Step in the door and check out the menu before you step in line, the menu is pretty big so you may be there a while! After a few minutes I have decided on a relative smorgasbord of food! First up are the pulled pork nachos. Crisp tortilla chips topped with tender pulled pork, nacho cheese, and some hot and smoky BBQ sauce are good enough to share or big enough for a meal. The pork is tender without being mushy and has a wonderful smoke flavor. Definitely a must try!
Smokehouse combo #2 gives me a huge plate filled with ribs, brisket, and even more pulled pork. A major difference between Texas barbeque and what most of us are used to in Chicago is the sauce. Sauce is often served on the side here, and when it is on top of your meat, it is used sparingly to allow the smoke to shine through. Ribs are first and they are not the fall off the bone “Jell-O” ribs that we are accustomed to (those are still tasty). Instead they are tender bite off the bone ribs with a distinct smoke ring. For the novice, the smoke ring is a pink ring around the outer layer of your meat. It is not undercooked or raw! This pink ring is where the flavor is at and a true sign of good barbeque.
Brisket is something many of us have never ordered. If done wrong brisket is tough, chewy, and pretty darn bad. When smoked low and slow, you get a tender piece of meat that gently pulls apart with your fingers and is down right delicious! They do it right! The hickory flavor comes through wonderfully and pulls apart with ease. Since we already covered the pulled pork let’s move on to smoked sausage. Smoking sausage over hickory is one of the best things to happen to sausage since the casing itself! You can dip it in sauce if you’d like, but I say just eat it straight up and revel in the layers of smoke flavor.
We have to talk sides and boy do they have a tough act to follow. While solid, the sides do suffer a bit due to how good the main dishes are. Macaroni and cheese is fairly straight forward but not outstanding. The Texas chili had a nice flavor, bit may be a bit thin for Chicagoans taste buds. Lastly the corn bread has a nice hint of sweetness, but is very dense and can fill you up way too quickly.
Last stop is some cobbler for dessert. Peach and blackberry were chosen and both were very tasty. The peach has the edge due to the tender but not mushy peaches and just the right amount of sweetness.
Dinner for two will range from about $20-30, but includes a lot of food! Folks looking for a departure from the normal Chicago barbeque scene, will find that the drive to Glendale Heights is worth the trip. Rating **** out of *****.
Location
2130 Bloomingdale Rd
Glandale Heights, IL 60139
