The Chris Moeller Archives

"Draftees of the world arise, you have nothing to lose but your cookies!"

TV Land aired the "M*A*S*H" classic "Adam's Ribs" tonight. In the 1974 episode, Hawkeye Pierce, having already eaten "a river of liver and an ocean of fish" in the 4077th mess tent, recruits Radar to place a call from Korea to Chicago, hoping to get a delivery of the delicious barbequed ribs he'd enjoyed years before from a restaurant near the Dearborn Street Station (where Colonel Blake's mother first allowed him to go to the bathroom by himself.) This episode, goes my theory, helped to spark the barbeque boom in the U.S., as millions sat down to dinner hour "M*A*S*H" reruns over the proceeding years.

I never knew if "Adam's Ribs" really existed, but I tracked it down tonight on Google. It's located at 1514 North Broadway in Joliet, indeed near the Dearborn Street Station. Here's one of their recipes. It's telephone number is not actually Dearborn 5-2750, but they do deliver. Praise the lord, and pass the sauce.

Next week, the lowdown on Packo's Hungarian Hot Dogs in Toledo, Ohio.

posted by CM @ 8:47 PM