Lillie's Q in the French Market

The Lillie's Q in the French Market opened last week. I had lunch there on Friday, and they said they'd opened Wed. Sandwiches were $7-$8 and sides were $2-$5.

I ordered the pulled pork sandwich ($7) and the baked beans ($4) and thoroughly enjoyed my food -- a big upgrade in lunch options with Lillie's on the mix. The sandwich was quite good, but the way they serve it is a bit odd -- they're still serving like they did on their short-lived food truck.

You get the bun in a small paper pouch and the meat in a deli container, and have to assemble your own sandwich. I commented on Twitter about this and they replied that it's to keep bread from getting soggy. Every other carryout place makes an assembled sandwich for carryout and I don't ever remember many issue of soggy sandwiches in all my years of fast food/work lunch eating. Or maybe offer "assemble yourself" as an option for carryout, but since many customers are eating right there in the French Market seating area it's be nice to get an actual sandwich. Plus, there's nothing on which to eat with the current packaging (the pouch is too small to catch the meat and sauce falling from the bun), other than the brown bag your order comes in that's handled by people, set down on counters/tables, etc. Yet another reason a sandwich wrapped in deli paper or foil would be preferable.


131 N Clinton St
Chicago, IL 60661

Assemble your own sandwich??? How do they deal with condiments?

we serve our meats like this at pop up lunches all over the city, we're in a different office building every day of the week with Fooda. We package the meat separately so the bun doesn't get soggy, but we also portion the pork and chicken in foil pouches at the restaurant. We set up on folding tables with chaffing dishes for our service line - and serve about 100-200 people in a 2 hour lunch rush, so there's no time to be portioning on-site, and it would be messy. We do slice brisket to order onsite, to make sure it's fresh/not dry, but we still package it separate from the bun. Many times, we are set up in the lobby of a building - and customers are bringing the lunch back to their desk. Not sure if any of the reasons for pre-packaging (I listed) apply to the Lillie's concept, but that's why we do it that way. We do serve in clamshells, so there is a clean plate to assemble and eat on. We serve 3 different sauces on the side, in 2 oz plastic cups w/lids.

Get there early, because they had the longest line by far, including Pastoral, last Thursday.

Get there early, because they had the longest line by far, including Pastoral, last Thursday.

If they have a long line and serve a massive amount of people in a short time, that's another reason they are packaging separately - it allows them to prep big numbers before a big rush - just handing over packaged food rather than assembling and plating...just a guess, as I haven't eaten there /seen the operation / or talked to anyone involved - but that's why we do it that way

I'm the PR guy for Lillie's Q. I also worked the lunch shift over there for two days last week and helped out with service.

All of the BBQ sandwiches at Lillie's Q come on brioche. Brioche will pretty much disintegrate immediately if the meat was placed on the buns and wrapped. Trust me when I say every possible way of serving the BBQ sandwiches have been tested out. The way it is now is the only viable option.

Due to the high volume of customers -- especially during the lunch rush -- they cannot logistically and seamlessly pull off the "assemble yourself" option. They are looking into getting plates to hand out to customers. In the meantime, you can of course ask for an extra "non-handled" bag to use as your "plate".

Just to clarify, a very small amount of the food (BBQ and sides) are prepackaged. All of the tri-tip is cut to order.

With regards to wait times, on Thursday and Friday last week during the height of the lunch rush people were waiting a maximum of 15 minutes. That's a max of 15 minutes from the moment they step into the line to the moment they receive their food.

Also, just a friendly reminder they've been open less than a week over there.

daveandrews3, thanks for jumping in on the discussion... I have been a big fan of Lillie's food in WP, and have been anxiously awaiting its arrival at French Market. What you (and rubbbqco) say makes sense in terms of serving quickly. I will say, that given the line I encountered, it moved pretty quickly. I got there about 12:45 and waited maybe 10 minutes. And I most definitely get that you guys have been doing this for only a couple days and there are operational adjustments to be made as you guys get the hang of things at the French Market.

I'll take your word that the bread gets soggy and that you've tested it out, and I as I mentioned perhaps that is the best way to serve carry out options. But since the French Market is a food court where many people are eating right there, it'd be nice to get an actually fully assembled lunch -- especially when it costs $12.

And thanks for the tip about asking for an extra bag next time. It didn't even dawn that I might get something other than a sandwich wrapped in deli paper or foil that folds out for an eating surface. Also, I only got 1 napkin in the bag, BBQ is messy and there were no available napkins on the counter. Can you guys put out some napkins so we don't need to bug the busy staff behind the counter to ask for more?

Hey blipsman,

Thanks for your post and for your support. I've spoken to them about plates and extra napkins. All of the suggestions have been extremely helpful.

Also, the French Market location's menu is a bit different than the Bucktown location. You can check out the French Market menu here: http://lilliesq.com/frenchmarket.htm (click menu on top left)

Just wanted to pipe in on this -- I had absolutely no problem with the separately packaged sandwich. I loved that my bun was toasted and crusty and that I could put as much as sauce or as little as I wanted on it along with the pristine tri-tip. That tri-tip was outstanding. I also loved the baked beans I got. I wasn't as thrilled with the hot link -- it was perfectly fine and came with another delicious brioche top split bun but i didn't love the sausage. I'm hardly ever at the French Market but I may have to take a bit of a field trip there more often. I really wanted some sort of a combo plate -- like a little pulled chicken, a little pulled pork and some tri-tip. Wish that had been available.

I also enjoy grabbing a side of those belgian frites to go with my barbecue. An outstanding lunch. My coworkers were all very very jealous.

So I had to grab Lillie's again for lunch today... my taste for BBQ is insatiable sometimes. I got over there a little after 1pm and was pleasantly surprised to find no line!

This time I had the tri-tip sandwich and the chips. The sandwich was again awesome. I may prefer that my sandwich be put together for me, but there is no question that the end result of smoky meat, toasted bun and a healthy dose of hot smoky sauce is amazing. I ws intrigued by the pimento cheese potato chips, so I ordered those as my side. The chips were fresh and crisp, but I didn't taste the pimento cheese at all... not even sure it was on there.

I saw a box of foil wrappers on the back counter as I was ordering, so I asked for one of those to eat on, which worked fine. And I remembered to ask for extra napkins

I stopped here on the way home for as Tri-tip sandwich as dinner last night.

I agree with earthlydesire's take on the sandwich. I had no problem with the meat and bun being packaged separately. In fact, the nice toasted crunch on the bun would have been quickly lost if the sandwich was pre-assembled. I also appreciated being able to put the sauce on myself as I went along. It really was a good sandwich with tender, perfectly done meat. The bun was great, as I said, with a nice toasty crunch. I also had a bottle of Cheerwine, which is a really tasty Cherry pop from North Carolina made with cane sugar. I also had the cole slaw, which was fine, but didn't strike me as anything special. Good sandwich, though. I will stop by again. Nice people too.

I eat as I type--or maybe, I type as I eat.

Made it downstairs at 12:45 and for the first five minutes--count 'em--the line hardly moved. In fact, fully five people got in line behind me and left to go elsewhere. However, once the five minutes were over, things proceeded briskly. Got to the head of the line and decided to see what the Brunswick stew was like. The meats in it are (no surprise here) pulled pork, pulled chicken, tri-tip, and hot links (no squirrel or rabbit). I saw some evidence of corn and limas, but no okra and the tomatoes undoubtedly disintegrated. The stew was largely meat and while I can't object, I have to admit a few more veggies would actually have been welcome. My larger issue, though, is that this tasted like pulled pork stew, not a straightforward Brunswick stew. Given what's for sale, I guess that's not entirely surprising, but if I'd wanted pulled pork, that's what I would have gone with.

The slaw was 99% cabbage/1% radish and was mayo-ey with a healthy dose of what seemed to be black pepper (and some celery seed). Perfectly fine but, as someone wrote upthread, nothing special.

I'll be back, but there's been quite a number of new places that have opened and I expect I'll make the rounds before returning.

I am enjoying a crawfish roll on a toasted New England-style hot dog bun. Nice, but the mayonnaise dressing overwealmed the crawfish.