Entry No. 120 — the Chicago file — filed under: barbecue
Lem's Bar-B-Q
The Lemons brothers came up from Indianola, Mississippi in 1948 and opened this place in 1954; the 75th Street storefront has been turning out rib tips and hot links on the same model ever since, now run by James Lemons' daughters. The smoker is the aquarium type — a tall glass-fronted box where you can watch the meat work before it finishes over hickory flame — and it sits in full view behind the counter. You order through a window, not at a table, because there is no dining room: the order comes back boxed on a bed of white bread with fries piled on top and the family's thin, vinegary sauce over everything. The sauce is the mother's recipe and gets made fresh. The James Beard Foundation named it an America's Classic in 2025, which changed the line length and nothing else.
→ Three more weird eats & drinks in Chicago — never the same twice
The story
The Lemons family left Indianola, Mississippi in 1948 and spent six years in Chicago before putting their name on a door: Bruce and Myles opened the first Lem's in 1954. The third brother, James, took over a former ice cream shop on 75th Street in 1968, and that is the counter still running. The 75th Street store is also where rib tips entered the family repertoire — the knobby, cartilage-laced end trimmed off a slab of spares, cheap enough that the South Side turned it into a main course rather than scrap. James outlasted his brothers and ran the place until he died in 2015 at 87. His daughters, Carmen Lemons and Lynn Walker, own it now; William D. Lemons Jr. is head chef. The sauce is still the family matriarch's recipe, made fresh rather than bought by the drum, and the family trademarked the name in 2006 and has defended it since.
There is no dining room, no table, and no customer restroom. The whole business is one storefront and a glass partition: you order through the window and wait on the public side of it. Behind the glass stands the aquarium smoker — a tall, glass-fronted box, a Chicago design you rarely see outside the South and West Sides — where slabs and tips sit in full view working through hours of smoke before anything is finished over hickory flame to order. Around 2016 the kitchen was moving roughly 360 slabs a week. What comes back is a box: meat over white bread that exists to soak, fries piled on top, thin vinegary sauce poured over the whole assembly. Hot links and chicken are on the board too.
The James Beard Foundation named Lem's an America's Classic in 2025, seventy-one years after the first stand opened. Aretha Franklin, the Dells and Scottie Pippen were eating there long before the medal.
What it's like
You park on 75th, walk into a small room, and read a board through glass. Order, pay, then stand and wait — everything finishes over live fire once you ask for it, so a weekend night can run twenty to thirty minutes between paying and getting your box. There is nowhere to sit and nowhere to wash your hands, which is the whole etiquette lesson: decide before you go where you are eating. The car works. Rainbow Beach is fifteen blocks straight east on 75th; Promontory Point is about ten minutes north up the lake. Order by size rather than by dish — a large rib tip and hot link combo feeds two comfortably — and ask for extra sauce, because the thin vinegary stuff is the point and the white bread underneath is engineered to absorb it. Bring napkins. Nobody hands you a fork.
The move: Go around 8pm on a Friday, order a large rib tip and hot link combo with extra sauce to share, then drive fifteen blocks straight east on 75th to Rainbow Beach and eat it looking at the lake before the box gets cold.
📍 Before you go Closed Tuesdays. Open noon–10pm Sun, Mon, Wed and Thu, and noon–11pm Fri and Sat. Takeout only — there is no seating and no bathroom for customers, and you order through glass. Weekend nights the wait after ordering can run 20–30 minutes because everything finishes to order, so plan where you're eating before you go. Street parking on 75th; the Red Line 79th stop plus a bus is the transit route.
- 📍 Chicago
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 311 E 75th St, Chicago, IL 60619
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Calumet Fisheries — The other South Side smoke shack with no chairs: a 1928 wood-fired smokehouse on the 95th Street bridge, also a James Beard America's Classic, and eating both in one night is the honest way to argue about which is better.
- Promontory Point — The nearest good place to actually eat the box — limestone steps running straight into Lake Michigan, about ten minutes north, with a skyline view and no one to judge your sauce situation.
- Stony Island Arts Bank — Two miles northeast, Theaster Gates's rescued 1923 bank holds Frankie Knuckles's record collection and the Johnson Publishing library — the same Great Migration story as the Lemons brothers, kept in a different medium.
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Good to know
Can I eat there?
No. Lem's is takeout only — no seating, no tables, and no public restroom. You order through a glass partition and carry the box out.
When is it open, and when is it closed?
Closed Tuesdays. Noon to 10pm Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and noon to 11pm Friday and Saturday. It is worth calling (773-994-2428) before a long trip.
How do I get there without a car?
311 E 75th St is served by the Red Line's 79th stop plus a bus, and the 3, 29 and 75 buses all run nearby. Street parking on 75th is usually available if you drive — which is easier, since you need somewhere to eat.
What does it cost?
Cheap by any barbecue standard; Time Out puts the average main around $13, and a large combo split between two people lands well under thirty dollars.
Is there a wait, and did the James Beard award change things?
The 2025 America's Classics award lengthened the line and changed nothing else. Everything still finishes to order over hickory, so budget 20-30 minutes on Friday and Saturday nights.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: lemschicago.com · Wikipedia · Time Out
last checked: 2026-08-26