I-57 South suburban BBQ crawl, Saturday November 12th

I have been meaning to put together an outing to hit a few (I am thinking 3) BBQ shacks near I-57 in the South Suburbs. Please respond if you have interest in joining me. Possible places will include:

Uncle John's (Richton Park, for sure)
Exsenators (Markham)
Twisted Q (Homewood)
Jimmy Jo's (Bourbonnais)
Hawk I's (Posen)

Of course I am very open for suggestions, let's see if there is interest, and we can then start the fun part of planning out a route.

Glenn

hi,

I'd be interested.

Regards,

Me too. Any idea of a time frame?

Dave148 wrote:Me too. Any idea of a time frame?

Most places seem to open a little on the late side, I will check the opening times, but I would say likely an early afternoon start (1pm).

Glenn

I'm interested.

I am interested and my two kids will attend as they LOVE BBQ
I assume we will be doing small things at all these places and not getting a ton of food?
Let me know, as I like to do tasting and not pigging out at each place.
BTW what time are we planning on starting this event?

Hi,

At least on one or two occasions, when I came to a BBQ place when they first opened. I received reheated Q. I don't know if that might happen to any on your list. It might be worth a phone call to inquire what time is their BBQ fresh off the smoker.

Regards,

Cookie Monster wrote:I am interested and my two kids will attend as they LOVE BBQ
I assume we will be doing small things at all these places and not getting a ton of food?
Let me know, as I like to do tasting and not pigging out at each place.
BTW what time are we planning on starting this event?

Dobra,

I am sure there will be representative BBQ bought a each place with people sharing the food and expenses.

Eat as much or as little as you want and allow others to do the same.

Regards,

Cathy what concerns me having attended some of these events is that at some of them there was so MUCH food ordered that half of it was not event eaten, of course then you have the price tag attached to it. This is my concern that we are moderate in our ordering at these places.

If you're going to be in Richton Park I'd also suggest a stop at Jay & Jays Barbeque & Seafood. Small family run business in a tiny storefront using an aquarium smoker. I've been their several times although not for a while. Always ordered the rib tips and have never been disappointed. Carry out only.
Jay & Jays Barbeque & Seafood
3633 Sauk Trl, Richton Park, IL 60471-1401
(708) 283-1082 ‎

Another spot who just recently opened their doors The Rib Joint in Munster,In which is fairly close to Homewood. Aquarium smoker with a few tables for dine in. I visited once and ordered the 1/2lb rib tips $6.00 but unfortunately forgot to order them with sauce on the side. Grrrr! They were covered in sauce which I found to be way too sweet but I still detected a good smoke flavor and a smoke ring. Served with a small corn muffin tasting faintly of jalapeno and was very good and the usual slice bread,no potatoes. According to their menu they serve roasted potatoes instead of the usual fries. They also have smoked chicken,brisket,pulled pork,hot links and a foot long Maxwell St sausage. I plan to revisit them soon and will report. John's Pizza (carry out) is just a couple of blocks down the street in case all the BBQ wasn't enough.
The Rib Joint
8241 Hohman Avenue
Munster, IN 46321
(219) 595-5574 ‎

The Original John's Pizzeria
247 Ridge Road
Munster, IN 46321-1531
(219) 836-8536 ‎

The husband and I are interested in joining you.

Suzy

Cookie Monster wrote:Cathy what concerns me having attended some of these events is that at some of them there was so MUCH food ordered that half of it was not event eaten, of course then you have the price tag attached to it. This is my concern that we are moderate in our ordering at these places.

Dobra,

I have no interest letting good BBQ go to waste, or over ordering. As Cathy2 mentioned, we will order a representative sample of their offerings at each place, and it will be done so keeping in mind that we will be hitting other places too.

Glenn

That is great to hear, my oldest is nuts about BBQ so she is going to love this trip. Thanks for your speady response Glenn. Do you need help in planning the excursion or do you have this down to a science already?
I will bring a couple of my triple decker peanut butter brownies with me so we can all collectively pass out.

I plan to bring a bunch of containers and plan the following week to be a BBQ-a-thon.

Dobra, you may be interested to learn that the wife of the owner of Twisted Q is also a baker -- she does all the pies for the restaurant and some of the breakfast treats. I haven't yet tried the pie, but my husband says it is worth going back for.

Suzy

If I had my preferences, I would choose a somewhat later time, rather than an earlier one (say 2 pm or even 3 pm) to permit morning errands.

It's kind of away from I-57 but Smokin' Joes in Palos Heights is pretty good and they have burnt ends on weekends... which may be common but I have no idea

http://www.smokinjoes-bbq.com/Smokin_Joes_Home.html
127th & Ridgeland in the Dominick's Strip Mall

@Artie, I have had Jay and Jays before, and it is pretty good (not top tier good, but not bad). The problem with them is that their hours are so inconsistent.

@TCK, I tried Smokin Joes 2-3 years ago, and unless they have really improved they just don't come near making the cut. I will probably try them again if you think they are that good, but my initial experience there was that it was rather weak.

GAF wrote:If I had my preferences, I would choose a somewhat later time, rather than an earlier one (say 2 pm or even 3 pm) to permit morning errands.

Gary, some of the timing will depend on when the fresh stuff comes off of the smoker. For UJs that will be about 1:30, I have to find out about the rest.

I think we will hit 4 places. Twisted Q (ribs, or what sdritz recommends), Exsenator (tips and links), UJs (tips and links), and Jimmy Jos (ribs, texas sausage, burnt ends).

I should have more information to post next week (meeting times, places, etc), and still would be very happy to discuss different options for places or food items.

Glenn

Haven't tried it yet, but my husband swears by the brisket at Twisted Q. He got a pulled pork sandwich there the other day -- and forgot to tell them to put the sauce on the side. He said it was good, but there was so much sauce on the sandwich, it overpowered the meat. We're going to try it again before our a-thon. I thought the St. Louis ribs were good. That's the only entree I've tried so far.

My friend Jim Hughes (he is the creator of the Hughes chili on the menu) came out of the kitchen, saw my husband there again this week and told him they were going to have to name a booth after him if he didn't stop eating there. I think he's determined to try everything before the 12th.

Suzy

glennpan wrote:@TCK, I tried Smokin Joes 2-3 years ago, and unless they have really improved they just don't come near making the cut. I will probably try them again if you think they are that good, but my initial experience there was that it was rather weak.

I'd be hard pressed to recommend it then. I didn't get into barbecue until after I moved out of the south suburbs and tried Smokin Joes for the first time this past spring, so I really have nothing to compare it to down there. Your list is great for the next time I'm down visiting my parents and/or in-laws.

Sounds like a great time. I'll be at FoBAB that day so I won't be joining you, but I'm very interested to read your results!

Hi,

How is this going? Do you need help or any phone calls made?

I'm looking forward to this.

Regards,

OK, so here is the itinerary:

Let's meet up at Uncle John's in Richton Park at 1:30 PM. That will be when the fresh stuff is coming right off of the smoker. From there we will head over to Twisted Q in Homewood, followed by Exsenators. I chose to hit Exsenators third as it is the furthest north stop, and very close to I-57 making it convenient for the people who will be heading back into Chicago. If we still have room at that point, and for the more adventurous, we can head down to Jimmy Jos in Bradley.

At this point, it would be nice to get a head count of who will be attending, so please respond and I will put together the list.

The addresses of the places are:

Uncle John's
5103 Sauk Trl Richton Park, IL 60471-1023
(708) 679-0513

Twisted Q
2053 Ridge Rd.
Homewood, IL

Exsenators
3349 W. 159th St
Markham, IL

Anyone needing directions, PM me and I will be glad to help. Since there is a Richton Park stop on the Metra Electric, we may be able to pick someone up if they are interested in taking the train down, but car space is limited.

Thanks,

Glenn

Hi,

I'm in for the whole ride.

Regards,

sounds like fun ,i will be at the ohio vs. purdue cooking up the q at a tailgate

The husband and I will be there. Really looking forward to this!!

Suzy

Glenn,

Could you PM (or post) your cell phone number in case we get lost or in case there is a problem.

So far we have:

Glennpan
GAF
sdritz (2)
Cathy2
CookieMonster (3)


Any other takers?

I'm out. Cathy2 will be my spokesperson.