BBQ

Is Another BBQ Wave in the Works?

Remember 2010, when a new barbecue place seemed to be opening every other week? Most of those places are still around and still pretty good (or better than they were when they opened, as BBQ places tend to get), but we couldn’t have named a new place that opened in the next year or so after that wave. Until now; earlier in the year we had Big Bricks open with its Oyler smokers, a common type down south but previously unknown here, which Mike Sula wrote about here. Then there was Dragon Ranch Moonshine & BBQ in River North. And now we’ve got two more spots in Wrigleyville, which, being adjacent to a sports venue as you may have heard, would seem overdue for Q.

First up, Jack (Daniel) Jones, of Jack’s on Halsted and other spots over the years, has opened Wrigley BBQ at 3555 N. Broadway, serving ribs, chicken, pork and brisket from a Southern Pride cooker (the same kind as Smoque). Besides BBQ, it offers grassfed beef burgers and even a veggie burger, promising “complex flavors” given the chef’s past career. Hey, if he can do half as well with a casual concept as one of his long-ago line cooks… “Hot Doug” Sohn. [Dish]

A Southern Pride will also be in the kitchen at a new place coming from the owners of Wrigleyville stalwarts Chen’s and John Barleycorn in a vast space including part of the Chen’s space at 3506 N. Clark, but there will also be a robata grill and, one assumes, grilling tables, since the plan is to simultaneously offer American, Chinese and Korean barbecue. (But wait, the robata grill is Japanese.) It’s set to open next summer. [Dish]

Is Another BBQ Wave in the Works?