Fat Boy Subs/Bad Boy BBQ....sigh

This BBQ delivery restaurant recently opened in Evanston, so we thought we'd give it a try. The new owners clearly bought the Quizno's that had been there previously, fixtures and all (and possibly also their stock of chips?) and have pumped A LOT of money into decorating it; it made me ask if they were a chain, as they have that kind of sparkly-clean ambience.

We ordered a ham kid's meal for Sparky, which was a sub sandwich on a Torino hoagie roll with lettuce and tomato - nothing surprising, but he liked it. The 'spouse and I ordered the "Bad Boy Rib Basket " to share, a 1/2 slab served with 1 side and texas toast. We then ordered a "Bad Boy Pulled Pork Mini-Me" to round it out.

They have 3 sauces with names like 'booya,' 'bad boy,' etc. We got the medium-heat sauce on the ribs and regretted it - a sweet, ketchup-based sauce with almost no heat to it at all. (I can't imagine what the mild tastes like.) The ribs seemed to be steamed; they were cooked appropriately (somewhere just before falling off the bone) and had a meaty flavor, but no smoke or caramalization. My reaction - somewhere between bummer and meh. We did like the slaw quite a bit; it had red and green cabbage, carrots, and a tangy creamy sauce. The mini pulled pork sandwich (I love the idea) was on a little potato roll. The pork had been pre-cooked and was wrapped in paper something like they do at Subway, then put on the roll, sauced, and run through the Quizno's oven. We got the hot sauce on that, which was the same as the first but with visible chili flakes that almost improved it. Though I wasn't fond of the sauce, the meat was actually pretty good, considering.

Clearly these guys are out to cater to the NWU crowd, as they offer delivery, and, indeed, as we sat there, a large crowd of college students came in and ordered.

Fat Boy Subs/Bad Boy BBQ
1900C Dempster, Evanston
847-424-1275

I tried this place about a month ago and also when I walked in was thinking is this place trying to compete with subway/quiznos. I had some sort of sausage sandwich that tasted like kelbasa at about $6. It was defintealty not worth it and I will not be going back to this so called rib/sandwich shop.

Hecky's is just a couple miles down the road and offers 10x better quality bbq food than this joint.

I tried Fat Boys/Bad Boys recently and was unsure what the owners were really trying to accomplish. While I had a hard time trying to decide if I wanted a sub or BBQ, I noticed on their specials board a Buffalo Chicken Style sandwich, with a side and drink for $6. The price was right, but the sandwich consisted of thinly sliced chicken breast (could have been turkey for all I know) unwrapped in plastic and microwaved befor placing it on a round roll and run through the Quizno's toaster. The sandwich was then dressed with lettuce, tomato, hot sauce (not Buffalo tasting) and a ranch dressing that surely was some store brand.

Overall the sandwich was not what I expected, but I did like the slaw. Not sure I would go back to try the BBQ.

Yeah, it's mediocre and expensive for what is. I got a "Booya BBQ" sandwich (heh, I hated having to say that) on Texas toast. It was over $8 (no drink, no fries), and the toast was the size of normal bread. They stuffed a lot of meat into it, but there's only so much you can stuff between two slices of normal bread.

Looks like Fat Boys is no more...... sigh

The Mhays curse continues...OTOH, a prime location with a recent careful renovation is now open for an actual restaraunteur....