Close-up view of the ribs sold at Baby Back Blues. Photo credit: Sarah Adamson

Baby Back Blues BBQ
16200 S. Lincoln Highway
Plainfield, Illinois
815-254-6939

Baby Back Blues the Real McCoy When It Comes to Barbecue

The Scoop- Total Dining Experience: ★★★½ out of 4

We’d go back as the ribs were some of the best I’ve ever tasted. The restaurant would have scored all 4 stars if the location were closer to a city and offered a few more menu choices. (It’s a bit isolated and away from the downtown area.) I would have liked to have seen more side choices such as corn bread and baked sliced apples.

If you didn't know you were in Plainfield, Illinois you could easily surmise that Baby Back Blues was an authentic barbecue smokehouse in southern Mississippi. Slow-cooking in hickory-stoked ovens produces ribs, pulled pork and other fare that falls off the bone and packs a punch. The stainless steel smoker ovens behind the main counters are blackened from a dozen years of use and stoked with hickory logs to provide that much- loved smoky flavor. Baby Back Blues is the real deal, and the barbecue that's cooked at a low temperature for more than four hours proves it.

The restaurant's atmosphere is causal and picnic in style -- paper plates, plastic silverware. It would appear that Baby Back Blues does a regular carry- out business based on the number of patrons we saw coming in to pick up orders.

Yum Factor − Details of the items we tried.

Ribs-The first thing you notice when you bite into them is the caramelized glaze coating -- a combination of brown sugar with a hint of honey yet with a noticeable crunchiness. The meat is tender and oh-so-hickory in flavor; it really does fall off the bone. Half slabs are $13, full slab $22, and come with two sides, bread and a drink. I was so delighted with the taste that I ordered more.

Smokin' Deal- Pulled Pork and Beef Brisket (you can also choose pulled chicken or rib tips), two sides and a drink. The ratio of barbecue sauce to meat was just right; not overbearing. The small portion (a third of a pound) $8; the large (half-pound).$10.

Macaroni-and-Cheese- I highly recommend that you make one of the sides the homemade macaroni-and-cheese, which is creamy and delicious. This is not the stuff that comes out of a box; this is comfort food made with large elbow macaroni and creamy American cheese.

Chocolate Cake is the only dessert choice offered and it, too, is perfect. The moist cake with a light chocolate icing is a treat. $2

The restaurant's atmosphere is causal and picnic in style -- paper plates, plastic silverware. It would appear that Baby Back Blues does a regular carry- out business based on the number of patrons we saw coming in to pick up orders.

Backstage Notes:

My experience with topnotch ribs might be somewhat skewed as the husband of a colleague, Terry Huffman, won first place so many times in Naperville's Last Fling Rib Contest that he was asked to stop participating and become a judge. I've sampled so many of his prize-winning ribs that I could identify them in a blindfold taste test.

And in the interest of full disclosure, I should note that my father worked for Swift Fresh Meats & Co. for 28 years and worked on the American Meat Institute Council for 5 years. Needless to say, I've had a few ribs in my lifetime and know a thing or two about what it takes to attain perfection. There are no shortcuts to creating meaty, flavorful, fall-off-the-bone ribs. So, take my word for it when I say the ribs at Baby Back Blues are amazing.

Sarah Adamson© November 2, 2010