We were in Chitown last week, and I wanted to eat at Smoque. So, Me and Mrs and my sis and her husband headed over to Pulaski St!
And, oh my goodness. I have a new standard to shoot for.
The restaurant has a great bbq look and feel to it. You go to the register, order your food, and it gets brought to your table. We all ordered brisket, and a rack of ribs to share, along with cole slaws, beans, mac & cheese, fries, and desserts of peach cobbler and pecan bread pudding.
Now, I make good brisket. I've been to places that serve brisket, and mine is as good as theirs. It's better than many, not as good as some, but in general, I can stand next to my brisket and serve it with confidence.
The brisket at Smoque makes mine taste like lunch meat. Like cheap baloney. And I mean that. The brisket at Smoque is an order of magnitude better than mine. I like bbq sauce. I like meat without sauce, but I like sauce, too, and the two together, well it's usually pretty good. But this brisket was so good, I didn't even think about putting sauce on it. It was like prime rib brisket, so tender, so moist, so beautiful in taste and mouth feel. Mrs and I have eaten at some pretty amazing restaurants over our almost 30 years together; this ranks right up there with CUT at The Palazzo in Las Vegas, with Brown's Beach House in Hawaii, with SW at The Wynn, with just about anything I can remember.
The ribs were excellent, mine come pretty close though (following the AR recipe with some tweaks). The sides were, how can I say it? Fun. The mac & cheese was super cheesy, the beans had big chunks of meat and flavor, the cole slaw was vinegary, not milky (I liked it that way, Mrs did not). The fries were really good. The desserts, we were already stuffed but we forced them down anyhow. The bread pudding was absolutely great. The peach cobbler was also absolutely great. We're glad we had them, at the cost of feeling downright Thanksgiving'd out!
I haven't eaten brisket in Texas, but my opinion is that ranking art is insulting to the artists, and demeans the artistic process. So it can't be compared to Texas brisket. This is damn good food, and if you're in Chicago you gotta try it.
And, oh my goodness. I have a new standard to shoot for.
The restaurant has a great bbq look and feel to it. You go to the register, order your food, and it gets brought to your table. We all ordered brisket, and a rack of ribs to share, along with cole slaws, beans, mac & cheese, fries, and desserts of peach cobbler and pecan bread pudding.
Now, I make good brisket. I've been to places that serve brisket, and mine is as good as theirs. It's better than many, not as good as some, but in general, I can stand next to my brisket and serve it with confidence.
The brisket at Smoque makes mine taste like lunch meat. Like cheap baloney. And I mean that. The brisket at Smoque is an order of magnitude better than mine. I like bbq sauce. I like meat without sauce, but I like sauce, too, and the two together, well it's usually pretty good. But this brisket was so good, I didn't even think about putting sauce on it. It was like prime rib brisket, so tender, so moist, so beautiful in taste and mouth feel. Mrs and I have eaten at some pretty amazing restaurants over our almost 30 years together; this ranks right up there with CUT at The Palazzo in Las Vegas, with Brown's Beach House in Hawaii, with SW at The Wynn, with just about anything I can remember.
The ribs were excellent, mine come pretty close though (following the AR recipe with some tweaks). The sides were, how can I say it? Fun. The mac & cheese was super cheesy, the beans had big chunks of meat and flavor, the cole slaw was vinegary, not milky (I liked it that way, Mrs did not). The fries were really good. The desserts, we were already stuffed but we forced them down anyhow. The bread pudding was absolutely great. The peach cobbler was also absolutely great. We're glad we had them, at the cost of feeling downright Thanksgiving'd out!
I haven't eaten brisket in Texas, but my opinion is that ranking art is insulting to the artists, and demeans the artistic process. So it can't be compared to Texas brisket. This is damn good food, and if you're in Chicago you gotta try it.
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