I had driven into Chicago from Fort Wayne, Indiana and was a bit early for my first appointment. I was sort of hungry for barbecue and I remembered a barbecue place in Rosemont that wasn't far from my hotel. I got off the Tri-State Tollway at Balmoral Ave. and pulled into the Rosemont Entertainment District to have a late lunch/early dinner at Bub City.
Bub City is the second location of a reincarnation of the original Bub City restaurant that was opened in 1989 in what was then an industrial area just south of North Ave and west of Halsted Street in the Clybourn Corridor neighborhood. The 30,000 square foot restaurant/bar/entertainment facility was co-owned and managed by Rich Melman's Lettuce Entertain You empire of restaurants. The original Bub City was designed to be a barbecue joint, country-western, shit-kicker-type bar with Melman wanting a restaurant/bar that would scare the yuppies away. But because it was a Lettuce Entertain You establishment that served barbecue, yuppies still came there in droves to the restaurant. And because of that, other restaurants and bars soon sprang up in the area. Melman and his partners in Bub City decided to shut down the restaurant in the mid-90's.
In 2012, Melman's sons RJ and Jerrod decided to reincarnate Bub City with a new location on Clark Street in Chicago's downtown River North area. It was 1/6th the size of the original Bub City, but continued to focus on barbecue, country music and a beer-driven drink list. It still featured live country music three times a week.
The late country star Toby Keith established a chain of large honky-tonk restaurant/music venues across the U.S. called "Toby Keith's I Love This Bar." Financial mismanagement in terms of unpaid rents and unpaid back taxes forced many of them to close in 2015 into 2016. One of those locations was in the Rosemont Entertainment District. With a big space to fill, the developers of the district reached out to the Melman's to see if they would be interested in taking over the space. While the restaurant and bar area had a small stage, there was a larger venue next door that was part of the complex they weren't interested in. However, they went to Ed Warm and Tom DiSanto who owned Joe's on Weed Street, a live music venue not far from where the original Bub City was located. The Melman's and Warm and DiSanto partnered to open Bub City with Joe's Live next door in March of 2016.
Parking is available in a ramp directly behind Bub City, but I was able to find parking on the one-way road that goes around the entertainment complex. (see map) In front of Bub City is the outdoor stage for periodic live events held during the warmer months. In the winter months, the artificial grass on the Great Lawn is transformed into an NHL-sized skating rink with festive lighting strung above and around the rink area. The live acts that play on Thursday nights during the summer months are mostly tribute bands playing the music of bands and artists such as The Who, Bon Jovi, Pink Floyd and Elton John. Free zumba, yoga and Powerhouse Pilates classes are held at various times on the Great Lawn.
Bub City is basically one large dining space with tables in the middle of a line of booths. Colorful Christmas lights were strung across the ceiling going in various directions. In the middle of the dining area up toward the front was a stage area where country artists will play music Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, usually starting at 9:30 to 10:00 p.m.
There are two bars at Bub City, one if more beer centric with some liquor options, while the other is more whiskey centric with a few beers to choose from. They're on opposite walls in the main space at Bub City. Music was piped in via the restaurant's sound system and while I was there I heard songs by the likes of country artists Brothers Osborne, Tyler Childers, and Rvshvd.
On the wall next to the stage were a number of pictures honoring Hall of Fame members of the Windy City Smokeout barbecue contest that has been held annually in Chicago since 2013. (The 2024 edition of the Windy City Smokeout begins today near the United Center in Chicago.) Members of the Hall of Fame pitmasters honored on the board included Myron Mixon, Carey Bringle from Peg Leg Porker in Nashville; Scott Roberts from Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood, TX; and the late Mike Mills from 17th Street BBQ in Murphysboro, IL. The Windy City Smokeout is one of the top barbecue contests in the U.S. and one of the five largest of its kind.
I ended up seated at the bar. The center piece of the bar was a large American flag that was made out of beer cans. As soon as I sat down a bartender by the name of Mark came up and dropped off a food menu for me. The beer menu was on a QR code on a drink coaster on the bar. I perused the beer list for a moment and I ended up ordering a B.C. Haze, a hazy IPA made especially for Bub City by the Noon Whistle Brewing Company in nearby Lombard, IL. Other beers which they had on tap were provided by local breweries such as Spiteful Brewing, Mikerphone Brewing, Maplewood Brewery, and Pilot Project Brewing, an incubator for fledgling brewers with locations in Chicago and Milwaukee.
Figuring that this would probably be my only meal of the day, I decided to look more at the entrees. They had baby back ribs in 1/2 racks or full racks, pulled pork shoulder and brisket on their menu. They had a combo of all three for about $43 bucks, but I thought it would be too much food. I really wanted to do a combination of pulled pork and brisket, but they didn't have that available. They also had fried chicken tenders and chicken sandwiches, as well as burgers, and a pulled pork or brisket sandwich. Bub City also had mac & cheese available either plain, or with pork or brisket added in.
Two things that they had on the menu that I really wanted to get were the burnt ends and the smoked prime pastrami sandwich. However, the burnt ends were only available Friday through Sunday, and the prime pastrami sandwich was available only on Friday and Saturday and I was a day early. Well, poop!
Since they didn't have the combination plates I wanted, or the burnt ends, and the prime pastrami sandwich wasn't available, I went with the brisket dinner. Mark asked me if I wanted fatty, lean or half-and-half. I went with the half-and-half, but Bub City's idea of half-and-half was 3 pieces of lean brisket and one piece of the fatty brisket. Pickled onions and jalapeños came on the side along with a half-slice of toasted Texas bread. For my sides, I got the cole slaw and some of their spicy baked beans.
The thing that sort of got me was that they had just one style of barbecue sauce and it was served in a small ceramic tub on the side. I caught the attention of the guy who brought the food out to me and asked if I could get another tub of sauce. The sauce was OK - it was rather neutral to me. It wasn't overly sweet, nor was it all that spicy. It had a tomato/vinegar base and - to me - was more like a barbecue ketchup rather than a sauce.
The brisket was good. The fatty slice was really flavorful and was very tender. A fork easily cut through the piece of meat. The lean brisket was also very good. The bark on the outside had a distinctive flavor that was enhanced with I would dip a bite into the sauce.
The sides went from "meh!" to very good. Unfortunately, the spicy baked beans were the disappointment. They were not all that spicy - even with sliced jalapeños on the top. But the cole slaw was outstanding. Sweet and creamy, I wish I would have had more of the cole slaw than of the baked beans.
I know a lot of people like Bub City. It's a popular spot in the city and now out in Rosemont. But I thought it was a pretty middle-of-the-pack barbecue joint. They didn't really have much to offer outside of ribs, brisket and pulled pork. They had no selection of sauces. The sides were pretty pedestrian - although I will admit that the cole slaw was pretty damned good. And the service was fine. As a big party destination - complete with live music in house, next door or outdoors - it's tough to beat. But if you're just going there for the food, there's other options to try before you try Bub City.
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