LTHForum.com

I've eaten good and bad Barbecue in every major Midwestern city including KC, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Madison, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, and Indianapolis and have never seen rib tips offered anywhere except here in Chicago. I can't speak with first hand experience for the Southern Barbecue Belt; from the Carolinas to Texas, but I have never heard mention of tips on any boards that focus on 'Que from that area or anywhere else for that matter.

Therefore, I think we can safely say that rib tips are a uniquely Chicago offering in the realm of smoked meats.

Buddy

I tend to agree that there IS a Chicago-style bbq, distinguished by aquarium-style smokers turning out rib tips and hot links.

I admit to being a bbq purist (although not one pledged to any particular regional style): born and raised in TX, and slurped my way through K.C. Missouri, N.C., S.C., and Memphis. Texans love their hot links, from the thumb-sized fine-grind Pittsburg Eastex grease bombs to the coarser-grind meaty sausages of the Hill Country. Links, if they're offered, don't seem to be that popular in the other bbq belts. While you can find ribs in TX, K.C., and, particularly, Memphis (I ALWAYS wondered what the hell they do with that part of the pig in some parts of the Carolinas), I've only seen tips (and the tips-and-links combo) here in Chicago.

I'm driving South on Christmas Eve. I may stop by Honey 1 on Saturday to get some finger-food (tips) for the first day/leg of the drive.

Cheers,
Wade

_________________
"Remember the Alamo? I do, with the very last swallow."

Now, Buddy, you must know by now that it's NEVER safe to say ANYTHING on this forum!

Rib Tips in Indianapolis

Admittedly, they were found to be merely "edible," but they were tips!

(Credit Rene G)

_________________
JiLS

Never say never I reckon. That place looks pretty good too. Looking forward to my next trip to Indy! Probably won't get the tips though.

Buddy

Just tried Smoque takeaway. 640pm & place was quite busy. Hub got sliced brisket sand., slaw, which I advised against from reading it wasn't very good, & beans. I got pulled pork sand., mac-n-cheese & slaw. Well, slaw never made it in the bag, so can't comment. Will e-mail to let them know.
Table of 3 complained that they'd been waiting for 25 minutes & no food. Young tall man, assume he's one of the owners, apologized more than once, said working out the kinks, & was very apologetic. Other man, shorter-assume other owner apologized as well. They ended up with gift certificates for the wait. Nice save I thought.
Nice space, friendly service.
I don't know nuthin' bout bbq, but I was very happy with what I had. Pork was very juicy, & had a nice smoky flavor. Large portion, good bread. Sauce slightly vinegary, with a little kick. I would have preferred slightly more sour & heat. Mac n Cheese, creamy-slightly grainy, not bad. Everything could've been hotter temp-wise, as we live less than a mile from pickup. Hub liked his brisket just fine. Same as pork. Juicy, nice smoke. He liked the beans. mildly spicy, lotsa onion.
We will be back, but I think we will wait a bit before returning. Line staff seemed confused, which I think contributed to 2 missing sides & everything not being hot enough. All in all, a great big yum.
oh, hub asked for a 1/4 slab taste of the st. louis ribs & was told that they were too soft & owner said they weren't going to serve them..snaps for that too.

Not sure where you read that the slaw wasn't very good. The order that came with my brisket was excellent and I said so in my post. Actually it's too bad it never made it into the bag; I think you would have liked it.

Buddy

Not only that, but isn't Chicago-style BBQ also distinguished by a faster, hotter cook? It seems to me that there is clearly a brand of BBQ unique to Chicago distinguished by all the factors listed above.

Went last night and though the 20 minute wait for food seemed too long, I reckon that's just because the smell in the place was so darn good it was driving me crazy not to have my food yet! At 6PM the restaurant was bustling, with just 2-3 unoccupied tables. Great to see my new neighborhood place off to such an outstanding start.

Brisket platter was outstanding, and the beans side dish was full of rich, smoky goodness contrasted by the zing of the vinegar sauce. As has been mentioned, the fresh cut fries were very nicely done. My companion made a minor ordering mistake when he got the "1/2 brisket" sandwich. Somehow he had convinced himself this was something other than half a sandwich (perhaps he illogically thought half a brisket). It was quite small and unsatiating. By contrast, the brisket platter and sides were very generous portions, and the "large" salad was enough to feed a family of four. Regarding said salad, the romaine lettuce was crisp and fresh, and the slow roasted, very tasty tomatoes had been marinated in what tasted very much like the vinegary bbq sauce served on the side.

As has been mentioned, byob is allowed, and one of the owners graciously provided a bottle opener for my Dogfish Head 90 min IPA.

In response to BuddyRH, the 1st 2 comments were from this thread & the last was from a nice little blurb from Yochicago.com..
I really don't like slaw, but my husband seems to be on a lifelong quest for the best cole slaw & the best egg rolls.
here's what I had found:

Slaw was bad...it appeared to be just some dry cabbage in a bowl...with little to no dressing/oil/mayo/anything.

Cole slaw was unremarkable - which is fine since I'm not much of a fan. It seemed more like a small cabbage salad than slaw.

The only disappointment was the slaw, which was too coarsely chopped and too light on the dressing for me (and my son, but he prefers creamy coleslaw over vinegary coleslaw.) Luckily, there was plenty of food to take its place.

I thought the wait was a little long for 2 sandwiches, but considering how new the place is, & it was quite busy, AND it's really not meant to be a fast food joint, I didn't mind. As said here by others, it smelled soo good inside, ya didn't mind.

The very BEST cole slaw I've had in the past twenty years is at another Chicago barbecue place: Carson's.

Can't help you on the egg rolls...

I visited Smoque last night and had the half slab St. Louis Ribs with 2 sides (Beans and Fries) and I substituted cornbread for Cole slaw.

The BBQ Beans had nice flavor but too much big pieces of onion for my liking. The Fries were pretty good and cornbread was great. The ribs had plenty of smoke smell and flavor. You could see a lot of rub burnt onto the rib. The ribs were pretty good without the sauce. Definitely a different flavor/ and maybe style of cooking than Hecky's or Honey1.

The biggest issue I had was the sauce. The BBQ sauce which I usually love with fries or on a rib was way too vinegary and peppery. For some reason it was not good tasting as either a dipping sauce for fries or the rib. The Ribs themselves tasted better without the sauce than with. The sauce at other BBQ joints does not taste with so much vinegar as Smoque BBQ. Maybe I had a bad batch of the BBQ sauce last night, but it definitely was not the highlight of the meal.

Thanks for the slaw tip. As far as the too peppery/vinegary sauce, I wished it were more so. I just don't like anything sweet with meat. Hub didn't like the sauce too much either. He tried it as a dipping sauce, but pronounced it "wrong". I just poured a little on bread & thought it was fine.
I didn't pay attention, but I assume the rib sauce is different than the sandwich sauce. I wonder if the brisket sauce was different from the pulled pork sauce, as I only tried mine.

Too much vinegar or pepper? I understand the words but when you put them together.....

Now I REALLY want to go! Vinegar and black pepper is the perfect counterpart to BBQ IMHO.

_________________
I used to think the brain was the most important part of the body. Then I realized who was telling me that.

Louise, I guess slaw, like Barbecue itself is a matter of taste and interpretation. The very qualities you mention:Are exactly what I'm looking for in a good slaw.

Personally, I don't much care for a gloppy mayo based slaw; I prefer a lighter tangier touch of vinegar. The crisp cabbage was a plus for me; very refreshing and a fine palate cleanser. As for the dressing being too light, there was a small pool of dressing left in the bottom of the container when I had finished the cabbage proving (at least to me) that there was more than enough dressing to get the job done.

The other nice element to this slaw, which I mentioned in an earlier post was the inclusion of slivered red onion. This was a nice color contrast that also added a pleasant flavor dimension.

In retrospect the slaw appeared to be a "deconstructed" version of the classic side dish. Perhaps if we thought of Smoque's cole slaw as "Slaw-ala-Moto" it would be more appealing.

Good to know about the corn bread substitution. Although I did like Smoque's slaw, I like cornbread a whole lot better.

Commmenting on the sauce, I found it to be similar to the sauces served at Gates Barbecue down in Kansas City (where I am headed in short order. Why am I sitting here fooling around on the internet when I should be getting on the road? **bangs head against desk**). Very vinegary and peppery with little or no sweetness. Gates' sauce, BTW is something of an anomaly in KC. Most Kansas City sauces tend to be tomato based and on the sweet side with a distinct flavor of cinnamon or clove and celery seed.

I liked Smoque's sauces just as a change of pace from what is usually offered around these parts. I found there to be little difference between the "pork" and "beef" sauces (as they were presented to me), but I thought they were both good, if a bit too salty.

Buddy

After reading all the comments about the food, I found myself unable to wait a week or two before my first Smoque-tasting. So, Alice and I went there, about 2 PM, and split pulled pork and sliced brisket sandwiches between us.

As with other LTHers, we found a slight edge going to the brisket over the pulled pork. But maybe that advantage was because a pulled pork sandwich isn't that hard to come by (either in a restaurant or coming out of my smoker) but a really tender, tasty/well-made brisket is hard to find.

The fries and baked beans were really nice. The mac and cheese was a bit on the dry side (possibly because of the time of day we went there). The best thing about the slaw was that it had an aggressive enough flavor that it added taste to the pork when placed on top of the sandwich unlike milder slaws which can be dumped on top of the meat and still bring nothing extra to the party.

The only problem (if you want to call it that) I had with the brisket was that there was so much meat that, after applying the sauce, I had a difficult time replacing the bun top without having slices of meat tumbling out of the sandwich!



I agree that there wasn't much difference other than the pork sauce having a bit of a peppery taste. But I might not be a good judge of this since my sauce at home, for pulled pork, consists of only vinegar with some red pepper flakes and salt.

Ken

Ken, I think you're assesment of Smoque's sauces is right on the money. In addition to the added pepper flavor, I would also say that the pork intended sauce had a slightly brighter, vinegary flavor, perhaps an attempt to echo the classic vinegar sauces of North Carolina.

As for the brisket edge over the pork, I asked the one owner I spoke to which I should choose for a first visit. Without hesitation and with obvious enthusiasm, he said, "Brisket!" I'll still try the pulled pork next time I visit, but I was quite happy with the choice I made.

Buddy

Isn't Chicago Q based on Alabama/Mississippi Q, featuring tips, the Aquarium Cooker and a mostly unique version of hot links? If so, the Manifesto is a bit arrogant and ignorant. Still, looks like good marketing.

Without trying Smoque, I will not tar them with the same brush as the other Southern Pride joints in town, but there are quite a few. Uncle Bub's, Texan, Thomas BBQ in Aurora and a place in Orland or maybe Mokena whose name escapes me all use Southern Pride cookers. And is that what Chuck's uses? And those are just the ones I have run across in the West and South. In sampling these places I have found certain common characteristics that the reports here seem to echo (highly variable ribs, depending on how long they are held and how much water is in the cooker, decent but not great roast meats, a pretty variable amount of smoke flavor and meat that will be mushy at times, pretty good at others). Some of these places do a pretty good job, while others are awful, but even the good ones seem to vary quite a bit.

Anyway, sounds like a good place, but given what I picked up here and on their web site, I have my doubts about whether it will be anything beyond a decent Q place if one is in the neighborhood with a hankering. And I suppose I could get up in arms about their slight to Chicago Q, but I respect that the Manifesto is marketing and they are running a business, so I will give them a pass so long as the bbq is okay.

_________________
d
Retired, gone fishing, and exploring my curmudgeon within

While picking up my daughter at the bus stop located 1/2 block from Smoque for the past 12 months, I've been lucky enough to see the transformation from auto parts store to a mighty fine culinary addition to a neighborhood in deparate need of tasty eats. Louise, it doesn't surprise me that the owners - Barry and Hal - flipped a customer gift certificates for an extra long wait. They're solid guys. As for the food, the can't miss items on the menu was the brisket (both chopped and slices) - nice bark and flavor, baked beans, cornbread muffins. As for ribs, I went in wanting to like the (underrated) St. Louis style more than the BB's. Unlike the BB's, the St. Louis ribs didn't fight enough for me. Give a nod to the BB's. I'll be BYOBing soon for a round two.

I had dinner tonight at Smoque. I'll have to say that Smoque is a solid addition to the North Side BBQ scene. I got the rib combo and a side of sliced brisket. I found the St. Louis (spares) to be not to my liking nearly as much as the ones at Honey 1, which are honestly cooked over live wood rather than is a Southern Pride like they are at Smoque. The spares at Smoque seemed like they had either been cooked or held in foil (Texas Crutch), which slightly steamed them so that they were a bit mushier than I prefer. They were by no means "meat jello", but the difference between Honey 1's (let alone my own) was striking. The Baby Backs, however, were another story. They were among the best versions of Baby Backs I have ever had at a commercial establishment. They weren't of home made quality, but they were definitely in the ballpark. I liked their rub and the sauce, thoughtfully served on the side without even asking, wasn't overly sweet. The brisket was far leaner and drier than I prefer, but it will be welcome by those who like brisket and don't have the wherewithal to cook their own or oare fat averse. On the drive home I thought about whether the brisket will work as a "quick fix" for me when I get a hankering and don't feel like firing up the WSM and I decided that no, it won't work for me, but YMMV.

The real stars of the show were the sides as far as I'm concerned. I really liked the cole slaw, beans and mac 'n cheese. The slaw was bordering on excellent, with a light vinegar based dressing as discussed above. With the addition of some jalapeños during cooking, the beans would be equally stellar. Hopefully, they'll take my suggestion to heart.

Smoque does not have tips or links on the menu. For my everyday BBQ needs, I'll still go to Honey 1 85% of the time, but once in a while, Smoque will be just what the Dr. ordered.

Smoque BBQ Rib Combo


Edited to add picture

_________________
Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

I liked it too.

_________________
Watch Sky Full of Bacon, the Chicago food HD podcast!
New episode: Soil, Corn, Cows and Cheese
Watch the Reader's James Beard Award-winning Key Ingredient here.

Mike, that brisket looks considerably better than what I was served tonight. Mine was very dry.

_________________
Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

What the hell is going on here?

There seems to be a major lack of quality control present in their kitchen. Granted, they've only been open four days but, there shouldn't be this much difference between what is being served to customer "A" and customer "B"

No one should expect McDonalds-like uniformity when it comes to BBQ-- but in no way did my rib meal resemble the photo that stevez posted. My St. Louis ribs were shriveled and leathery and the baby backs were pre-cut and "meat-jelloish"

Maybe one of the owners should act as an expeditor in the kitchen to try to prevent some of this disparity.

Time to get off my high horse------

That's a pretty big "granted." Sure, you love it when a restaurant hits the ground clicking on all cylinders, to use a mixed metaphor. But, as you note, especially with BBQ, it doesn't strike me as particularly egregious that there will be a few starts and stops along the way.

Can't wait to hit the new Northside bbq joint. One note I think is important about brisket, every cut is quite different. It's kinda a hit and miss thing on smoking perfection on it...even for the pros. That's why you see them cooking like 5 of them in those bbq competitions. So, while getting dry brisket from a bbq joint kinda sucks, I hardly would make a judgment on their capabilities based on a single visit getting only brisket. That said, pork shoulder and ribs are much more uniform and should be consistently good.

Ok the "BBQ Apologist" wants to fire up his smoker now.

G Wiv wrote:

"South of Madison or West of Halsted"

Wouldn't that exclude Lem's, BA's and a host of other places? I think just South of Madison would suffice, and not strain the relationship between south and west siders further:-)

Minor question, but I'm curious: Is Smoque 1) a "sit down at an assigned table, order from a guy, and have your order brought to you" place; 2) an "order at the counter, then find a table and sit down at it, then have your order brought to your table by a guy when it's ready" place; or 3) an "order at the counter, stand and wait for your name/number to be called, then get your order from the counter yourself and bring it to a table if there is one" place?

It's 4) "order at the counter, then find a table and sit down at it then go get your food when your number is called."

_________________
Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

I spoke to the owner at length about their brisket and he told me that serving dry brisket is a style choice that they made. They trim nearly all the fat off the brisket before cooking it, so it will always have a pretty dry profile. The brisket picture that Mike G posted looks like it was recently sliced from the point section, while mine looked like it was cut from the flat and held for a while before service.

_________________
Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

In the place's short (but popular) life to date, has anybody who's been there experienced a problem finding an empty table? Or does there always seem to be at least one?

While I'm at it, I could ask the same question about Honey1, so I will.

Going there with the idea of eating there (and not carrying out, perhaps because it's not feasible), and then finding no place to do that, would be a bummer, to me. (Understandably not necessarily to others, who may be rib-fanatical enough to put up with some inconvenience and who perhaps are more patient than I.) But if there always seems to be at least one empty table, no problem!

We got there the other night at about 640'ish. There were probably 4 tables open. Lots of folks looked about finished with their meals (bones everywhere!) at that point. Several tables were occupied by those of us waiting for takeaway. Being what appeared to be a friendly crowd, I would bet that if someone was waiting for takeout saw someone, sans table, eating in, they'd be courteous enough to say, have a seat.
I have to stop reading this thread. All I want to do is pick up another sandwich.