Q BBQ - LaGrange, IL

Q BBQ, a new BBQ joint opened up in downtown LaGrange last month. The brisket I had was moist and tender, but hardly any smoke flavor at all.

Q BBQ
70 S LaGrange Road
LaGrange, IL 60525
708.482.8700
Q-BBQ.com

A buddy of mine picked up a carry out order from Q and we did a thorough sampling. The brisket was indeed moist and tender and didn't have a heavy smoke flavor. On the other hand there was a distinct smoke ring indicating that it had spent significant time in the smoker. Also, I think most 'Que folks agree that brisket doesn't play well with a lot of smoke. Unlike pork, which loves smoke, brisket tends to get rather bitter if there is too much smoke.

The pulled pork was also moist and tender with slightly more smoke flavor. Unfortunately, we ate the pork several hours after the initial purchase which probably effected the texture in a negative way. Yeah it was tender, but that's all it was; no bark, no contrast of inside and outside meat textures. Still, good porky flavor even after it had been reheated in the nuker.

For our third meat we tried the Texas sausage and were very happy with it. The links had a great snap, good fat content, and a nice little bite of heat at the end of the first chomp. It's been a while since I've tasted Smoque's sausage, so making a comparison is tough. The comparison isn't really necessary though, Q's sausage stands on its own merits.

Sides were good, but not nearly as notable as Smoque's offerings. The most obvious difference was in the mac & cheese. It sorta, kinda looked the same as Smoque's m&c; served in a foil ramiken, nice looking crust on top, but it was much drier and not nearly as cheesy or flavorful as Smoque's. Q's slaw is a mayo recipe as opposed to Smoque's vinegar style. The cabbage is finely chopped, more like a southern style slaw, albeit without the mustard. Pretty good but nuthin' special. Beans were good. Nice flavor, healthy dose of meat mixed in with the beans, probably a doctored, good commercial canned bean; the best of the sides we had. Lastly were the hush puppies. These were okay but certainly not the best I've had. Good accents of whole kernel corn in the batter and a slight onion overtone. They also offer a fresh cut French fry which we did not sample.

Q offers four different sauces. What they call a "Memphis Sweet" was way too sweet and syrupy for my tastes. I'm not even sure this accurately reflects the typical Memphis sauce. We were just in Memphis and lunched at Payne's BBQ. The sauce there, although a red sauce, was much more vinegary and far less sticky sweet than Q's version. They also have a Texas Spicy sauce that, while not all that spicy, tasted better and was more like the sauce we had in Memphis. They also have a North Carolina vinegar based sauce, and a South Carolina mustard sauce. Of the four, these two were my favorites. The vinegar sauce was not 100% traditional if you're expecting an eastern North Carolina sauce. It was redder and sweeter than anything served in that part of the state. The South Carolina mustard sauce was probably the closest to traditional versions offered there. Not too sweet, good mustardy tang.

All in all, I'd say if you're in the area, Q is worth checking out. If you're a habitual North Sider, you're better off sticking with Smoque or Honey 1.

Buddy

Payne's Bar-B-Que
1762 Lamar Ave
Memphis, TN
(901) 272-1523

We chose Q BBQ in La Grange to cater our 50th LTHS Reunion last month.
The group of twenty at our home offered accolades about the fantastic
pulled pork, ribs and baked beans. Everyone sampled each of the three
barbeque sauces and gave their approval. Visitors from CA, TX, VA, NM,
IN and IL told us that the Q BBQ food was the best part of the Reunion
weekend ... except for seeing old friends, of course. We highly recommend
Q BBQ in La Grange, whether for one meal ... or twenty.

on my list to try. we'll see if mr. green can smile after we eat

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:A buddy of mine picked up a carry out order from Q and we did a thorough sampling. The brisket was indeed moist and tender and didn't have a heavy smoke flavor. On the other hand there was a distinct smoke ring indicating that it had spent significant time in the smoker. Also, I think most 'Que folks agree that brisket doesn't play well with a lot of smoke. Unlike pork, which loves smoke, brisket tends to get rather bitter if there is too much smoke.

The pulled pork was also moist and tender with slightly more smoke flavor. Unfortunately, we ate the pork several hours after the initial purchase which probably effected the texture in a negative way. Yeah it was tender, but that's all it was; no bark, no contrast of inside and outside meat textures. Still, good porky flavor even after it had been reheated in the nuker.

For our third meat we tried the Texas sausage and were very happy with it. The links had a great snap, good fat content, and a nice little bite of heat at the end of the first chomp. It's been a while since I've tasted Smoque's sausage, so making a comparison is tough. The comparison isn't really necessary though, Q's sausage stands on its own merits.

Sides were good, but not nearly as notable as Smoque's offerings. The most obvious difference was in the mac & cheese. It sorta, kinda looked the same as Smoque's m&c; served in a foil ramiken, nice looking crust on top, but it was much drier and not nearly as cheesy or flavorful as Smoque's. Q's slaw is a mayo recipe as opposed to Smoque's vinegar style. The cabbage is finely chopped, more like a southern style slaw, albeit without the mustard. Pretty good but nuthin' special. Beans were good. Nice flavor, healthy dose of meat mixed in with the beans, probably a doctored, good commercial canned bean; the best of the sides we had. Lastly were the hush puppies. These were okay but certainly not the best I've had. Good accents of whole kernel corn in the batter and a slight onion overtone. They also offer a fresh cut French fry which we did not sample.

Q offers four different sauces. What they call a "Memphis Sweet" was way too sweet and syrupy for my tastes. I'm not even sure this accurately reflects the typical Memphis sauce. We were just in Memphis and lunched at Payne's BBQ. The sauce there, although a red sauce, was much more vinegary and far less sticky sweet than Q's version. They also have a Texas Spicy sauce that, while not all that spicy, tasted better and was more like the sauce we had in Memphis. They also have a North Carolina vinegar based sauce, and a South Carolina mustard sauce. Of the four, these two were my favorites. The vinegar sauce was not 100% traditional if you're expecting an eastern North Carolina sauce. It was redder and sweeter than anything served in that part of the state. The South Carolina mustard sauce was probably the closest to traditional versions offered there. Not too sweet, good mustardy tang.

All in all, I'd say if you're in the area, Q is worth checking out. If you're a habitual North Sider, you're better off sticking with Smoque or Honey 1.

Buddy

Payne's Bar-B-Que
1762 Lamar Ave
Memphis, TN
(901) 272-1523

hey buddyroadhouse do you know what type of cooker?

philw wrote: hey buddyroadhouse do you know what type of cooker?

A cabinet smoker, couldn't see the brand from my angle (kitchen was busy, cashier didn't know if it was a Southern Pride or not), using applewood and hickory. Full review and pics coming shortly.

Santander wrote:

philw wrote: hey buddyroadhouse do you know what type of cooker?

A cabinet smoker, couldn't see the brand from my angle (kitchen was busy, cashier didn't know if it was a Southern Pride or not), using applewood and hickory. Full review and pics coming shortly.

Are you asking about the smoker at "Q" or at Payne's in Memphis? It doesn't really matter, because I don't know the complete answer for either one. I can tell you that the smoker at Payne's appears to be one of those old time custom built, in the wall smokers comparable to the ones at Arthur Bryant's and LC's in Kansas City.

As for "Q", I was the recipient of take out that somebody else picked up, so I have never actually visited the place, only eaten their product.

Wish I could be more helpful.

Buddy

Tasty.



That certain "Caribou Coffee esthetic."



Real wood, sugar, molasses, and vinegar to show you what's going into the smoker and sauces, and they have booze. Lots of booze. Very handy.



Sliced brisket with decent bark, lovely fresh corn "q-puppies," very snappy Texas links, nice (though restrained on the rub) pulled pork, above average baked beans and mac.

I like this operation. Atmosphere is very cheery, manifestos on smoking and drinking wine with barbecue posted, decent prices, good portions, reasonable bark from a cabinet smoker, links clearly a standout. The sauces are clearly experimental and taste totally non-commercial. The Memphis sweet doesn't work at all (it's like melted candy), but the vinegar and mustard sauces are really nice. I forgot to order this platter without sauce, and admired that it came virtually unsauced anyway.

Neither the brisket nor the pulled pork were slumping into submission the way homemade 'cue can (or the way you can find them at Smoque on a really good day), but put up a healthy fight and tasted quite meaty and good, not dry. There were some good burnt bits in both, and I thought the rub was understated, as was the smoke. Again, with decent meat and seasoning level this was fine with me. The beans were chock full of the pulled pork as at Honky Tonk, and also had a lot of chopped shallot or very finely diced Vidalia onion. The mac and cheese was actually the most to my taste of any I've had at barbecue places in Chicago, not oily or cloying in the slightest, light and fluffy pasta with a hint of cream and a scorched cracker (Cheez-its? Goldfish? I couldn't quite tell) crust.

This was miles better than Chuck's, Uncle Bub's, and Famous Dave's (I actually like the latter, corporate though it may be). I find Smoque enjoyable but variable, and they somehow get more of the collagen out and keep more of the rendered fat on the meat than what I had at Q, making for a more elemental carnivorous experience; Smoque fans will probably not need to make the trek out. This is most comparable to Honky Tonk or Smoke Daddy (when they're on) and, as such, a welcome option to have within striking distance. Don't expect the oak perfume or higher bark potential of a good aquarium or pit, and you should be quite pleased. The value-oriented wine selections are a big plus and could be a unique draw.

I'm looking forward to trying this one soon.
Here's their web site link

http://www.q-bbq.com

I had the brisket sandwich to go. Wanted fries but they were out (how can you run out of fries?) so went with the mac & cheese. Meat-to-bread ratio was way off on the sandwich and the bread was dry and flavorless. Meat was OK but no smoke flavor or ring. Loved the Cheez-its on the mac.

They do have split logs on a bookshelf in front of the shop but I could not smell any smoke. Logs on a bookshelf give it the same sort of authenticity that fake newspaper on the tables would.

Texas Messes with Everyone

The seven partners at Q BBQ (70 S. La Grange Rd., La Grange; 708-482-8700), a modern 66-seat quick-service restaurant dedicated to Texas-style barbecue, argued about barbecue for years before opening in September. “I would say that I’m the most obnoxious of the partners being that I’m a Texan,” says Trey Morris. “I’ve been in Chicago eight years and have been searching for quality Texas barbecue.” The result of their debates? Brisket, ribs, and pulled pork smoked for 15 hours on an Old Hickory smoker; a democratic array of sauces—Carolina vinegar, Memphis sweet, Texas spicy, and South Carolina mustard—hand-cut fries, Hamm’s Beer in a can. “One of the places we really like is Smoque,” says Morris. “They do a great job in the city, and we needed something in the suburbs. Their barbecue is very good. Ours is as good if not better.” Even in Illinois, them’s fightin’ words, Trey.

source: http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Dish/No ... y-Italian/

The brisket and the pork (at least what I sampled) are not better than Smoque's best day. The sausage, to my taste, is, but I know I'm an outlier there. Sides are roughly equivalent, some sauces worse, some sauces much craftier, but as you'll see in my pictures above, they're clearly going for a Smoque-like presentation. The Hamm's cans and cheap winelist rock. There's the confirmation on the smoker setup as well - an Old Hickory, tall and shiny. To me, Smoque did start something special, and this is the first place I've seen carefully emulating it. I'll take Mack's offerings any day over this style, but it is its own animal now and worthy of merit and enjoyment.

Tried Q BBQ for the first time on Sunday night. Excellent BBQ for the western suburbs! I had the Brisket sandwich which very good. I'm a big fan of their pretzel bun and mound of coleslaw on top. It probably wasn't as good as Smoque but damn close. I actually like Q's bun better and I love slaw on a BBQ sandwich. We did take out so the fries did not hold up; but they looked like they would be excellent fresh out of the hopper. The hush puppies and beans were very good. The beans are similar to Smoque's. Overall, I think we owe a debt of gratitude to Smoque and Honey1 to raising the bar of what is considered good Q in Chicago. While Q BBQ is not quite on that level, it is knocking on the door; and for that I am thankful because it is a 10 minute drive versus a 55 minute drive.

Nothing to brag about.The brisket tasted like pot roast with barbque sauce.The chicken wings have no flavor at all although they were meaty.
If you notice the prior posts,the concensus is that the rubs are too understated.
I won't be back.

I find it interesting that Honey One is praised for "raising the bar" while Q BBQ is criticized that "rubs are too understated."

Honey One doesn't use rubs, just salt and pepper!

fixin' to give this place a try today for lunch around 12ish, if anyone is in the area for a quick lunch here drop me a line.

MLS wrote:I find it interesting that Honey One is praised for "raising the bar" while Q BBQ is criticized that "rubs are too understated."

Honey One doesn't use rubs, just salt and pepper!

I haven't tried Q BBQ as of yet, but Honey 1 ~raises the bar~ due to the quality of its BBQ, not the type of rub they use. Also, to the best of my knowledge, H1 uses a simple commercial product as a rub, really more of a sprinkle, not salt and pepper.

jimswside wrote:fixin' to give this place a try today for lunch around 12ish, if anyone is in the area for a quick lunch here drop me a line.

Cool take sum pics and let us know how it goes.

Cbot wrote:
Cool take sum pics and let us know how it goes.

unfortunately I dont have my camera with me, but I will post my thoughts for sure.

Probably going for the pulled pork sandwich, mac-n-cheese side, and an extra side of slaw to put on top of my sandwich(they offer a q'd up version of the sandwich with slaw,& gouda on top, and a toasted roll, but I am not interested in those things).

Trying their pulled pork will give me an good idea of what they are doing.

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:Are you asking about the smoker at "Q" or at Payne's in Memphis? It doesn't really matter, because I don't know the complete answer for either one. I can tell you that the smoker at Payne's appears to be one of those old time custom built, in the wall smokers comparable to the ones at Arthur Bryant's and LC's in Kansas City.

I have a picture lying around somewhere of Payne's set-up. Actually, looking online, I found a picture where you can see it here. Interestingly enough, like at Cozy Corner, they use hardwood charcoal only in the fire, no fresh wood.

Too funny-I've got almost the same picture, although in mine, Mrs. Payne has her back to the camera as she tends to the contents of the smoker. I've also got a nice shot or two of her and her son prepping sandwiches in their tiny kitchen area. Also have some really good shots of their sandwiches; moist, smokey meat, topped off with that mind boggling mustard slaw (a bright yellow that is the 'Que equivalent both in intensity of color and sweetness to a Chicago Style Hot Dog's neon green relish) and a splash of their sauce running ever so elegantly down the side of the piled high pulled pork.

Excuse me, I'm getting a little misty eyed here...

Buddy

just got back from lunch at Q-bbq ( with jim) & i enjoyed this place . had 2 meat combo ribs & hot links, beans & slaw . ribs where great ( next time i will get sauce on side of ribs ) i would go back. talked with michael there & says they use a ole hickory cooker. service was great also

I agree with Philw, nice place, good service, bb ribs were nice, meaty, juicy, bold smoke ring, and the perfect ammount of tug. For my taste ghe bb's could have used a little something in the rub for some heat or bite(cayenne, etc). But nice BB ribs. Also tried a bite of the sausage, more of a polish, or kilbasa vs a hot link, but pretty good.

The pulled pork was just ok, I had the sandwich, and it was a good portion, but the meat was dry. It had a nice smoke ring, and some decent flavor, but the dryness matched with the roll choice(really didnt like the pretzel roll) had me eating the pulled pork out of its sandwich form after a little less than halfway through the sandwich.

Sides were ok, beans were a little "saucy" for me, and the mac-n-cheese was ok, I would prefer no crumbled up cheese-its, and just bake some additional cheese on top for the crust. The q-puppies were pretty good.

Tried a couple of the sauces on the table(the 2 carolina sauces), and they were ok. I am not much of a sauce guy.

Overall a place I will probably return to and I would like to try the brisket next time.

A good lunch value for under $9 I got a can of Coke, the sandwich that came with a side of mac-n-cheese, and the q-puppies, I also added small sides of beans, and slaw. Phil was nice enough to share a taste of his ribs and sausage.

Went for dinner last night and was mostly dissappointed. Brisket was dry (almost crumbly) with little smoke flavor. The sides; mac-n-cheese and slaw were a step above "food service" quality. The sauces were completely forgetable. The only items of interest were the Texas Sausage (very good) and Q-Puppies. I found the devotion to cheap beer and wine to be irksome as the wines are really crap, grocery store stuff. Why not serve good quality, inexpensive wine with BBQ? There's plenty of great Cotes-du-Rhone and the like out there. As a side note, at 7 PM the place was full of screaming brats (not my scene). I think I'll stick to Uncle Bub's in Wesmont or my own backyard pit for decent BBQ in the Western Burbs.

had 3 bones of ribs left from lunch thur. so for lunch today i added some of roadhouse southern sunset sauce(thanks buddy) cracked a bottle of jarritos(mandarina)mexican soda. great lunch ,ribs tasted great even heating them up

Glad you enjoyed it. The way that sentence was going, I thought you were going to say that you mixed the sauce with the Jaritos. Actually, that might not be bad depending on what flavor you used. I've experimented with tamarind as an ingredient, so what the heck. A splash of Jaritos tamarindo mixed with any one of our sauces might make a pretty good marinade or glaze.

Buddy

Stopped in last night to check the Q out. We had a full slab, order of the Memphis chicken wings and a three meat combo plate of brisket, pulled pork and smoked sausage. All meats were ordered NO sauce.
Lets start with the ribs, they were decent but way to soft. When cutting them up the meat would fall off the bones. Was NOT meat jello just too soft, I did notice heavy fat in pockets of the ribs that I found myself trimming. Maybe this was part of the problem?
The rib meat tasted good but the smoke to it was weak.
Smoked sausage was ok, decent heat and pop to em but just ok.
Pulled pork was good nice flavor and smoke to it. Nice fat chunks to!
Brisket was the big loser for the night, decent smoke and flavor to it but dry and not tender at all! Kids did not even want to try it and asked....whats THAT daddy? LOL! Maybe got a dry end cut?
Memphis wings were really good, we all had one and liked them a lot. My little dude ordered these and he took them down with some sweet sauce. And he ate them all and was drinking the sauce out of the cup when he was done.
Sides we had were good, fries done great and the beans were tasty. The Q puppies were a nice touch.
I tried all of the sauces and liked the spicy and the mustard sauce. Mustard sauce and BBQ I was thinking…hummmm...but it went well on the ribs and the pulled pork. The portions were good and service was great. They were busy from the time we got there till we left. Steady stream of people with a lot of take outs.
Overall the crew liked the ribs, chicken and the four sauces were a great touch and fun to dip different meats into them. Would go back sometime for another round.

I really wanted to like this place. I've said for a long time that the La Grange/Western Springs/Hinsdale area needed a great BBQ place. I went one night and they were closed, but kind enough to let me in to view the menu and look at the smoker (which btw, is not a Southern Pride), then I came back the next night. Closed. So I made a third run at it--tenacious, huh? This time I ordered about everything. Full slab of ribs, Order of Pulled pork, order of brisket, sausage, too. I was uniformly disappointed. I'd post up all the reasons, but my fingers would hurt. I realized after the first bites that I was again going to be driving up to Smoque for my Q. Rats!

There were tell-tales, among the most egregious of them were the industrial "Janitor in a drum" cans... cans... of prepared BBQ sauce in all the various flavors that have been recounted in other posts. Wouldn't you think that if you were opening up a BBQ place that you'd have at least one signature sauce that wasn't out of a drum? Borrrrring, bad packaging, bad delivery system for the customer to get the bad sauce. Yikes.

So put me down for an hour round trip to the leader in the clubhouse: Smoque. I really wanted this to be good, too.

I have eaten at Q's a couple times now. I live in La Grange and walk by it often on the way home from the train. The weird thing is I never smell strong wood smoke?!?
Occassionally I will get a small wiff of smoke but not much. In comparison the new Indian rest. in La Grange, i get a strong smell of curries and Indian food when I walk by.
Anyway I was too disappointed by the brisket. The ribs were ok to good. I will eat there again but I would not make a special trip out. Ok for locals and I liked it better than Uncle Bubs in Westmont or Patio in comparison. but I like my BBQ with real strong smoke flavor. Q is a little weak on the smoke for me.

I’m no bbq expert but I know what I like and I like Q. This place kind of is like the chipotle-zation panera-zation of bbq in terms of food and atmosphere meaning good quality good tasting food in a cute trendy décor. I have no idea if there is more than one Q but they could franchise this format for sure. Okay, so what about the food. The pulled pork in my sandwich was moist, tender, and melt in the mouth. Also, they use Turano buns which is nice. There are four sauces on each table and so I put a some of each in the four corners of my sandwich, ha! Well, they kind of blended together, but whatever, it was good. I liked the mustard sauce and the vinegar sauce the best. The q-pups were really tasty and the mac and cheese had good flavor but was a little drier than I would prefer. I think the pups and sandwiches have to be eaten right away so I wouldn’t carry out those items. Nice to have cute little friendly neighborhood bbq place.

i don't watch much television so i wasn't aware that this place was featured on dolinsky's hungry hound segment last night until i was inside and heard people talking about it. it was pretty packed and chaotic. i chose the pulled pork and chicken combo, and sadly it was all very bland. my husband had the brisket and it was also lacking the smoke flavor i am used to tasting at honky tonk or smoque just wasn't there. i did really like the hush puppies though. i knew i should have consulted the LTH first!