Voted the best barbecue in Chicago by the New York Times and the Chicago Reader, Smoque BBQ offers a variety of flavors where the meat melts off the bone like butter.

This hidden gem located on 3800 N Pulaski offers three styles of barbeque; Chicago, Memphis and St. Louis.

All the meals are cooked over apple and oakwood, and a scent that permeates throughout the restaurant smells like home, which is weird, since my home doesn’t smell like that, but after eating here, I wish it did.

The pulled pork sandwich with Memphis sauce is my personal favorite. It’s peppery and tangy, but also sweet, and the tips of the pork are crusty while tender in the center. It’s also so juicy, the buns soak it up and make the experience last that much longer.

I don’t want to slack on the ribs, because damn, those things are so good! I stripped the bone clean like a piranha.

Smoque BBQ also serves a brilliant brisket, which is smoked for fourteen hours! It’s so moist and tender with two levels of spices that it rivals anything you’ll find at a backyard Texas barbeque.

And that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface, there are so many styles and combinations to choose from, you could go to Smoque a hundred times and never have the same meal twice

For a side to perfectly compliment your meal, I recommend their baked macaroni and cheese with sweet breadcrumbs and a fragrant slice of cornbread. The best thing about the sides is that you can eat them all by themselves.

But the best, quote me on this, the BEST item on the menu is their caramel pecan bread pudding.

Oh my God!

This stuff is orgasmic. It’s a tiny slice of Heaven. It was love at first bite. I truly believe that this dessert will solve world peace. It’s sweet, it’s salty, it’s moist, it’s crunchy, it has everything. I’ve eaten it fresh from the oven and cold from the fridge while I’m hungover and it works both ways. I promise that I am not talking this up; this is the best dessert I have ever had in my life.

With one of the friendliest restaurant staff I’ve ever encountered, Smoque offers an authentic barbeque experience. Wait, strike that. The only way it could be more authentic is if they had a liquor license and could serve whiskey with their meals. Then Smoque would be a truly authentic barbeque.

The walls are decorated with pictures of celebrities who’ve eaten there, including BB King! Any place that has BB King’s seal of approval gets an ‘A’ in my book.

It was a sad day when I decided to go vegan, because after I committed to it, I realized I couldn’t eat 99.99 percent of their menu anymore.

Oh well. Guess I’ll just stick with their absolutely, undeniably good bread pudding.