Smokedaddy's -- 1st time

The result of requesting a quick rec. for last night was we ended up at Smokedaddy.

Caveat: It is with some shame, eyes cast down and mumbling that I reveal myself to this community as practically a BBQ/smoked/pulled meat virgin.

Growing up in Westchester, NY the only ribs I ever saw were Chinese-American spare ribs. (And I ate these at every single Chinese restaurant meal I ever had. No amount of urging, teasing or other enticement could persuade me not to order spare ribs at a Chinese restaurant until I was 18 and left home.)

But, of American BBQ I knew absolutely nothing until I was in my mid-20s, whereupon I ate at Carson's and Leon's a couple of times, but that's it. Didn't really run with a smoked meat crowd.

So here I am at Smokedaddy, bringing virtually nothing to the table, as it were.

All in all a B/B+ experience. Glad to have gone, but not necessarily rushing back.

Dinner was beginning to happen, but not yet humming when we got there and we were seated right away. Lifting my chair by its back to pull it out from the table, the chair back came off in my hand. Replacing it, I banged my thumb a bit. I suppose I should have just handed it to a staff person.

Order was taken quickly and drinks arrived, but we then waited almost 30 min. for any food. Our earnest but somewhat disorganizd server stopped by to assure us it was coming soon, but didn't offer any explanation as to the delay.

We shared the spare rib combo with brisket and pulled pork. Cole slaw, sweet potato fries and greens.

The ribs were easily my favorite of the night. Very meaty, with a great charred, chewy, crunch outer layer. A bit of heat and good meat flavor.

For me, both the pork and brisket seemed a bit overwhelmed by the sauce flavors which were good, but a bit one dimensional and cloyed a bit (which is why I wished fo more meat flavor to come through). I liked the brisket a bit better than the pork, because the pork seemed a bit sweet to me.

I also noticed that while the ribs were nice and hot, both the other meats appeared to have been sitting on the plate waiting for those ribs and were barely above room temp, which may have also accounted for their flavors cloying. These are dishes that, I believe, one really wants to eat hot.

The slaw was good but unexceptional. The sw. pot. fries, better than I expected flavor-wise - I'm not a big sweet potato fan, nicely salted, but a bit limp.

I've only had collared greens made in people's homes. There, there were always long cooked and very soft, with a spicy 'pot likker.' Here, they were barely cooked. A nice bitterness to offset the richness of the meat, but also a bit too tough and chewy in the leaves for my taste. No liquid to speak of. Just some fat glistening on them and a lemon wedge.

Then, 30 sec. after I barely defended my plate from a bisboy, the waiter came by, and as the words, "You about done with those..." were leaving his lips, he had already stacked the dinner plates and I lost the last few bites. After which, it took him over 10 min. to actually pick up my credit card sitting - practically jumping and waving - on the edge of the table.

So breaking out the experience by category: ribs A-, pulled meats B, Service B-.

If you've learned nothing else here about BBQ, remember the mantra "sauce on the side, please". That will help you taste the actual meat in the future.

Hey! Glad you took my suggestion. I usually go to Smokedaddy for ribs. I generally don't like most of the ribs in Chicago (they tend to be WAY too fall-off-the-bone for my taste) and Smokedaddy does them right, in my opinion. If you liked their ribs, I'd suggest you try Fat Willy's on 2414 W. Shubert. Quintessential ribs that do not require sauce--that is the key to a good rib. I've been to so many places in Chicago that peopel say are good--like The Patio or The Pit House in Orland Park and Hickory Hills respectively--that simply drown their ribs in sauce. Yuck.

B/B+ is a fair rating for them. Personally, I'd give 'em a B+/A-. Thanks for giving them a shot!

stevez wrote:If you've learned nothing else here about BBQ, remember the mantra "sauce on the side, please". That will help you taste the actual meat in the future.

I'm going to fly in the face of the LTH BBQ masters and say I don't agree with this. Yes, far too many so-called barbecue houses drown their meat in sauce, covering up mistakes.

But well-made ribs can enhanced by a light glaze of really good sauce brushed on the last few minutes of cooking, cooked on just enough to caramelize the sugars, and that's far better than sauce added afterwards. (And I have eaten Gary Wiviott's exemplary ribs glazed with Gary's sauce, as well as plain, and while both are terrific, I liked the glazed ones best.)

The key is to find a BBQ place that makes them that way. Sometimes ordering "light sauce" works.

I went to Smokedaddy for the first time last Friday. If people were driving in the neighborhood, I don't think they'd notice this place.

I ordered the combo of pulled BBQ and beef. It was served open faced on a piece of white bread, but there was so much BBQ and beef that there was no way to eat it like a sandwich.

All in all, a very good experience. Did Bone Daddy in River West close down? It's been a while since I've been in that area, but for some reason, I remember it closed down when I walked past it.

As a funny side note, I was talking to my friend about a recent trip to Kansas City when ended at a BBQ joint at a gas station. I was describing the place to him (this friend's favorite place in Austin was in a gas station) and the bartender came up to us and said ... "So, how did you like Oklahoma Joe's".

My friend and I were floored. I didn't realize it was THAT good BBQ.

Did Bone Daddy in River West close down?

Yes, in fact I noticed the other day its successor, Zza Zzo, is also closed now.

Easy come, easy go. That area is getting a lot of new money flushed into the neighborhood.

Mike G wrote:

Did Bone Daddy in River West close down?

Yes, in fact I noticed the other day its successor, Zza Zzo, is also closed now.

I live inconveniently near this place. When my husband moved there in 1999, it was the "First ward republican headquarters" which was really a bar. The kind of bar that hosts "fashion shows" occasionally. The kind of fashion shows that feature (very) young women sporting lingerie. That closed when the owner of Twisted Spoke bought the building and opened Bone Daddy. Bone Daddy, though offering a great variety of beers and bourbons as well as generally decent food, usually featured more staff than patrons on any given night. I'm surprised it stayed open as long as it did.

After Bone Daddy closed, Zza Zzo opened up. We thought, nice, a cuban place. It actually turned out to be a club, the kind where different promoters book different nights and the crowds stick around until 4:00 a.m. any night of the week. In the middle of a residential neighborhood. Understaffed valet service, nowhere to put the cars so they end up illegally parked all over, cars blocking ogden, honking, rowdy loud drunks hanging out on the sidewalks, peeing in alleys, etc., all on a typical wednesday night between 2 and 4 a.m. Due to much neighborhood pressure on the alderman and liquor commissioner (or just bad business, who knows) the place changed hands again and was christened "Cream." The new management assured the neighbors it would not be a club, but rather would be a "classy" place for people to go and have food and drinks. On its first night open, someone was shot just inside the front door. Did I say first night? I meant last.

Now, we have "Players--where the game begins." It appears to be related to the Players on Ashland, just north of Fullerton. So far, no late night disturbances. It appears to attract a white baseball hat kind of crowd, similar to that "Irish" place on Noble and Erie, whose name escapes me. I am not holding out much hope for the food. Or the place's longevity.

Kristen

The place is big enough to hold a good number of people for a small concert -- suprised they haven't gone down the route of Schubas.

Just a quick SmokeDaddy note: going on 6-7 years ago I used to enjoy their beef brisket sandwich and peppery slaw(the spicy bbq sauce on the side). As I understand it they changed management about 2 years ago and haven't been the same since. I've eaten there twice since changeover and found my usuals decidedly lackluster; mealy and bland to overly- sweet. The once crispy, salty fries are an uninteresting glop. Service was worse, even the menu design's changed.

Christopher Gordon wrote:Just a quick SmokeDaddy note: going on 6-7 years ago I used to enjoy their beef brisket sandwich and peppery slaw(the spicy bbq sauce on the side). As I understand it they changed management about 2 years ago and haven't been the same since. I've eaten there twice since changeover and found my usuals decidedly lackluster; mealy and bland to overly- sweet. The once crispy, salty fries are an uninteresting glop. Service was worse, even the menu design's changed.

Totally agree. 2 years ago it was great, the last 2 times have totally sucked so we stopped going. Fat willy's & Calvin's are places that we visit now!

They changed owners about three years agho, a then again about three months ago. The people who brouth you Dunlay's on Clark, D.O.C., and Dunlay's on the Square now own it.

Player's Bar and Grill

From today's Sun Times. Is it me or does this read like it was taken verbatim from a press release? "The rumor is..." I would bet my lunch money that rumor was first whispered by Player's publicist. Grumble.