One in a spate of ‘urban barbecue’ places that have popped up in Chicago. Excuse me, I mean ‘urban BBQ.’
Ate the ‘whole hog dinner’ last night with workmates.
It looked great. Small hog. No head or feet, which was disappointing. Dude was nice, and he talked about it for ten minutes. Marginally interesting, but I wanted to eat. Then he whisked it away and picked all the meat off it and kind of rationed it out in piles, like here’s the tenderloin, here’s the bacon. Here’s a little piece of the bark for you.
I hate the rationing thing that ‘urban BBQ’ places like these guys and Smoque do. Give me a plate of meat. I do not care about your sides. Score the hog and leave it on the table. I want ALL THE BARK.
Anyway, it was OK. ‘Competition barbecue’ is polite food in general. Not aggressively seasoned, not aggressively smoked, infantilized with candying and mostly soft meat. Dead standard, aimed at the median.
If I’d paid for it, I would have been bummed out. It was expensive.
Fried pickles were good.
Totally edible. Two stars.
In other news, I’ve been going to Honey 1. Had great ribs a couple weeks ago and pretty good ribs last week. It’s not Lem’s, but it’s on the way home from work.