Brew City Barbecue
Milwaukee, WI

Meat 2.5
Sides 3
Sauce 3
Service 2
Atmosphere 3.5

Overall 2.5

Reviewer's Comments: Having had Brew City highly recommended to me, and seeing the pile of hickory wood out back when I snuck around to take a look, I had high expectations. The atmosphere was more like a TGI Fridays than a 'Q joint, but it smelled smokey. After a rather long wait, I ordered a combo plate of brisket and pulled pork. When it arrived, I could hardly tell which was which by looking. Both were smothered in sauce, and appeared to be chopped. As I began to eat, the brisket was obviously brisket, because under the pile of chopped meat were some slices that were downright chewy. The pork was a little smokier than the brisket, but neither was as smoky as I like it. The sides, baked beans, red beans and rice, and bread were good but not great. I was surprised when the owner showed me his J&R wood-fired pit. It made sense to me when he told me that he only cooked the pork and brisket for three hours in the J&R and then finished them in a convection/steam oven. That would explain the lack of smokiness / flavor in the meat.

Reviewed by: Dave Wiener ( pastor1@ohio.net ) on 5/26/98.

Saz's
Milwaukee, WI

Meat 1
Sides 2
Sauce 1.5
Service 3
Atmosphere 3

Overall 1.5

Reviewer's Comments: A nice place. Not a place to go for 'Q, however. They advertise that they have been awarded the "best ribs in Milwaukee." Anxiously, I ordered these championship ribs. They were mushy, obviously boiled and/or steamed to death, and then grilled with a non-descript commercial sauce. This is not 'Q!

Reviewed by: Dave Wiener ( pastor1@ohio.net ) on 5/29/98.

Smoky Jon's
2310 Packers Avenue
Madison, WI
608-249-RIBS

Meat: 5
Sauce: 5
Sides: 4
Service: 3
Atmosphere: 3

Overall: 4.5

Comments

I'm from the North, born and raised. And after growing up on what I call "supper club ribs" (oven-baked, gristly and Open Pit-smothered), I never thought I'd come across a Wisconsin BBQ joint that made BBQ that ranked among the best I'd had in Memphis and Mississippi. Smoky Jon's does. Their sliced brisket melts in your mouth and the chopped pork shoulder is without fault. The sauce is unreal -- thick, spicy and tomato-based, with small bits of onion. Often, I find myself spooning-out and lapping-up the remaining sauce from the little cup it's served in, long after I've consumed my brisket or pig sandwich. The service isn't always the greatest, unless you're lucky enough to be waited on by Jon himself. But he spends most of his time with the food, as you'll realize after the first bite. Right next to the order window, Jon has displayed his many BBQ competition awards, as well as a framed photo of himself with Paula Abdul and Emilio Estevez and an accompanying autographed brown paper bag. It's not even a contest that Smoky Jon's is the best BBQ in Wisconsin, but it just may very well be the best in the entire North.

Reviewd By: Pat Yourell (pyourell@execpc.com ) on 1/3/99

Speed Queen Barbecue
1130 W Walnut St
Milwaukee, WI
(414) 265-2900

Meat: 4
Sauce: 4.5
Sides: 1.5
Service: 2
Atmosphere: 2

Overall: 3.5

Reviewer's Comments:  I know this isn't saying much, but Speed Queen's ribs are the best in Milwaukee. The service is generally terrible, the sides are pitiful, but the ribs are fantastic. I've eaten ribs there many times, and I've never had a bad rack. They're pretty close to perfect -- tender, smoky, very flavorful. The sauce is very good, as well -- a thin, Memphis-style sauce with a little bit of a spicy kick. They also have a hot sauce that comes close to melting the tiny little fork they give you to eat your shoulder or outside sandwich, both of which are good, but not great, as well. Speed Queen is my favorite place in town for ribs, and they do them quite well -- they're not world-class, but they are very good.

Reviewed By:  Pat Yourell (pyourell@execpc.com ) on 9/10/99.

Pitch's Kansas City Style Barbecue
11320 W Bluemound Rd
Milwaukee, WI
(414) 774-7180 

Meat: 1
Sauce: 1
Sides: 2
Service: 2
Atmosphere: 1

Overall: 1.5

Reviewer's Comments:  Just take my word for it -- don't go there. It's terrible. This is barbecue like McDonald's is a steak house. I won't even go into detail.

Reviewed By:  Pat Yourell (pyourell@execpc.com) on 9/11/99.

BBQ Time
1215 DeKoven Ave.
Racine, WI
262-633-8585

Meat: 4.5
Sauce: 4.5
Sides: 4.5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 3

Overall: 4.5

Reviewer's Comments:  Al Rodgers, a native Southerner, and his wife, Rita, run BBQ Time. They wood-smoke their shoulders, pork ribs and brisket, and it's all fantasic. The only drawbacks to the place are that it's take-out only, and the counter where you place your order is sheathed in bullet-proof glass.

But the real story is the food. I ordered a shoulder sandwich with hot sauce, and my fiancee ordered a brisket sandwich with mild sauce. We both had fries and a Coke.

The shoulder was great -- just enough smoke flavor, and the hot sauce was classic Memphis-style. The brisket was good, too, but I would have preferred it with the hot sauce.

For dessert, they sell little sweet potato pies for $1. We each had one, and they are fantastic.

I've been to several BBQ joints throughout the South, and BBQ Time is truly a gem on the level with some of the best of them, tucked up here in Wisconsin. Also, Al and Rita are two of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

BBQ Time is definitely worth a stop if you're ever in the area... or even if you aren't.

Reviewed By: Pat Yourell (pyourell@execpc.com) on 10/16/99.

Silver Spur Texas Smokehouse
19990 W Greenfield Ave
Brookfield, WI
262-821-1511

Meat: 3
Sauce: 2.5
Sides: 2.5
Service: 3
Atmosphere: 2

Overall: 2.5

Reviewer's Comments:  This place is a bar/restaurant out in the suburbs of Milwaukee. It's more like a western theme restaurant than a BBQ place. And it isn't very good. It's palatable, but not worth all of the money. I'd drive to Applebee's and order some riblets or go to Tony Roma's before I ever ate here again.

Reviewed By: Pat Yourell (pyourell@execpc.com) on 10/16/99.

Kern's Barbecue
2030 West Hampton
Milwaukee, WI
414-447-1717

Meat: 3.5
Sauce: 4
Sides: 4
Service: 3.5
Atmosphere: 2

Overall: 3.5

Reviewer's Comments: Kern's is in a pretty rough neighborhood. It's take-out only, and you have to shout your order through bullet-proof glass.

The ribs are pretty good, and I liked the sauce, but they were nothing special.

It's certainly not BBQ worth risking getting caught in the middle of a drive-by for.

Reviewed By: Pat Yourell (pyourell@execpc.com) on 10/16/99.

Rip's BBQ King
1501 W Center
Milwaukee, WI
414-264-1040

Meat: 3.5
Sauce: 4
Sides: 4.5
Service: 1.5
Atmosphere: 1.5

Overall: 3

Reviewer's Comments: Rip's is in a really bad part of town. They have a very diverse menu that includes BBQ'd goat, pork, chicken and beef. They also serve burgers and Italian sausage... all kinds of things. In fact, they even sell furniture.

But anyway, it's another one of those places that you have to scream your order through bullet-proof glass. The food took forever, but was still warm when I got back to the office.

My pork shoulder sandwich would have been great, except they put lettuce and mayo on it! I'd never heard of such a thing. The sweet potato pie I got for dessert was delicious, but I don't know if I'll be back.

Reviewed By: Pat Yourell (pyourell@execpc.com) on 10/16/99.

Name: Speed Queen Bar-B-Q
Address: 1130 W. Walnut Street
City: Milwaukee
State: WI
Phone: 414-265-2900
Meat: 4.5
Sauce: 4.5
Sides: 2
Service: 3
Atmosphere: 3
Overall: 4.5
Date: 8/23/2000
User: Gary Wiviott
Email: gwiv@enteract.com
Date: 8/23/00
Time: 4:31:47 AM

Comments

Speed Queen Bar-B-Q in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is an incredibly good BBQ joint. Speed Queen cooks South Carolina style and does it well. Spicy or medium mustard based sauce, direct fired wood pit and outside shoulder that was so good it almost made me weep.

I grew up in Milwaukee and as far back as I can remember we would get ribs and chicken from Speed Queen, which are very good, but I never knew enough about BBQ to order outside shoulder, if I had only known.

I ordered the rib and outside shoulder plate and my brother ordered the rib and chicken plate, both came with cole slaw and the ubiquitous white bread. When I realized that my brother and I had eaten all the outside shoulder and we were looking fondly at the space on the plate where it used to be, I ordered a full dinner of the outside shoulder.

We ended up bringing some of the ribs and most of the chicken back to the hotel. I ordered three more portions of the outside shoulder for my parents, wife and nieces to try, and yes, most of it did make it back to the hotel.

Regards

Smoking in Chicago, Gary

Ribs- very good Chicken- very good Sauce- excellent Slaw- ok

Outside shoulder-transcendent, juicy, spicy, crunchy, full pig flavor, simply fantastic.

Atmosphere- clean, booths to eat there and as friendly as they can be, from behind bullet proof glass.