For three years, Anthony Simmons and his business partner and co-chef Ulysses Zackery have filled the Minneapolis Farmers Market with the mouthwatering smell of rib tips, brisket and chicken from the moment they pull up with their squat black smoker.
Their catering business, named Just Paula’s in honor of Simmons’ mother Paula, was born after the two met during the pandemic.
Earlier this fall, the two took questions on everything from their favorite smoking techniques, to their “Edina hot” barbecue sauce, to their mouth-tingling rub while serving customers on a busy Friday morning.
Two men in a box truck stopped on Lyndale to make sure the stand would be open during their lunch break. A Minneapolis fire fighter pulled his rig over to order up a box of that day’s rib special. Workers from the nearby Public Works building trickled in for lunch.
One visitor asked about their charcoal mix.
“It’s a mixture of cherry and oak, we call it choke, but we don’t condone violence,” Simmons said.
As Simmons cut the orders with a gleaming cleaver, Zackery stoked and tended to their smoker, named “Night Train.” The pair purchased the competition-style smoker from a retiring pit master from Texas, and the name comes from the smoke wafting from its chimney on the way to the market, fire already kindled in its belly.
The meat is reverse-seared, and then rests in the smoker with a sprinkle of their own seasoning blend. Orders are served up with a side of sweet or spicy barbecue sauce, homemade because according to Simmons: “We don’t sell anything we can’t make ourselves.”
While Zackery and Simmons aren’t sellers at the winter market, they cater through the colder months and offer up some other options not available at the Minneapolis Farmers Market.
Smoked mac and cheese is one such option, along with barbecue spaghetti which they affectionately call “a nap in a box.”
They plan to be back at the farmers market next summer, serving up easy banter, a bit of music, and rib tips until their supply runs out.
