BBQ in Chicago - Belly Up

We stumbled upon the Belly Up by chance after leaving the parade and wandering the streets in search of a restaurant.

The Belly Up is decorated in a very American style: American flags, various televisions, and cozy seating areas. So it definitely invites you to linger.

The service was super friendly and made fun of me for ordering a cranberry juice instead of beer, unlike Steffi.

Unlike the previous day at the Weber Grill Restaurant, this time we also each ordered a starter: onion rings and chicken wings. For the main course, we each ordered a combo consisting of a quarter slab of ribs and pulled pork. In addition to coleslaw and cornbread as side dishes, we could choose one additional side. Steffi chose the fries, and I chose the potato salad.

On the table itself, there were 4 different BBQ sauces available, a very pleasant service.

The starters were served immediately and impressed us with their taste. Among the 4 BBQ sauces, the homemade Belly Up sauce stood out in particular.

Then they came, the main courses, and the first question that arose was: WHO is going to eat all of this?

There was a lot of meat on the dry ribs. It tasted delicious to us, just like the pulled pork. The side dishes were also very tasty. Steffi raved about the fries as the best she had ever eaten. Even the cornbread tasted really good to us. We confidently reached for the food with our fingers, knowing that we could only end up as second place against this large amount of food.

The feast was coming to an end when Steffi mentioned to the waitress that I am a big BBQ fan during a short conversation. Immediately, she called the owner over and explained the situation to him, upon which he invited me to take a look in his kitchen. WOW!

He explained to me that the ribs are marinated in a spice mixture for 24 hours. During the smoking process, which only takes 3 hours on the gas grill here, the ribs are not basted with BBQ sauce so that the guest can later decide which sauce to use. Due to this method of preparation, the ribs are called 'Dry Ribs'.

Then I stood in front of his 'baby', as he called it: an impressive gas grill. By the way, smoking is done with 80% oak wood and 20% hickory wood, and he uses apple cider for steaming. By the way, the pulled pork is smoked for 12 hours.

I thanked him for the insight and happily left the kitchen. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to take a photo from the outside as well as of the interior... So this time there are only photos of our food.

Conclusion: An owner who is passionate about his business, great staff, a nice atmosphere, and huge portions that even overshadowed the Weber Grill Restaurant. We had no complaints about the Belly Up! Plus, it's very affordable!

Happily and fully satisfied, we left the Belly Up, our lucky find.