Q Real American Food [-closed, now Ashley's] in Milwaukee

Q Real American Food in Milwaukee is owned by the former owners of Heaven City in Mukwonago. There are 2 reasons to come to Q's: the brisket and the pulled pork. Each is served in sandwich with two sides or a variety of platters. It's the brisket we liked the best. To bring it to perfection, Q offers four sauces. Our favorite was their own home made Sprecher's Root Beer Barbecue sauce, which is now available in retail food stores. http://www.qbbq.net


CSD

thanks for the just-in-time tip. i hope this place is better than Speed Queen... gonna give it a swirl t'row for lunch...

seeing i just chugged 2 bottles of Sprecher's root beer last nite, that bbq sure sounds interesting...

TonyC wrote:thanks for the just-in-time tip. i hope this place is better than Speed Queen..

Tony,

I'm looking forward to trying Q Real American Food , but count me a Speed Queen fan, in particular outside shoulder and the hot, which is actually a South Carolina mustard based, BBQ sauce. I also like Speed Queen's BBQ chicken with the mustard base sauce.

Speed Queen BBQ Chicken w/'Hot' BBQ sauce.


Speed Queen Shoulder/Outside Shoulder


Enjoy,
Gary

Speed Queen Bar-B-Q
1130 W Walnut St
Milwaukee, WI 53205
414-265-2900

Gary,

This summer, the Racine Zoo will be hosting the 1st "Zoo-B-Q" competition on Saturday, July 29th. Scott & Mandy from Q's are one of the vendors at this event. www.racinezoo.org

I had the brisket just a few weeks ago. I found it a bit tough and underseasoned but will agree wholeheartedly on the sauce. It was sweet but not overly so and really complemented the meat. My mother had the half chicken and raved about its tenderness and flavor.

I liked the large pitchers of water and whole rolls of papertowel bolted to the table, too. Nice touch for us messy eaters

The restaurant was fast, affordable, clean and pretty tasty. I'd say check it out and go hungry.

Q Real American Food is gone.

Have the proprietors returned to Muckwanego?

Geo

Geo wrote:Have the proprietors returned to Muckwanego?

Geo

no--afaik Scot is in Nevada cooking

I thought Q did a good job with most of their items, they just got inconsitient and they picked terrible locations. Bayview is good for hip and funky places, not BBQ joints, its just not that kind of crowd. Too many vegetarians, vegans, and people who will only go to the hipster places in the neighborhood. Plus it was a little pricey for the neighborhood.

The West Allis location was in a spot that people are more likely to just drive by than stop for food.

Then one of their BBQ team members bought all the stuff and opened Great Northern BBQ in Waukesha in an even worse location, which is too bad because the consistency was there and the food was better than Q. The Milwaukee Journal raved about it and they did ok on the heels of that but the location doomed them and they closed too.

I think that people get good deals on retail space but don't really consider the ramifications of location. Had Q been on the East Side of Milwaukee or in Wauwatosa, it would still be open today. Had Great Northern located downtown Waukesha or even on Sunset Drive, they would have been successful. There is BBQ place on Sunset called Pat's Rib Place and the food is really good. I'd put it 2nd or 3rd in the Milwaukee area. Ashley's is number 1 and then Speed Queen or Pat's would be next. The owner is Oprah's neice (the "Pat" in the business name was Oprah's sister) and since she was featured on an Oprah episode when they revealed her secret 1/2 sister the place has been really popular.

In general though, Milwaukee isn't really a BBQ town. People here don't appreciate good 'cue. They prefer the fall-off-the-bone style that supper clubs serve or they just go to Famous Dave's or Chili's.

eatwisconsin -
I need to know everything you know about Ashley's. Looks like it's right off of the highway, and I am ALWAYS looking for any kind of food on my way up to the U.P. Do tell - spare no details. A few posts around here say it's in the ghetto. Don't care. What is good eats there? What is not so good? Inquiring minds. I'm heading up for Halloween. Need bbq.

seebee wrote:eatwisconsin -
I need to know everything you know about Ashley's. Looks like it's right off of the highway, and I am ALWAYS looking for any kind of food on my way up to the U.P. Do tell - spare no details. A few posts around here say it's in the ghetto. Don't care. What is good eats there? What is not so good? Inquiring minds. I'm heading up for Halloween. Need bbq.

Ashleys is a quick drive off the freeway. Just get off of I-43 North Avenue and follow the frontage road on the east side of the freeway north a couple of blocks to Center Street and turn left (west). Its at 15th & Center in a nondescript white and stone building at the SW corner. The owner is really friendly and if he is trying out something new in the kitchen he'll give you a taste.

I have probably been there 4-5 times. I love the outside shoulder, ribs, rib tips, smoked hot links and the BBQ goat (though its a tad fatty so if you don't like extra fat the goat is not for you). I need to try the snout too. If you go on weekends (not sure if its Sun only or both days) you can get the soul food buffet and 2 meats for around 10 bucks. My typical order is a 1/2 and 1/2 dinner; outside shoulder and ribs.

Here is their website: http://ashleysbarbque.webs.com/

And my review after 1 visit: http://eatwisconsin.wordpress.com/2009/ ... ukee-area/

eatwisconsin wrote:I have probably been there 4-5 times. I love the outside shoulder, ribs, rib tips, smoked hot links and the BBQ goat (though its a tad fatty so if you don't like extra fat the goat is not for you). I need to try the snout too. If you go on weekends (not sure if its Sun only or both days) you can get the soul food buffet and 2 meats for around 10 bucks. My typical order is a 1/2 and 1/2 dinner; outside shoulder and ribs.

Here is their website: http://ashleysbarbque.webs.com/

And my review after 1 visit: http://eatwisconsin.wordpress.com/2009/ ... ukee-area/

Tell me about any sides you have tried- if you can recall any. I would expect bad, straight from the freezer bag to fryer food service sides, and slaw made with cheap, sugary, mayo. The "soul food" sides look interesting enough, but greens and yams from a can, and stove top stuffing are more realistic than me dreaming of home cookin' - any intel?

seebee wrote:

eatwisconsin wrote:I have probably been there 4-5 times. I love the outside shoulder, ribs, rib tips, smoked hot links and the BBQ goat (though its a tad fatty so if you don't like extra fat the goat is not for you). I need to try the snout too. If you go on weekends (not sure if its Sun only or both days) you can get the soul food buffet and 2 meats for around 10 bucks. My typical order is a 1/2 and 1/2 dinner; outside shoulder and ribs.

Here is their website: http://ashleysbarbque.webs.com/

And my review after 1 visit: http://eatwisconsin.wordpress.com/2009/ ... ukee-area/

Tell me about any sides you have tried- if you can recall any. I would expect bad, straight from the freezer bag to fryer food service sides, and slaw made with cheap, sugary, mayo. The "soul food" sides look interesting enough, but greens and yams from a can, and stove top stuffing are more realistic than me dreaming of home cookin' - any intel?

I am not a huge greens eater so I cannot really compare them to many others but they were pretty good from what I recall. The baked beans are good though (even though I am not a huge baked bean person either). I am a huge slaw fan but it must have been forgettable because I don't recall what it was like.

It is odd that bbq is one of my favorite foods but I really am not a fan of many of the sides that comes with it. Give me slaw and fries (or fried okra) and then I am happy.

eatwisconsin wrote:It is odd that bbq is one of my favorite foods but I really am not a fan of many of the sides that comes with it. Give me slaw and fries (or fried okra) and then I am happy.

I ask because the d/c (not a big meat eater) will care more about the sides than the cue. If there are any standout sides, it would behoove me to target those. This will give me a leg up on making this a "destination" dinner stop for our trips to the U.P. I'm happy enuff with a mess of spares, some other chunks of assorted smoked flesh, and maybe 4 to 5 french fries for palate cleansers.

seebee wrote:

eatwisconsin wrote:It is odd that bbq is one of my favorite foods but I really am not a fan of many of the sides that comes with it. Give me slaw and fries (or fried okra) and then I am happy.

I ask because the d/c (not a big meat eater) will care more about the sides than the cue. If there are any standout sides, it would behoove me to target those. This will give me a leg up on making this a "destination" dinner stop for our trips to the U.P. I'm happy enuff with a mess of spares, some other chunks of assorted smoked flesh, and maybe 4 to 5 french fries for palate cleansers.

Wish I could offer more help with them. The one BBQ place where I love the sides and apps is out in Waukesha, Pat's Rib Place. I could make a meal of theirs. Sweet Potato Waffle fries with vanilla sugar, smoked fries (they smoke the fries, then drop them in the fryer...so awesome, deep fried pickles, okra and green beans, and great slaw. http://www.patsribplace.net/

I did make it to Ashley's, and I would try it again, tho on my visit, I was not smitten. The potential is obviously there. I know that retail bbq has ups and downs. I opted for a two meat combo - tips and outside shoulder (cap nod to eatwisconsin for the help on what to get.) For sides, I opted for the fries. Easy drivin food:



Foodservice fries (as expected,) caked on Sexton brand seasoned salt. After a few fries, I cracked open the sauce, scraped a fry, and dipped it. I have had that sauce before. My guess would be "Lowest Priced Industrial Can" flavored from Sexton.

Now, on to the "goods:"
The tips had no smoke flavor or essence. But, the bark on those things was damn near perfect. The rub was not a salty mess, and could have even used more salt, which means everyone else would consider them bland. Very rare is the occasion when I say "needs salt." VERY rare. If they could have gotten these things some smoke flavor, I would have really liked them a lot. But, the potential is there. My guess would be that if I stopped again, they would be 100% different, but if they were the exact same, all's I'd need would be an edible bbq sauce for a dip, some true smoke, and I would have dug these a LOT.

Outside Shoulder:

The outside shoulder was boneless chunks with some smoke flavor, but it was still light. I might try for a spare / tip combo next time, I dunno. I preferred the tips to the outside shoulder - but it was fine. Not as unctous as the tips. It ran a little dry on my visit, and the sauce couldn't help since it was completely inedible, imo.

So, next time, definitely tips, and I will have to bring my own sauce. I'll also have to ask for no salt on the fries. Wasn't too far off of the xpwy, and that's a major plus. All in all, they have potential, maybe just light on the smoke for my batch. It happens.

"I know that retail bbq has ups and downs. "

Why is that? My expectation is good BBQ every time I go to a location I like?
I use Hillary's and the quality has benn consistantly good for decades.
No smoke flavor, it ain't BBQ!-Dick

Ashley's has nothing to do with the now defunct Q Real American, which was somewhere else entirely.

I, too, found Ashley's decent but not wonderful. The ribs had good texture but all the meats were lacking in smokiness.

Potential patrons should note that it's carryout only. They deliver throughout Milwaukee County with a $20 minimum order.

On weekends they offer a " soul food buffet," which, based on my Saturday visit, is not an actual buffet but an opportunity to order meat-and-three from a weekly-changing menu.

Ashley's Bar-B-Que
1501 West Center St., Milwaukee, WI 53206
(414) 372-7666
http://www.ashleysbarbque.webs.com