G Wiv wrote:
Personally, I would find such a list very interesting and will happily contribute and participate. One small point for KSeecs, the majority of wood/charcoal burning pits in the Chicagoland area are Aquarium smokers and, by design, cook direct. In other words, the fire is directly under the meat, typically around 28 plus or minus below. Strict adherence to indirect would preclude Honey 1, Uncle John's etc.

Enjoy,
Gary

Ahh the intricacies, delicacies and technicalities of BBQ.

KSeecs wrote:...
This is not to imply superior product or anything else other than that I think that places that rely solely on natural wood and charcoal are of unique interest to me, and obviously some others based on the input here and elsewhere in these forums. I appreciate everyone's interest and feedback regarding this and look forward to the task of doing some research on these places to further improve and clarify this very much work in progress of a tool.

Talk about dimplomacy.
You running for some BBQ office or something? Just kidding.

I bet the bbq folks will snicker at your diplomacy sensing an undercurrent of contempt, and the jellophiles will feel like they've won a small battle.

I won't ask you point blank what you prefer.

KSeecs wrote: I'm leaning more towards having the list encompass BBQ restaurants whose food is cooked with the presence of wood smoke.

To do this and make the list more useful to those who would like to target things more specifically I was thinking I could use an icon to denote BBQ establishments that utilize wood and charcoal exclusively. I have done so on a very limited basis just to solicit feedback in the linked update here.

KSeecs,

I think you've pretty much hit the nail on the head.

On that basis The Barbecue Pitt, Ravinia and Woodfire should be removed and Honey 1 (note that the precise name uses "1", not "One") should have a flame.

Thanks for you thoughtfullness and hard work.

Best BBQ is still there and operating on 115th street just west of I-57.

I just had the Tips and Link combo for lunch today and it was pretty darn good.

Leon's Famous Ribs
2418 N Ashland Ave, Chicago 60614
(At W Fullerton Ave)

KSeecs wrote:Ah well, this little project of mine has seemed to spark a little bit of debate and makes me wish I know had some more time to dedicate to it this week.

BBQ topic sparking debate? On lthforum? Shocking!

Closed June, 2010 wrote:Captain Porky's
39210 N Sheridan Rd
Beach Park, IL 60099
847 872-4460

Open June, 2010:
Captain Porky's - established 1984
US 41 & Wadsworth Road
38995 Route 41
Wadworth, IL
Phone: 847/360-7460
Fax: 847/360-7461
http://www.CaptainPorky.com

uses wood charcoal and apple wood.

Regards,

Santander wrote:I really have to try Fitzee's Serious Ribs when I'm in the appropriately thoughtful and sober mood.

You're a few years late but you shouldn't be too disappointed. Fitzee's closed in 2005 and the building no longer stands. I thought their barbecue was barely mediocre.

JeffB wrote:Rib Joint
432 E 87th Street
Chicago, IL 60619

The Rib Joint closed last summer. That's a shame as it was a pretty good place, not top tier but better than all but a handful of spots around here.

Binko wrote:There's another I-57 Rib house on Western: 6514 S Western Ave

There are (or were) at least seven I-57 Rib Houses: 1524 W 115th, 9709 S Halsted, 6514 S Western, 14510 S Indiana (Riverdale), 18328 S Kedzie (Homewood), 3747 W 14th (Chicago Heights), 17016 S Dixie Hwy (Hazel Crest). I don't know if all of them adhere to the ridiculous policy of "no sauce on the side" like the Homewood shop.

I have a feeling Turner's at 7624 S Halsted, also on the March 31 version of the map, may be gone too. I tried calling to check but the number has been disconnected.

This illustrates one of the problems of maintaining a list like this. Barbecue houses open and close with remarkable frequency. There's one place I've been following that has opened and closed (same name, same address) at least 4 times in 5 years. It's tough to keep up to date.

KSeecs wrote:Well hopefully Rene G can open up the encyclopedia for us!

For the last 6 or 7 years I've been compiling a list of barbecue houses on the south and west sides. Within the city limits there are over 150 entries. Before anyone gets too excited I should point out that the vast majority of these are no longer in business, so the list is mostly of historical interest. In other words, most people couldn't care less. I've toyed with the idea of cleaning it up (it's full of cryptic annotations that even I can't always decipher) but decided it's too much work. I haven't done much with the list in the last couple years but maybe this will encourage me to get back to it. So many places have gone out of business in that interval.

KSeecs wrote:I'm thinking there are a lot more places that are smoking with real wood than I think there are.

I'm quite certain you are correct about there being more wood burners than commonly believed and I encourage you to find them. It's not always as easy to determine this as you might expect. I received many unconvincing answers in phone conversations when I started putting together my list. Even when standing there looking at the pit, I've sometimes been unsure I'm getting a straight answer. I recall one conversation with an owner who assured me his pit was wood fired. When I asked about the bags of charcoal lying around, he explained that wood and charcoal are the same thing.

I might as well bring up a couple of wood burners that are rarely mentioned. Stewart's has been in business on the south side for over 30 years. I'm pretty sure their aquarium smoker is fueled with split logs. Unfortunately, on my only visit, their barbecue wasn't very good. Tips were leathery yet fatty (as if reheated) and the links were the crumbly, filler-rich variety (though nicely spicy). Stewart's may well be worth another try but clearly burning real wood doesn't always yield good barbecue. I've had much better luck at Rib Palace on the west side, another older wood-burning (I think) barbecue house. Even though it's not in the top tier of Chicago BBQ, it's a worthy place and one I've been meaning to write about. For better and for worse it embodies what I think of as Chicago-style barbecue.

KSeecs wrote: To do this and make the list more useful to those who would like to target things more specifically I was thinking I could use an icon to denote BBQ establishments that utilize wood and charcoal exclusively. I have done so on a very limited basis just to solicit feedback in the linked update here.

Finally, just to be annoying, KW Spice is Nice (on the map) has an aquarium smoker in the front of the store and a Southern Pride (or some such) out back. Both are used. What icon should it get?

Anyway, good luck with the map. One of these days I'll try to see what useful information might be buried in my lists.

Stewart's Family Affair Bar-B-Q House
1900 W 69th St
Chicago
773-436-2469

Rib Palace
5607 W Lake St
Chicago
773-379-6264

My favorite:

Carsons Ribs
612 N. Wells
Chicago, IL.


April Fools'

sorry I couldnt resist.

Great effort! I would like to give you a few adds from the far northern Lake County perspective:

Big Ed's BBQ - bigedsllc.com
2501 Martin Luther King Jr Dr, North Chicago, IL 60064 (847) 578-1901
(Aquarium smoker using Hickory wood) By far the one of best BBQ's I've had on this side of the Mason-Dixon, I know it was on the list already but I happened to know the type of smoker & wood Eddy is using.

Brother's Ribs
69 S Rand Rd, Lake Zurich, IL, (847) 540-7427
(unknown type of smoker)

Brother's Ribs - http://www.brosribs.com
758 W Euclid Ave, Palatine, IL, (847) 776-7427
(unknown type of smoker) Two locations are left; the Mundelion location (now closed) was my go-to until Big Ed's opened, nice place for decent Q.

The Full Slab - http://www.thefullslab.com
34500 N US Highway 45 # O, Third Lake, IL 60030, (847) 752-2227
(unknown Smoker, I think Southern Pride) Its BBQ but I dont think very highly of it, and it's ridiculously expensive!!

Thirsty Turtle Beach Bar & BBQ - http://thirstyturtlebbq.com
42273 N Woodbine Ave, Antioch, IL 60002, (847) 395-4704
(unknown Smoker using Hickory Wood) Very good BBQ, and a dynamite Wisconsin Door County style fish boil.

Hillery's Kenosha Bar-Bq Restaurant
7613 Sheridan Rd, Kenosha, WI 53143
(Southern Pride) I saw the other two location were already listed. I've honestly never like the low quality meats and the sauce here, but this place has been around for years and still does a good business.


Chain BBQ:

Famous Dave's Bbq
99 E Townline Rd, Vernon Hills, IL 60061
(unknown type of smoker)

Famous Dave's
9900 77th St, Pleasant Prairie, WI 53158
(unknown type of smoker)

abf005 wrote:Great effort! I would like to give you a few adds from the far northern Lake County perspective:

Big Ed's BBQ - bigedsllc.com
2501 Martin Luther King Jr Dr, North Chicago, IL 60064 (847) 578-1901
(Aquarium smoker using Hickory wood) By far the one of best BBQ's I've had on this side of the Mason-Dixon, I know it was on the list already but I happened to know the type of smoker & wood Eddy is using.

Hmm...I think a road trip may be in my future. I like the aquarium smoker, the menu is extensive, and it looks like the roots are in South Side barbecue. Looks like my kind of place.

As a map freak I applaud your work! Nicely done.

A few minor additions...

Russell's BBQ
1621 N Thatcher Ave
Elmwood Park, IL 60707
(708) 453-7065
http://www.russellsbarbecue.com‎

Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que
7201 W 25th St
North Riverside, IL 60546
(708) 447-8848
http://www.famousdaves.com‎

Panther in the Den wrote:As a map freak I applaud your work! Nicely done.

A few minor additions...‎

A few minor quibbles.

Russell's does not fit within the stated parameters as the ribs are baked in an oven, slathered with sauce then hit with high heat.

Famous Dave's which, to the best of my knowledge, uses gas powered Southern Pride cookers with an off-set wood box for smoke flavor does fit the revised parameters, but for the fact the BBQ is of the lowest common denominator commercial variety.

abf005 wrote:Great effort! I would like to give you a few adds from the far northern Lake County perspective:

Burt,

Welcome to LTH Forum. I checked out your blog and this bit caught my eye:

Around the spring of 2008, I started to notice that many of [my posts on Chowhound] were disappearing or becoming hard to find (if they could be found at all). So I began relocating as many as I could find, over to this BlogSpot, and thus started up my very own blog.

This board was founded by a group who were also disgruntled by Chowhound. I found my way here after a series of bad experiences at Chowhound as well. So you are in good company.

Thanks for the warm welcome! The disappearing posts and a few other things are only about half of the story!! But I think this place may help speed me along with my 12 step (course?) recovery process. LOL

Big Eds; I guess I'm becoming biased with having such a great place nearby now, but they also have great burgers & homemade desserts too.

As you can tell, the BBQ options here in Lake County were pretty thin until Big Ed's opened up last year. On the positive side of my BBQ suffering; it forced me to learn how to BBQ darn near like a pro!

I just wanted to thank Ksecs for this list! While it may have sparked a bit of debate, this debate is the least rancorous of most of the debates on the BBQ threads, and only seemed to be looking for a clarification of what goes on the list.

I love the idea of including only those who cook in the presence of wood smoke, and then further denoting which heat source by icon.

Now to throw another curve ball, how about places that smoke their own sausages, like Paulina Market, or fish, like Hagen's? I don't think that qualifies as BBQ, but how shall we refine the defintion to exclude these? Perhaps including a phrase like "traditional BBQ meats".

There's a newish place with an aquarium and wood that I want to say is in the 3400 block of 79th St. Not sure of the name or location, they had a posterboard sign on the median or sidewalk advertising their ribs. Stopped in, didn't get any Q, said they'd only been open a few weeks or month.

G Wiv wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:As a map freak I applaud your work! Nicely done.

A few minor additions...‎

A few minor quibbles.

Russell's does not fit within the stated parameters as the ribs are baked in an oven, slathered with sauce then hit with high heat.

I was thinking about this...

For instance, Mickey's in Oak Park does have some pretty good ribs (and I love their Riblet sandwich, real meat) but was hesitant on posting as there is no smoke.

Thanks for the clarification.

Just what I need! Another list of places to try. I can't wait.

Is it enough if the place serves bbq, even if bbq is not its primary offering? If so, I think Toons belongs on the list.

Toons Bar & Grill
3857 N Southport Ave
Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 935-1919

KSeecs,
Thank you for all the effort you are putting into this project. Now if I was only connected to the internet all the time I could always be sure of locating a BBQ joint. Being electronically deprived I will have to keep making due with the list I keep in my wallet.

bbqbyrds wrote:KSeecs,
Thank you for all the effort you are putting into this project. Now if I was only connected to the internet all the time I could always be sure of locating a BBQ joint. Being electronically deprived I will have to keep making due with the list I keep in my wallet.

I was wondering about something similar...

Can iPhones with Google Maps access collections like KSeecs and others have created.

That would be way too cool!

Hey all, I haven't been able to work on the map for a bit due to a hectic schedule and travelling for work, but I'm still planning to update and modify going forward.

As to the portability the map, it is simply a URL so if you have a browser on your phone I'm sure you could access it. I also know it is possible to view the map with Google Earth, but I do not know if that is usable on Iphone, blackberry, etc...

Of course I'd like to have all these answers and will do some research to see how I can make it most widely accessible. At this moment it is not publicly shared so only those with the URL can see it.

Rene G wrote:
Rib Palace
5607 W Lake St
Chicago
773-379-6264

I see this place from the train. Anyone ever been?

Rene G commented on the place. Possibly in the same post that you quoted them from.

seebee wrote:Rene G commented on the place. Possibly in the same post that you quoted them from.

so he did. i missed it even though i skimmed the post several times looking for it.

scottsol wrote:
To clarify, for the purposes of this map it's not barbecue without smoke and low heat. In other words- it's not the sauce, it's the cooking method.

Please don't post locations unless you are sure they use wood smoke and low heat. Please note that wood doesn't have to be the only heat source, but the smoke has to be part of the process.

I can appreciate lively barbecue discussion as much as anyone else. It's fun to go back and forth about what's the best, what's real barbeque, etc. But the criteria of "wood smoke and low heat" is far too narrow.

Using this criteria, arguably the two most popular rib joints in the entire country could not be on the LTH BBQ map.

Dreamland in Tuscaloosa uses high heat, about 400 degrees for its legendary ribs. Yes, they use hickory, but the high heat would disqualify them from being on the map.

Rendezvous in Memphis cooks slow, but they use charcoal, not wood. Hence, they would be off the map too.

So yes, it makes sense to clarify that something smothered in sauce does not mean it's barbecue, but limiting choices to only "wood smoke and low heat" is going too far.

KSeecs wrote:Has anyone on the board put together a Google map, or failing that a comprehensive (or near) list of barbecue joints in the Chicago area? I tried searching to no avail. I'm definitily thinking of putting this together myself but didn't want to duplicate anyone elses work! I'm thinking there are a lot more places that are smoking with real wood than I think there are.

KSeecs wrote: I guess I'm leaning more towards having the list encompass BBQ restaurants whose food is cooked with the presence of wood smoke.

The ultimate judge of what belongs on the list is KSeecs , not me, and at this point his only stated criterion is the presence of wood smoke. I suspect he would make exceptions as appropriate, but I think the requirements have to be narrowly constructed to avoid a slew of baked, boiled and broiled offerings. In any case , I don't think Memphis and Tuscaloosa are in the Chicago area.


I do think it would be helpful to have the list requirements posted in bold at the top of the thread as they are currently buried in the middle, and are likely to be missed by new readers.

scottsol wrote:
In any case , I don't think Memphis and Tuscaloosa are in the Chicago area.

OK, I know I'm not the brightest bulb in the drawer, but I'm not that geographically challenged where I don't know that Memphis and Tuscaloosa aren't in Chicagoland. The point is that legit, out of this world and possibly legendary barbeque by almost anyone's definition doesn't necessarily have to be cooked both slow and over wood, so the cooking method criteria for inclusion in a BBQ map should be broader than that.

I would say that KSeecs running the map so it's his call, and I would agree that low and slow with the presence of smoke is a great criteria. I for one am not interested in the zillions of other places out there that make BBQ ribs no matter how good. For me this map is perfect.

scottsol wrote:

KSeecs wrote:Has anyone on the board put together a Google map, or failing that a comprehensive (or near) list of barbecue joints in the Chicago area? I tried searching to no avail. I'm definitily thinking of putting this together myself but didn't want to duplicate anyone elses work! I'm thinking there are a lot more places that are smoking with real wood than I think there are.

KSeecs wrote: I guess I'm leaning more towards having the list encompass BBQ restaurants whose food is cooked with the presence of wood smoke.

The ultimate judge of what belongs on the list is KSeecs , not me, and at this point his only stated criterion is the presence of wood smoke. I suspect he would make exceptions as appropriate, but I think the requirements have to be narrowly constructed to avoid a slew of baked, boiled and broiled offerings. In any case , I don't think Memphis and Tuscaloosa are in the Chicago area.


I do think it would be helpful to have the list requirements posted in bold at the top of the thread as they are currently buried in the middle, and are likely to be missed by new readers.

I have an irrational aversion to emoticons so I didn't put a smilie on my geographic comment. I suspect you got the sense of it and I certainly got the sense of your comment.

Beyond that, please remember that KSeec was not looking for "good 'cue". He was looking for places that "smoke with real wood"; and since he is the one who started this and is doing all the work that is ultimately what the list/map should be about.

I also did a search for "Renezvous" on the forum and while you (abevigoda) have stated that they make your "favorite ribs of all time" most of the other comments were neutral or negative, in part because of the lack of smokiness. This doesn't mean they are not great ribs, just not ones that fall within many LTHers expectations for "barbecued" ribs.


.