Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on March 30, 2020.
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I have to admit, I had The Dream BBQ in Homewood on my to-do list for quite some time. It was always one of those places I wanted to go to, but for many reasons would not end up working out. But one day I got frustrated by not working it in with an outing and made an expressed trip to try out their meats and sides.
While I ended up quite enjoying the ribs and the greens, the tenderness of the meat and wings overall fell a bit flat.
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The Dream BBQ Has Few Meat Options
In a way, The Dream BBQ is a lot like Wilson's Bar-B-Q which was formerly in the North Side (now closed due to a fire). The restaurant is small, has minimal signage, and only serves two kinds of meat- ribs and chicken (specifically, whole wings).
When you visit here your order options are ribs by the bone, chicken by the wing, combination platters of each meat with two sides, or an option to mix both meats as a combo as well. This combo plate includes just a few bones of each and two sides for an impressive ~$12, and when adding on more ribs to make the meal an even five ribs / five wings was just under $17- a steal for barbecue by any standard.
I opted for this combo option and went with a side of mac and cheese as well as greens- two of my standards when getting barbecue.
When eating this one, I was torn for many reasons. On one hand, the smoke flavor of the ribs and the spice on the bark was delicious. They truly got some great flavors to come out in this one. On the other hand, the meat on the ribs was not very tender at all and required a fair bite to eat (not my preference by any means). Ignoring that, I have to say the ribs were quite good.
The chicken, on the other hand, was disappointing if only because the whole wings were among the smallest I think I have ever had. The minimal meat made it not very worthwhile, and I would quite frankly skip these on this component alone.
The regular and spicy barbecue sauces worked with these quite well (primarily the wings), but we were later told that the mustard sauce is the one to go for here and I, sadly, missed it this visit.
On the side front, the greens were everything I hope for when getting them at a restaurant. They were greasy (almost to the point of soaking through the container), cooked well, and had hunks of meat in it for good measure. The mac and cheese was also quite cheesy, but the seemingly visible attempt for a crispy skin via a broiler didn't work out so well and turned out soft. This one ended up being a bit basic, but we'll always take more cheese when its an option.
Overall, I have some mixed feelings about The Dream BBQ. The pretty good flavor of the ribs was offset by them being fairly tough, and the chicken wings had little meat on the bones overall. Is this a positive or a negative overall? I really have a hard time saying one way or another.
Despite all this, it is hard to beat the price here. So, with this one all I can say is that when you visit, get the ribs, try all the sauces, and after comment below to let us know what you think!
The Dream BBQ is located at 7600 Braddock Avenue in Homewood South.
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