Robinson's #1 (?) Ribs

A convergence of sorts occurred for us in the past seven days. First was last Saturday’s excellent talk by Gwiv on BBQ at the Culinary Historians, plus the ribs brought in from Honey 1.

And, we had walked past, and had discussed going to, Robinson’s #1 Ribs (655 W. Armitage), because it’s BYOB, and just a few blocks from the gf’s place. But we’d never tried it. That changed last night.

In retrospect, I realized that whenever I go past Hecky’s, I get a nice whiff of smoke – I think Hecky uses hickory. Never noticed any smoke going past Robinson’s. I suppose it’s possible that they smoke their meat at one of their other locations, but I have no information on that either way.

Obviously we had to try the ribs. I don’t claim to be the BBQ maven that others on this board are, but still, we were disappointed. I couldn’t find a smoke ring, and the meat itself was pretty bland, and a nearly falling-off-the-bone texture. (I love Gary’s term, “Meat Jello.”) The sauce was adequate, in an Open Pit/K.C. Masterpiece kind of way.

We also had a Southern Fried Chicken salad – mostly chopped iceberg lettuce, with a little chopped tomato and several chunks of fried chicken, served with a Wishbone-like Thousand Island dressing on the side (we weren’t given a choice of dressing).

Was I being unfair by comparing Robinson’s BBQ to the BBQ from Honey 1? Maybe. It’s possibly that’s setting an overly high standard for a Lincoln Park BYOB BBQ joint. But with so many other great BBQ destinations in town, I doubt we’ll be returning any time soon.

Just a data point. YMMV.

nr706 wrote:
Was I being unfair by comparing Robinson’s BBQ to the BBQ from Honey 1? Maybe. It’s possibly that’s setting an overly high standard for a Lincoln Park BYOB BBQ joint. But with so many other great BBQ destinations in town, I doubt we’ll be returning any time soon.

Just a data point. YMMV.

No. You are not being unfair at all, since Robinson's is held up to the popular belief that they are one of the best BBQ joints in town while at the same time, a superb pit man like Robert Sr. gets all but ignored by the citizens of Chicago. Both places opught to be compared to each other. I think places like Robinson's, etc. need to be exposed for what they are...not really BBQ. As more and more people start coming to LTH Forum as the authority on things culinary in Chicago, I think information such as this needs to be there. Data points are a good thing.

Thanks for adding this data point.

If I recall correctly Robinson picked up the #1 nomenclature by winning one of Mike Royko's BBQ contests. I think this was about 20 years ago.

At the time I was living in the DePaul area and shortly after it opened I tried Robinson's twice -- the second time because I couldn't believe something so ordinary could win a contest and felt I should give it another chance.

My experience was different from nr706's. The meat was tough rather than jello-like, but lacked flavor. Also, the sauce seemed to be made up largely of vinegar.

My experience was so long ago that it has little relevance to today other than to raise the question of how Robinson's maintained its reputation.

Pat Bruno reviewed Robinson's last week here. With the exception of their sausages at Bears' games, I haven't eaten Robinson's in a very long time. Normally I wouldn't give a hoot what Pat Bruno says. But this is funny.

He begins:

Robinson’s No. 1 Ribs did not get its name on a whim (especially the “No. 1” part). In 1982, legendary newspaper columnist Mike Royko issued a “best barbecue in Chicago” challenge. Charlie Robinson entered, and a panel of judges declared Charlie’s ribs “number one.” A year later, Robinson opened a restaurant at 940 W. Madison in Oak Park.

Then shortly he gives his verdict:

I have hit just about every barbecue joint and restaurant new and old, going back to Edith’s Barbecue on North Clybourn, which predates the gentrification of that section of Clybourn. Despite all of the newbies and a few of the oldies, Robinson’s still puts out some of the best barbecue around.

But then ends the piece with this:

A few of the newer rib places around town are touting “competition ribs” and tacking on a hefty few $$$ for the privilege of eating ribs that won some kind of prize at some competition somewhere. Frankly, the whole idea of “competition ribs” doesn’t register with me.

Apparently Robinson's competition win was worth putting at the top, but some no-name place gets knocked at the bottom.

The worst ribs I have ever eaten in my life won awards, too.

I think Pat Bruno is becoming an Onion parody of himself.