A Tale of Three Barbeques

That’s Right. Three BBQ’s. Three Cities. Here we go…

The first BBQ stop was at Smoque BBQ in Chicago. On a Saturday night in brisk April, there was a line out the door. That’s when I knew that we were in the right place. The wait wasn’t too bad, after playing a few games of yahtzee on my phone, we were closer and closer to the delicious smells of smoked barbeque. Joe and I split a full slab of ribs, St. Louis Style with sides of cornbread, mac and cheese, baked beans, and coleslaw. Smoque uses a Memphis-style dry rub to form a savory crust. They smoke the slabs over apple and oak, and finish them with a semi-sweet BBQ sauce to complement the spicy rub and smoky meat. {excerpt found here}  It was heavenly.

Visit Smoque
3800 N Pulaski Chicago, IL
773-545-7427

 

On our recent road trip down south, one of the stops was Colombia, Missouri to visit some old friends. The only request that we was to find some good old fashioned Missouri Barbeque. And… wow, did they show us.

Located in a small, country town outside of Columbia, Missouri lies Lonnie Rays BBQ. Sitting down in a booth of the one room BBQ shack, I knew that we were going to have an amazing authentic experience. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich- Kansas City Style -in which the coleslaw is put right on top of the pork. It came with a side of sweet potato fries that were covered in butter and loaded with brown sugar. I have tried to make this myself, but I still can’t seem to perfect that experience. I still dream about this meal.  

Drop everything this instant, and head to Harrisburg, Missouri.  You’ll be in for a treat. Just make sure you get there before everything is sold out, that’s when they close for the day!

Visit Lonnie Rays
81 E Sexton St, Harrisburg, MO.
1 (573) 874-0020

 

Recently I visited my family who lives outside of Detroit. I was very adamant that we make sure to stop by Slows BBQ in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit. I had heard of Slows from various magazines and blogs and was very intrigued about the hype of this place. And, it did live up to it!  When we sat down at our table we were presented with five different bottles of house made barbeque sauce. Always a good sign…

I ordered my standby, the pulled pork sandwich. Although, everything else on the menu was extremely tempting. It was delicious. Served “Kansas city Style” like Lonnie Rays with coleslaw on top, it was especially fun to try all of the different sauces. We also ordered a side of waffle fries with cheddar. Now how can that possibly be bad? My mouth is watering just thinking about it. The location is also something to note. Detroit is a city of flux. Many changes have happened over the years, many of them incredibly unfortunate, but there are great things happening in this upcoming neighborhood of Corktown. More on that later…

Visit Slows BAR BQ
2138 Michigan Avenue, Detroit, MI
313 962 9828

 

Photos & Design © Orange Marigold