we took another storefront....

rubbbq · Posted: Jan 14 2013 Post subject: we took another storefront....

Our expansion continues, and my sleepless nights begin again....we have 2 storefronts right now - one facing one street, and a second facing a different street around the corner. My restaurant is in the one storefront, and our "pit room" is in the other. Our smokers are in "The Pit Room", and I teach BBQ Cooking classes, we use the space to prep catering, our walk-in is in there, etc.
Here's our "Pit Room"

We're now taking a space directly adjacent to the pit-room, and we're moving our dining room. This will put our entire operation in a connected space, allowing us to use the pit room more efficiently for restaurant prep, and give us a 35' store frontage on Western Ave - a very busy street in Chicago.

Here's an empty pic of the new dining room, it's about 800 sq ft:

The new dining room will be about 40 seats, and our line will be bigger. I bought a wood-fired grill, which will increase our offerings, and make the 'raunt smell delicious (only downside to having the pits in a separate space - no smoke smell in the restaurant), and we're adding a fryer.
Here's our new Imperial Wood-Fired charbroiled:

One feature I really like about this grill - it has a lid. This was added custom by the previous owner, Imperial doesn't have it as an option, but they should. Close the lid, and you can hot hold, smoke, infuse flavor, and slow down the burn of the fire...we're gonna have fun with this: blackened dishes, grilled/smoked veggies, fresh wood-fire grilled corn, etc. Lots of things we can do on this.

We're gonna start brewing our own root beer, and down the road plan to get a liquor license in this space. The new space also has a full finished basement for additional prep/cooler space, and a proper office.

Here's a few pics of the chandeliers I'm making for the new space. 2 old 60" wooden wagon wheels, I'm wiring bulb sockets to them, placed inside 1/2 gallon mason jars, and I'm using "Edison Bulbs" with exposed filaments:

..and our new sink, re-purposed from an old singer sewing machine table:

..and our new neon sign, I'm driving to Macon, MO to pick it up today - got it on Ebay:

So, lots of pics, lots going on, sorry no food pics this time - I've been doing more construction and crafting than cooking lately....food pics next time : )
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Maniac · BBQ Super Pro Joined: 02 Oct 2010 Posts: 2433 Location: Pa

gotta love the sink Exclamation

great idea.

the wagon wheel is a great touch...keep us posted.
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Geronimo · Posted: Jan 14 2013 Post subject:

I love the whole thing!!!

and GREAT find on the sign!!
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Wynnebear · Posted: Jan 15 2013 Post subject:

Way to be creative. Love it!

daddywoofdawg · Posted: Jan 15 2013 Post subject:

So your the one that got the sign!I saw that and thought hard about it.If you decide not to use it PM me.
There is a spray chem that you can spray on the shiny chain and give it a rusty look.forget the name right now but I could look it up if you want to know.
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Ridge View BBQ · Posted: Jan 17 2013 Post subject:

Everything looks great! Its amazing how owning your own business can keep the creative fires kindeled! I know I was tottaly burned out until we started our own bizz in 2007
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Cat797 · Posted: Jan 29 2013 Post subject:

I've ate at your restaurant and it's pretty good....Unfortunately you weren't around when I went there. I hope to stop in another time this year. Can't wait to see the new space.

Best of Luck to ya'

Ed
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qfanatic01 · Posted: Feb 01 2013 Post subject:

rubbbq · Posted: Feb 22 2013 Post subject:

I wish there was a way to combine all of my posts into a single thread about my restaurant - it becomes a much more entertaining read...SoEzzy? help?

anyways - our final inspection in the new space is Monday! If we pass, we'll move everything (new space is just around the corner in the same building) over Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday...have a friends and family soft opening Thursday night - and re-open to the general public Friday night.

We've also changed our brand a bit - rather than Rub BBQ Company, our new space is :

Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse
Here's a preview of our new website
Here's a preview of our new menu

Larger Version
Larger Version Page 2

We started exploring a name change after being threatened with a law suit several times by R.U.B. BBQ (Righteous Urban BBQ) in New York City. Ironically, a few days after we decided on a new name/logo - R.U.B. NYC closed for good.

However, a restaurant near us has opened in the past few years calling themselves (an obvious rip off of Paul Kirk's NYC RUB) Real Urban BBQ or RUB for short. Now, we were open first - and could certainly sue them if they called themselves RUB publicly - but they are very careful not to. That doesn't prevent the general public from seeing the obvious acronym, and we have had phone calls mistaking us for them, and I'm sure vice versa. This restaurant is more of a chain: they have money and investors behind them, and have now opened a 2nd location. I know the guy (in charge) through mutual friends, and he wants to open like10-15 of these in the next few years. I have never wanted a chain-style restaurant, and don't want to be confused with his brand - regardless of who would win in an expensive court battle.

Furthermore, our brand has changed. When we opened, we were cooking with a gas assist pit - and I had always said our dry rub is what made us stand out for flavor. While we still use our great dry rubs, my focus has changed a bit to cooking with real wood - the old fashioned way - to give a great natural flavor to the food that we didn't used to get in the gas assist pit. Both of my pits burn only quarter split logs now: no gas, no electricity, REAL BBQ. The way they cook in the Backcountry Hills of Texas and the Carolinas....so rather than dropping rub and confusing people that we changed owners - we decided on Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse...maybe dropping the Rub part altogether down the road.

The new space is about 30% bigger, I spent a lot of time decorating and making it comfy (pics after we clean this weekend), we have great exposure onto Western Ave. (major street in Chicago), and our dining room/service kitchen will finally be directly adjacent to our "Pit Room" where we smoke everything and I teach BBQ Cooking classes. The line in the Pit Room will be accessible to prep mac béchamel, make house-made kettle chips, and other things we don't want to fill our service kitchen with. We're playing all Vinyl in the new space, serving fresh brewed tea and root beer, and expanding the menu a bit. We have a wood-fired grill on our new line, which has a ton of potential. We have a wood-fired sandwich menu now - using BBQ meats with other tasty ingredients to make sandwiches. We have always served a Pulled Pork panini and Reuben - using an electric panini press. Now we're making these sandwiches (and a few others) by toasting/melting them on a wood fired grill to give a great wood-flavor/char to the bread.

...here we go again, no sleep, running on endorphins, and a big smile on my face:

Welcome to Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse!

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qfanatic01 · Posted: Feb 23 2013 Post subject:

Good for you Jared! Enjoy your new space and continued success. Hope to see you again soon. My wood supplier said there is a fancy BBQ place opening near DT Mpls. They are featuring a Salt Lick style open pit and an array of wood burning toys manned by Chefs from the east coast. Must be nice to have deep pockets to play in? I'm not in the right neighborhood for that level of play even though I have the equipment sitting at my house. Grills, smokers and a spit oh my. Just need a wood oven to complete my collection. Hoping for the right opportunity. I'm contemplating a European Smoke House theme. My kids would like to do Northern Italian again. They enjoyed the food at our first place.
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SoEzzy · Posted: Feb 23 2013 Post subject:

rubbbq · Posted: Mar 03 2013 Post subject:

we passed our inspection, and opened the new space on Friday March 1st - the day we aimed for! Unheard of.

Fed a lot of people, space looks great - here's a shot of it on our soft opening (before and after it filled up):

...and here's a pic with a few BBQ allstars that showed up to our opening: LeAnn Whippen, Phil Wingo, and Gary Wiviott, and Andrew Bloom (and me (plaid shirt) and my wife).

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Maniac · BBQ Super Pro Joined: 02 Oct 2010 Posts: 2433 Location: Pa

great job

wish you all the success which should be some what easy for the thought and dedication your putting in to it. Hopefully someday i can make it there to see it.
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Harry Nutczak · Posted: Mar 04 2013 Post subject:

Spectacular.
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pitmaster t · Posted: Mar 05 2013 Post subject:

Looking good and congrats on the new space.

I feel your pain on the name game. We opened several years ago using the same name we used for our cooking team. When we opened our second location another opened with a similar name. Oddly enough the word "smoke" is the only thing the same. We get a lot of calls who think we're them and I wonder how many go the other way. Couple of examples. My wife and I attended a chamber of commerce function. When we sat down one lady, who did not know us, told my wife the event was catered by us. My wife had to tell her it wasn't us. Then this past Friday a couple came in who said they had our food at this same function. Being the nice guy I am I corrected them.
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