Porch,

I certainly agree with Bruce Ingebretsen Shorty's is very good for a
commercial BBQ joint. Bruce and I sampled spare ribs, brisket, chicken,
beef and pork, along with assorted sides of beans, slaw, garlic bread
and corn on cob. Shorty's also gives you the choice of sweet or
unsweetened tea. While the garlic bread and beans were ok, the slaw was
quite good and the corn, while out of season and probably frozen, was
delicious. How, you may ask, can frozen corn be delicious? Shorty's
serves the corn on skewers nestled in a Styrofoam hot dog container that
is half-filled with butter. Nothing like having a little corn with your
butter. <G> 

The beef and pork were served on the same plate and were actually
difficult to differentiate not the best choice on the menu. The Chicken
was good, juicy, with a nice mild smoke flavor and the brisket was
tender, yet toothsome, with a bit of a smoke ring and good flavor. The
brisket also came with its own sauce that is made in-house and reminded
me of a Central Texas style brisket sauce, tomato ketchup based with
vinegar, water, a few spices and Worchestershire all added in
moderation. 

The spare ribs were, IMHO, the clear winner, with the brisket a close
second, and were tender, with all the fat rendered out and had a nice
smoke ring with a mild wood smoke flavor. The spares were not 'fall off
the bone' and frankly I do not see the allure of the fall off the bone
thing anyway. I mean, who the heck wants to eat meat jello, aside from
Steve L until he recovers from his tonsil operation. The whole 'cut it
with a spoon' idea of meat means, to me, that I may as well eat it with
a spoon and that, while the meat may retain a bit of flavor, the texture
is mush, verging on mealy. 

Shorty's is a fairly large place, with long communal park bench style
tables with all the essentials within easy reach, paper towels, sauce,
hot sauce, etc. The service was excellent and when Bruce and I asked a
few questions as to type of smoker etc the waitress got the manager who
chatted with us for 15-20 minutes. What was also nice was the manager
clearly knew BBQ, enjoyed BBQ, ate BBQ and liked to talk BBQ, Shorty's
clearly does not skimp on food quality, service or personnel. 

Hummm, what did I forget, Shorty's uses gas fired Southern Prides with
hickory for smoke, and obviously has people there who know how to use
them. They also had a line out the door when Bruce and I pulled up,
though the line moved quite quickly. Shorty's, being in close proximity
to the beach and pretty South Florida women, had a much higher
percentage of very attractive women then I have ever seen in a BBQ
joint, ever, which, to me, is a real plus.  <G> 

Bruce and I ate at the original location on South Dixie Highway, there
are multiple locations, which may or may not be as good as the original. 

Shorty's gets a Wiviott Recommend and a solid 7 on the commercial BBQ
joint scale. 

Regards

Smoking in Chicago,
Gary

