Eat The Menu: Meat Up

We came for the ribs.

Alas, so did everyone else. By 5:30 p.m. on a snowy Sunday, they were sold out. (It’s so embarrassing when, in public, a grown woman bursts into tears.)

Fortunately, there was plenty-o-meat on hand in other forms, as promised in the restaurant’s name, Animales. And on that blizzard of a Sunday, it looked like a convention of carnivores had braved frostbite to snag their fair share.

The huge, cavernous space, brightened by vines of lightbulbs swaying from the ceiling, was crammed with picnic tables (expect to share the benches and bottles of vibrant sauces) at which devotees of all ages, stripes and sizes fumbled (or didn’t) with ordering from an app and awaited delivery of pork on a platter. (Yes, there are poultry and veggie offerings, but why would you?) There’s also a stage for frequent live music, but tonight the hum of sated diners served as our backdrop. Not bad for a business that started life as a food truck.

Our 35-minute wait at the bar went fast, fueled by (in my case) a Stone Pit Old Fashioned ($18), light on the booze. My pal’s glass of Albariño, a Spanish white, was one of four wines available BTG, $13. Oh, there’s also Aperol and other hipster libations, but that’s like walking in swinging your scepter. My advice: stick to beer.

And stick to pork. It’s available from 4-9 p.m. “or until sold out.” I went for the combo of one meat, one side dish, $20. (All prices include a 20% service charge to support the kitchen’s no-tip policy.) From the choices of ribs (all gone, sob), smoked sausage, chopped pork or pork belly, I went for the chopped pig — juicy and easy to eat, straight-up in mildly sweet porkiness, no tricks, no added sugar. And plenty of it on the paper plate.

To accompany it, choose mac & cheese, dilly green beans, coleslaw or borracho beans. I opted for the slaw, a generous portion of chopped cabbage touched — just barely — with vinegar. We also ordered a side of the dilly green beans, served whole and crisp and cold, and grand for munching with one’s drink.

In a moment of mild rebellion, my pal ordered the shrimp po’ boy sandwich, $19, served on a milk bun. The critters proved small-ish but sweet beneath a salt-piqued exterior, moistened by a remoulade sauce and sided with a cabbage-and-poblano slaw, mild and yummy. An order of Memphis fries (whatever that is: Was it that hint of sweetness?) provided our MDR of fat and salt on potatoes.

And a maverick order of “green spaghetti” ($12) proved fun — an improbable but tasty Tex Meets Italy creation abetted by a topknot of mild, white cotija cheese. (Leftovers made a fine breakfast this morning, too.) Speaking of maverick, the menu also offers bone marrow toast, $20, and crab hush puppies, $13. Pimento dip with Ritz crackers ($13), too, but that makes a bit more sense.

Does one need dessert in a cathedral of meat? Sure, one does — it’s the final sacrament. Especially if it’s house-made, as our server swore on the Holy Menu. Six sweets are on offer: two cookies, carrot cake, peanut butter pie and two puddings. We settled on the most barbecue-friendly, in our estimation: the classic banana pudding number ($14, serving up to four), built upon vanilla pudding topping vanilla wafer cookies, which also lent themselves to a crumble on top, amid a frost of commercial whipped cream. It’s serviceable or skippable, depending on your own dependence on sweets.

Would I return? Oh, sure — if only to chase down those elusive ribs.

241 Fremont Ave. N., Minneapolis
animalesbbq.com
Barbecue 4-9 p.m.
No reservations