Hi,

I am now a +1 --- Cathy1!

Hi,

Uncle John's, Richton Park, Illinois


Hot links by cal222, on Flickr


Rib tips by cal222, on Flickr


Twisted Q, Homewood, Illinois


Burnt ends chili by cal222, on Flickr


Brisket by cal222, on Flickr


Brisket close up by cal222, on Flickr


Pulled pork by cal222, on Flickr


St. Louis ribs by cal222, on Flickr


St. Louis rib detail by cal222, on Flickr


Exsenator's, Markham, Illinois


Hot links by cal222, on Flickr


Rib tips by cal222, on Flickr


GlennPann arranges our meal on sdritz's car by cal222, on Flickr

I have multiple containers of BBQ sauce as a souvenir of today.

Head tax per person was $15 for a party of six.

Thanks for a lovely day!

Regards,

It was a wonderful day. From my point of view, Uncle John's was the most impressive of the three - the only one that I would drive to the South Suburbs to try again (although of course I could go to South Chicago's Uncle Johns - the two restaurants share a connection with Mack and Gary as pitmasters (father and son, I believe).

The tips were nicely meaty and pleasantly smoky, and the links had a nice mix of spices and heat with not unbalanced flavor.

I am sure that the residents of Homewood are pleased to have Twisted Q. It is a clean, bright neighborhood restaurant with friendly staff (no bulletproof glass). The rub on the ribs was very enjoyable, and, for me, was the highlight of the meal. The chili with burnt ends was notable as well. The other brisket, pulled pork, and sides were ok, but lacked distinctiveness. The restaurant succeeds in what it does, but won't be a BBQ mecca.

Exsenator in Markham is the classic BBQ take-out, complete with bullet-proof glass. The tips were fine, but the links had too much sage for my taste. The barbeque was enjoyable, but didn't match Uncle John's.

Still, it was fun exploring the wilds of the South Suburbs.

Thank you, Glennpan for arranging this caravan-thon.

GAF wrote:the links had too much sage for my taste.

I feel the same way about Uncle John's links. The sage it overpowering to me, reminding me more of a breakfast sausage in need of maple syrup.

It really was a wonderful day -- we were a small group, but the company was terrific and the barbeque was delicious.

My husband and I agreed that Uncle John's was the star of the show yesterday -- the rib tips were fresh off the smoker and were perfect -- moist, smokey and delicious. We have been there two or three times in the past, but this was the best food I've tasted from this location and we will definitely be back for more. I liked the links. You can definitely see the spices in each piece of sausage. I'm not a big fan of sage in general, and still enjoyed the hot links very much.

Twisted Q is new -- I think they have a lot of potential, but agree with GAF that it's not a barbeque mecca. They are, however, a great addition to the Homewood restaurant scene, and I'm happy to have them in the neighborhood. My family really enjoys their food and will continue to go there, probably more often than we should. The owner is still tweaking some of his recipes, adding new things to the menu, and clearly loves what he is doing. I think it can only get better. We did order a piece of Oreo pie before we left, and it did not disappoint. I also think his sides are excellent -- I love the corn pudding, the mac and cheese, and the hand-cut fries were exceptionally good.

Exsenator's was also very good, but having already had the tips and links from Uncle John's earlier in the day, I'd have to say that the tips from Uncle John's were meatier and tastier. I did like the snap to the hot links from Exsenator's and thought they were good. Fries were nothing special.

All in all, it was a really nice day with excellent company and good food.

Suzy

Thanks to Cathy2 and Sdritz for helping with the planning, as well as Cathy1, GAF, and Mr. Sdritz for the wonderful company yesterday afternnoon. Hopefully, we can do some more of these next year.

As for the 3 places, for the BBQ itself, UJs really shined, the tips were smoky, moist and tender. The links were outstanding too. We also tried the peach cobbler there which was a pleasant surprise with a nice amount of cinnamon.

The highlight of twisted Q to me was the sides. The St Louis style rib I tried had a nice sweet and spicy rub, but was a little overdone. The smoke flavor of the different items was understated (by design, as the owner explained). As they have only been open a couple of weeks it will be interesting to see how they evolve over the next few months. The sides were terrific, the fries were top notch, I really liked the corn pudding as well.

Exsenators was good, the tips were very good. The links didn't have the great flavor profile of UJs, and I believe went for a swim in the deep fryer as they were overly crisp.

Thanks again to everyone that came out.

Thanks for sharing the reports and photos. This outing sounded like an excellent idea. Alas, there were too many fun things going on this past weekend, but I'm glad you all made it happen.

I really appreciate the review and photos. Thanks!

Nice....anyone try any of the smoked chicken offerings?