If you’ve been keeping up with our coverage of Animales Barbeque Co.’s evolution from food truck to full-service restaurant in Minneapolis’s Harrison neighborhood, you know the story by now. Chef Jon Wipfli has teamed up with Rich Henriksen of North Loop jazz bar Berlin to transform the former Royal Foundry distillery space into a 12,500-square-foot barbecue palace and live music venue: There’s a meat cooler bigger than a studio apartment, a mile-long bar and a dining room with 250 seats, a full pastry room where chef Amber Wedell whips up focaccia and desserts, and two massive smokers cranking out pork belly and pastrami beef ribs all day long. In the center of it all is a small stage, where a lineup of live acts will play every night, and tucked beside the dining room is a dreamy little playroom for kids. The whole place, as you can see from the photos here, is funky and fun and thoughtfully designed, built for family nights out and first dates and birthday dinners alike.
Animales is gearing up for its grand opening October 23 through 25: The music lineup includes Al Church and Band, David Huckfelt’s Mystery Lights, Laura Hugo, Solid Gold, and Cornbread Harris (who better to christen a new Minneapolis music venue)? In the meantime, though, we got an exclusive preview of the new, expanded Animales menu: Wipfli and his team fired up their favorites, plus a few cocktails from Adam Witherspoon and Dan Long behind the bar.
Crab hush puppies with a buttermilk herb dip
These golden-fried hush puppies are beautifully simple but deceptively tricky to make, according to chef Peter “crab hush puppy” Thillen (OK, that’s not his legal name, but he gets menu credit for these babies). Hush puppies are often dense, Thillen says, and he wanted them light and round—it took him a while to find the magic mix of corn flour, wheat flour, and blue crab claw meat (from local purveyors The Fish Guys). They’re served alongside what’s essentially a “buttermilk Green Goddess” dressing made with mayo, anchovies, basil, tarragon, and white pepper.
Green spaghetti
Believe it or not, Wipfli says he’s long wanted to serve spaghetti at Animales, but his prior food truck set-up made it tricky. This spaghetti, a riff on the Mexican dish espagueti verde, is swathed in a silky green sauce made with poblano peppers, sour cream, cream cheese, garlic, and onion. It is as objectively delicious as it sounds; squeeze some lime on top and swirl a fork through it.
Smoked pork belly in pumpkin and pepper glaze
Wipfli says that the new expanded kitchen has given him the space to make pork belly the way he’s always wanted: smoked once, cooled, cut into cubes, and then steamed, not seared, which makes it especially tender and distinct from the crispier, more bacon-like pork belly he previously served out of the food truck. He plans to rotate glazes through the seasons: For fall, he’s starting with a sweet-but-not-too-sweet pumpkin and pepper glaze with toasted pepitas on top.
The turkey BLT
Listen, if you’re the kind of person who is not particularly enticed by a turkey sandwich, I feel you. But this turkey BLT is a different game: Both the pork belly and the Wild Acres turkey are smoked in house, and then layered between two airy slices of focaccia with watercress, tomato, and herb mayo. It’s one of Wipfli and Thillen’s favorite things to eat—Wipfli calls it his “pinnacle BLT.”
Chicken skewer lettuce wraps
Too often chicken skewers are made with breast meat, which leans dry and plain—but here Animales is grilling Miller’s chicken thighs and green onions, and serving them with chimichurri sauce and sugared jalapeños. (Those jalapeños are the same Animales signature peppers Wipfli has been serving all along—they’re sliced and rubbed in sugar, which eventually melts from the heat of the jalapeño and cures them, he says.)
Banana pudding
Chef Amber Wedell’s banana pudding is, truly, all you could ask of one of America’s greatest desserts: The base is a thick, budino-style pudding that’s infused (not blended) with ripe bananas for two days. Below it is a layer of house-made shortbread; atop it is a swoop of vanilla bean chantilly and crumbles of the same shortbread.
A few cocktails
Adam Witherspoon created the cocktail program at Animales, which he’s leading alongside fellow local bar veteran Dan Long. Pictured here are the Crystal Palace, an isaphan spritz that melds together notes of raspberry, rose, and lychee; the Stone Pit Old Fashioned, which trades the classic old fashioned’s caramel tones for the sweeter, subtler tastes of stone fruit like peaches and apricots; and the Lost Hermano, made with Spanish-derived sherry, mezcal, and fernet, which Witherspoon calls “slightly abrasive but texturally cohesive,” for anyone who needs a little oomph. Don’t we all.
The classic meat tray
We couldn’t leave Animales without ordering a tray of capital-M Meat. Pictured here are kielbasa (Animales is expanding its sausage program with help from Drew Anderson, a Lowry Hill Meats vet—look for andouille next week), chopped pork shoulder with pepper vinegar, pork belly, and a rack of ribs. Wipfli notes that Animales is also currently serving smoked pastrami beef ribs, which sell out most days—he’ll also be adding many more smoked meats to the menu as time unfolds.
Dining and Cooking