The flavors of a good barbecue march over your taste buds in stages of subtle intensity. Ted Cook's superb barbecue sauce leads with a bang of tang that's sweet, sour, and salty simultaneously. Now your buds are tingling but not scorched, ready for that succulent sauce-meat meld, where the pork ribs or the beef ribs (you can't lose, so choose what you like) are juicy from the long, slow marinade, not from a surfeit of squiggly fat. Then, if you can resist a headlong chow-down, feel the aftertaste linger after you've swallowed your first big bite and the seasonings are changing emphasis, like the colors of a sunset, as they slowly fade away. Cleanse your palate with some of co-owner Priscilla Davis's sweet coleslaw, a crispy jo-jo potato slice, or, if you aren't set in your Minnesota ways, some greens or black-eyed peas. Ted Cook's is takeout only, a 30-plus-year-old hole-in-the-wall in south Minneapolis where nothing is fancy except the food, including the prices ($20 for a full-rack dinner with jo-jos, slaw, and two pieces of bread for sopping; $13 for the half-rack version), which either certify gluttony or guarantee leftovers.

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