Chicago: Uncle John's Barbecue

Apparently there's been awesome barbecue in my backyard all this time and I just never knew.  With a month left before I peace out of Chicago, CK and I took a little trip into the South Side to Uncle John's:

Purely a carry-out operation at Uncle John's.  There's a window to place your order and a turnstile to pick it up:

If you think Harold's in Hyde Park is janky, think again.  Needless to say, as two little Asian girls, CK and I stuck out like a sore thumb.

Don't be scared off though!  The lady behind the bulletproof glass was very friendly.  If that isn't enough to entice you to the South Side, Uncle John's is also one of the few places in Chicago that has an aquarium smoker:

I'm not a barbecue fanatic, but from what I've heard, aquarium smokers are very much a Chicago barbecue thing.  I'm not sure what makes a Chicago-style aquarium smoker special, but I do know that everything was DELICIOUS.

CK and I are well aware of our own limitations (though it may not often seem that way).  Despite knowing that we would not be able to finish everything, we made the conscious decision to order a ton of food.  Who knew when we would have the chance to return?

We got a half slab of ribs:

And a combo of hot links and rib tips:

Holy moly.  That's a lot of meat for $9.50 each.  Everything was drowned in a wonderful barbecue sauce, including the fries at the bottom of each box.  I could have just eaten fries with that barbecue sauce all night.  Both came with white bread and cole slaw for mini-sandwich awesomeness.

My favorite turned out to be the hot links, surprisingly:

Slightly spicy and uber flavorful.

So many hidden gems in the South Side that I've yet to discover, but I'm glad we managed to find Uncle John's.

Less than a week left in Chicago!


Uncle John's Barbecue
339 E 69th St
Chicago, IL 60619
(773) 892-1233