Flat & Point - Chicago
Chef David Bruns made his way from the rarified restaurant air of Spiaggia to the smokers at Flat & Point to create some of the tastiest – and intriguing – barbecue around.
Having built a reputation at Chicago’s renown Spiaggia, and later at his own small pop-up barbecue shack on the beach between North Avenue and Fullerton, Bruns is working to push the limits of what we know of as traditional barbecue. There are burnt ends and mac n’ cheese, of course, but fans of Q also get excited by less familiar offerings, such as smoked lentil croquettes and smoked mushroom duxelles (sometimes Bruns’ white tablecloth background shows just a little).
Chef David Bruns made his way from the rarified restaurant air of Spiaggia to the smokers at Flat & Point to create some of the tastiest – and intriguing – barbecue around.
Having built a reputation at Chicago’s renown Spiaggia, and later at his own small pop-up barbecue shack on the beach between North Avenue and Fullerton, Bruns is working to push the limits of what we know of as traditional barbecue. There are burnt ends and mac n’ cheese, of course, but fans of Q also get excited by less familiar offerings, such as smoked lentil croquettes and smoked mushroom duxelles (sometimes Bruns’ white tablecloth background shows just a little).
If you’re wondering, Flat & Point refers to the relatively meatier (flat) and relatively fattier (point) of the brisket, and brisket is just one of several savory items that Burns smokes and serves in a dining room filled with furniture made by him and his dad. On this classic barbecue dish, Bruns, like most serious pitmasters, smokes his meat with a simple salt and pepper rub and serves it without sauce, the better for you to appreciate the smoky perfection of the meat. However, Bruns knows customers sometimes want sauce, so you can add your own sweet and smoky Chicago-style or North Carolina mustard-based sauces. Suggestion: try it without sauce first and see if you think the meat needs anything else.
The meats, of course, are the star, and in addition to the brisket there’s a “rotating pork dish” with meat sourced from the eminent Slagel Farms as well as a brisket and dry aged sirloin cheeseburger that will set the standard for all cheeseburgers to come.
About this brisket, words may not do it justice. The brisket at Flat & Point is wagyu from Snake River, one of the most respected sources for this highly esteemed beef. Bruns cooks his brisket and other items on the mammoth, customized FatStack smoker (also used at the legendary Franklin Barbecue in Austin). In the Chicago Reader, food critic Mike Sula describes the brisket as “laced with buttery intramuscular fat rendered clear and jiggly and suffused with gentle smoke flavor.”
A strong supporter of sustainability, Bruns gets his meat from farmers that try to manage their cattle in a sustainable fashion, and he and his crew get whole animals or quarters to butcher in house to ensure quality cuts and reduced waste.
At Flat & Point, there are four Illinois beers on tap from Scratch Brewing and a good selection of bourbon. There’s wine and cocktails, too, but for BBQ, beer or bourbon seems to work best.
Bruns is always changing up the menu, experimenting with this and that, seeing what deliciousness he can dream up. If you’re a fan of barbecue, Flat & Point is a must-visit.
