaurant rib, all dripping in something called BBQ sauce
 
I'd hate to own a restaurant these days..... social media has made everyone "restaurant critics" So all it takes is for an employee to have a bad night, make a bad decision, or not show up to work, etc.. and then you've got a bunch of jerks talking sh*t about the business you're working hard to make successful, and that stuff stays out on the internet forever.

Of course, the counter argument is that if you're doing a good job, you should get enough positive reviews to even it out on the total composite score. Some TV shows make running restaurants look glamorous and easy, but it's anything butt. I wish more people would think about that before writing negative reviews.

I write some reviews, and I give a lot of 4 star reviews. Sometimes if I have 3 star experience I don't bother writing one, or if if I decide to write it I try to make it constructive. I save the 5 star reviews for truly fantastic experiences that I think others would want to know about.
 
@John K BBQ, those are some thoroughly true words. I had that very conversation with a restaurant manager in Galway Bay, Ireland, and we had a thoroughly enjoyable meal. Many of the reviews of that establishment were very clearly written by someone with an axe to grind, or were griping about very simple issues that the restaurant never got the opportunity to correct. I'm seeing that very same pattern all over. Right now, I think the best way to end up with a small fortune in food service is to start with a large fortune.

@ChuckH, yes, those ribs were a nice change from overly sauced ribs. They didn't photograph well, but they were very tasty and well cooked. I've gotten to the point with my home barbecue that while I'll have sauces available, I rarely reach for them. And for the back yard bashes we host (or smoke protein for,) I've found that the usual gang isn't reaching for the sauces either.
 
By chance, did they have any smoked blood sausage ? :)
(part of my family hails from the Mesabi range area...)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top