Rave: BBQ shacks and smokehouses

[33anda3rd]

Oh if a joint can make great sides it definitely puts them up a notch.

I think it's huge. I like BBQ but I live in a place where the BBQ culture is poor. The breakdown here is like 0.5% above average, 10% quite poor, 89.5% below average. If we were grading on a scale of all BBQ. What's on offer is all pretty much the same. Same cut of brisket off a Sysco truck rubbed and smoked pretty much the same. I could get a plate that had three different briskets from Chicago on the same plate and maybe not know I was eating BBQ from different places. It's really bland. So if I want BBQ and don't want to travel to the one decent place in town, I'll go by sides.

[redbirdjazzz]

Oh if a joint can make great sides it definitely puts them up a notch.

I think it's huge. I like BBQ but I live in a place where the BBQ culture is poor. The breakdown here is like 0.5% above average, 10% quite poor, 89.5% below average. If we were grading on a scale of all BBQ. What's on offer is all pretty much the same. Same cut of brisket off a Sysco truck rubbed and smoked pretty much the same. I could get a plate that had three different briskets from Chicago on the same plate and maybe not know I was eating BBQ from different places. It's really bland. So if I want BBQ and don't want to travel to the one decent place in town, I'll go by sides.

What's the decent place?

[cardsfansince82]

Q39 is a newish place in KC that I would highly recommend.

[heyzeus]

If any of y'all are ever in central Texas, lemme know. There are at least a dozen places that are authentic, 100 year old heritage, pit smoking bbq meccas within an hour or two's drive. I'm not talking about Franklin Barbecue here, which deserves its praise, but I don't have time to stand in line for four hours for anything in my life.

[33anda3rd]

What's the decent place?

Preamble: I like brisket and I like dry rub and I don't do injections or much sauce and I don't really get down on ribs too much. I want tender beef that's been properly butchered, lots of smoke, and a good peppery bark. So, now that that bit of snobbery is out of the way, Chicago BBQ IMO...

Really good: Smalls Smoke Shack
Above Average: Smoque
Wild Cards that could go in Really Good: Calumet Fisheries for smoked fish, Sun Wah for that Pei Par Duck.
Non-restaurant Wild Cards that could go in Really Good: this dude Drew who runs a thing called Flesh For Food. He does sideyard takeovers, restaurant takeovers, and makes the smokiest most delicious bacon (that he smokes in the Goose Island barrelhouse over old bourbon->beer staves) I've had this side of Benton's.
Below Average: Everywhere else. Smoke Daddy, Honky Tonk, Lillie's Q, Pork Shoppe. They're above average for Chicago but if you were from Texas or KC or STL or Memphis and you came and ate at one of them you'd be all "no." Smalls or Smoque you'd be all "yeah, good." That's how bad our BBQ scene is here, IMO. Really really poor. We crush Italian, Greek, Mexican, fine dining, experimental, charcuterie, cocktail bars, but our BBQ is bad.

I'm not talking about Franklin Barbecue here, which deserves its praise, but I don't have time to stand in line for four hours for anything in my life.

I feel like if you're in Austin and you're into 'cue and you don't go see Aaron it's like being in Paris and liking paintings and not seeing the Mona Lisa.

[redbirdjazzz]

What's the decent place?

Preamble: I like brisket and I like dry rub and I don't do injections or much sauce and I don't really get down on ribs too much. I want tender beef that's been properly butchered, lots of smoke, and a good peppery bark. So, now that that bit of snobbery is out of the way, Chicago BBQ IMO...

Really good: Smalls Smoke Shack
Above Average: Smoque
Wild Cards that could go in Really Good: Calumet Fisheries for smoked fish, Sun Wah for that Pei Par Duck.
Non-restaurant Wild Cards that could go in Really Good: this dude Drew who runs a thing called Flesh For Food. He does sideyard takeovers, restaurant takeovers, and makes the smokiest most delicious bacon (that he smokes in the Goose Island barrelhouse over old bourbon->beer staves) I've had this side of Benton's.
Below Average: Everywhere else. Smoke Daddy, Honky Tonk, Lillie's Q, Pork Shoppe. They're above average for Chicago but if you were from Texas or KC or STL or Memphis and you came and ate at one of them you'd be all "no." Smalls or Smoque you'd be all "yeah, good." That's how bad our BBQ scene is here, IMO. Really really poor. We crush Italian, Greek, Mexican, fine dining, experimental, charcuterie, cocktail bars, but our BBQ is bad.

I'll definitely have to check out Smalls when I'm up there around Labor Day. That's actually really close to my best friend's place, so that makes it easy.

[33anda3rd]

Save room for a 1/4 dark chicken. It's really great there.

[redbirdjazzz]

Save room for a 1/4 dark chicken. It's really great there.

Good to know. The last time I got BBQ with the friend I'll be staying with up there (at the then-Oklahoma Joe's), he ate a whole chicken, and then probably used up half of the napkins in the restaurant.

[heyzeus]

What's the decent place?

Preamble: I like brisket and I like dry rub and I don't do injections or much sauce and I don't really get down on ribs too much. I want tender beef that's been properly butchered, lots of smoke, and a good peppery bark. So, now that that bit of snobbery is out of the way, Chicago BBQ IMO...

Really good: Smalls Smoke Shack
Above Average: Smoque
Wild Cards that could go in Really Good: Calumet Fisheries for smoked fish, Sun Wah for that Pei Par Duck.
Non-restaurant Wild Cards that could go in Really Good: this dude Drew who runs a thing called Flesh For Food. He does sideyard takeovers, restaurant takeovers, and makes the smokiest most delicious bacon (that he smokes in the Goose Island barrelhouse over old bourbon->beer staves) I've had this side of Benton's.
Below Average: Everywhere else. Smoke Daddy, Honky Tonk, Lillie's Q, Pork Shoppe. They're above average for Chicago but if you were from Texas or KC or STL or Memphis and you came and ate at one of them you'd be all "no." Smalls or Smoque you'd be all "yeah, good." That's how bad our BBQ scene is here, IMO. Really really poor. We crush Italian, Greek, Mexican, fine dining, experimental, charcuterie, cocktail bars, but our BBQ is bad.

I'm not talking about Franklin Barbecue here, which deserves its praise, but I don't have time to stand in line for four hours for anything in my life.

I feel like if you're in Austin and you're into 'cue and you don't go see Aaron it's like being in Paris and liking paintings and not seeing the Mona Lisa.

Franklin is great. It truly is. The quality of his beef is great, the pits he built are great, he's a genuinely nice guy and deserves all the success he's had. 6 years ago I was there when he just had a little trailer under the highway with five people total there for lunch, and knew from the first bite of brisket that he had it.

But I don't advocate anyone to go there at 7am and stand in the 102 degree sun for 4 hours to eat that brisket. Not when you can make an easy 40 minute drive to Lockhart and visit Kreuz's, Smitty's, or Black's. Not when right here in Austin LA BBQ and Micklethwait are also killing it. Not when Louie Mueller's in Taylor, Cooper's in Llano, and Snow's in Lexington have all the character in the world AND roughly the quality. None of which you have to wait in the sun for 4-5 hours and still run the risk of everything selling out before you get to the counter.

[33anda3rd]

Cool. If you were going to make one destination out of the list above, though, I'd hop in the car, drive down toward the Indiana border (it's about 35 min from Smalls) and hit up Calumet Fisheries. They have fried fish and fries that you can get to-go in a styrofoam thing--avoid. They also sell, out of deli cases, the best smoked fish. Salmon, Trout, sometimes shrimp and sometimes chub among others. It's all a really truly destination-worthy smokehouse, but if they have the chub get on that. Everywhere else in Chicago, you're not gonna get amazing smoked brisket, and unless you're a 'cue freak or want to see how meh it is here, there are a lot better ways to spend your $ and time eating out. (Did I mention our BBQ is bad?)

[SHOW]