LTH North Lunch Group - City Barbeque - 6/26 - 12:30 PM

I haven't been there yet. The LTH Brethren down towards Berwyn seem to like their outlet. Let's check out the new-ish Deerfield outpost of this chain.

Please join us for lunch on the 26th. As always, bring a friend.

City Barbeque
365 Lake Cook Rd.
Deerfield, IL 60015
(847) 960-4129
https://www.citybbq.com/

Dave148 - Esteemed Coordinator - LTH North Lunch Group
Cathy2
JoelF
diversedancer + 1
jnm123
Katie
irisarbor
EddieK

Hi,

While others chase their own tails, I shall reserve.

Took Mom there last week, I really enjoyed my portion of brisket which was crusty enough to suggest burnt ends. I love, love, love burnt ends!

Regards,
Cathy2

I'm in, unless job gets in the way

I'm in for one.

Good to see you back from your self-imposed exile. Count me in.

jnm123 wrote:Good to see you back from your self-imposed exile. Count me in.

There were issues and I was asked to leave.

I will be out of town, but enjoy. I will look for updates on the power struggle when I return.

-Will

Count me in. ¡Viva la revolución!

I will be glad to join
E

I'd be up for going but I'll be out of town all week. I've been to City BBQ in Deerfield four times and have enjoyed it every time. A little tip - you can order brisket or pork with "extra bark" if you prefer that. They will let you try pretty much anything on the menu as well. They have around 8 sauces but it can be annoying as they are not on each table so when you put sauce in a little cup, and you have a bunch of them, you could easily forget what was what. I normally don't want to use too much sauce for the meat which has a nice rub and good smoke flavor. If anything I might ask for a little more fat with the brisket. While it's not at the very top level of BBQ, they are a solid option and I am thrilled to have them in the area (and soon to be in Vernon Hills as well).

I'll also add that since you are going on a Tuesday they have an all day $1.35 per bone St. Louis ribs special. If you get the fries, get them well done - they are really good.

Ram4 wrote:I'll also add that since you are going on a Tuesday they have an all day $1.35 per bone St. Louis ribs special. If you get the fries, get them well done - they are really good.

Thanks for those tips. After looking at the menu, I'm also looking forward to trying "More Cowbell."

Ram4 wrote:If anything I might ask for a little more fat with the brisket.

This is typically referred to as "moist" in places where brisket is the coin of the realm. I'd be curious to know what the response would be if you ordered it using that term.

I'd also be wary about ordering pre-sliced ribs, as they're far more likely to be dried out than ordering an intact half or full slab. But maybe if they're moving a bunch of the pre-sliced singles, they won't have sat too long. Or maybe they slice them to order. In any case, the mention of ordering single ribs reminded me of this classic bit from I'm Gonna Git You Sucka . . .



=R=

Of course I'll be there.

This is everybody orders their own food, that is all? No additonal charges for shared food, like some of these events have? Assuming that is the case, I have a friend who wants to come.

diversedancer wrote:This is everybody orders their own food, that is all? No additonal charges for shared food, like some of these events have? Assuming that is the case, I have a friend who wants to come.

That's fine with me.
EC

diversedancer wrote:This is everybody orders their own food, that is all? No additonal charges for shared food, like some of these events have? Assuming that is the case, I have a friend who wants to come.

I was going to suggest ordering the Motherload but perhaps not.

Enough for 6! Brisket, pulled pork, turkey, 1/2 slab of ribs, 1/2 chicken, 2 sausages, 6 individual sides, cornbread, and Texas toast

well, some of us could do the motherload, right? This (new) +1 is on a limited budget, just a friend from my square dance club, not a "date".

Personally, I'd always prefer to order as a group and share, and that is a very STRONG preference for something like an unusual ethnic restaurant with a eight page menu including at least 40 unique dishes I just "have to" try....but the menu is limited here, and nobody talked about sharing, so I figured I'd be happy with the cheesy brisket and some Tuesday special ribs. I'm still new and different groups go different ways.

I'd be more than happy to go in on the mother load, either 6 of us, or maybe even split only 3, 4 or 5 ways. Even with four, that's only $15 each. If for 6, my +1 might go for it too.

Or what's not in the motherload? Get Motherload plus More cowbell (cheesy brisket) which somebody recommended, turkey salad (just so we can say we ate healthy), and 3 (or 6 or 9) smoked brisket taqos for 6-8 people?

Judging by previous reports on threads on their sketchy sides--although I do want to try the 'cukes-n-onions' summer special--I'm of a mind that I'm going to individually order a few of the Tuesday special St. Louis Ribs ($1.35, normally $2.25), try 'em with different sauces, maybe get some hush puppies & collards, and go from there.

If someone wants to order a couple things for the table that I haven't ordered for myself, I'll be happy to contribute to them.

Seeya in a while.

J

I will try to get there early to snag some real estate for our group. I stopped by there last week and they indicated that the lunch rush tends to drop a bit by 12:30.

If needed, we can get Eddie to “persuade” others to vacate space for us.

EC

If ordering to share, make sure you know who's in, as my +1 can't afford it.

diversedancer wrote:If ordering to share, make sure you know who's in, as my +1 can't afford it.

This person should probably just order on his/her own to keep things as uncomplicated as possible. Or, maybe you can combine with him/her if you feel so inclined.

=R=

HI,

I am so close, I should probably not be late.

If I am not there yet, I am not opposed to ordering the Motherlode.

If the turkey salad is there symbolically for eating healthy, I'd rather skip it. I was not impressed by the smoked turkey I had there recently. I was far more impressed with the brisket.

If people have a health issue, dietary preference or cost limitations, then order for yourself. Enjoy the company, because that is the number one reason why we gather.

Regards,
Cathy2

Company was great. Some of the grub was, too.

The place is popular, I'll give 'em that. In that frenetic nexus of the universe that is Waukegan & Lake Cook Rd., there weren't many parking spaces and quite a line to order as well.

I did the aforementioned St. Louis rib special, 9 of 'em and I've taken 3 home for later. Hush puppies were excellent, probably my favorite item, just frittery goodness. Collards were also fine, lots o' meat shards in there. The greens could've been cooked more, and also could've been more vinegary as well, and the summery cukes-n-onions were OK, again a lack of vinegary sugariness kept it from being a top choice.

There must have been 10 sauces for the ribs, and one of them was just plain fruity awfulness. I didn't list the four I took because I thought I'd remember--guess not. EC was compelled to take a taste of my bad one and concurred by the face he made--a classic moment. Diversedancer turned me on to the peach habanero for my leftovers, and that might have been the best of the bunch. We'll see.

Finally...the St. Louis ribs. They were not, WERE NOT gnaw-off-the-bone. Argh! I don't know if any St.L. types exist of that quality, but that's what I was looking for. They were meaty, moist and fairly tasty, but they lacked bark taste & bite quality. Overall, I don't see why everyone's in a dither over this place. Our group had a great time regardless, but we always do.

Onward & upward!

I had a really fun time with the group today. I enjoyed the half of my "More Cowbell" brisket (+ provolone, green pepper, horseradish, and Texas toast) sandwich that I ate and the other half that I ate for dinner. I'd go back for that sandwich. I also bought a pound of brisket to take home and practice making More Cowbell for myself.

I didn't order any sides, but Eddie was kind enough to share some of his fries and peach cobbler with me, and both were tasty. Next time I will definitely get some of the fries and eat them first while they're hot.

Unless you go with a good-sized group like we did, I wouldn't recommend sitting at those tall bar tables during a busy time. They are too close to each other and to the nearby low tables and what should be aisles near the entry and the soda/bbq sauce/condiment station. If you get up, you often have to walk quite a long way around to get back to where you were sitting. At times when the places is not crowded (not lunch hour, for example), this might not be a problem. For a group of six or more, there might not be another option.

I liked the bourbon and peach habañero sauces and took a little of each home with me to go with the rest of my brisket.

It's a pain driving in that Waukegan/Lake Cook area right now with the construction going on by Jewel, and it was also a pain getting past the Woodman's construction at Milwaukee and Deerfield Parkway, but those inconveniences should wrap up soon.

I was a little surprised to see Augusto --- I mean, Eddie --- in casual dress today. He explained he still has to go for a final fitting for his uniform. Cuando menos te lo esperes, Estimado Coordinador ...

So glad I got out for this lunch with the LTH North group and looking forward to the next one!

These are thumbnails only, if you want the full resolution, send me a message with the picture number. Food review: pretty good for factory assembly line food, the more cowbell was good and toast was crispy, the sides were excellent, but the taqo (sic) was way too small for the price IMHO and nothing special. The single ribs were OK at $1.49 Tuesday special, but so variable in size. I got one large one and two small ones, that definitely would have been upsetting at the regular price (and my friend got two tiny, too dried out to eat ribs counting as one). I liked the peach habenero sauce, be cannot approve any BBQ restaurant that doesn't have a KC style (lime) sauce among its choices. Others complained there was not way to tell the spicyness of the sauces from the names (and I guess they felt it was too much hassle to just try them, as I did). From a sample of another's french fries, they were criminal (should go to jail for calling them french fries), peach cobbler was good for factory food.

Note:

The taqos (sic) are listed at three for $9, but you can get one for $3 (maybe only because I ordered other food?).

The sides, at two for $3.50 are a relative bargain. and you can get more than one pair after your order just one entree, so if I had it to do all over again, I'd probably get two more to take home. Maybe 4 more.

FYI - There was an option to order four sides for less than $6.

At present, you can take all the BBQ sauce at will. Another place I visit, they give you one little cup with more cups available for a fee.

Thanks Eddie for ordering the cobbler with whipped cream. The portion was large enough to share with two or three people.

Regards,
Cathy2

Note to diversedancer--

Good call on mixing the peach habanero sauce with another, have no idea which I brought home with me. But it was a real good amalgam. Leftover St. Louis ribs were tasty, as were the remaining hush puppies. Those might be the star of the show.

I'll be back to City BBQ once the construction's done. What a cluster! Joel called it 'serviceable' which is pretty accurate.

Darn! Forgot to put this in my phone and missed it!
So sorry my bad

The one baffling thing is the order process. At RUB, for instance, you basically go down a cafeteria line and get your food. Here you order, and wait. Except for the fries and hush puppies (which came out 5 minutes after the rest of the food), I don't think anything is cooked to order. What's with the wait?