Hickory should leave a smoke ring. His barbecue didn't have one on the few occasions I tried it. The odd taste and texture of his food also suggested he wasn't cooking with wood. Maybe he just changed his approach as he became more experienced and eventually realized that using wood is kind of essential to producing good barbecue.

In any event, I think he is still using the old Rub spot for his catering operation, so you probably did see smoke billowing from the chimney fairly recently.

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I agree that the taste and texture of the meat was odd. And then there was his cornbread that had a Twinkie-like center.

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Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

it was about 7 years ago. and i thought the brisket was done properly. i have no idea what its like now. i have friends in highland park that said its super expensive now.

It's always been expensive.

I can't seem to walk out of there without spending $80.

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$80?!?

I hope you went with 2-3 other people who drink

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

That's carryout for the family:

1 rack "perfection"
1lb burnt ends
1 chopped salad
1/2 LB pulled chicken
Sweet potato fries
Kid's Grilled cheese sammich
Maybe a soup
A few sides
A beer while I wait

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That guy ended up moving to Denver. He still owns Budlong, I think they recently reopened in Lincoln Square. They closed a BBQ place in Hyde Park. He's got a Budlong kiosk in the Noyes Center at NU now, too, I believe.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

Big Ed's is great, my personal favorite BBQ place. The best thing there are the burnt ends, but they often sell out of them so it's wise to call in the morning and reserve an order if you aren't planning to be there till later in the day. I used to do that all the time for our trips up to Wisconsin. Would call Big Ed's in the morning and tell them to put 2 orders of burnt ends aside and hold them for us for dinner. Always worked out.

The pulled pork is also really good as is his wife's peach cobbler. Brisket isn't as good as Smoque, but not many places do brisket as good as Smoque.

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Uhm, you lose all credibility by even mentioning Real Urban BBQ in a thread about BBQ. Place is a disgrace and does NOT serve BBQ. I'm pretty sure they don't even smoke their meats. They make Burnt Ends by taking cooked brisket and cutting off the ends and then dousing them in some sauce and calling it a day.


Green Street Meats is good though so you're only half a genius.

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No no no. City BBQ is just as shitty as Real Urban BBQ. And Real Urban BBQ did not go downhill, it started at the bottom and stayed there.

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The grossest thing about RUB (on Western) was their cornbread. It had a layer of creamed corn in the middle of it. As gross as it sounds.

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BBQ is a tricky business to run. You have to love it. It is labor-, or, at the very least, time-intensive, which means, as an owner, you've got to put in those hours yourself, or you are losing money.

The South side places tend to be better because they they don't have the rent the North side places do and, ergo, cut less corners.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

Never been to RUB but I'm with Shakes on City BBQ. It was maybe a notch above Dickies....pretty much makes it equivalent to buying clothes at Target. Not good....and expensive.

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I tried that place on three separate occasions just because of the hype. You're off about the cornbread though, unless you weren't expecting it that way. I tended to like it, but no one else in my family did.

The meats always had an off putting taste. Almost musky iirc.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I met Jeff Shapiro at a bbq contest in southern illinois at some ribfest about 10 years ago or so. my buddy runs a team out of the QCA and i went down with him. THey were all in teh same area and we all talked. all they had were ribs and their ribs were ok, just standard kcbs competition ribs. nothing that stood out. I personally prefer something more creative than the standard competition rib. But jeff said if we are ever in the area, to hit them up for their brisket. Which a few years later we did and as i said it was good. and i'll stand by that.

burnt ends usually come from the point of the brisket. i don't trust anyone's burnt ends that aren't in TX so I will not get them most places. I went to a place in des moines that their burnts ends were like from the beef clod cooked in a crock pot and then cubed and thrown on the smoker then tossed in sauce. was horrible.

My good experiences with brisket pretty much started(& ended) with family made brisket in Houston and from a place down there in the Fifth Ward. They both were sauced and cut fairly thin, certainly in comparison to the pencil thick slices in competition bbq, which I've never cared for.

Which I guess is sacrilegious in some quarters of central & eastern Texas.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

The QCA is full of corner cutter bbq places. chef mike....rowave is the head chef at all of them.

Like Smoque, Rub was hyped because it was targeting white people. Maybe Smoque does, as shakes claims, serve good barbecue now. But it was mediocre at best when it opened. A novice could have made better pulled pork using a backyard kettle grill on his first try. Yet it garnered rave reviews from the moment it opened its doors. Similarly, RUB was bad from its opening up until the point I moved in 2013 (My understanding, though, is that the owner significantly upgraded his cooking methods and product around the time I left town.). Nevertheless, this restaurant was also acclaimed from its inception.

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i have pretty high brisket standards. i always get it at bbq restaurants to see if they can serve a good brisket. and quite frankly a lot of tx places don't do it great either. Most suffer from it not being finished. so they slice it super thin or they chop it up.

pulled pork is probably the easiest thing on the planet to cook so i expect everyones is fine. its fine undercooked and overcooked.

Be sure to hit up Famous Daves.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

If you ever ran the labor, waste, and food cost numbers on a BBQ restaurant, you would run, not walk, in the opposite direction. Smoque somehow does it with like 50 people working back there.

But if you love it, that's different.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

most of them close their doors around here or cook in batches and microwave out orders. hell sometimes they still close their doors.

the one staple in the QC is Jims. who has the best sauce on the planet but cook all their ribs like on monday and then cut them up into tubs and microwave them and then sauce them. so disappointing.

the only real successful place is successful because they only do dinner on thurs/fri/saturday

i've contemplated taking both pits and doing pulled pork, ribs, and brisket at the farmers market but i'm always a bit shellshocked at what my costs would be and what i'd have to charge.

There's plenty of really bad pulled pork around. Great pulled pork is rare.

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I know this is tongue in cheek but I actually enjoyed the food I got from their stand at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha during the College World Series. Imho it was South Side Ballpark good, if not better.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

It's a labor of love. If you don't love it, don't do it. I love baking in quiet solitude at 5 in the morning, I'd love to run a bakery, but I know it's not going to keep my lights turned on

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

I liked Famous Dave's when they were in Vernon Hills. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I've enjoyed RUB more often than not.

BBQ snobs are just as bad as beer snobs.

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I love it. when people buy the supplies i do it for free. i've done a few family reunions, church picnics, etc. they paid the supplies, i did it. getting alot of different food right is challenging but fun. There is no way i could do it to pay the bills but I definitely could see myself in 10-15 years slowing down working and picking up that hobby/side business here or there.

famous daves stole my idea of serving food on a trashcan lid.

I used to be a regular for carry out in Hyde Park. Now the only place I make an exception for is the bakery at the Medici where they're absolutely committed to it. Or Valois if I'm really hungry and want something consistently basic.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

What do you like at the Medici?

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I like the catfish at Famous Dave's.

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