Barbecue at Randolph & Michigan?

Leaving the Cultural Center the other day, I was surprised to see and smell this barbecue rig, smoking away on Randolph a bit west of Michigan.



I was running late so couldn't stop but the owner, an African-American gentleman from Robbins dressed in spotless chef's whites, told me he's usually there at lunchtime and dinnertime. Has anyone tried Best Tips?

Best Tips (truck)
Randolph between Michigan & Wabash
708-818-7172

That looks like an awesome truck and impressive pit. I work around the corner from there and walk by all the time and I have to say Ive never seen him there. Also that stretch of Randolph is very very busy no parking or even standing allowed, there is no way a cop would allow that guy to camp out there like a food truck. I think the chef may have been perhaps exaggerating about how often he is there, but Ill definitely keep my eye open for a good carry home dinner oppty!

champs2005 wrote:That looks like an awesome truck and impressive pit. I work around the corner from there and walk by all the time and I have to say Ive never seen him there. Also that stretch of Randolph is very very busy no parking or even standing allowed, there is no way a cop would allow that guy to camp out there like a food truck. I think the chef may have been perhaps exaggerating about how often he is there, but Ill definitely keep my eye open for a good carry home dinner oppty!

I'm on that stretch of Randolph only about once a week but never saw Best Tips before either. During the several minutes I spoke with the owner, a Chicago Police vehicle sat across the street, without any apparant activity (for all I know they had already called for reinforcements and were preparing to confiscate his rib tips).



I specifically asked if he was legal and he assured me he had all the necessary papers in the truck. That's pretty much all I know. I regret not getting an order of tips but my only chance to eat would have been on a crowded L train, which didn't seem very appealing. I look forward to hearing of any future sightings.

I saw them once in Hyde Park, outside the hospital on Ellis, but I was a couple bucks short and they were cash only. Smelled awful good, though. This was over the summer, July-ish. Honestly, beyond the smell, it's impressive just to behold such a rig.

Picked up a tip dinner from here last night. Smelled bbq on my way to the train and followed it to the southwest corner of Wabash and Randolph (this was at 4ish).

The dinner was $10 and came with a baked potato and white bread. It was a ton of food, and a ton of sauce. Like, at least an inch of it throughout the whole container. The sauce was on the better side of decent, but take caution. As for the tips? I'm no expert, but they were okay, not great. Good texture, taste obscured by sauce but still got some smoke coming through. As for that smoke...

I was a little thrown off to see him throwing cardboard in the bottom of the smoker--is that normal? Am I eating cardboard kissed ribs on the regs? I don't know if it was a one-time, temporary thing, but it didn't look that way to me.

This truck was outside of my building yesterday at lunch (Monroe and Dearborn). Line was 20 people long when a colleague and i went over to investigate -- there was no visible menu posted at all. We headed in another direction due to the crowd. Had never seen it before. It did not look like a quick process.