Chicago Food Boys: October 2014

Hello Today we will be reviewing Spencer's JollyPosh located on southport Avenue.

Otto:
I have known Spencer's Jolly Posh from the Logan Square Farmer's market for a couple of years. I get their sausage roll almost every time we visit the market, and I've always loved it, and we sometimes buy their sausage and rashers to take home to make ourselves. So I was really excited when we decided to go here. The restaurant includes a small store which sells a bunch of British stuff that I hadn't seen before and some things that I already knew and really liked. I got the Banger Sausage Sandwich, which was described in the menu as two of their homemade sausages on a toasted bun. At the Farmer's Market, this same sandwich comes on a baguette, and I really like it that way, but I was willing to try it on the bun. We also ordered chips (which are British french fries). The chips came out pretty quickly and were very good, and we ate these while waiting. And waiting. And waiting for our food. When it finally arrived, there was only one rather small patty-like sausage on a very large bun. You couldn't even see the sausage on the closed sandwich, and so we asked the server about it, she said the sausage was split in two (it's a link sausage, and when it is split, it is flattened out), and that's what they meant by two sausages. But I knew this wasn't right because I have had this same sandwich many times before, and when I told her this, she said it was probably different at the farmer's market. After Ruben also mentioned that he had the sandwich at this exact location and it was two sausages, the server said she would get me an extra sausage and not charge me for it, which we thought was kind of silly, because clearly the menu said TWO sausage links, and this should not be given to us as a favor. It took them so long to make me an extra sausage that my current sausage patty got cold, and we had to ask them to reheat it. The fact that it took so very long and then was wrong and then that we had to argue about whether to not it was wrong and then another long wait kind of ruined the whole experience for me. And when it finally did come, I didn't actually like the bun very much, so I ate the sausage mostly plain, and it was so greasy that it made my head hurt. That has never happened when I've eaten their food at the market, so I think I can only give this location 2 plates. (My usual experience at the market would be a 4 plate rating.) At least there was a good selection of British chocolate bars to choose from at the end of our visit.

Ruben:
I have been here once before and it was great! So I walked into Jolly Posh with high expectations but little did I know it was gonna be a lot different this time. We got seated and ordered some Fizzie pops aka english Sodas, I got a fizzie pop called tango, it's an apple soda that almost tastes like sparkling apple cider. Then we ordered, I ordered the banger Sausage sandwich which I have had once before also we got some Fries/chips with that as otto explained in his review the fries came way too early and were not served with the sandwiches which I thought was very odd usually restaurants are pretty good with timing when the food comes. So after a 40 minute wait and I have no idea why it takes that long to put a sausage on a bun, so it comes and I see the sandwich and I'm like what the heck is this it looked like a sausage burger and there was only one on the sandwich and they were supposed to have 2 so we sent it back and we got our 2 sausages we ate and paid the check. As we were walking out, the waitress did give us one of their sausage rolls as an apology for the mix-up, so that was nice. The first time I went to Jolly Posh it was a wonderful experience the sandwich was great and Spencer him self came to our table and asked how our food was so I really do hope Jolly Posh works out these problems cause it is a very cool place in Chicago. We were about head out but we could not leave without British chocolate of course so we all get a bar and we try each others my favorite was the Aero it was a chocolate bar but there were bubbles inside. So I will not be going to Jolly posh soon but since i think it has potential i will try it one more time. I give Spencer's Jolly Posh 2 plates.

Max:
I've never been to any location of Jolly Posh before. I have only ever tried their bangers at the farmer's market. Ruben told me that this place was great. So we all walked in prepared for some good food. The atmosphere is really cool. They have a shelves filled with british grocery items that you can buy. Before we ordered, we got some English sodas. I had Club Lemon, Otto had Lilt, and Ruben had Tango Apple. We all really liked them. Then after that, we chose our meals, and got a side of fries to share. The fries came fairly quickly, but our meals came really slowly. The fries were really good. After then we got our meals. I got the Back Bacon sandwich, it was really good, not amazing, but good. The meal would be really plain if you didn't get at least one topping, I got the Baked Beans as my topping. They complemented the bacon very well. The service was incredibly slow. I mean how long does it take to put a sausage in-between two buns, right? Ruben and Otto's Banger sausages only had 1 sausage split in to two, and the menu said it had two sausages. It made the meal look really sad. This was a huge disappointment, so we told the waitress right away. When she came, we explained what happened and that we wanted a second sausage, and she said that she wouldn't charge us for two sausages. BUT OF COURSE YOU WOULDN'T CHARGE US FOR TWO!!! Why would she charge you for a second sausage when the menu says it comes with two? But at least she didn't. After that, we were all kinda disappointed, and Ruben and Otto didn't even like their sandwiches all that much. This is the end of the review. But before I'm done, I think that Spencer's Jolly Posh Could be really good, but we just weren't thrilled after the wait and the issues with our meals. I give 2 plates to Spencer's Jolly Posh actual location, but I will still keep on visiting them at the Farmer's Market.

Outside.

Wallpaper.

Crisps.

Ruben's Fizzie Pop

Otto's Fizzie Pop

Max's Fizzie Pop

Cheers, mates.

Delicious fries.

Otto and Ruben's Sausage Banger

Max's Back Bacon sandwich

British Chocolate Bars

Blustery day, but yummy chocolate.

Hello, Today we are reviewing Smoke Daddy in Wicker Park.

Ruben:
Smoke Daddy is truly the The Daddy of BBQ In Chicago. I walked in and i just loved the atmosphere of the place. it was country, it was modern, it was smokey. also they have added a new addition that is all windows so there is great natural light place. We decided to sit in the new addition cause we have never eaten in there. it was very nice. high tables and decor. also they have like a glass door that works like a garage door that they open when its warm out. we got to see it when it was opened so that was really cool. We started off with some nice cool root beers. Then We had some pulled chicken for an appetizer. the sauce on that thing was the bomb! Smoke daddy makes there own sauces and sells them at local small grocerys around Chicago. there are 3 sauces. Mustard Q, Sweet and Smokey. and Original. I liked the mustard a lot. I have never really had a mustard BBQ sauce so that was a really wonderful new experience. the other two were also awesome. Next for all of us, we ordered the rib sampler. all three kinds of ribs. baby back, St. Louis, and rib tips. and all of them were phenomenal. I liked the baby back a lot. great flavor. the St. Louis very good. also great rub on both of them. the rib tips were good but way to much fat and Cartilage. but the meat itself was very good. We got Lots of sides. coleslaw which was pretty good nothing special. baked beans which were okay. I'm not a huge fan of beans. and then fries. half sweet potato half regular. the funny thing was the regular fries were hot, but the sweet potato were not. we told the waitress and she got us new fries right away. What I just explained to you might have seemed like a lot of food Warning we did not eat all of it. One more thing another great thing about Smoke Daddy is that they have live music a lot of the time. and even my dad's band has played there. Smoke daddy is a great BBQ place and I am definitely going back. I give 5 plates or ribs.

Max:
The Smoke Daddy has bean in Wicker Park for a while now. They're pretty famous around Wicker Park. They even have live bands performing inside. The atmosphere is authentic BBQ. They have recently expanded the restaurant, it makes it feel much less claustrophobic. We got the pulled Chicken as our appetizer. It was pretty good. And we got the Sampler as our shared meal. Our waitress messed up our order of sweet potato fries, well, I don't actually know because when she brought our fries, they were cold. Maybe they were sitting around for a while before they delivered them? I don't know. But anyway, when the sampler came, I knew it was gonna be good, because it looked it and I have been here before and I have liked their food. there were three different kinds of ribs, Baby Back, St. Louis, and Rib Tips. The Baby Back were good, although they were pretty much tied with the St. Louis. So I liked them both. The Rib Tips, were AMAZING!!!! There were three different sauces, Original, Mustard Q, and Sweet and Smokey. The Rib tips were best with the Sweet and Smokey Sauce in my opinion. It gave it a Chicago BBQ taste. The Mustard Q was also good with the ribs but it didn't outrank the Sweet and Smokey. The Original is the most boring in my taste. It isn't bad, its just boring for me because I have it at home and I eat it with stuff often. Oh! I forgot to mention some of the sides. We got Smoked Pit Beans, and Coleslaw. The Smoked Pit Beans were delicious. Some of the best beans I've ever had. The Coleslaw was good. It wasn't Amazing but it was good. It had a little too much vinegar in it, but it was still okay. For dessert, we got vanilla ice cream. Which was good for me and Otto. But not for Ruben because he can't have dairy. But Smoke Daddy was delicious so I will give 5 plates to The Smoke Daddy.

Otto:
As Max and Ruben have already said, we go the Smoke Daddy Rib Sampler Plate with St. Louis and Baby Back ribs, and rib tips. I think I liked the rib tips the best. They were very meaty and didn't have much fat on them. My second favorite was the St. Louis, and then the Baby Back. But they were all delicious. I didn't like the Mustard Q sauce, but that might be because I don't really like mustard. My favorite sauce was the Sweet and Smokey. The Original sauce was also really yummy. We also got the pulled chicken as an appetizer, which was delicious. The regular fries were tasty. I didn't try the sweet potato fries, so I wasn't all that bothered that they were cold, but it was good that the waitress brought out hot ones right away when we mentioned it. And apparently they give free ice cream to kids for dessert. We had gotten root beers as our beverage and still had them left over at dessert, so I turned mine into a root beer float. That was a great surprise ending to the meal. Overall, I'd rate this place 4.5 plates.