Umami wrote:I have been there a few times and loved the food. I had the pleasure of meeting the owner, Eddie, who seems very down to earth and enthusiastic about his menu. I just wish that he would have some kind of fish on the menu, like smoked salmon. He has been there every visit and explained his approach to bbq. The restaurant itself has a warm feel with the historic pictures of the downtown area, which kept me occupied during the wait. Eddie mentioned that he is planning on opening the patio in the back for dining, so I am looking forward to another place to dine outside.

IMO: Fish is not natural item to put on any BBQ menu, unless your smoking the fish in-house or doing classic deep south or south side Chicago style bbq, in which case, catfish appears to be the overwhelming choice for those places.

Based on the reviews so far, this place clearly sounds like they are striving to not be either of those two styles. It seems like they are shooting for more of a Smoque concept, except with creative sauces.

Either way, as much as I want to hit them right away, I also want to give them a few more weeks to work out all the start up kinks and such. Many places experience radical changes during the first three months, and menu adjustments usually occur. I'm sure the menu pricing, quantity issues etc. may be some of those things that get fixed, that is, if they value customer feedback.

If I'm back in town from my cross country food & travel vacation by the 4th of July, I think I'll try to go then.

Guess I will have to disagree with some of you.

I tried this place and was disappointed. I had the full slab of ribs, mac-n-cheese, cole slaw, and cornbread. Based on the serving size I got, I thought this was a real good deal for $18. However, based on the taste I over paid.

The slaw was very interesting with a nice bite. I liked this initially. But as I ate more whatever spice they used to give it the bite, kind of wore on me. The cornbread was ‘blah’ and the thinnest piece I have ever seen. The mac-n-cheese was just awful. The mac was rubbery. The cheese was dry tasting and had an off flavor I didn’t care for. I didn’t see any bread crumbs on mine.

The ribs were of a nice size and seemed meaty enough. But they were over cooked. Even though the information and the server said they were served dry, I thought the meat was too dry. It had a flavor that I can only characterize as over cooked.

As mentioned they have 3 sauces: Carolina Vinegar, Apple Cider Vinegar, and Maple Chipotle. I thought the Carolina was weak and watery. The Apple one had a nice apple flavor, but didn’t seem to go with the ribs. The Maple was my favorite, although I could see it wearing on me if I used too much. I didn’t see or ask for regular BBQ sauce.

I don’t see me going back. I think the best place in the area is still Smokin T’s in Long Grove.

D.

I'm more of a reader as opposed to a writer. But I figure I need to chime in. I went out of my way to stop by today. I found the baby-backs excellent with a hearty smokey flavor. I also enjoyed my desert a pulled pork sandwich with the chipotle BBQ sauce a real treat. I know I'll be back and for all you Q lovers out there give this place a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

This forum is a godsend!!

I've been searching for decent north suburban local BBQ. I live near Evanston but work in Libertyville. I'm encouraged by what looks like a BBQ revolution in Chi-Town.

Main Street Smokehouse is a few blocks from where I work which is a real bonus! Priced a little high but the portions are good. Their sauces are very gourmet without being too sophisticated. So far I have had the brisket and pulled pork. Both were very tender and have a wonderful smoke aroma that lingers on your fingers. I was dubious about the brisket being served with a mayonnaise sauce. It turned out to be quite good but I prefer the Maple Chipotle which is their closest thing to a traditional BBQ sauce. Their baked beans have a wonderful smokey sweet flavor loaded with beans (including butter beans as posted before) and brisket. I am hard to please with mac and cheese but they pulled it off. Maybe a hair dry on top but perfectly gooey inside. I can't wait to try the ribs.

This place is clearly a north suburban answer to Smoque. Smoque offers a better value considering price alone but so far I find the food at the MSS to be superior.

ekaudio wrote:This place is clearly a north suburban answer to Smoque. Smoque offers a better value considering price alone but so far I find the food at the MSS to be superior.

Maybe I showed up at MSS smokehouse at the wrong time of day (or on the wrong day) but I thought the food was just okay and nowhere close to the quality that Smoque offers. I could tell from my brief interactions with the staff that they really care about their customers and putting out a good product. But for now, I'd categorize MSS as a work in progress with great potential.

Our ribs were a bit dry and somewhat overcooked. The meat pretty much fell off the bone with almost no prompting. There was a nice exterior crust to them but almost no moisture or juiciness to the interior meat. I felt like the garlic in the rub had been scorched, which imparted an acrid note to the ribs. Pulled pork was tender but also dry. Brisket was nicely barky but also pretty dry. All 3 meats we tried were very light on the smokiness scale and particularly with the pork and brisket, it was hard to pick up any smoke at all.

We enjoyed the sides more than the meats. Sweet potato fries were excellent, as was the explosively-flavored cole slaw. I loved the tamalito (corn pudding), too. I liked the tangy baked beans (spotted at least 3 types of beans in the mix) but thought that they paled in comparison to Smoque's. Ditto for the mac & cheese and cornbread, which were both dry and just ok. We tried 4/5 sauces and enjoyed the Alabama-style white and the maple chipotle. I didn't not love the NC-style vinegar sauce, and the apple cider ale sauce was just too cinnamony and sweet-spiced for my palate.

For dessert, we had a blueberry-peach cobbler which was more like a dry cake with fruit mixed into it than a cobbler. It was tasty enough but again, compared to Smoque's peach cobbler -- which is crispy-crumbly on top, moist throughout and aromatic -- MSS's verision was a distant second for me.

I'll definitely go back to MSS in the future but I think they have some fine-tuning to do. They seem very dedicated, so I'm guessing that they'll eventually get it ironed out. Right now, for me, the best north-suburban bbq can be found at Big Ed's BBQ in North Chicago.

=R=

I picked up dinner from MSS last Friday on my way home.
I ordered 1 Brisket Dinner, 1 full slab dinner, 1 chicken dinner and 1 order of hotlinks.
For the sides I chose Beans, Coleslaw, Mac and Cheese, Sweet potato Fries and Cornbread.
We would be eating family style and sharing with each other.
The place was a little busy but not packed. I walked in to place my order and was told it would be about 15-20 minutes as they were running behind. After about 35 minutes my order was ready.
I received 2 pieces of Choc Cake and 2 Blueberry Peach cobblers since I had to wait so long for the food.
When I got the food home and unboxed everything I noticed the Sweet potato Fries were missing and in its place an extra order of beans.

I really enjoyed the rub that is used. The brisket was delicious, chicken was good but a little dry.
The ribs were also good, perhaps a little overdone but not terribly. The hot links were terribly mild and were about a third the length of a normal size sausage. Overall there is a nice smoke flavor. I really enjoyed the sides, the Mac n Cheese was delicious as was the Cole Slaw. The beans had great flavor but some of the beans were still hard from not being soaked or not cooked all the way. Cornbread was thin, like a cookie but very flavorful. The desserts were okay at best, the cake was dry and tasted like a bad box mix. the cobbler was better than the cake but not great.

I have to agree with others here, this place has a lot of potential but is not great yet.
I will be going back again, it seems they may be inconsistent at this point.

maxpower wrote:
I have to agree with others here, this place has a lot of potential but is not great yet.

That about sums up my opinion of the place.

We were there for an early Saturday night dinner. Brisket and pulled pork were ordered, along with the beans, sweet potato fries and regular fries. "Ersatz" cornbread is a come-with on every platter.

Brisket was very tender,although lacking serious smoke flavor. It was reminiscent of a slightly-barky Passover-style brisket with a hint of smoke added for good measure--- This description pretty much sums up the pork as well. We found that combining ALL 3 sauces provided a decent accompaniment to the meats.

Sweet potato fries were addicting although beans and "cornbread" were unremarkable. It seems that they like to add maple syrup to menu items--- My abused middle-aged tastebuds detected the syrup in the beans, as well as in the loose polenta-ish cornbread.

I wish the place the best of luck, but I also agree that several things need to be tweaked.

cito wrote:This description pretty much sums up the pork as well.

Passover-style?

cilantro wrote:

cito wrote:This description pretty much sums up the pork as well.

Passover-style?

Good catch!!

I'm just like 'da mayor, you know what I mean even if I don't say it properly!

stopped by for lunch today..maybe they got past the growing pains because what i had was pretty darn good.
Had a brisket sandwich that was stuffed with plenty of brisket. Brisket had a great smoke flavor..more smoke flavor than what I would expect but not oversmoked so it was a pleasant surprise.
I like the fact that everything is served dry with sauces on the table too. Its nice not having to remember to ask for sauce on the side.
Business wise the place was hopping with a steady stream of customers. All tables were occupied the 45 min I was there with a steady order line.
Price wise I think they are a bit higher than most BBQ places..8 bucks for the sandwich which came with one side( i chose the sweet potato fries which were great) and drink was extra. Altogether it was 11 bucks but the meal was very filling . I would go again in a heartbeat.
Staff was friendly and took time out to answer questions I had about their BBQ process, etc..

The wife & I had a dine-in lunch there last Saturday. She had the chicken and I did a repeat from my 1st week take out, a half slab o'ribs. Wifey gave said chicken a definite thumbs-up. I tasted it and thought it moist & flavorful, but it's hard to screw up chicken.

We sat at the window watching the world go by (and them watching us too) & I spent extra time A/B'ing the ribs with the different sauces and vinegars, and I concluded that these are some fine bones, certainly the best up north, but that's not saying a lot given that the usual ribs up this way are fall-off-the-bone and yucky besides.

The sides have improved since my initial visit, with the sweet potato fries being very good, but the portions that come with the dinners are still tiny and are served in a little aluminum cup, making the servings appear even smaller.

Eddie Moore has done a darn good job avoiding land mines so far in this dangerous business environment, and from the walkers-by stopping in out of curiosity, I think he'll make a go of it. Brisket, chicken, ribs are all very solid. Prices are high but not totally outrageous in light of the entree quality.

I ate there today for the first time, and had the brisket sandwich. I thought it was very good, and it was interesting how they built the sandwich. They had 2 different types of meat. The first was a pile of ends and pieces, that were softer and fattier. On top of that they placed several slices of leaner beef. this made for an enjoyable combo....not too dry and lean, but not all fat. I thought that the sauces were decent, but I would have liked something with a little more spice.

-Will

A friend of my mine and I basically ordered the menu to go when we went last week. While I really liked the sides and the sauces, I thought the ribs while somewhat tasty, were definitely not very meaty like an earlier poster had written. They have a nice flavor, but had a bit too much leftover rub on them which had blackened, and were rather sparse in the meat dept. imo.

THe chicken had a nice flavor as well, although rather dry, but these are not made to order obviously, and would definitely order again.

The pork and brisket were also good, and I'm not a fan of brisket.

For comparison's sake, we also picked up Hillary's and some other place in North Chicago I believe, my friend knows the area better than I do. Hillary's is garbage IMO, and I don't get the fuss, but to each his own. I'm sure there are places which I like, that other would find as garbage.

The mystery place had decent pulled pork, and their mac and cheese was a hit with my kids. All I remember is its near a high school, not too far from Hillary's.

howiehandles wrote:For comparison's sake, we also picked up Hillary's and some other place in North Chicago I believe, my friend knows the area better than I do. Hillary's is garbage IMO, and I don't get the fuss, but to each his own. I'm sure there are places which I like, that other would find as garbage.

The mystery place had decent pulled pork, and their mac and cheese was a hit with my kids. All I remember is its near a high school, not too far from Hillary's.

I think the place you're talking about is Big Ed's Barbecue, on MLK Drive? There's another thread around here somewhere about it.

Katie wrote:I think the place you're talking about is Big Ed's Barbecue, on MLK Drive? There's another thread around here somewhere about it.

Right here, in fact

=R=

I took my son for lunch today at the Main Street Smokehouse in Libertyville.

I have been holding out on visiting since finding out that they had opened up three months ago, wanting to ensure that I didn't arrive with my critical eye before all the startup kinks had been worked out. The good news is that I didn't see any missteps or any obvious staff mistakes today.

However, what I did see today was a place that left me feeling underwhelmed overall.

Frankly I was a bit shocked by what felt like very high prices. So based on this fact, I ordered rather conservatively where had there been a reasonably priced combo platter I would have been much happier.

While I was at the order counter, I also found out that several things are not on the menu, like a 1/2 rack of ribs for example, which is what I ordered. My son being a brisket lover, ordered the brisket sandwich. each order came with a side, mine with two, his with one. I opted for the fresh, hand cut fries and the Mac & Cheese, while he picked the cornbread.

Let’s start with the meat, after all, it’s BBQ. And if you know anything about BBQ at all, then you obviously know that everything else is truly secondary to being able to properly cook meat slow and low.

The ribs were horrible! After I ordered the cook grabbed a foil wrapped pouch and plopped my 1/2 rack on the grill! Seeing the atrocity that was about to occur, I asked if the ribs were fresh and if they had any straight from the smoker. The reply I got was one that assumed I was ignorant; “these are fresh from the smoker”. I knew this was going to be a bad rib experience right there. Really, why the hell would you need to reheat ribs that were in the damn smoker to begin with?? Now I was mad that I’d been blatantly lied to.

When my order came up sure enough, sitting on a metal cookie tray were my dried out, lack of any moisture, crunchy tough jerky, shitty ribs. Good thing I didn't get a whole rack at $21!




My son’s Brisket sandwich was better than mine. Skimpy, but better. The brisket was tender, and had a mild smoke scent that didn't seem to translate into a smoky flavor. In fact, the brisket had no flavor, and was like eating a beef pot roast. There were no traces of bark or rub on any of the pieces in the sandwich, overall it was just OK.

I’ve certainly had many worse than this, and if they did a few thing different there might still be hope. Things like increasing the portion sizes and cutting the damn brisket the right way, so you get slices with bark instead of flavorless chunks.

The sides; I will always score high anyone doing fresh hand cut fries, since it takes more effort and it produces a superior taste. The Mac & cheese was good about scoring maybe a 7 out of 10, and the cornbread was just ok.

I personally had a hard time getting past the fact the they don't even offer a traditional BBQ sauce. While its nice to see a variety of homemade sauces, none of them went ideally with what we ordered, making it feel a little too Famous Dave's for for me.

I doubt I’ll ever put this place on my rotation for BBQ, and at those prices, I see myself driving 2 miles east to Big Ed’s or just cooking myself instead when I want damn good Q.

abf005 wrote:
The ribs were horrible! After I ordered the cook grabbed a foil wrapped pouch and plopped my 1/2 rack on the grill! Seeing the atrocity that was about to occur, I asked if the ribs were fresh and if they had any straight from the smoker. The reply I got was one that assumed I was ignorant; “these are fresh from the smoker”. I knew this was going to be a bad rib experience right there. Really, why the hell would you need to reheat ribs that were in the damn smoker to begin with?? Now I was mad that I’d been blatantly lied to.

When my order came up sure enough, sitting on a metal cookie tray were my dried out, lack of any moisture, crunchy tough jerky, shitty ribs. Good thing I didn't get a whole rack at $21!

thanks for taking one for the team Burt, the ribs look terrible.

as for the guy lying to you, kind of sad, but I am finding par for the course with places that arn't very good, or who take no pride in what they serve. Places like this that I know are lying(like we smoke our bb ribs for 16 hours or whatever), I let them, and let them dig their own bbq grave.

im with you, give me the time tested places, or better yet bbq off my my smoker, less of a drive, cheaper beer, and 99% of the time better bbq.

I really don't wish for any place to tank when I go to try it, in fact it's quite the opposite! If a place is really good I want to be able to sing its praises from the rooftops and do whatever I can to help get the word out that something special is going on there. More importantly, I want to become a regular fixture at a place I love to dine at.

Maybe my using the word "lie" was a bit harsh, but when someone looks me in the eye and purposely utters words that aren't completely true, I just dont know what else to call it.

Bottom line is, you are correct, it comes from a lack of pride. Maybe in this case, a lack of supervision.

All I know is, when a guy wearing a BBQ logo t-shirt walks into your BBQ joint (like me today), you should have the brains to know he just might really be into bbq'ing and its best to error on the side of providing the best possible experience you can.

BTW: I did ask for the owner after I was told the ribs were out of the smoker, but he was apparently out.

I only wish I had brought my good camera instead of having too resort to my Blackberry camera phone for those pictures.

Burt I suspect it was lack of supervison as you say. On my visit the owner was there and he took time out to talk awhile on their process etc...although i did manage to talk to a couple of the hourly workers and they seemed very passionate and educated on the food they were serving..more so than I have seen in other places
again I had brisket there and thought it was good..very smoky and moist..nice mix of flat with bark and point
they do a mix of chopped or pulled point along with some thick slices instead of how most do it in the area where its sliced thin like deli meat
That pic of the brisket you have I see bark on some pieces which you said the brisket lacked or maybe its just the pic as that portion of the pic is out of focus a bit.
I agree the ribs dont look good in the pic but didnt try the ribs during my visit so will reserve judgement on that until i actually try them.

BTW if i wear my 'Kiss Me Im Greek" shirt in Opa does that guarentee that I will be served some top notch Greek food?

We tried it for dinner on a Saturday night last week. The only thing that was any good was the corn pudding. I had the pulled pork platter. Almost half of the pork was fat. I gave up and thought for this kind of money I'm complaining. They gave me a new portion which was lean but had absolutely no smokey taste or any taste at all for that matter. My husband had the ribs which were has bad as mentioned above. The place was crowded and there was a constant turn over of tables, however, no one cleaned the tables or washed them down. We'll drive into Chicago to Smoque next time we want bar-b-que.

Maybe this belongs in its own thread, but I got an email from Bluegrass (in HP) today, and this caught my eye:

Only Real Pit Smoked Ribs
& Pulled Pork on the North Shore
(who else is smoking)

Katie wrote:Maybe this belongs in its own thread, but I got an email from Bluegrass (in HP) today, and this caught my eye:

Only Real Pit Smoked Ribs
& Pulled Pork on the North Shore
(who else is smoking)

They are definitely smoking over there at Bluegrass. A few weeks back, I ordered their ribs and they were decent, respectable. I thought they were a bit dried out on the exterior but they had good smoke and were meaty. They also honored my 'sauce on the side' request, which was nice.

=R=

My first few visits I was really impressed with their sides, pulled pork and brisket. Good portions, tender but with good bark bits, and wonderful smoke flavor.

Eventually I got around to trying their ribs and found them to be dried out and burned as others have noted. Too bad because the flavor of the rub is great. Most disappointing is that I had a couple of experiences in a row with the brisket and the pulled pork that looked like ABF005's brisket sandwich picture. Almost like the slimy meat had been reheated in a steamer. The bun seemed barely thawed from the freezer.

Things are looking up though, good brisket again a couple of weeks ago.

They had a pork taco on special there last week that might have been the best taco I have ever had and I have had quite a few. It was simple with their good pulled pork on a corn tortilla with mexican cole slaw (cabbage, red onion jalepeno bits, cilantro, tomato, etc...) and a delicious sauce. It was great on its own but drizzled with a little of their maple chipotle bbq sauce made it heaven.

Definitely pulling for this place tighten up and stick around.

abf005 wrote:
When my order came up sure enough, sitting on a metal cookie tray were my dried out, lack of any moisture, crunchy tough jerky, shitty ribs. Good thing I didn't get a whole rack at $21!

Last time and the only time I was there the full slab was $18. It was the only reasonably placed item on the entire menu.

We got up to Libertyville to try Main Street Smokehouse tonight and was pretty disappointed with the experience. When I hear "smokehouse" I don't picture a space that might've been a Quizno's in a recent life.

That would've been no biggie if the food was something special. I wish it had been, but it wasn't. We were psyched for ribs, but when we got there, a ballpoint-penned sign taped to the register said they were out, so we tried the brisket and pulled pork. Brisket was very tender, although definitely wrapped in foil for sometime, as it had that really squishy texture it gets from that. Pork was dried out and too lean, with only long, stringy strands of the whiter meat...none of the darker, really succulent pieces. Both had no seasoning and were very bland, even after we applied a couple of the little paper packets they provided.

We ate our food there, but it's really not an atmosphere conducive to dining in, even though they do sell beer and (I believe) are also BYOB. They close at 8pm and so, after getting there at around 7:40 or so, we were the only ones left and they were cleaning up. Also, they just kind of plopped the meat down on a piece of wax paper on an aluminum quarter-sheet pan. I like the rustic look of using that as a tray, but I don't really enjoy eating off of aluminum, although the plastic silverware wasn't as bad on the tray as metal would be.

Sides were marginal, except for the really excellent corn pudding (tamalito). Decent fresh-cut fries, ok slaw, and beans that seemed likely to be out of a can, doctored up with a little barbecue sauce.

Their sauces were interesting, they had three different ones, but really they couldn't make up for the sub-par meat and the really non-smokehouse-feeling atmosphere of the place. I also didn't smell any smoke or taste any on the meat. Overall....I'm sad to say, we didn't think it was very good and won't be back.

anonymousey wrote: Ribs aren't fall off the bone, they're smoked for I think like fourteen hours so they have tons of flavor.

No comments on the ribs being smoked for 14 hours? Is this a true smoke time?
Any recent visits on this place?

14 hrs. for ribs ? you would think they would be fall of the bone( not what i want) i will wait to make the drive

Unfortunately, the ribs I had at MSS were dry and very hard, so maybe they were cooked for 14 hours.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Unfortunately, the ribs I had at MSS were dry and very hard, so maybe they were cooked for 14 hours.

=R=

sounds like the ribs I ate from the last place I had "14 hour ribs" at(a place in Joliet).

I think that can be the risk, and downfalls of the hourly employee @ some bbq establishments, they either dont know what they are doing, or what they are talking about.

I think a bbq restaurant is one of the toughest styles of restaurant to do right because of the time involved in preparing the product, and how items can suffer from being held incorrectly. Sure their are places that make $$ by turning out substandard bbq, but the places that do it right are rare.

With a restaurant management, and cooking background I have often thought about opening my own bbq place, but quickly talk myself out of it.

Hello everyone, My name is Eddie and I am the Chef/Owner of Main Street Smokehouse. I was told by a couple of my regulars about the 14 hour rumors and being familiar with LTH and how knowledgeable the members are I had to log in and set the record straight. Our ribs are smoked just over 3.5 hours. We use Hickory and Dwarf Applewood limbs. We use a pretty basic rub on them and sell them wet or dry for 18 plus 2 sides and 10 for the half with 2 sides.
The smokehouse has come a long way in the last several months and we are constantly working to improve our craft. I am so passionate about what I do and am always anxious to learn more about what it is that I love to do. I recently took a trip to KC to have some real spare ribs and was blown away. I will be working hard to get those perfected and on the menu soon.
I dont feel its necessary, now that I ve opened the door, to address all comments but the 14 hour thing was crazy and had to bite that in the ass before it kept me up at night.
To all my fellow foodies, have a wonderful holiday season and keep cooking!