Best Bar-B-Q

Have you been to Robinson's Ribs? Between Oak Park Ave and Harlem on Madison. I'm no rib afficianado but Robinson's smoked some big-name place in Memphis (the supposed BBQ capital.) They are regulars at the Chicago food festival or whatever it's called.

Someone wrote:
> THE BEST.. Absolutely THE BEST ribs in Chicago.. no, in Illinois is LEM'S
BBQ
> on 75th st.... the rest is PALE in comparison..

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> Someone wrote:
> > As an aside, I heard that Uncle Bub's in Westmont has passable BBQ.
> > Westmont is closer to Elgin than Burbank, you might want to check the
> > place out. Once again, I have not been there, it may be boiled sauced
> > mush, but then again.....

Uncle Bub's is OK.  My wife is the rib aficionado of the family.  In the DG/Westmont area, she likes the ribs at the humble Omega Restaurant the best.  It's on Ogden Avenue about two blocks west of DG Main Street.

Dave

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Although NN Smokehouse, on Irving not Addison, is good, my favorite place is Brother Jimmy's, Sheffield, just north of Diversey.

Vicstanley wrote:
>
> NN Smokehouse on Addison.

"Daves B-B-Q" has just opened up a restaurant at the Spring Hill Mall, Rt. 31 & 72 in West Dundee. Haven't tried the restaurant but the BBQ products they sell in stores is pretty good.
 That place in South Elgin is "Tee-Gee's Smokehouse" 310 Sundown Rd. Good food!     tom g.

Skip A. wrote:
> I second that.  The Texan is on 31 a block north of Algonquin Rd.  Good
> place.
>
> Brian P. wrote:
> >
> > pete johnson wrote:
> >
> > > there's a place in south elgin, on rte 31, in a shopping center.
corner on
> > > sunrise st and rte 31.  very good bbq
> >
> > That would be "The Texan" and I believe it's in Algonquin.
> >
> > Brian

I wouldn't call the ribs "good". Tough and chewy, maybe. But not good. FANTASTIC decor and ambiance, but I'll find something other than the ribs to order the next time I go there...

SaniSafe wrote:

>went to bone daddy. neat looking place from the owners of twisted spoke.  ribs
>were good.  salad ok tater tots good as are sweet potato chips

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Vicstanley wrote:

> >Subject: Re: Best Bar-B-Q
> >From: Jim Figlik [email removed]
> >Date: 2/21/01 10:51 AM Central Standard Time
>
> >Although NN Smokehouse, on Irving not Addison, is good, my favorite
> >place is Brother Jimmy's, Sheffield, just north of Diversey.
> >
> >Vicstanley wrote:
> >>
> >> NN Smokehouse on Addison.
>
> Yeah, I stand corrected. Has anybody tried Bone Daddy on N. Ogden? I
read about
> it in the Times today.

I'm afraid I have bad news-- NN Smokehouse closed down this past fall. My friend Larry Tucker, the proprieter, had plans to reopen it about a mile west on Irving and Sacramento, but he's busy with personal matters (specifically, a divorce). I waitered there from just after opening back in 1991 until I became a full-time teacher in 1999.

A couple of Larry's cooks have opened another bbq place in the same spot. I haven't been there yet, but old customers that I run into tell me that it's pretty good.

Brian Peterlinz

On Wed, 07 Mar 2001 17:08:53 -0600, Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk
Someone wrote:

>I wouldn't call the ribs "good". Tough and chewy, maybe. But not good.
>FANTASTIC decor and ambiance, but I'll find something other than the
>ribs to order the next time I go there...

Sir Nose,

Your comment makes me chuckle. I was at Bone Daddy last week for a late lunch and had a nice conversation with one of the owners, the two brothers who own Twisted Spoke own Bone Daddy, he said that his most often heard complaint was that while the flavor of the ribs was right on the mark, they were too chewy.

This is how real slow smoked ribs are supposed to be, they have texture, chew, substance. Pork ribs do not fall off the bone unless you steam or boil them first, which is not recommended unless you are making rib soup as all the flavor is left in the water.

He took me back to the kitchen to see Bone Daddy's smoker, a gas carousel Southern Pride with a wood smoke box, which in the right hands can make passable BBQ, it's not wood burned to coals, but not bad. Chuck's BBQ in Burbank uses a Southern Pride and his ribs are good. But to digress a sec, Famous Dave's also uses a Southern Pride and those ribs are dreck, you need someone cooking who actually knows BBQ to produce good BBQ, not matter what method you use.

The ribs were quite edible, which as picky as I am about ribs is quite a compliment, and the one side I tasted, mac and cheese, was good. The sweet potato chips on the plate are a nice and very tasty touch. I ordered the ribs dry and was served 4 sauces on the side, they came on a little plate with the names (style) of sauce written on it. I liked the South Carolina mustard based, the Chicago wild was OK.

Bone Daddy has a nice modern interior, big bar and I am sure once they are open for a while they will be quite busy, and deservedly so.

Enjoy,
Gary

Bone Daddy
551 North Ogden Ave.
Chicago, IL. 60622
312-226-6666
Full Bar

Chuck's BBQ
5557 W 79th St
Burbank, IL 60459
(708) 229-8700
BYOB

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Someone wrote:
> As an aside, I heard that Uncle Bub's in Westmont has passable BBQ.
> Westmont is closer to Elgin than Burbank, you might want to check the
> place out. Once again, I have not been there, it may be boiled sauced
> mush, but then again.....

I'm not so widely eductaed in the varieties of BBQ as some of the denizens here, but as we were in that area at dinner time tonight we stopped by Uncle Bub's.  I doubt their BBQ will challenge the bulletproof glass (or underwear) joints, but boiled sauced mush it ain't.

We both had their sampler, and, to cut to the chase, we both want to go back for larger portions of the pulled pork; also to try some of the items not included in the assortment.  The sampler includes baby back ribs, pulled pork, sliced beef, rib tips, and BBQ chicken.  The ribs were very tasty, although the tips were a bit dry.  Both had good strong smoke flavor, especially the drier edges of the tips, and were what I would call slightly chewy; certainly not boiled mushy, although the meat was mostly ready to come off the bone with little effort.  The pulled pork was just yummy - I enjoyed it too much to have much else to say at this point.  The beef was rather on the dry side as well, and led to a taste testing of Uncle Bub's sauce from the bottle - the hot and spicy version.  It was slightly spicy, and was a nice addition to the drier portions.  The chicken... I was really getting too full by then to be sure, but it didn't greatly impress me one way or the other.  The portion in the sampler is a leg + thigh, and the meat was nicely cooked and properly moist, but seemed a bit tasteless after all that lovely smokey pork.  Or, as I said, maybe I was running out of appetite.

The cornbread that comes with the sampler (and many other selection) was pretty good.  The baked beans - I don't think I ever tasted them, they were below the chicken on the list.  ;-)  The broasted potatos that I ordered were rather nice; Cally's handcut fries were okay, but here again I didn't taste them until the last nibbling stage.

All in all, I thought this was probably the best BBQ I've had for some years, but as I said at the beginning, BBQ isn't my passion.  But I think Uncle Bub's certainly deserves a passable rating, and if you're out in the western burbs when that BBQ craving hits you, I guarantee you could do worse.

Oh, and they also do pig roasts, as they mention all over the menu I was consulting to make sure I didn't overlook anything.  They don't say that they make the area outside the restaurant smell most deliciously wood smokey, but they do that, too.

Yeah, we'll be going back again some time.