LTHForum.com

If ever there was an 80 MPH fastball down the middle, slam dunk, 1st and Goal on the 1, empty netter for a GNR, it's Uncle John's BBQ. It may be a little redundant to nominate UJ's, since Barbara Ann's has already won the award, but Uncle John's has become a towering BBQ presence in its own right since it opened last year.

For my money, the finest BBQ in town, always served with fries, white bread, and a smile.

So it is with great pleasure that I accept G Wiv's blessing to nominate Uncle Johns BBQ for the GNR award.

Uncle John's BBQ
337 E 69th Street
Chicago, IL 60619
773-892-1233
Closed Sunday

Driving past perhaps the least appetizing fast food mural ever, my associate and I arrived at Uncle John's BBQ today, in its location on a just-slightly-nicer-than-desolate stretch of 69th street, parking on a street probably scraped for resurfacing in the Eugene Sawyer administration.

Inside it was amusing to see that the bulletproofed interior had been tagged by the Dolinsky and Time Out gangs. We ordered a combo and my associate, having charmed the female of the staff, was presented with a complimentary bag of chips. Mack, looking dapper in a new goatee, posed for pictures by his aquarium smoker:



We took our combo to my customary spot for eating southside rib tips and links, the grounds around Lorado Taft's masterpiece.



Yes, I forgot to tell them sauce on the side again, so sue me. And even a mix of hot and mild is screamingly hot by the third or fourth tip. Be warned.

But the meat? Accented with a taste of smoke that is gentle yet profound, the tips were as meaty and flavorful as any I've ever had, while the hot link, even slightly overdone as these were, is one of the most complex and multidimensional sausages in a great sausage town-- part breakfast (with the discernable sage profile), part all-night party (with the hot red pepper), and all smoky porkiness.

Uncle John's, or more accurately Mack, its fabled pitmaster, packs big flavor into a small smoker and a building that's not much bigger. He's a Chicago treasure.

Can I get a Hell Yeah!!

Happy to lend my voice in support of an Uncle John's GNR!

Got a chorus of hell yeahs at a family gathering out in Woodstock this past weekend when I cooked up a case of Mack's hot links with a jar of his mild sauce.
Although it broke my heart to have to cook em on a gas(p) grill

Unique? Lovable? Special?

You bet.

Uncle John's is what GNRs are all about.

Best,
Michael

I support the nomination for Uncle John's without hesitation. It is my favorite BBQ spot in the City.

Great food, great service.

I just (3 PM) went down there on a late lunch and was knocked out by the delicious tips and links. I also forgot to ask for sauce on the side but barely cared. Even in a dress shirt, this is the kind of BBQ that just demands you dig in with both hands.

"LTHer, I presume" moment: I was carrying two pounds of beef and pork out the door while holding a hiking pole (bum knee). You were wearing a polo shirt, and Mack himself admired your motorcycle outside but told you to either bring it in the store or leave it immediately outside of the door where you could see it next time. LTHer? How was the 'cue?

This visit crystallized the GNR for me. I say, roll with it.

Uncle John's is the Real Deal. Fully deserving of a GNR.

Uncle John's is one of the reasons I keep moving further and further south.

Even when the rib tips have more crunch than I prefer, they're full of flavor. The hot links are my favorite in the city, and I like the chicken, too. Unfortunately, when I was there last week, they were out of cake, so I didn't get to try the lemon cake (not house-made).

LTH,

After an enjoyable meal at GNR nominee Seoul Corea we decided to double up on GNR nominees so five of us headed to Uncle John's.

Wafts of wood smoke kissed air greeted us soon as we got out of our cars (is there a better smell than BBQ cooking over wood) and Mack was working his magic on the Aquarium style pit.

Ever genial, Mack let us back into the pit area for a picture or three.

Nelson, Nelson, Mack, Colleen/Crrush, Chris, Matt/Santander.


Chris, Matt


We took our BBQ bounty to a quiet neighborhood bar on 18th just east of the highway Chris and Colleen knew and dug in to some the best, least compromising, BBQ in the city of Chicago.

Tip Link combo



Tip Link and fried chicken


Matt, braver man than I, tried a Budweiser brewed Chelada, aka Michelada in a can.


I'd think it's pretty obvious from my unabashed love of Uncle John's, but to me Uncle John's is a Rock Solid LTHForum GNR.

Enjoy,
Gary

This restaurant is currently up for GNR renewal. Please post your comments below.

Thanks,

=R=
for the GNRs

Being the nominator of two GNRs has been the greatest privilege of my LTH membership. I don't get to UJ's nearly as often as I'd like to, but each visit there reaffirms its greatness for me. Mack's expertise with the smoker is outpaced only by his kindness and good humor.

Somewhere in a recent thread on a different restaurant, there was some back and forth about "top tier" GNRs and whether there was such a thing. I don't have any empirical evidence to back this up, but my gut tells me that if the moderators had to choose 10 places for a GNR Hall of Fame that Uncle John's would be a first-ballot honoree. So, as if it weren't obvious enough, I strongly endorse Uncle John's for GNR renewal.

Since I see only one post for a renewal, I'll chime in. This one is a no brainer for me. UJ's is my top spot by a wide, wide margin, and I live a stone's throw away from two aquarium smoker joints. Whenever I go to almost any other Chicago Q joint, the inevitable letdown will ALWAYS lead me back to Uncle John's for therapy.

There may be only one (now two) posts for renewal here in this thread, but Uncle John's gets oft mentioned elsewhere on LTH Forum. I doubt Mack has to worry very much about his renewal. Uncle John's rates GNR renewal for sure (OK, now that's 3 posts in this thread).

More on Uncle John's here and here

Make that 5 posts for renewal, then. The best bbq in the city, bar none, IMHO. The tips and links, in particular, are on a different level than any other place in the city.

And of how many places anywhere can it be said that the restaurant that serves the best food of its kind in the city is also maybe the best *value* for that food in the city, price-wise? The jumbo tip-link combo is not on the best tip-link combo by a wide margin in the city, it is by far the best value in the city too, with the most amount of meat-per-dollar (Id wager nearly twice the *amount* of food per dollar compared to other worthy bbq spots - like Honey1, Smoque, or even Hecky's). And on Mondays and Tuesdays the value gets even bigger - with a half-tray of tip-links available at a ridiculously low cost. Uncle John's BBQ is the epitome, the very definition of what a Great Neighbourhood Restaurant should be.

c8w

I agree with you that the links are without peer, but I think the tips are about on par with Honey One. I think on the best day for both, UJ's will win, but Honey 1 is more consistent and their worst product is light years better than the worst product I've had from UJ's (including a couple batches of tips that I had to toss, and one batch of links that I had to toss, all underdone).

A definite GNR repeat. When they are on, the tips are the best in town, and it may not be close. Mack is a treasure as well. Even the times where they weren't on the top of their game they were about even with Lems and that isn't too bad.