Over the weekend a few of us from BlogNQue went to Chicago to watch the Cubs play the tail spinning Cardinals. It was pure luck that the Cubs clinched the division on Saturday which made the trip even more fun. If the police are on ATV’s in Wrigleyville, you know good times are to be had. “Go Cubs go…”

Earlier that day we decided to make the trek to Smoque BBQ, a restaurant in the Chicago suburbs. Since we were staying in North Shore (Downtown) we took the Red Line, transferred to the Blue at Jackson, and made our way to Irving Park. Unfortunately Irving Park was close so we had to get off at Addison.

After ten blocks or so John (non-BlogNQue) tells us that “we should be hitting Addison soon”. Unfortunately we were on Addison. We turned around, stopped off at a Dunkin’ D’s to cool off, and made our way to Smoque.

The atmosphere inside is simple with concrete floors and rustic walls. Just roll up to the counter, order and take a seat. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich, slaw, and fried. I convinced Matt to hand over a slice of brisket as well.

Overall the food was good. Another way to describe it would be inoffensive. The sauce was a finishing sauce and very thin. Not much flavor going on here, slightly sweet apple cider vinegar taste. Effervescent even? The slaw was vinegar based which counts me out so no comment here. The meat itself was cooked well. The pork was pulled perfectly but lacked a ring. The bark was minimal and on the flavorless side. Also if you like the taste of smoke, there isn’t much going on in this meat. The brisket was OK, again a little boring.

The others with me wished they had a few more types of sauces to choose from. I would have preferred a hotter version and others wanted a Midwest sweet sauce or mustard.

Smoque however is not a bad restaurant, just safe. I would still recommend it to the casual BBQ fan. They have superb service and manage to get a lot of plates out quickly.

Filed under: Restaurants by Ol'Dangerous