Monday, Nov. 09, 2009

City Limits BBQ: Slow cooking in the fast lane

You can get your food in a hurry at City Limits BBQ.

Just know that the new restaurant inside the Flying J Travel Plaza slow-cooks its rotisserie chicken, smokes racks of ribs and pork for hours, and rolls out dough for the peach cobbler by hand.

Folks cruising Interstate 255 near Alorton can be back in the car in no time with a pulled pork sandwich and a side of banana pudding (stuffed with vanilla wafers).

Or pick up a carry-out on your way home. Sides include macaroni and cheese, scalloped corn and cheese biscuits.

Or come into the large dining room and settle into a plat while seated in the large dining room.

For Sharon Jant-Williams, creating the eatery has been an education. While she has almost 30 years experience in the restaurant business, and has been with Flying J for nine years, this is the first time she helped create a menu from scratch.

"It really was a lot of fun," said Sharon, restaurant general manager at the metro-east Flying J, which opened three years ago.

"We had some space where the Magic Dragon used to be," she said of a Chinese restaurant that closed.

Beginning last May, "We shot around a lot of ideas," about the type of food that would draw diners, she said. Settling on barbecue was difficult for her and restaurant district manager Gary Crosser.

"It's a big barbecue market," she said. So, she, Gary and several of the crew, including Linda Hauver and Jackie Morton, set to work developing a menu, creating rubs for the meat and tweaking staples to set their food apart.

"We wanted unique flavors," Sharon said, but nothing too out of the comfort zone. "Take the baked beans: We use ranch beans. ... In the coleslaw, we're heavy on the dressing and we add mandarin oranges. ... The potato salad has dill relish in it. And the peach cobbler, it's a work of art!"

The dough recipe comes from Gary's mother.

As for Sharon, who is a fan of banana pudding, the filling wasn't going to be the typical vanilla.

"No, we use banana filling. I'll take credit for that."

By the end of August, City Limits BBQ opened. Gary came up with the name, apropos for being located at the edge of a variety of metro-east communities.

Meals come with two sides and a cheese biscuit, or order a la carte. Barbecue sauce comes on the side, with two flavors -- one mild, the other spicy.

The menu includes ribs smoked for 12 hours (half rack, $8.99/$10.99 meal), full rack ($16.99/$18.99), pulled pork sandwich meal ($6.99) or by the pound ($7.99/$9.99 meal).

Rotisserie chicken comes whole ($7.99/$9.99, half ($5.49/$7.49) and quarter ($3.49/$5.49), plus there is a popular combo meal that mixes and matches chicken and pork for $9.99.

Sides include coleslaw, baked beans, macaroni and cheese and scalloped corn, $1.79 side/$2.99 pint. Peach cobbler is $1.99/$4.99 and banana pudding is $1.99/$3.99. An extra cheese biscuit will set you back 59 cents.

With hours daily from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., you can have barbecue any time you want.

Sharon really means that. Even if City Limits BBQ happens to be closed, she said, you can place a large order with the travel center, which is open 24 hours a day, and it will be passed on to the restaurant.

City Limits BBQ

What: Slow-cooked and smoked ribs, pulled pork, rotisserie chicken. Dine in or carry out.

Where: Inside Flying J Travel Plaza, Illinois 15 at Interstate 255, Alorton.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily

Information: 337-6806