In the mood for barbecue while staying in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago one evening, I found that there wasn't any barbecue restaurants in the immediate area around my hotel. I quick look on my GPS for barbecue joints came up with one in Des Plaines - T-Bob's Smoked Barbecue. I took at look at the reviews on Yelp and Urbanspoon and most of them were very favorable. I decided to go find T-Bob's and give them a try.
Four or so years ago, high school buddies Ted Roombos and Bob Kuzmanic found themselves laid off again from working in the home construction industry. Ted decided to buy a smoker and give smoking meats a try. He found that he had a knack for barbecue, even coming up with his own barbecue sauces. Roombos and Kuzmanic decided they'd get into the barbecue business. The two found an old Dairy Queen on S. Elmhurst Road just north of Algonquin Road in Des Plaines and T-Bob's Smoked Barbecue opened in May of 2011. (see map)
T-Bob's is a "bring-your-own-bottle" place and I stopped off at Binny's just up the street to pick up a six-pack of the Kona Longboard Lager. I took a couple bottles in with me and Ted Roombos was standing there talking with another guy. Ted looked at my bottles and loudly asked in a thick Chicago accent, "What do you have there?" When I showed him the bottles he sort of scrunched up his nose, probably because he wasn't familiar with the beer. "Is that good stuff," he asked. I told him that I would have rather had the Kona Big Wave Golden Ale, but that Binny's only had the Longboard Lager in the cooler.
T-Bob's is also a place where you place your orders at the front counter, pay for your food there, get a number and take a seat to wait for someone to bring it out to you. The menu is above the counter and in addition to the regular barbecue fare, T-Bob's also features grilled or smoked burgers (smoked burgers on Monday only), char-broiled chicken breast sandwiches, grilled skirt steak sandwiches, and even a turkey or a veggie burger for the health conscious. Their soups and sides are all made from scratch in-house, as are the wide variety of desserts including a flan that is made from a secret family recipe courtesy of Bob Kuzmanic's wife.
They have a combo plate on the menu - you get your choices of three meats out of brisket, pulled pork, smoked chicken or hot links, along with a salad and a choice of potato on the side (French fries, sweet potato fries, baked potato, baked potato au gratin, etc.). I really don't like smoked chicken, although I do like a nice indirect grilled chicken breast, and I'm not big on hot link sausages. I asked the girl if I could get double brisket and pulled pork. She said she couldn't do that. I protested mildly and she turned to Ted Roombos who was finishing up his conversation with the other guy. He said, "No, I can't do double brisket. I hardly make money on brisket the way it is."
Then he said, "What's the matter? Don't you like my hot links? I have the best hot links around." When I explained to him that I don't care for smoked chicken or sausage, he finally relented and said, "All right, I'll do it just this one time. But never again!"
She asked me what I wanted for my salad dressing. Wait a minute - salad at a barbecue joint? I said, "You know what, I'm gonna save your boss some money. I don't want a salad." When she explained to me that it came with the meal, I said, "Yeah, I know. Like I said, I'll pay for the dinner, but you guys just keep the salad." In fact, I should have told her to do the same with the French fries I ordered as my potato side - I was just interested in the meat portion of the meal. She asked me what kind of sauce I wanted with the meat and I got some of the "Sweet and Heat" sauce they make in-house.
When I was paying, I turned to Ted Roombos and asked him how long he had been in business. "Three years," he said. Since it says on their web site that they feature "competition quality barbecue at neighborhood prices", I asked him if he had been on the competition trail before opening a restaurant. "Naw, I don't have time for that stuff. I just bought the smoker and opened the place," he said to me dismissively. "I'm tellin' ya, fella. It ain't nothin' to smoke meats." I found him to be sort of Chicago-style brash and cocky.
Not long after I found a booth along the wall, the young girl who took my order brought my food out to me. I guess I thought I'd get more brisket for what I paid ($13.95), but it was what it was. A generous helping of the "Heat and Sweet" sauce was on top of the meat, but I asked her if I could get some more on the side to be able to dip my fries into. She brought some back to me and said, "I like to dip my fries in barbecue sauce, too."
The brisket had a nice smoke ring under the bark. It was juicy and tender and had a nice little smoked flavor. The meat was a little fatty, but nothing bad. The "Sweet and Heat" barbecue sauce did have a nice little kick at the end of it, but I wouldn't call it overly spicy. The beef easily pulled apart. It was very good brisket.
The pulled pork was equally moist and tender, also with a nice little smoked taste to the meat. The crinkle cut fries were all right, but I wished I would have gotten a side of their baked beans ($2 extra) to try.
As he was leaving for the evening, Ted Roombas came by and said, "How's the barbecue? Good?" T-Bob's Smoked Barbecue was good, not outstanding, but definitely worth the trip from my hotel. If I make it back, I'll want to try a half-rack of ribs along with the baked beans. There's not a lot of barbecue places in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, but T-Bob's did a fine job on my first visit.
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