Barbeque is one of America’s signature foods since the Spanish brought it over in the 1500’s. Originally called Barbacoa, it’s a food that has been loved by Americans for centuries. It is as American as apple pie, but who makes it best? I’m Johnny McConnaughey and this is Restaurant Wars.

This battle was between two great BBQ restaurants, Baby Back Blues BBQ and Sharkos BBQ, both cooking up good ol’ fashion smoking pit food that most Americans love.

I look for three different things when I compare restaurants; Price, food, and distance from Plainfield North.

I went to both of these BBQ restaurants and ordered the exact same three things; A Chopped Brisket Sandwich, a side of baked beans and a side of mac and cheese.

First I’ll compare price. High school students want the best food and want to spend the least amount of money. At Sharkos the total price for my meal was $12 which for a meal and two sides is pretty fair. At Baby Back Blues it was $13. This is a very minimal price difference for the same amount of food. Sides are cheaper at Baby Back Blues and they offer bigger portions

Second I’ll compare quality and taste. In a blind taste test I chose Sharko’s chopped brisket sandwich over Baby Back Blues. There were distinct differences in the meats; Baby Back Blues brisket seemed more packed together whereas Sharkos the meat was much more spread out as if it was just dumped on the bun. Baby Back Blues had a good taste but Sharkos had pieces of fat in the meat and that really brought the flavors full circle. Sharkos also won with their mac and cheese. It’s made with actual cheese as opposed to the cheese sauce used at Baby Back Blues. Baby Back Blues did however take the crown with their baked beans. They add pulled pork to the beans which complements the beans perfectly whereas Sharko’s baked beans were only beans and BBQ sauce with only a little bit of bacon.

The last thing considered is the distance from North to both restaurants. Sharkos is much closer compared to Baby Back Blues which makes Sharkos a better choice for student going off campus.

So it seems there’s a clear winner here: Sharkos. They won in all three categories, price food quality, and distance.

The next battle features Fat Ricky’s Pizza and Aureilo’s Pizza.