Sanders BBQ Supply Co. in the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago specializes in Texas-inspired new-school barbecue with stunning smoked meat that’s personal and precise, but the restaurant could use a few lessons in old-school service.
Owner James Sanders opened his namesake restaurant in June with a team led by head pitmaster Nick Kleutsch and head chef Bill Jones .
It’s considered one of the first craft barbecue places on the South Side, Sanders said.
That would be along with the pioneering Lexington Betty Smokehouse in Pullman , owned by pitmaster Dominique Leach and her wife Tanisha Griffin Leach.
“We don’t do the typical Chicago barbecue, and I’m not knocking the traditional Chicago barbecue,” Sanders said.
That would be defined by the legendary Lem’s Bar-B-Q in Chatham , owned by Carmen Lemons, whose sister and manager Lynn Walker Harvey worked alongside their father, the late great pitmaster James B. Lemons.
Sanders BBQ Supply does in fact offer the defining Chicago-style barbecue combo of tips and links, but that’s not what has people lining up outside before it opens.