Barbeque at Sheffield's

September 20 2010 - 3:46 PM

A friend and I were having a few beers at Sheffield’s, known as a destination for craft-brew lovers and an outstanding selection of beers from Cleveland’s Great Lakes Brewing, as well as our own Metropoltan and Half Acre.   As always, it’s a good idea to pair beer with food.  My friend ordered a pulled pork barbeque sandwich, and I tried the smoked sausage.  Unbeknownst to us, we were a bar stool away from the owner, when my friend explained, “That’s the best barbeque sandwich I’ve ever had”.   That changed our evening completely – for the better.

We wound up getting a tour of the giochi gonfiabili place, starting with the smoker, a gigantic stainless steel beast sitting in the middle of their beer garden, filled with brisket and pork butt and heated by apple wood.  Not long thereafter, we were called into the kitchen to try some pulled pork, brisket, and smoked sausage, served with North Carolina vinegar-based barbecue, as well as Memphis sauce and Texas chipotle sauces. Until recently, it was hard to find the malty North Carolina barbecue sauce, a nice, lean way to give the pulled pork some flavor, and this was well-represented.  Memphis and Texas styles have been more popular, though these homemade sauces lives up to owner Ric Hess’ fanatical emphasis about quality, which included driving around the United States in search of good barbecue.   The Texas chipotle sauce went excellent with the sausage.    The pulled pork was moist, succulent, and fatty, conveying a fresh smoky but juicy flavor accentuated by the mustardy coating, and it certainly went well with the Memphis and North Carolina sauces.

We also had a chance to try the Memphis-style ribs, which were also outstanding and came right off the bone.  Twin Anchor’s beware!

Just when we thought we were done, we were served smoking hot apple crisp with homemade vanilla ice cream (paired nicely with a porter).    It certainly was a great and enjoyable evening, with what I thought was some of the best barbecue in town.   It led me to ask a question about how recently the Chicago Reader published a list of barbeque places, some of which are quite good and others leave a lot to be desired.  I respect the Reader‘s opinion and believe in many cases they are spot-on with their restaurant reviews, but after especially sampling the pulled pork, brisket, and ribs it was clear that this was a missed opportunity.

At the end of the evening, we found our tab comped. While we did, at one point, mention ChicagoFoodies and certainly found ourselves to be fans of the food, we didn’t enter the establishment with any pretense. It was just a nice surprise end to a great evening.

Sheffield’s
3258 N. Sheffield
773-281-4989
http://sheffieldschicago.com

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