Jimmie-G's Bar-B-Que (rant warning)

Let me preface my rant with a mini-rant.
The reason that I know that LTH even exists is because of barbecue. We used to go to a place called N.N. Smokehouse which was on Irving just east of Ashland. They closed and then opened a new place called Brudder's BBQ on Harlem at Grace. This place was really good. Nicely smoked meat where you got a nice big portion and the price was reasonable. They even had a buffet on Sundays. Imagine an endless set of trays of yummy meat!! They went out of business and we never found a place like it. So I found LTH when I was searching the internet to see if the owners possibly opened a new place......no luck.


Fast forward to last week. I was at Mom's house and she shows me this menu that was in the Tribune for Jimmie-G's which is located in the same space as Brudder's. We were excited. On the back of the menu is the story of Jimmie Gaston. He grew up in Mississippi and for generations his family has been cooking their meats in an underground pit over low smoke for at least 15 hours. He claims to have the best BBQ in Chicago.

Here is what we ordered and their descriptions.

Brisket-"A genuine brisket lover's paradise as our brisket is smoked for hours and hours over hickory wood. Hand sliced or chopped served with BBQ sauce." We ordered a small for 7.95

Pulled Pork - "Our pork shoulder is slowly smoked for 12 hours until fork-tender, pulled and served with Jimmie G's finger lickin' BBQ sauce." We ordered a small for 5.96

We also ordered a mini rib tips for 5.75

My husband dropped me off and I went in for carryout. I was greeted by two nice older men who said someone would help my soon. A harried looking waitress came out and took my order. Since there is no mention of sides I figured we would just get meat with some white bread. She didn't ask me if I wanted the brisket sliced or chopped.
As I waited 2 more people came out for takeout. All of us were trying it for the first time. So we waited...and waited. The waitress was upset and cranking at the other employees. I assume they worked there but they were just sitting at the bar. After 30 minutes my order was ready. The waitress apologized and muttered that if they didn't get their act together they would never last.

Honestly, none of that bothered me because if the BBQ is good the rest would not matter. It took us about 10 minutes to get home. The tips came with 6 tips, a small dinner roll and about 8 steak fries. No meat was smoked. the tips were flavorless except for the sauce which was decent. The brisket was one thick slice which was had a huge chunk of fat on it. So big that it needed to be cut off. It was on an enormous bun. 2:1 ratio. It came with steak fries. It fell apart and had no flavor. The pulled pork was the worst. The portion was ok, but I swear it was boiled pork. Even pork cooked in a regular oven has a pork flavor! This had no taste. There was no way that anything was smoked. The fries were the best part. That is scary for a BBQ place.

We were really disappointed. I just wanted to warn people. The issues with the staff and the wait I can write off to it just opening, but to go on and on about how long you smoke stuff is wrong....unless you really do it.

Just to be sure that my husband and I weren't crazy, by coincidence, my parents went there later that night and they had the exact complaints that we did.

Has anyone else been?

Jimmie-G's Bar-B-Que
3809-11 N. Harlem Ave.
773-685-7447

JeanneBean wrote:
Has anyone else been?

Not bloody likely now!

I'll give it a try next time I'm at Da Riv.

JeanneBean wrote:We used to go to a place called N.N. Smokehouse which was on Irving just east of Ashland. They closed and then opened a new place called Brudder's BBQ on Harlen at Grace. This place was really good. Nicely smoked meat where you got a nice big portion and the price was reasonable. They even had a buffet on Sundays. Imagine an endless set of trays of yummy meat!! They went out of business and we never found a place like it.

I used to go to NN . I liked their pulled pork sandwich and the homemade desserts. I wonder why they kept opening successful places and then closing them?

I don't know why they closed N.N., but I bet Brudders went under because they didn't charge enough and they gave too much meat. I didn't complain, but it was probably bad for business!

Reportedly, Larry Tucker of N.N. was pushed out of his space by his landlord, who took it over and ran Smoke Country House for a few years. In between there, he also had LT's Grill.