Good BBQ?

Fictionalized adaptation of a real conversation.

Hello, Randy, oh guru of smoked foods! New folks at work have moved recently from the South and are wondering about good smokehouses in the city. Any recommendations you'd care to share?

 

Dec 6, 9:51 AM

Hi there,

Are they wanting sausage or BBQ?

Dec 6, 9:53 AM

Hmm they did mention sausages specifically yesterday so I'd guess the former

 

Dec 6, 9:53 AM

Smoked beef sausage is very iffy.  A wealth of pork sausage can be found at both Gene's locations. at Paulina Meat Market and at Butcher and Larder.

Dec 6, 9:58 AM

Can you eat in at those places or is it all sausage for home?

 

Dec 6, 9:58 AM

Those are sausage for home.  Honky Tonk BBQ in Pilsen and Smoque on Pulaski are both very nice BBQ places.

Dec 6, 10:00 AM

Honky Tonk, slipped my mind. I have been there only once, arriving there after midnight, and the place was jamming. The candied bacon was a delight.

 

Dec 6, 10:00 AM

Hickory River if they get out to Schaumburg or Bloomingdale is even better.

The Candied Bacon?  With or without Bourbon?

Dec 6, 10:02 AM

Oh, I don't recall.

It has been too long, I think I should revisit it.

 

Dec 6, 10:02 AM

Honky Tonk brisket was passable and of course I only say that because I prefer my own, cooked low and slow with all the fat on it and taken off in sections as it is ready.  I then have the choice of removing or eating any fat that has not melted to flavor the meat.

Dec 6, 10:02 AM

We were with a Chef, and we got to meet the proprietor of Honky Tonk. They were very down to earth.

 

Dec 6, 10:03 AM

Easy to get to from the loop as well.

Dec 6, 10:04 AM

This is an outstanding list, thank you for sharing your experience!

Surely You Have a Blog

Are you a journalist?

Often asked of me because it seems I have a lot to say and because some of what I say finds it's way into newspapers and because some of the folks I really like are journalist or journalistic technical support.

I write and speak though in a very tortured and tortuous style that will give those who subscribe to the little book used in English 101 a stroke.  My thought process cannot stand to stay on one track.  My mother described me as having a one track mind.  My siblings called me retarded.  I am told I did not talk until I was four.  It seems to me that I did.  My siblings, my parents and the entire family and known community loved me to the point that I really never would have needed to talk.  But yes they used the R word and I was taken to special doctors.  I go down rabbit trails and am sure my mind runs on at least seven tracks.  They are extremely small gauge tracks though and I revisit them like one of those model railroad setups on four by eight sheet of plywood.  There are train wrecks on this railroad.

So I expect we will eventually get to all parts of this RR.  Right now we will skip exploring what got me talking and a period of fifty five plus years.  Fifty four of those years were spent in Texas.  Most of them as a Southern Baptist.  That means a lot of down home southern cooking enjoyed with other people.  It also though means a variety of international foods but mainly Mexican, Spanish, Basque, Chinese, Tex-Mex, Vietnamese and Indian.  The main topics planned for now will be Smoked Brisket in Chicago and Tacos in Chicago.

All Aboard!!!