YourPalWill

I'm a relative newcomer to Chicago as i am celebrating my third anniversary here in the next month or so. I'm a northsider who has developed an affinity for the food of the south side during my years here. Further, I'm a native of the southeast and think that I know my que pretty well as I have cooked whole hogs and other various chunks of meat over smoke for the last few years. Having qualified myself to y'all, I now feel comfortable in saying that there is little virtue in Northside barbecue when compared to the work of the our south side and west side barbeque brethren. Fat Willie's is admirable. They make a darn good smoked barbeque chicken. But, their ribs and pulled pork leave me scratching my head and wondering what do they do to that chicken that they don't do to their pork products. Me thinks its a supply and demand issue. There is simply a greater demand for pork products at Fat Willies which means that they hurry their ribs out of the smoker and on to the plate before they're ready for consumption. The chicken, on the other hand, being in lesser demand gets it's due in the smoky bath of their barbeque hood. I think the problem with Northside barbeque is that Twin Anchors is the standard by which barbeque is judged on the northside. Shortly after I arrived in Chicago, a friend invited me for ribs at Twin Anchors. The boiled in sauce ribs of TA reminded me of a breadless McRib Sandwich which can be obtained at many places around the city for far less than one would pay for the detestible excuse for a faux McRib that Twin Anchors serves. In my mind, the best of Chicago barbeque is epitomized by four things. A Crispy char on the outside, a smoky ring of pinkness in the meat, an al dente texture to the meat, and an overall prodcut that you could enjoy without sauce if you didn't have any available. That said, in my modest southern opinion, there are three stars of the barbeque world in Chacago. They are: Lems on 75th Street, which sometimes suffers from supply and demand problems, serves an excellent slab and half slab. The meat is smoky and tender and is complimented beautifully by Lem's piquant sauce that tastes more like a peppery buffalo wing sauce than an over bearing KC Masterpiece. Nearby at Cottage Grove and 76th, one can find Barbara Ann's Motel and Barbeque where one can conceivably order a slab or ribs, rent a room and eat them on the bed...something that your wife surely wouldn't let you get away with at home. But, I digress. Barbara Ann's specializes in rib tips and makes a wonderful barbeque and smoked chicken. I like to have BA's mix their sweet and hot sauce for me before basting my purchase. The sauce is both sweet and hot while not overpowering. Barbara Ann's may well make the best barbeque hot links in the city. One of the bonuses of eatring at BA's is that you're within spitting distance of Dat Donuts which shares a location with Leons (barbeque that I recommend avoiding due to the high use of nitrates in the cooking process). Dat is one of the city's finest donut shops. If you make the BA/Dat trip often enough, your cardiologist may name his first yacht after you. Finally, I would be remiss in overlooking what is, in my opinion, the city's best barbeque...that being Honey1 on Division Street, 10-12 blocks west of Cicero. The owners of Honey 1 are barbeque artists. Their product so luscious and so divine, that I tend to ask them not to sauce my tips opting instead to sauce them only with a little vinegar and pepper North Carolina style when I arrive home. Honey1 does both slabs and tips with expertise. Now, I know that some of you may say, "But, hey aren't those bad neighborhoods?" The answer is an affirmative "no". They're just different than the neighborhoods you live in on the north side or in the burbs. My fat, white, middle class Volvo driving posterior is always treated extremely well in each of these establishments. So, have no fear. Venture down to the southside or west on Divisionb Street one weekend afternoon and begin to introduce yourself to what real barbeque should taste like.

Any of you traveling to Kansas City for Barbeque, may enjoy the thread linked below from the LTH forum in which Cathy 2 and I ate 7 meals in Kansas City in 10 hours last month. LC's on Blue Parkway was one of our stops. My take on our day was this: Artheu Bryant's and Danny Edwards aka Little Jakes Eat It and Beat it were far and above the best we had. LC's was in the next tier though I suspect that we just had a bad one time experience there. Neither Rosedale nor Fiorella's was worthy of a revisit. http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1704

No food around Comiskey?? Come now!! Two of my down and dirty favorite treats in Chicago are the excellent cheeseburgers at Kevin's Hamburger Heaven on 35th and The Southside Shrimp House on 31st. Neither place will knock your socks off in terms of decor. But the food rocks at both.

Funny you should mention Maxwell Street, DLS. I spen the entire Thanksgiving Day driving back to Chicago from visiting family in North Carolina and finding absolutely nothing to eat along the way except a bag of Fritos and some beef jerky. Having had set my mind up for a Thanksgsgiving Dinner of Lem's Rib's (spicy), I was disappointed to learn, upon arrival, that they were closed also. Several other soul food options failed to pan out on the South Side. I'm still not sure what possessed me to get off the Freeway at Roosevelt road. But, the aroma of Jim's famous Polish hit my nose pretty quickly. Being ravenous by this time, I made the decision that Jim's polish would be my Thanksgiving dinner. 2 all the way with thos2 great steamed onions and a sport pepper. I have to admit, it was the first time I have ever eaten Thanksgiving Dinner in the car. And I finished it before I hit North Avenue. Jim's may be the best polish in the city. Just don't make the mistake of ordering from the place next door to Jim's (whatever its name is). Their polish doesn't hold a candle to Jims. I'm a big fan of Doug's too.

There's certainly no need to be scared of a Harold's in Hyde Park or anywhere else for that matter. The 53rd Street location is considered among many to be the best of the Harold's outposts in Chicago. The searcvh for great ethnic food, be it soul, Thai, Indian or whatever leads you into some of the neighborhoods that many in the city considere unstable. I often frequent Edna's at Madison and Kedzie (great fried chicken and biscuits for those seeking such), Lem's on 75th Street for Chicago's best ribs, and Harolds for their excellent crispy flavorful chicken. If anything, though the pigment of my skin is much lighter than many other patrons in those establishments, i always find myself treated no better or no worse than any other patron. There's simply nothing to be scared of there as there is nothing to be scared of in any of Chicago's fascinating working class neighborhoods...and there is some awfully good grub to be found in many of these places.