Montrose beach BBQ #2 [CHICAGO STYLE] 6/13/15

Let's hope for great weather this weekend, and now... get ready to cook, eat and/or drink Chicago Style this Saturday, 6/13/15.

For number 2 BBQ 2015 we will be cooking Chicago Style. I feel as if little explanation is necessary! I'll be bringing the 22 inch WSM smoker and some hotlinks. Anyone need to throw something on the smoker there will be plenty of room!



Prior years, newcomers from time to time get lost trying to find the spot. It is just north of montrose beach, but that doesn't mean it's on montrose, and it's not exactly on the beach either. It is actually just a little north of Lawrence Ave. Please look at the map and answers to other questions here:
FAQ AND SCHEDULE.

RSVP below, and please let me know what you plan to bring. You can also RSVP, invite friends, and join the conversation over at the Facebook event page.

For the details, like where, when, what to bring, etc, please see:
FAQ AND SCHEDULE.

Just a reminder. This is an open event, and everyone is welcome to invite friends and family using the invite button on facebook. There will always plenty of food, and those who don't care to cook can ask what else to pitch in. Sometimes we need extra equipment, drinking water, ice, charcoal, etc. Just ask!

Feel so lonely over here with all the chatter on the FB event page. In case you haven't looked, we already have 15 people signed up! Here are some of what people bringing so far:

Chicago links
Rib tips
Depression dogs
Malort
Cheesecake
Elotes
Homemade Italian Beef
A collaboration project involving the world's largest and most artisanal Jim Shoe
Saganaki

Be sure to keep the LTH thread active too, especially with pictures and reports after the events!

Heads up! Forecast is constantly going back and forth. It's not officially moved yet, but the Backup plan, as usual, is to move the party to my house. Please keep checking the Facebook event and lth before heading out to the lake!

Okay. 80% chance of rain by 10am. The BBQ is moving to my house. Address is in the facebook invite, link above. Last time it was a big success at our house, so this shouldn't discourage anyone from attending!

Woohoo!! Big Babies and Mothers-in-law (with James' tamales hopefully) will be there and I'm staying in tonight JUST to be on the safe side.

See you tomorrow--thanks for hosting!

Julie and I are in. Contribution tbd, probably something liquidy and locally-made. Julie will post this on facebook.

=R=

Weather folks definitely got it wrong--beautiful day, though pretty hot and humid. But thanks to Laikom and Teresa, we had a great alternate location, complete with indoor cooking and refrigeration options. So all was good.

Here are a few pics--food was fun, delicious and both true and humorous takes on the Chicago original theme.









and, finally, my first attempt at making a Big Baby! Most of these had the cheese melted into the meat in the middle but this one had a bit more color still showing so I used it for the pic. I'm told that the other way is more typical.



A special shout out to Da Beef for his drink concoction--if I recall, it was pineapple, cilantro, mint and jalapeno juice--and incredibly delicious.

Hope to make it to the next one!!

And hoping someone will add pics of jefe's Italian Beef and the group effort Gym Shoe. I tasted the former--amazing--and had to leave before the latter was ready--but saw some of the prep and it looked tasty. Teresa's Palmer Brownies were crazy good as well.

I have a few great pics. I'll post once I get home in a few hours

laikom wrote:I have a few great pics. I'll post once I get home in a few hours

Promises, promises...

glad I was able to head in - a fun afternoon.

tip of the hat to Matt and Theresa for being such great hosts at their home.

Jefe's Italian Beef was top notch - probably as deep flavored of a jus as I have tasted - & the home made "Pops style" peppers were fantastic as well.

zoid wrote:

laikom wrote:I have a few great pics. I'll post once I get home in a few hours

Promises, promises...

Haha, sorry I got caught up.

What a great turn out, and I’m sure I’m repeating myself here, but this is an extremely ambitious and generous group of friends! One I'm very proud to know. Thanks everyone for stepping up the game this year, so far these 2 have been among the best.

I guess I didn’t get as many pictures of the various dishes or the crowd I thought, I was actually shooting a lot of videos.

Here’s what I got:

THE WORLD'S LARGEST JIM SHOE! What a great idea. It featured gyros meat from Psistaria c/o PIGMON and trix, homemade corn beef from fropones, homemade beef from Jefe, Bari giard, and D'amatos bread. It was kata kat'd with the spackling blades and assembled by Jefe.













Jefe's Italian beefs, which are now on many people's "best ever" list:





The ever generous ronnie_suburban brought just a few locally produced bottles of alcohol.



Da Beef brought a bottle of tequila and his homemade verdita which was delicious and refreshing.



My own rib tips and hot links:

Most hardcore participant award goes to boudreaulicious who told me she could only make something "simple" since she had to go help out at another party by 3pm. Yet, she managed to make Don Roth's spinning salad bowl--with her own garden lettuce, mother in laws, AND big babies. I swear I took a picture of some of them, but can't seem to find them. All great stuff.

^^^ agree with props to boudreaulicious. My kind of cook pulling things off that you've never even tasted before and making them delicious. All in the mind's eye (er tongue).

Note on the "artisanal" Jim Shoe: for sure the cleanest shoe on the block. Though I, as well as a few others, missed the sodium whallop of the mass produced meat products ~esp. the gyros~ that usually go into these things. Even the Bari giardiniere had a certain daintiness compared to its more processed counterparts. Satisfying, but not quite on that down 'n dirty.

This is how good that Jim Shoe was, the entire 4 feet of it was eaten. I am not sure I've even seen an entire foot long one consumed.