A town with good barbecue can stand just a bit taller than its smokestack-free neighbors.
Uncle Bub’s is doing its bit to elevate west suburban Westmont. It serves good barbecue in a good-ol’-boy roadhouse setting that is nonetheless spanking clean.
Bottled beer ($2.50 to $3), iced down in a tub set into the order counter, tempts customers as they mull over an extensive range of suds-friendly selections, from meaty salads to almost-everything combo platters. Fourteen high-back booths made of pine slats line the two dining areas that boast a fun, shack-style decor. The on-the-ball staff processes orders efficiently.
The Uncle (strictly an invented relative, it turns out) takes care not to offend members of various barbecue churches, wisely offering smoked back ribs, beef and pulled pork. Even though the restaurant doesn’t lay claim to being genuine Carolina or Kansas City or Texas or any other “style” of BBQ, these meats all are carefully prepared, lean and tender. The gas-fired smoker turns out weekly specials of beef ribs (Monday and Saturday), beef brisket (Tuesday) and a Thursday pig roast.
A person still could complain, if he were the ornery backwoods type, that a barbecue joint should, without fail, sell pork spare ribs. Uncle Bub, who no doubt knows his customers, favors the meatier and daintier back ribs. (A half-slab platter, which comes with corn bread and two sides, is $8.95; a full slab is $13.95.) Of all the meats sampled, these are the smokiest option. They arrive glossed but not gunky with the house sauce, a sweet, peppery, medium-body variation.
Pulled pork, from a shoulder that has smoked for 18 hours, according to the menu, makes a lean and juicy sandwich ($5.20, which gets you two sides): No fear of gristle or even fat here.
That lean streak continues with a fine, spicy hot link sandwich ($5.20) and the sliced beef ($5.35, from an inside round), which ends up fall-apart tender, though not so smoky as the ribs.
If chicken is what you’re after, the barbecued version–sweetly smoky even if you pull off the skin–is more moist than the “broasted” options.
When the barbecue tastes as fine as it does at Uncle Bub’s, a diner can forgive the just so-so sides: A sweet, ketchup-like sauce and a soft texture leave the “homemade baked beans ($3.20/pint) commercial-tasting. Coleslaw and potato salad (both $3.20/pint) rely on mayonnaise for much of their flavor, but neither goes overboard into gloppiness. And the green beans ($1.25), sweet, salty and studded with carrots, are overcooked in the best Southern steam-table tradition. The caky, Midwestern-style corn bread helps restore regional balance. Skin-on fries ($1.85) go limp quickly, so eat ’em while they’re hot.
Salad may be beside the point at a BBQ shack, but Bub does an OK job: The chopped romaine is fresh-looking even if the wagon wheel of a tomato slice is predictably tasteless. If you like, Bub will strew cheese, shredded rib meat and dry smoked turkey breast over the greens ($6.30).
Some folks make such pigs of themselves between the sausage and the ribs that dessert recedes in importance, but the apple pie, with firm, juicy apple chunks in a crumbly (not flaky) crust ($2.60) handily beats the banana pudding ($1.95), whose OK custard suffers by associating with soggy vanilla wafers and a scarcity of bananas. Soft-serve ice cream is another possibility.
You don’t have to drink beer at Uncle Bub’s, a convenience if someone at the table is ordering from the six-item kid’s menu. Hi C, pink lemonade and other sodas ($1.25), and a decent glass of iced tea ($1.25) balance the full bar and limited selection of wines by the glass ($3.25).
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Uncle Bub’s
(2 forks)
132 S. Cass Ave.
Westmont
630-493-9000
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mon.-Thurs.; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; noon to 9 p.m. Sun.
Credit cards: A, D, M, V
Wheelchair accessible
Noise rating: Conversation friendly
Ratings key:
4 forks: Don’t miss it
3 forks: One of the best
2 forks: Very good
1 fork: Good
Reviews are based on anonymous visits by Tribune staff members. The meals are paid for by the Tribune.
