Famed Chicago eatery, Smoque BBQ, is embarking on a fresh culinary journey. Set to take place later in the week, the newly conceptualized Uppercut Sandwich Co. will replace Smoque BBQ at their stall in the Revival Food Hall, as cited in Eater Chicago.
Barry Sorkin, the man behind Smoque BBQ, shares that Uppercut Sandwich Co. aims to provide gourmet variants of deli meats, resulting in sublime sandwich offerings. Featuring succulent dishes such as shaved prime tenderloin and tart steak from Smoque Steak, Sorkin's other restaurant, Uppercut also plans to delight customers with sumptuous staff meal recipes including a brie and mushroom sandwich.
In addition to the lavish sandwiches, Uppercut will provide various salad options like meatloaf sandwich, shrimp roll, lobster pasta salad, broccolini and carrot charred veggie salad with fresh mozzarella, roasted fingerling potato salad, and celery root slaw. For the discerning diner, options like smoked salmon pinwheels and a savoury sous vide chicken salad sandwich are expected to make a big hit.
Uppercut Sandwich Co. is set to open by mid-November, succeeding Smoque BBQ's closure at the Revival Food Hall on October 20. Despite the food hall's resurgence after the COVID-19 outbreak, Sorkin believed it was time for an evolution. He expressed his optimism about arousing excitement among the regular customers of Revival, following seven years of Smoque BBQ's establishment.
As described by SmoqueBBQ.com, Smoque BBQ has been a primary tenant at Revival Food Hall since 2016, introducing downtown food lovers to North Side barbeque. The previous Chicago Public Schools headquarters housed a smoker, which Uppercut intends to continue utilizing for items like a natural casing hot dog, reminiscent of Frankfurters of yesteryear.
Furthermore, the conventional Italian beef sandwich, a cherished staple in Chicago's street food, will receive a gourmet makeover at Uppercut, offering thicker cuts of beef. Sorkin envisions fast food enthusiasts will delight in Uppercut's richer, fuller Italian beef flavor compared to the standard processed and frozen versions available in quick-service restaurants.
Apart from simply introducing new culinary masterpieces, Uppercut Sandwich Co. is also influenced by customer preferences at Smoque Steak. Sorkin observed that customers showed a preference for sous vide sealed steaks over sandwiches for lunch and takeout orders, leading the team to transition their sandwiches to the more fitting location of Revival, subsequently phasing them out from Smoque Steak's menu.
Notably, Smoque BBQ tantalized taste buds with a special prime rib sandwich launched in January 2022 to celebrate its 15th anniversary, an indication of potential refinement and reintroduction at Uppercut Sandwich Co. Recently, Smoque BBQ's steak and brie sandwich was a sensation at the Windy City Smokeout festival and left a lasting impression as reported by Eater Chicago. Convinced about its success on Uppercut's menu, Sorkin expressed, "It's going to knock people's socks off."
