Lem's...

Sunday afternoon, after the rain cleared,I decided to go out for a drive. Having missed the Maxwell St. market, I decided to go to Lem's.

We've all experienced less than stellar meals from reputable places, both low end and high end. Think busy Saturday evenings, New Years Eve, etc... I've been to Lem's five or six times now, and this time, while ok, just wasn't quite the same stuff. It had an almost reheated, dried out texture that even the sauce could not mask. Still good, very good, but...

PDaane, how were your ribs Sunday? Did I just get a scrawny, dried out slab, a dud? Do you think that they did a little "pre-cooking" the day before in order to handle the holiday rush?

Evil

I had a smilar experience a week ago, Ronnie. I headed out on a Sunday afternoon to pick up a slab. It was crusty and overseasoned...like it had been salted and cured.

I wrote off the experience as a case of me going too early on a Sunday and getting Saturday night's leftovers.

Hmm, that's two negative reports on Lem's in a week. Then there were Steve Dolinsky's comments last week on WBEZ. He said Leon's and Lem's were resting on their laurels. I think he was overly kind to Leon's it's been steadily sliding downhill for some years now--but I was a little surprised to hear him say that about Lem's. I'm not about to panic but it sounds like there may be cause for concern. Can anyone else provide a recent report? I've been several times this year (good as ever, or close) but haven't visited in the last month or two.

I went to Barbara Ann's last week and had a good, very crusty slab and the usual exemplary hot links. They have a somewhat new menu, with a significant number of items deleted. I noticed Mack wasn't there but there were two new guys (not sure they were new but I hadn't seen them before) manning the pit. In spite of these changes the barbecue seemed to be holding its own.

Lem's Bar B Q House
311 E 75th St

Barbara Ann's BBQ
7617 S Cottage Grove

I was at Lem's about a month ago, and noticed no noticeable drop-off in quality. Ribs and tips were both excellent.

My bad experience at Lem'sis one singular experience among many many positive ones.

Went to Lem's a week and a half ago (probably the same day mentioned in the
posts above). Had a half-slab, and thought it was only OK, not great - but then
I havent been to Lem's in a while, and have always preferred Barbara Ann's
anyway, so am probably not the best judge. (The major reason I went to Lem's
that day was that it was a Sunday, and BA's was closed). Also saw the Hungry
Hound report on ABC-7 (noted it on the other board, thats Steve Dolinksy) - as
a result, the next time Iam in the area on a Sunday, I intend to try out The Rib
Joint which he claimed was #2 in Chicago after Honey-One at the moment.


Went to BA's a week before that - about 3 weeks ago now - after a very
long hiatus. Must say that the rib-tips were clearly worse than I had ever had
at BA's before (at least half the rib-tips were, the other half were decent
enough, so I put it down to a bad batch). The Hot Links were just as awesome
as they have always been, however - amazingly good. I dont think theyve
gotten worse, but need to go at least once or twice more to say for sure.

BTW, the BA's menu is new - on orange paper rather than white, and the
major change is that prices have been raised a touch (eg, large links have gone
from 7.61 post-tax to 8.70; Full Slab from 14.14 to 15.92; the 20 lb links from
27 to 32 etc). However, looking at both menus (as Iam at the moment), there
havent been a huge number of items taken off the menu. Actually only 2 items
that have gone off the menu - the catfish and the spaghetti (wasnt a fan of
either, really, so dont miss them - and who goes to BA's for the spaghetti
anyway? It just looks like a lot of items are missing on the menu because
of the several blank lines on the new menu which is exactly the same computer
file as the old - but they are because of 1) Catfish 2) Catfish and Wings 3) Catfish
and Leg/Thigh, 4) Catfish and Spaghetti etc

c8w

Ronnie,

I'm glad you took the plunge, I had a hard time figuring out what to say. My tips were the same quality that you discussed, dried out, stringy, warmed over.

I do not make the trip to Lem's very often, in fact, that was only my second trip there. The first trip the tips were delicious. However, this trip the only thing I could think about were how the tips at Robinson's in the train station were much better and certainly more convenient.

I will need to try Barbra Ann's this weekend.

pd

I stopped at both Lem's and Barbara Ann's on Staurday after the Chicago Cares serv-a-thon to do a little head to head testing. It was around 5 in the afternnon, so there should have been no problem with last night product being on the grill of either.

At Lem's I ordered a tip hot and a slab hot. The tips were overcooked and somewhat dry. The slabs were perfectly charred and juicy.

At Barbara Ann's the tips were moist and tender. The links were simply incredible.

Barbara Ann's tips won out head to head with Lem's. Lem's slabs would have been hard to beat anywhere. Barbara Ann's links are just marvelous. I don't know of anything in town that can touch them.

I dropped in Saturday evening around 7, after, incidentally, having a big combo hot/sweet from al's for lunch. Got me a large order of tips and center cut and both were amazing, perfect, and served 4 for $20.60.

Startled to hear these negative reports, I've been 4 or 5 times in the last couple of months and haven't had anything resembling a bad experience.

AFO

YourPalWill wrote:I stopped at both Lem's and Barbara Ann's on Staurday after the Chicago Cares serv-a-thon to do a little head to head testing. It was around 5 in the afternnon, so there should have been no problem with last night product being on the grill of either.

At Lem's I ordered a tip hot and a slab hot. The tips were overcooked and somewhat dry. The slabs were perfectly charred and juicy.

At Barbara Ann's the tips were moist and tender. The links were simply incredible.

Barbara Ann's tips won out head to head with Lem's. Lem's slabs would have been hard to beat anywhere. Barbara Ann's links are just marvelous. I don't know of anything in town that can touch them.

So when exactly did you go to BA's on Saturday, again? You were there
"around five" - but did you do Lem's, or BA's first? The reason I ask - in
this small thread of 8 replies, we seem to have had you there at around
5-ish, another respondent at about 7-ish, and me right in the middle,
a bit before 6-ish (probably 5:30-5:45 I think). Not half bad, really

Anyway. Usually I go with the tip/link combo - but the last time I was there,
about 3 weeks ago, the links were amazing as usual but the tips were a
little disappointing. And, really, they werent *all* disappointing - about half
the order of tips was fine, the last bit was very poor. I thought they had
deteriorated a bit - but am perfectly willing to believe it was just one bad
batch.

This time I did just links. And, as usual, they were terrific - I agree with
you, there is nothing in town that is even close IMHO. Ive liked their
tips more than Lem's in the past too (except for the last time as I
said) - but their links have consistently IMHO been far far ahead of
anyone else.

While on the subject - a week ago was in the area on a Sunday, when
BA's is closed (as are Top Notch and other fine establishments). Thus,
taking into consideration the "Hungry Hound" (Steve Dolinksky)'s
rec, I made a trip down to "The Rib Joint" on 87th (HH claimed Rib Joint
and Honey One do the best bbq in the city). Probably erred in my
choice - should have gone with the slab, but instead did the tip/link
combo that I do at BA's. Rib Joint is much cheaper than anywhere
else - their tip/link combo is only about 6 bucks (cheaper than even
the smallest serving of such at BA's, which IIRC is nearer 10 bucks),
but correspondingly their serving size is much smaller than BA's. However
it is also the only size that Rib Joint serves of that combo. (Their whole
slab, BTW, is listed in their menu at 13.69 as I peruse it at the moment;
their "baby back full slab" is listed at 14.29. They also have some pretty
impressively priced "lunch specials" between 12 and 2 - there is a
wing/tip combo, which is 1 wing, a 1/2 lb of tips, fries and bread for
3.69!).

At Rib Joint, the tips were quite good - sort of fatty, but pretty good
overall, really (not as good IMHO as BA's at their best, but better than
my last attempt of tips at BA). However (and maybe this was again a
bad batch), the link at Rib Joint was not good at all, it was actually
very ordinary to poor. Even if it was a bad batch and thus the
texture etc didnt come out right - at least the taste should still be some
indication. But the taste wasnt even in the same ballpark as BA's, which
remains the gold standard for links. Wasnt overly enamoured of the
Rib Joint mild sauce either. Next time I make a trip there (if there is
a next time - its further away, so on Saturday's BA's will always be my
first choice; on Sundays it might be between Lem's and Rib Joint)...
anyway, next trip, if there is one, will certainly be the slab or half-slab
rather than tips (and certainly not links). There must be *some* reason
for Hungry Hound to rank it as highly as he did - he rated it ahead of the
"better known Lem's and Leon's" as he said (he didnt mention BA's, BTW).

c8w

bringing an oolld thread back again. after a few visits to Barbara Ann's, I finally redirected myself to Lem's. Always felt bad not paying homage as I drive by Lem's EVERYTIME i go to BA's.

o man.. what a friggin disappointment. where's the smoke in the meat? the tips just lacked flavor. I'm not sure what 'flavor' exactly, but it really pales against BA's. And using fries as stuffer? c'mon. for $11 I think I deserve a lil bit more pork protein. Finally, the sauce... Tasted like they used some kid's spit as stock. Completely disgusting and no true 'hot' version to speak of.

The funny thing... I was somewhere in Oak Forest? off the 57/Sibley exit getting lost... 'lo and behold, I drove RIGHT by George's where we feasted during the last ribathon. I think this was where MikeS used the word 'evocative' and GWIV continued with 'evocative of ribs'? Sadly, I got on the correct path and couldn't visit Geroge's but had Lem's instead.

I went to Lem's for the first time about two weeks ago, and I was underwhelmed by the slab of ribs. The ribs were rather tough and the sauce, while spicy, was little more. And with the ribs placed over the fries, they were rather mushy by the time I arrived home.

I attributed it to downtime before the holidays, but this thread suggests that the problem is of longer-duration.

Next time I will give Barbara Ann's a try.