Chicago Style BBQ remains a Joliet staple more than 30 years later

Kevin Roberts has worked tirelessly since the early 1990s to make Chicago-style barbecue rib tips a popular Joliet staple.

Roberts first opened Chicago Style BBQ in Joliet in 1992, and since then he has focused the menu on four items: rib tips, ribs, chicken wings and sausages, which he calls hot links. Of those four items, rib tips remains the most popular.

“Rib tips are easily 70% of the business, some days 75% of the business,” Roberts said.

Chicago Style BBQ, which is located at 1215 N. Broadway St., is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. Even though the restaurant is not open on weekends, Roberts said he receives hundreds of customers during the week.

“A lot of restaurants wouldn’t have enough of a customer base to be closed on the weekend days. But I’ve been in Joliet since [1992], so I have a large enough customer base,” Roberts said.

Roberts is known for the medical scrubs he wears while he’s cooking, which has led to him to be known as the “rib doctor.” He said he started wearing them ever since he had knee surgery because they’re not as heavy to wear as other clothing.

“A combination of me being so serious about what I’m doing and wearing the scrubs, people just start saying, ‘Oh, he’s the rib doctor,’” Roberts said.

Roberts said he originally had a restaurant on the South Side of Chicago before he moved to Joliet in 1992. The first location for Chicago Style BBQ was 500 E. Cass St., which currently is the location for the Mexican restaurant Taquerias Atotonilco.

Chicago Style BBQ then moved to Chicago Street before moving to Broadway Street.

Roberts said he moved from Chicago to Joliet because he saw it was a growing area that was attracting businesses such as Empress Casino.

“There was a like a housing boom because everyone thought the same thing,” Roberts said.

Roberts cooks Chicago-style rib tips with a barbecue pit that he said most people call an aquarium cooker. He said he cooks them over a long period of time over low heat. Roberts also uses a holding cabinet to keep the rib tips warm and juicy.

“That’s why I can give them a three-hour product in such a short period of time,” Roberts said.

Roberts said that when most people go to restaurants, they want their food fast. He said he only has four items on the menu so he can do exactly that.

“You can give them what they want faster, and that’s really what the restaurant business is all about,” Roberts said.

Although Roberts has his two sons helping him at the restaurant, it still remains a demanding job. But unlike some restaurants, which will have customers waiting for hours, Roberts said he can deliver food to his customers quickly.

“People will go to certain restaurants and they’ll wait just to get in,” he said. “They don’t understand this is physical.”