Paleo Friendly Restaurant: Green Street Smoked Meats (Chicago)

Before Jeff & I left town to attend Sam Harris’ Waking Up lecture in Los Angeles (check us out in the spotlight), we went out to dinner with our friends Anthony & Wanda, to celebrate Jeff’s birthday.

I put Anthony in charge of choosing the restaurant, since he’s our resident Chicago Paleo restaurant reviewer and we all couldn’t have been happier with his choice of Green Street Smoked Meats.

We actually had no idea there was a smoke house in Chicago! Jeff & I were extremely excited to give everything on their menu a try, so we could compare Chicago to the smoked meats we’ve enjoyed in Austin, TX.

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#Paleo is by no means "all meat" but this is one fabulous BBQ joint with an #austin vibe! @liveoakbbq #liveoakbbq #texas #bbq #meatmeatmeat #brisketisdabest #primal #jerf #paleoporn

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Look, Pork Belly!!

When I was scoping out the online menu before we arrived, the first thing I spotted was the pork belly.

Dave, Jeff & I are all fans of pork belly and I tend to pick it up anytime I find it available when grocery shopping. Plus anytime we see it on the menu of a restaurant, it’s inevitable that it will make it’s way to our plate.

Every pork belly we’ve ever enjoyed has typically been the highlight of our meal. However, that wasn’t exactly the case at Green Street Smoked Meats.

Reservations Are Not Needed

I couldn’t tell from their website whether we’d have a long wait on a Friday night, like we always have at Au Cheval, and as it turns out reservations really wouldn’t work here.

The way it works at Green Street Smoked Meats is you walk in the door and get in line. While in line you typically have enough time to look over the menu and decide what you’ll order once you get to the counter.

Just because we didn’t have to wait long in line, doesn’t mean that’s not typically the case. I wouldn’t arrive extremely hungry on a Friday night because you might have a bit of a wait before you get your food and then find a seat.

Apparently we had chosen the right time to arrive because minutes after we stepped in line, we turned around and noticed it had grown to be four times longer than when we arrived!

Mind the Walkway

Near the front door you’ll want to watch for signs on the floor. As you’re waiting in line to place your order you don’t want to be in the way of people who are arriving and those who are passing through with platters of food, cafeteria style.

Just in case you don’t see the signs, there are guys standing near the door as a reminder to keep the walkway clear.

Gluten-Free Menu Options Galore

Thankfully there were plenty of options for us to choose from. And we had just enough time while standing in line to figure out exactly what we were going to order.

Wanda & I decided what our order would be and as I was recording everything as a note on my phone Jeff looked over my shoulder and asked if that would be too much food but we came hungry and ready to try a little of everything. With around 4 pounds of meat plus a sample of all the gluten-free sides to get our veggies in, it turned out to be the perfect amount for the four of us. :)

We decided to forgo the chicken & salmon and stick with a combination of pork, beef and all the available gluten-free sides including Potato Salad, Broccoli Salad, Coleslaw, Sweet Pickles and the Pickled Vegetables.

The guys behind the counter were even nice enough to separate the pork products from the beef for us. As you can see the Hot Links were served on the pork & sides platter since there’s a combination of pork and beef used to make them.

We gathered our trays, picked up our glasses for water and walked through the open walkway to the patio seating to look for an available table.

Indoor and Outdoor Seating

We claimed our seats outside, pulled out a roll of paper towel napkins and just as we were taking our first bite, the rain started to make its first appearance so we stepped back inside to find ourselves a place to chow down on our steamy sliced meats.

Tunes of Green Street Smoked Meats

In true hipster fashion the music playing while you dine comes from actual records chosen by the staff. The records are of course played on a record player so you’ll notice brief periods of silence, or them yelling to each other to “flip the record over”. :)

Up side to this: there is some quality sound floating out of their speakers due to the use of the record player, no matter what type of music they choose to play. :)

Final Thoughts

All of us were pleasantly full by the time we were licking our meat containers clean of all the remnant juices.

The salads were all delicious and we truly couldn’t pick a favorite but we all agreed that the pork belly was the least favorable option of what we ordered.

Next time we will definitely double down on the chopped beef brisket, the pulled pork, pork ribs and surprisingly the broccoli salad!

We had a fantastic time celebrating Jeff’s birthday with Anthony & Wanda and can’t wait to go back to Green Street Smoked Meats!

Are you interested in more Paleo friendly restaurants? Have a recommendation of someplace we should check out? Let us know!