Yea, I feel dumb writing the 99th review... as if what I say about Black Dog will be more relevant or informative than the 98 before me... but might I say anyway:
I live in Los Angeles, I'm here for the summer. Not that LA is known for bbq, but neither is East Central Illinois, so I'll continue. STILL, I eat at a barbecue/beer joint every week, more than once a week in Los Angeles and BLACK DOG makes me feel embarrassed that I spend $20 on a pulled pork sandwich, a beer and a tip at Blues BBQ in West Hollywood. 6.95 for a burnt tips or ends or whatever sandwich AND a side [I had potato salad and dipped those spuds into every one of my sauce flight sauces]. And like $4 for a glass of what our AWESOME, nice-sporty-but-down-to-earth-witty waiter waiter called a REALLY nice PBR.
I got there at 11:00 and watched the place fill up to the point where we had to use a back exit to get a baby in a stroller and a 4-year-old out of the restaurant. But they HAD A BACK DOOR and they let us use it which made us feel cool and made them look cool for being accommodating. It probably wasn't even a secret door, but we felt grateful all the same.
The vegetarian 4-year-old happily ate an awesome looking provolone grilled sandwich, so Imma just put that out there in case your vegetarian self gets pulled along to Black Dog.
Nice-sporty-but-down-to-earth-witty waiter sampled us beer, gave me an extra sauce when I decided which one from my flight was the best [I liked Georgia Peach] and was really attentive despite a full-house at 11:30 a.m.
I got out of there full-to-the-brim and more satisfied than I've been in awhile [good bbq paired with beer is a wonderful lover] for less than $12 [excluding the big ol' tip he deserved]. Why is CU so great??
If someone wanted the short version of what my BBQ at Black Dog experience was, I would yell: "LEGIT AS HELL." and hope that summed up the flava', waiter and atmosphere.