My Top 5 Dead Or Alive Rib Joints In Chicago

Last week we posted the video of Eddie and I visiting the legendary Northwest Chicago rib joint, Gale Street Inn.

There was a lot of chitter-chatter about who's tops when it comes to ribs in Chicago so I figured it would be smart to clear things up for everybody (and give our video another bump).

For the record, here are my top 5 dead or alive places for ribs in Chicago-

1- Gale St. Inn

2- Twin Anchors

3- Carson's

4- Smoque

5 - Lem's

(honorable mention)

- Green St Smoked Meats

- Soul & Smoke (technically Evanston though)

- Lillie's Q

Full disclosure here, I am extremely biased. I am a wet guy. Big wet guy. Love 'em wet. 

Now not to say I dislike a nice dry rubbed rack. Because I actually quite fancy them when they're done really well, with a nice crust encasing all the natural juices. 

I'm just a sucker for a phenomenal vinegar-based BBQ sauce and if you look at the top 3 spots in my top 5 you would be HARD PRESSED to find anybody in the country with a better BBQ sauce than those 3 places. I'm not saying there aren't better places with better sauces. I am saying there aren't in Chicago and that you'd have to go to Kansas City, Knoxville, Austin, Memphis. That's all.

As you've seen, we've got to peak behind the curtain at 2 of these places already (back in November friend of the program Chris Carson gave us the tour and history of his family namesake Carson's) and now we've got the behind the scenes tour from George Karzas at Gale St Inn. Not saying we're a big deal here but that kind of a big deal. If Twin Anchors, Smoque, or Lem's would like to have us come by to round out this top 5 please shoot me an email- dante@barstoolsports.com

p.s. - laugh it up if you want but Chilli's baby back ribs way back in the day were legit as fuck. Not sure what happened along the way but they fell off a cliff.