"Uncle J's" on 47th and Vincennes

I made the trip to Uncle J's this past Saturday.

I ordered the Hot Link/Rib Tip/Chicken wing Combo. I was served by a guy named Brian who was informative and helpful. The Hot Links tasted like the links used to on 69th and Calumet. The flavor of the Links had a nice sage flavor. They were peppery and had a very nice snap. The tips were well cooked. The tips featured a nice smoke ring and smokey flavor. They were a little chewy, but definitely a quality product. The wings were fried to order and just ok.

I would return.

I also hit this place a week or so ago...perhaps not the best day for it (it was something like 8:30pm on a Tuesday night). I too liked the potential of the place - a couple of familiar faces from the old UJ-days (the woman behind the counter had often served me before - and they say Uncle J's is owned by the daughter of Mack)...the food wasnt quite on par with the original Uncle John's on this one go around, but then I usually hit the original at peak-time on Saturdays, when it was really humming and by a long way the best BBQ in Chicagoland...

The basics at Uncle J's were decent - tips were decent, links seemed to have a similar flavor profile like you said. It wasnt quite as good on this one day as the Richton Park location (and definitely not up to 69th)...but I will definitely be back, probably on some weekends, and try them in more optimum conditions..(Richton Park was better, but also another 25 miles of a drive But, a very promising new addition, and awesome to see the UJ's link-flavors are still around...

c8w

Recent (and first) visit to Uncle J's left me with the same impression as c8w - I suspected I hit it at the wrong time, which was around 4:30 on Saturday.

All I tried was the ribs and they seemed promising, but they definitely weren't fresh so I'll withhold strong judgment. Saw just one other customer while there. I'd love to know what time they're busy so I can plan a return trip accordingly.







502 E 47th St
Chicago, IL 60653
(872) 244-3535

I was a bit worried after checking recent reviews on other sites (mostly on technical grounds; everybody does seem to like the flavors), and perhaps that factored in to Uncle J's exceeding expectations on every front earlier this week, but I think even objectively this was a great showing, something I'd stack against anything in this style in the city at the moment. Small tip and link combo was about three pounds of food, hot and fresh at 7 PM, fries doubled down to order, barky tips chopped, sausages got the quick plunge, oil and sauce fresh. The pork was remarkably moist, and I love the hot sauce here, which smells more like an Italian red sauce, with thankfully little vinegar tang and a heavy lacing of chili powder without cumin, just a sun-dried undercurrent like the better enchilada sauces, no "Open Pit doctoring." Even the slaw and white bread were at peak condition. This is going to be a tough call with H1 so close as well, and having to pass Cafe Trindad to get to either from Hyde Park (jerk taco season is upon us).

Uncle J's is owned by the stepdaughter of Mack Sevier.

Uncle J's BBQ carries on the Mack Sevier legacy

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... story.html

Dave148 wrote:Uncle J's is owned by the stepdaughter of Mack Sevier.

Uncle J's BBQ carries on the Mack Sevier legacy

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... story.html

Ive been thinking about Mack a bit recently - and just how much us foodies will miss him (tho I suppose the Original - and Nonpariel - UJ's has been closed for a couple of years ago now..)

I did actually hear that Uncle J's was owned by his step-daughter - have been there a couple of times recently. Its a pretty solid place now, really. Had very good tips there a couple of weeks ago - but the links, while decent, didnt live up to my memory - they were very clearly different from Mack's Recipe of Hot Links that have always been my Gold Standard (these were more smooth-ground than coarse-ground, without the fattiness and sage-y-ness that made the originals the best hot links ever made). Good to see Kevin Pang make the same point in the above article.

Ive actually gone on a bit of a Hot-Link hunt the past couple of weeks, in a despairing attempt to replicate the original greatness. Uncle J's was the first place I visited - and it was a decent link, like I said, but a different recipe.

I heard (from a fellow customer while in line at Uncle J's) that I-57 had a great hot-link....so visited them too (the one on Halsted). A very good link, slightly loosely packed, nicely spicy. But nothing like the original UJ's - a different flavor profile (this one had a slightly offal-y touch to the taste of it, which might appeal to some..)

Made a couple of trips to the new SouthSide Honey One - they are doing a good job with BBQ currently IMHO, and seem very busy and happy in their new location. Their Links were actually very good also - I havent always been a fan in the past. Theyre cut into small pieces (rather than being left as a "link" as most other places seem to favor), and the link was very spicy this last time - a good thing in my book. But again - very different from UJ's - a smooth grind, and a different flavor profile. (You might sense a theme here..)

I havent hit the UJ's in Richton Park in the last couple of weeks - its been a couple months since I was last there. They have had very good BBQ every time I visited them (only a handful, due to excessive distance) - but they too use a link with a different recipe to the original UJ's that Mack used, and always have..

Visited Barbara Ann's in the last couple of weeks - the link was decent, with a bit of a coarser grind to it. But not the spicyness (and no sage). The tips-and-links at Barbara Ann's were just ok on this trip - good by Northside standards, maybe, but not quite up to Honey One or Uncle J's on this particularly visit. To be fair, it wasnt the best time - sort of late-afternoon on a Saturday (before the real dinner-rush..tho it took ages to get the food anyway!)

Finally, also visited the Namesake - Uncle John's, on 83rd and Cottage Grove (in the same location with Dat Donuts) - the last place I met Mack, in the parking lot last year. This place is larger, with a parking lot, and quite different from the others. The BBQ was solid - not *great*, like the original UJ's, but pretty good. The Link wasnt up to the original - didnt have the same outer-crispness, for one. But the flavor profile was probably the closest to the original that I found in my exploration of any of the various Southside BBQ joints over the past couple of weeks. The grind was coarser than the rest, and they did have some sage and the odd chili-flake...in the hands of the late lamented Mack, these would still have been masterpieces, IMHO. As it was, they were merely "good".

My next trip down, I'll probably stop at Uncle John's on 83rd and Cottage again - hoping to hit them at a better time, and thus hoping for a link more like the original - one that was, I repeat, IMHO the best link ever smoked...

c8w

he never took those links and deep fried them after smoking to finish them off before serving?

c8w wrote:Made a couple of trips to the new SouthSide Honey One - they are doing a good job with BBQ currently IMHO, and seem very busy and happy in their new location. Their Links were actually very good also - I havent always been a fan in the past. Theyre cut into small pieces (rather than being left as a "link" as most other places seem to favor), and the link was very spicy this last time - a good thing in my book. But again - very different from UJ's - a smooth grind, and a different flavor profile. (You might sense a theme here..)

c8w

I've yet to visit the relocated Honey One but, in my experience with the north side location, the links were only cut up when they were ordered as part of a combo. I typically ordered an Xtra Large tips and a Large links and my links were never cut up.