Burnt Ends at Bub City

This resurrected concept from Team Melman and Lettuce Entertain You used to sit on Weed Street, in Lincoln Park in the late 80s (I fondly recall eating a mess of crawdads on a ream of newspaper after an Oingo Boingo concert at Metro in ’88). But the trend of slow-smoking pork and brisket was too much to ignore, and so, a few months ago, Bub City re-emerged as a River North honky-tonk, complete with live music, bourbon on tap and soon, a basement tiki bar called Three Dots and a Dash.

The barbecue here is pretty solid – not exactly Smoque or Lilly’s Q (the latter, by the way, still recovering from a fire, but they’re selling a limited menu at the French Market downtown) – but not bad either. They’ve added a few things like pastrami, as well as one of my favorites from Kansas City: burnt ends. Typically cut from the end of the brisket, they are super fatty, but benefit from a few more hours in the smoker. Bub City actually re-rubs them before hitting the smoker again; I’m not sure they need it. Either way, these smoky, earthy, fatty bites are among the tastiest options in Lettuce’s River North portfolio.

Fine videography as always, courtesy Todd Rosenberg Photography (@toddrphoto)