Honey 1 BBQ [Wood Smoked BBQ]

Certificate as awarded to Honey 1 BBQ following this nomination.

LTH,

It's my pleasure to submit Honey 1 BBQ as a LTHForum.com Great Neighborhood Restaurant nominee.

Robert Adams is a man in tune with his BBQ pit, a steel and tempered glass Chicago style 'Aquarium', producing the Best commercial BBQ this side of Llano Texas. Mr. Adams spare ribs are the perfect marriage of wood smoke and pork with just the right amount of chew, toothsome, but never tough, moist flavorful meat, fat-is-flavor taste and a lightly crisp exterior.

Hot links speak with authority, spicy, some say uncompromisingly, but with a full dimension of taste, not simply heat. Natural casing, always juicy, perfect light lunch wrapped in a slice of, the ubiquitous BBQ accompaniment, white bread and a light drizzle of Honey 1's terrific sauce. An even better way, if possible, to enjoy hot links is combined with rib tips, a BBQ marriage made in heaven. Honey 1's rib tips are wonderful, meaty, with a nice crisp, caramelized exterior and plenty of succulent meat to gnaw.

Fried okra is quite good and the fries, always ask for them crisp are the perfect BBQ foil. I'm a newly converted fan of H1's chicken wings. Breaded in-house, crisp, meaty and juicy, really quite good. Be careful though, the wings come straight from the fryer and can be extremely hot.

Honey 1 is entwined in the LTHForum community, being a favorite of many since they were located on W Division Street. Honey 1 has also been the scene of many an impromptu LTHForum lunch, and a number of organized events as well.

Robert Adams Sr. exudes sincerity, friendliness and charm from every pore in his body, not to mention a goodly amount of wood smoke. He and his son Robert Jr., who mans the front of the house with equal parts of graciousness and efficiency, make Honey 1 much more than simply a BBQ joint, they make it a Great Neighborhood Restaurant.

Gigantic Honey 1 thread with 157 replies and over 15,000 views. (15, 000 views!!)
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=30811#30811

Roller Derby and BBQ
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=46780#46780

Less enthusiastic.
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=52424#52424

In summary, Honey 1 BBQ is a clean, comfortable, friendly, family run, Robert Sr's grandchildren often help out on the weekends, BBQ restaurant with absolutely terrific food.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Enjoy,
Gary
Honey 1 BBQ
2241 N Western
Chicago, IL
773-227-5130

Gary,

It's my privilege, honor, and pleasure to second your nomination.

Robert Adams ribs and tips are my current favorite on a very short Chicago list (um . . . like two), and his hot links keep me from pining too much for East and Central Texas. Honey 1 is easily in my pantheon of the BBQ that I've had anywhere in the BBQ belt (TX, KC, Memphis, the Carolinas).

If only, someday, he'd drop the burgers and add brisket and pork shoulders . . . . I'd figure that I'd arrived in heaven.

Plus, it's healthy food. I subsist mainly on beef, pork, and cheese (and lots of fried stuff). My latest blood test (a week ago) shows this:

Chol: 140 (desired <200)
HDL (good chol): 81 (desired >50)
LDL (bad chol): 51 (desired <130)
Chol/HDL ratio: 1.7 (desired <2.6)

Go on the Honey 1 diet.

Cheers,
Wade

I had no idea my thread had so many views I will absolutely third this nomination. I do bnleieve that is the most successful posting I've ever had!

Honey1 is in my humble opinion the best BBQ in Chicago. Taste, texture, value, everything comes together. The wings are far and away the best I've ever had and I do love the sauce.

Honey 1. What's not to like? I've never met a man who loves his work more than Robert Adams. It shows in the finished product.

Authentic, smoky, beautiful meat. I would like to reaffirm the nomination.

G Wiv wrote:Hot links speak with authority, spicy, some say uncompromisingly, but with a full dimension of taste, not simply heat. Natural casing, always juicy, perfect light lunch wrapped in a slice of, the ubiquitous BBQ accompaniment, white bread and a light drizzle of Honey 1's terrific sauce.

Only on LTHForum would a sausage sandwich be lauded as a "light lunch."

If Honey 1 were not nominated, that omission would call into question the validity of the GNR program.

Hammond

Honey 1 is the perfect kind of place for a GNR.

To wit:
1) The food is just plain terrific.
2) Mr. Adams loves what he does.
3) Mr. Adams gives serious consideration to the quality of his product, without cutting corners.
4) Honey 1 has seriously captured the attention and respect of this forum.

Excellent nomination, Gary.

Best,
Michael

Let it be known that while Honey1 is well-regarded among us, it is fast gaining adherents among non-LTH folk. Sunday, in a bit of serendipity, I ran into friends I had not seen in months, and they RAVED about their new discovery: Honey1 BBQ. In the wide world of research, it might therefore be said that LTH-ers' findings have been replicated elsewhere. But then, it may not be just to call Honey1's excellence a hypothesis.

Since no one else has chimed in - let me be the first to say this place continues to be clearly in the top echelon of Chicago barbecue. By far the best north of Madison, and it holds its own with the best of the south, too.

An easy renewal.

Had lunch at Honey 1 last week and it was just glorious, as it usually is . . .


Large tips and links combo



Slab of ribs



1 delectable rib


I heartily endorse Honey 1 for GNR renewal.

=R=

For my tastes, the most serious "q" in town. To me, Robert is the John Coltrane of tips and links.

Please renew.

yeah, h1 kicks ass. better than ever.

Honey 1 has to be one of the biggest no brainers for renewal of any on the list. So yes, renew Honey 1.

Top notch ribs, tips, and hot links & BYOB..., what more can you ask for. My favorite BBQ in Chicagoland.

If I may pile on...

With the caveats that I am still but a wee BBQ initiate, I have yet to hit the south side faves, and I (sadly) haven't set foot in Honey 1 since our departure in late June, I'd also like to throw my support behind Honey 1's renewal. I've already hit four different BBQ places in the greater Baltimore area seeking to satisfy my tips and links craving, and it just ain't happening. Honey 1 probably makes my top five for Chicago restaurants I miss most.

LTHForum,

As original nominator for Honey 1's Great Neighborhood Restaurant award please allow me to voice my strong support for renewal. Pitmaster Robert Adams Sr is an artist whose medium is wood smoke and meat and Honey 1 is but one of two BBQ joints in Chicago using straight wood.

I have been numerous times since nominating and quality of BBQ, friendliness of Robert Sr, Jr and extended family are always consistently excellent.

Enjoy,
Gary

I want to join the chorus in support of the renewal of Honey 1. Honey 1 is part of a vanishing breed of real wood fueled BBQ palaces in Chicago. None of the "new kids" cook this way and for that reason alone (not to mention what are to my taste the best tips in town), Honey 1 deserves to be recognized once again by LTH Forum.

Just out of curiosity, what do the other places use besides wood?

teatpuller wrote:Just out of curiosity, what do the other places use besides wood?

Correct me if I'm wrong, Wiv, but I believe the other setups are essentially electric ovens with smokeboxes.

Dmnkly wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong, Wiv, but I believe the other setups are essentially electric ovens with smokeboxes.

Dom,

Basically correct, the majority of Chicagoland BBQ joints smokers are gas ovens containing electric powered carousels with an off-set smoke box. The smoke box typically contains a wood log that's intermittently struck by a jet of flame producing smoke which is then drawn into the main cooking chamber.

Uncle John's BBQ is the only other Chicago BBQ joint, aside from Honey 1, using straight (100%) wood with both Barbara Ann's and Lem's using a mix of charcoal and wood.

Example of smoke box flame off


Example of smoke box flame on


Enjoy,
Gary

Neither is my favorite, certainly, but at discrete moments of time* at least Ribs 'N Bibs on 53rd street in Hyde Park and Smokin M's in Forest Park claimed to have been using exclusively wood-burning "aquarium" smokers. Whether they have now gone to a mix of wood and charcoal, gas, napalm, thermite, etc., I'm not sure. The existence of other neighborhood BBQ joints on Chicago's South and West sides that are not covered on our board makes Gary's interesting statement true only for what we know, that is, what is covered on LTHForum, and in Chicago proper, as opposed to the outlying area.

*tour of Ribs 'N Bibs in 1997 before their first recent fire (of at least three shop-closing blazes in the past ten years), tour of Smokin M's on January 22, 2008. In both cases, the fuel supply and currently-stoked operation was visually demonstrated to be all-wood, with unequivocal claims from the pitmasters, take their word or leave it.

I present these anecdotes not as a challenge to The Wiv's Honey-1 endorsement, which I support (while preferring Uncle John's, Smoque, and even Lem's, there is room for multiple GNRs in this category), but rather to discourage an all-wood fuel supply as a GNR criterion. I suspect that even at the shrines we have created from some of the humblecues, what's burning may vary with the market and season, and I also believe that personal response to the finished product, however cooked, should be the first factor in the "food" component of what makes a restaurant great. I recognize that there is, and will continue to be, vigorous debate on the subject.

Santander wrote:makes Gary's interesting statement true only for what we know, that is, what is covered on LTHForum, and in Chicago proper, as opposed to the outlying area.

My statement about wood burning BBQ joints is limited to what I know from personal experience.

Though, having participated in the BBQ section of The Slow Food Guide to Chicago where, along with Rene G, Joel Smith and a rotating cast of BBQ lovers, we hit dozens of Chicagoland BBQ joints, in addition to my own explorations, I'd venture to say I've been up close and personal with more Chicagoland BBQ pits than most.

Santander wrote:but rather to discourage an all-wood fuel supply as a GNR criterion.

As Smoque as well as Barbara Ann's currently have LTHForum GNRs an all wood criterion is, obviously, not a mandatory requirement.

Enjoy,
Gary

Santander wrote:
but rather to discourage an all-wood fuel supply as a GNR criterion.

As Smoque as well as Barbara Ann's currently have LTHForum GNRs an all wood criterion is, obviously, not a mandatory requirement.

Agreed. I intended "as a GNR criterion for Honey-1."

Santander wrote:Agreed. I intended "as a GNR criterion for Honey-1."

Matt,

Not "criterion" but the fact Honey 1 uses traditional methods played a part in my nomination as did the sincerity, charm and enthusiasm of Robert Adams as well as my deep appreciation for Honey 1's BBQ.

Resonate is a word I often use when discussing the LTHForum GNRs, a place needs to resonate deeply with the person nominating for them to offer up to the entire group a favorite place to be discussed, dissected and generally viewed under a microscope. Obviously this holistic approach, resonate, is not based on single factors.

So yes, absolutely, Honey 1 following more traditional methods in the face of a sea of mechanical Q plays a part in my fondness, I only wish Robert Adams had more company in his adherence to soon to be lost foodways, and not simply BBQ. Puts me in mind of a quote by Rob Walsh, a Houston based food writer of some note who is involved with the Southern Foodways Alliance

"There's not much point in complaining about high-tech barbecue. It serves a purpose, and it's here to stay. And no doubt the quality of it will keep on improving. But as the old barbecue joints slowly disappear, each one that remains becomes a bigger treasure."

Enjoy,
Gary

Honey 1 in my opinion is a no brainer to be renewed.

By far my favorite bbq spot in Chicago, and pretty much the only place in Chicago I will pay for someone elses bbq nowdays vs eating mine. Tips, links, spares, wings. I enjoy what they do @ Honey 1.

Although I find their ribs inconsistent, I've never been disappointed with the tips and links combo. It is one of my very favorite dishes in the entire city. We're it not so unhealthy, I'd be eating it weekly instead of trying to pretend that Honey 1 isn't just 1 1/2 miles from my front door. The combo makes for great takeout, arriving home still piping hot, but having just enough time for the fries to soak up some of the bbq sauce. No matter which size combo we order, we usually find a way to finish every bite.

I support this renewal.

Ronna

I support renewal.

Tip & link combo today was spot-on. BA's hot links are still the best I've had, but Honey 1's aren't too far off. Tips are competing for my favorite. One of the kings of North Side BBQ, we're lucky to have it.

Was there 2 days ago. Still on top of their game. Glad it's a half hour drive for me or I'd weigh 400 pounds.

Honey 1's rib tips made this year's Super Bowl party - I'm still getting props, and all I did was call in the order on behalf of the party's host

I've only had Honey 1's tips & links, but they are both things of beauty. The friendly folks that run the joint are (a very welcome & appreciated) icing on the cake.

Definitely in favor of renewal!

LTH,

Its long been my contention that at least a mile in either direction of 2241 N Western Ave should be renamed Robert Adams Sr. Ave.

I am solidly for renewal.

Honey 1 BBQ, count me a fan!

Enjoy,
Gary