A thank you to Road Tips reader Peter Lawrence who suggested that I try the third of the three Clean Plate Club restaurants, Merle's #1 Barbecue in downtown Evanston (see map). The other two restaurants under the Clean Plate Club umbrella - Davis Street Fishmarket and Pete Millers - I've already visited and have written entries about them. You can find the entry on Davis Street Fishmarket here and the one on Pete Miller's here. Both those restaurants were very good, so I went to Merle's with great anticipation.
Merle's #1 Barbecue has been in business for nearly 20 years, first opening their doors in 1992 near the Northwestern University campus. Merle's prides themselves on cooking their barbecue "low and slow", just as barbecue was meant to be. Merle's menu features a number of appetizers, burgers, barbecue sandwiches, and wings that feature four different types of sauces - traditional Buffalo, barbecue, a combo of both or the "Light My Fire" ultra-hot wing sauce. But their barbecue entrees are what people have been coming to Merle's for for years. They feature Texas-style brisket, North Carolina pork, St. Louis-style ribs (either with barbecue sauce or dry rubbed), and barbecued chicken entrees. Merle's features two different kinds of sauce - a vinegar-based Texas-style sauce that had a smoky taste with a bit of a bite of jalapenos, and a sweet and mildly spicy Chicago-style.
It was a short walk from my hotel to Merle's on a cool evening with the wind coming in off of Lake Michigan. I sat at the bar as there was a wait to get into the sort of rustic looking dining area. The night I was there, Merle's #1 Barbecue offers "all-you-can-eat" wings for $4.50 from 8 to 10 p.m. They also feature an on-going special of Schlitz in 16 oz. cans for $2 bucks. A large number of Northwestern students were there enjoying the wings special. That's all right, I was probably going to just sit at the bar anyway. (Photo courtesy of Planet99.com)
I looked through the menu after I got a beer and I wanted to give the ribs and the brisket a try. They had a ribs and meat combo for $18.95. I got the dry-rubbed St. Louis-style ribs. She asked if I wanted them to "fall off the bone". No! I saw on the menu that they had "fall off the bone" ribs and that more than likely means they parboiled them before they put them in the smoker or on the grill. That's cheating in my book, and it kills the taste of the meat.
Two sides came with the combo entree - I got their baked beans (a must for any barbecue place) and I thought about their cole slaw, but went with the mac-n-cheese instead. I asked the bartender if I could get extra barbecue sauce on the side and she reached down below the bar and pulled out two Corona beer bottles - one with the Texas-style sauce and the other with the Chicago-style sauce with dispenser spouts on them and put them on the bar in front of me. I looked at them and said, "Huh! Now, this is rather ingenious! What a great way to store barbecue sauce!"
But I found out later on how they were able to use beer bottles with dispenser caps on the top.
When the bartender brought my barbecue entree out to me, I was sort of taken back by the sizes of the sides and how small of a portion of brisket that I got. While the sides were served in two pretty good sized bowls - neither of which I'd be able to finish - there was only three slices of brisket and about six ribs, primarily from the end of the row of ribs.
The brisket came with the spicy Texas-style sauce - well, it was supposed to be spicy. I didn't think it was. I took the beer bottle full of the Texas sauce and poured some more on the brisket. It was thin and runny - no wonder they could serve it in a beer bottle. The Chicago sauce - billed to be "sticky sweet" - was almost as runny and not too sweet. Both were completely lifeless in taste. I added both to the very mediocre baked beans and the sauces alone couldn't save the beans. Sometimes you can do that with some barbecue sauces and baked beans. Merle's sauces were bland and just not very good. Their beans were some of the worst I've encountered in a barbecue restaurant.
The St. Louis-style ribs were charred and not much on the meaty side. I don't know what kind of rub they had on them, but it didn't add much to the taste of the meat. The meat was a little tough to gnaw off the bone. The brisket was just OK, as well. The meat was tender and had an average flavor that could have been helped out if the sauces were better.
Last and probably least, the mac-n-cheese was just plain ol' mac-n-cheese. It had no pizazz, no flavor, nothing. It was about as neutral of a taste as you can get for mac-n-cheese. I'm sure kids probably liked it, but they didn't even add anything to the cheese sauce other than the macaroni noodles. Two bites of that and I'd had enough. I sort of wish I would have gotten the cole slaw instead.
All in all, I was overly disappointed in Merle's #1 Barbecue. It's, by far, the weakest of the triumvirate of Clean Plate Club restaurants. It was also one of the most disappointing barbecue experiences I've had in quite sometime. The ribs were below average and you had to work hard just to get the little amount of meat they had on them. The brisket was OK - the best part of the meal - but the sauces were runny, flavorless and not very good. The baked beans were worse than the sauce and the mac-n-cheese was pedestrian, at best. I'm sure Merle's has a number of loyal customers, or they wouldn't have been in business for nearly 20 years. But I think I can find better barbecue in and around the North Shore area the next time I'm looking for barbecue when I'm there.
(Update - It appears that others felt the same as I did about Merle's. They closed the doors on the place just after the first of January of 2012. It was said they lost their lease, but if what I read from others that were saying negative things about the place I'm sure it won't be missed.)
Sorry to lead you astray on Merle's. I think the food is fine, but we don't eat barbecue all that often so what do I know. My son is addicted to their wings. He was probably in there the night you were there if it was all-you-could-eat wing night.
Posted by: Peter Lawrence | June 27, 2011 at 06:52 AM
Merle's closed? I hadn't heard that. Well, from the gist of your review it doesn't sound like the barbecue was all that good any longer. That was one of my favorite places to go when I went to school at Northwestern.
Posted by: Kara Wayne | February 12, 2012 at 08:07 AM
Merle's #1 Barbecue was the best of the best!
Beef, baby back, St. Louis ribs, all fantastic. Unfortunately Prescott died and the restaurant went downhill....
Posted by: Smithers | February 10, 2013 at 07:53 AM