The Doctor of Barbecue

As with many of our barbecue finds, this one I discovered on line while searching the Springfield, IL area for places to eat. I always search under BBQ wherever we are, because you never know, right? All it takes is for one passionate, dedicated individual to bring great barbecue to an area that, until then, may have had none. This is exactly the case with the Dr. of BBQ, who runs a food truck and smoker parked in an otherwise empty lot between 5th and 6th streets where they intersect with Stanford St. in the capital city of Springfield. We pulled up in our car, placed our order and took it back to the hotel, where we tortured the front desk staff by eating it at a table in the lobby. We chose the ribs, which are baby backs, and a pulled pork sandwich, both with our usual sides of beans and slaw. The ribs were great...somewhat assertively smoked and falling apart tender. They come naked save for the rub he uses on them, and with a side of sauce, which is a tangy and delicious tomato based sauce with just the right amount of heat and vinegar. These were almost perfect, but just a little dry. We've discovered something that most great pittmasters already know...ribs have a short period of perfection, after which it's a challenge to hold them there. Maybe if we'd had lunch there, we would have found that rib perfection...we suspect so. The pulled pork sandwich was also delicious...not as smoky as the ribs, and sauced with the same great tomato sauce. The sides... well, here's where The Dr. falls short of the mark. The slaw was past its prime...grayish in color, with that unpleasant gassiness that old cabbage has. If we were in a sit-down restaurant, we would have sent this back. The baked beans had been overly sweetened with white sugar, and we didn't like those either. If we lived in the area, we'd make our own sides at home and drive over for take out ribs to go with them. The Dr. also has smoked beef brisket, sausage, hot dogs, BBQ stuffed baked potatoes and gumbo on the menu. I'm willing to try it all after having these wonderful ribs...he just needs to work on the sides.