Do they let you know what the upcoming specials are going to be ahead of time?

Ram4 wrote:Do they let you know what the upcoming specials are going to be ahead of time?

They will post them on their FB page.

Octarine wrote:

Ram4 wrote:Do they let you know what the upcoming specials are going to be ahead of time?

They will post them on their FB page.

Thanks!

Ram4 wrote:

Octarine wrote:

Ram4 wrote:Do they let you know what the upcoming specials are going to be ahead of time?

They will post them on their FB page.

Thanks!

They post them every Friday usually between 8 and 9 A.M.

I stopped by this place once last September, hoping to try the Pit Beef special. Unfortunately, they were not serving it that day, so I did what any reasonable person would do and ordered El Jefe instead.



I was not prepared for them to announce the presence of this sandwich upon its emergence from the kitchen, nor for the thunderous applause that accompanied it. The sandwich is an imposing presence. However, I was able to power through it.

JimTheBeerGuy wrote:I stopped by this place once last September, hoping to try the Pit Beef special. Unfortunately, they were not serving it that day, so I did what any reasonable person would do and ordered El Jefe instead.



I was not prepared for them to announce the presence of this sandwich upon its emergence from the kitchen, nor for the thunderous applause that accompanied it. The sandwich is an imposing presence. However, I was able to power through it.

Looks good but what did you have for your main dish?

JimTheBeerGuy wrote:I stopped by this place once last September, hoping to try the Pit Beef special. Unfortunately, they were not serving it that day, so I did what any reasonable person would do and ordered El Jefe instead.

Pit Beef being served Saturday and Sunday this week. Don't miss this tasty sandwich with nearly a pound of meat.

This was my second visit to CCK, this time with the small household food group. I stayed around after the others left waiting for an order of brisket to bring home. So, observations:

They do take credit cards (not sure when that started).

The knuckle sandwich was rich and delicious and unexpectedly spicy. The jus was spicy and gave me a lengthy sneezing fit. They did a version of char siu that didn't taste terribly Chinese, but was a wonderful mouthful of smoked, savory pork belly. Both were specials and both were delicious.

While the line was long at the beginning of service, by the time I left around 12:20 you could just walk in and order food. There was space at the tables to eat, and at least a dozen people eating outside. Sure, they run out of some items within the hour; they were out of the sausage special, pastrami, and running low on chicken. However, as a neighbor at my table while I was waiting noted, "so what if they run out of something? everything they make is great".

What I'm suggesting is if you want to go, and aren't anxious about getting a particular special or meat treatment, wandering by around 12:30, as opposed to standing in line at 10:30, can provide you with a very nice meal.

And seriously, the best brisket I've ever gotten to eat.

Giovanna

Hi,

To avoid what happened to me: this place is at the southeast corner of Quentin Rd and Northwest Highway behind the Exxon gas station with a 7-11.

You can easily enter this strip mall from either the east-bound lane of Northwest Highway or by going south on Quentin just past NW Highway, then turn left into the strip mall.

This place really had quite a personality and everything ordered was very good.

The music was initially very loud and not conversation friendly. I guess others complained, because eventually it was toned down to conversation friendly.

Regards,
Cathy2

Seven LTHers of the SHHFE went 5/19/2019. I was first to arrive, but took a walking tour making us third in line when they opened.



Wonderful meat. Will I get jumped on for asking if the meat was done disservice by what appeared to be prepackaged bread from Jewel just being on the same tray? Or am I wrong? Yes, the "rolls" for the sandwiches were good, nicely toasted. I'm asking about the two square slices between the half pints. I'm not sure what the bread was intended for: sausage, bacon, mac or esquites. Is there some "tradition" that requires that kind of bread for one of those items?

Non flash picture was IMHO not as good (fuzzy from longer exposure?), maybe I'll post that one on the SHHFE thread since someone from that group said non flash was always better.

Contents of picture: bookending the bread was "F'n Mac and cheese" and "Esquites". Then "knuckle sandwich", "Jalapeno Chedder Texas Sausage Char Sue", "Candied Thick Cut Bacon" and the "El Jefe" sandwich.

When you buy BBQ at Honey One, there are two pieces of white bread on the bottom with ribs and fries on top. Soaking up all the grease and sauce, it can be pretty tasty.

It may have its roots in the Great Migration, when black people brought a homemade fried chicken lunch in a shoe box. There would be two pieces of bread on the bottom to soak up the grease.

White sliced bread whether it is from Jewel or Wonder bread was the fancy store bought bread.

Whether you like those two pieces of bread, it is a nod to tradition.

Regards,
Cathy2

I got there at 2 PM Sunday (5/19). They were closed with a “Sold Out” sign on the door. Wow.

D.

Yeah that’s kind of typical for them. Opening to 12:45 is the time to be there.
On several occasions we have planned to go but a 1 hour delay on a Sunday morning sealed our doom.

dodger wrote:I got there at 2 PM Sunday (5/19). They were closed with a “Sold Out” sign on the door. Wow.

D.

Here is the first thing that pops up on their website:

COME AND EAT EVERY WEEKEND!
SATURDAY & SUNDAY
11AM – SOLD OUT
(APPROX. 2PM)

I knew I was close, just took a chance.

As I was walking to the front door, a women told me they were closed. She had bought what they had left, pulled pork and had just put it her truck.

D.

dodger wrote:I got there at 2 PM Sunday (5/19). They were closed with a “Sold Out” sign on the door. Wow.

D.

It's pretty much accepted in Texas that BBQ is almost a breakfast meal or at least late morning when the meat is ready to serve and why many of the most popular and famous joints are closed by mid-afternoon. Demand usually outweighs supply and that is simply because there is only so much room on the smokers. This place is the same type of situation.

Just because no one's posted a pic of the engine-less trucks with the smoker and wood supply ...

Ram4 wrote:

dodger wrote:I got there at 2 PM Sunday (5/19). They were closed with a “Sold Out” sign on the door. Wow.

D.

It's pretty much accepted in Texas that BBQ is almost a breakfast meal or at least late morning when the meat is ready to serve and why many of the most popular and famous joints are closed by mid-afternoon. Demand usually outweighs supply and that is simply because there is only so much room on the smokers. This place is the same type of situation.

I've always wondered something about this timing. If you only have one smoker and are shooting for an opening time of, say, 11 am like CCK, it makes sense to me that you can only serve the amount of food that fits on that one smoker, til you run out. (Edited to add: and/or, you have more than one smoker but want to start them all at the same time, and/or you have more than one and want to start them at different times because you're smoking a different type of meat on each, so that they're all done at about the same time.)

But for bigger operations (I'm thinking, for example, of what I've seen on TV about Franklin BBQ in Texas), couldn't you stagger the start times in different smokers to spread out the number of hours during which you could serve food? I mean, obviously, different meats take different amounts of time; you'd have to start brisket before ribs and ribs before chicken and sausage. But I also see (on TV) BBQ restaurant owners starting smokes in the middle of the night/at the crack of dawn. Would starting one or more smokers later be infeasible because of the heat, i.e., if you're in Texas, especially, you'd like to deal with the fire and coals and smoker heat during the coolest part of the 24-hr cycle, about 3 to 7 am. Not that that would be as much of an issue in, say, St Louis or Chicago, most of the year. Just wondering if someone can explain what it is that controls the narrowness of the window.

Katie wrote:But for bigger operations (I'm thinking, for example, of what I've seen on TV about Franklin BBQ in Texas), couldn't you stagger the start times in different smokers to spread out the number of hours during which you could serve food?

lol, franklin usually runs out by 3 but i'm sure he'd love your input on how to improve his operation.

You misunderstand me; I'm not criticizing, just wondering what's the reason for the narrowness of the window --- I know how hot it gets in Texas even early in the morning. Is that the reason, or is it just tradition?

Katie wrote:You misunderstand me; I'm not criticizing, just wondering what's the reason for the narrowness of the window --- I know how hot it gets in Texas even early in the morning. Is that the reason, or is it just tradition?

It's a mix of tradition and the workflow of the how BBQ is made. The traditional BBQ that Franklin is basing his from was most often a lunch food, served not at a "BBQ restaurant" but at a hot food counter of a grocery store, meat market or other establishment. Many of these places did not have liquor licenses so offering BBQ for dinner wouldn't have been a draw as many patrons want a drink along with their meal.

From a workflow perspective, a place like Franklin's works on a 24 hr schedule, with service starting at 11 being the end of one cooking day and the beginning of another. So the briskets, for example, all get trimmed at about the same time, get seasoned at the same time, go onto the smoker at the same time and come off the smoker and into the holding oven at just about the same time. There is no rotating start times to stagger when product is ready for service.

There are newer BBQ places in Texas, including Austin, who are taking a more restaurant-like approach and staggering start times. These are more like full-service restaurants that serve BBQ, where a place like Franklin's is following more of that meat market model.

Here's a good video of what a day is like at Franklin's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUDiEQBZL_8

FYI,
Dave

Thanks, Dave, that's very helpful.

dodger wrote:I knew I was close, just took a chance.

As I was walking to the front door, a women told me they were closed. She had bought what they had left, pulled pork and had just put it her truck.

D.

Does anybody know if they discount when they get almost sold out? Not a big deal, just curious. And does EVERYTHING sell out, or are some items always available (like desserts at least) and stored till the next week? Or when almost nothing left, might they just split it up among the workers?

diversedancer wrote:Or when almost nothing left, might they just split it up among the workers?

This is not a good practice for a food business to do. You want to pace the amount of food to what will be used. You don't want workers adding more than required with the hopes of taking it home. I learned this from talking to another BBQ operation in Chicago.

Regards,
Cathy2

Moving to a new location in Palatine.
https://www.dailyherald.com/news/202003 ... e-location

Dave148 wrote:Moving to a new location in Palatine.
https://www.dailyherald.com/news/202003 ... e-location

This part should be good news for CCK fans . . .

"I think it's time to grow up," said Greg Gaardbo, who with wife Kristina co-owns the cozy joint at Northwest Highway and Quentin Road. "We started with whatever and did weekends and now it's time to be open six days a week. And we can have a lot more fun in this (new) place."

=R=

It will be a miracle if they can retain the current quality and consistency.

scottsol wrote:It will be a miracle if they can retain the current quality and consistency.

I think you've voiced what many of us were thinking but you've got to give them the benefit of the doubt, right?

=R=

Certainly. In addition, we will be investing less in terms of time and inconvenience so a good, but not as good, product could still represent an equal or better value proposition.

At the same time, it might be enlightening to look at rubbbqco’s dissertation at the top of the thread on why CCK’s ‘q was better than his.

In any case:
“What good is a public forum if you can’t use it to foster division and negativity?”
V. Putin 2015

ronnie_suburban wrote:

scottsol wrote:It will be a miracle if they can retain the current quality and consistency.

I think you've voiced what many of us were thinking but you've got to give them the benefit of the doubt, right?

=R=

What will likely be missing is the party atmosphere standing in line and hoping what you want is still there when you reach the counter.

I was there only once and quite impressed by the experience.

Regards,
Cathy2