Taps Tips: New Monday Hours, Food Raffles, Quarantine Combos

JOLIET, IL — On Jan. 20, Joliet added a new restaurant that a lot of people were excited to give a try: Taps Tips BBQ Smokehouse. The small family-owned takeout business is owned and operated Fred Tapley and his brother Michael at 3110 Theodore St. It's near Essington Road.

The Tapleys are known for their smoked meats and homemade soul food sides that include red beans and rice, greens, corn bread, baked macaroni and cheese and green beans. They also make pulled pork nachos and brisket nachos.

"We were off to a very good start," Fred Tapley told Joliet Patch's editor late last week.

Less than two months after their Joliet grand opening, the coronavirus crisis hit.

"It definitely hurt us as far as the multitude of people," Fred Tapley said.

For people in the Joliet area who have already discovered Taps Tips, they know this place serves some delicious BBQ. Taps Tips is best known for its rib tips, its pulled pork sandwiches and brisket.

"Ribs tips definitely are number one," Fred Tapley told Patch.

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But the owners of Taps Tips are branching out, trying new things, making creative additions to their menu. Two weeks ago, they expanded their hours so they are open seven days a week.

"And now we have the weekly and daily specials," Fred Tapley remarked. "We had to do that to try and compensate for some of this loss" from the pandemic.

The Tapleys are also trying to draw more people for lunch.

"Dinner is more along the lines of our bread and butter," Fred Tapley said.

In mid-October, Taps Tips started staying open on Mondays.

Tapley said the challenge now is getting the word out because for the past nine months, regular customers knew that Tips Taps was closed on Mondays.

Taps Tips stays open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. or until they sell out of food, their sign says.

So what's the Quarantine Combo? For $10.95, customers get two wings, rib tips and a one-half hot link, plus bread, fries and a can of pop.

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As for other combos, Taps Tips offers a two-meat combo for $14.95, a three-meat combo for $17.95, a super link combo for $11.95 and a Just Turkey Combo for $18.95.

So where does Taps Tips draw its customers?

"Joliet and Crest Hill and we get a fair share of Plainfield," Fred Tapley remarked. "It's a pretty great location."

Taps Tips is in the same Theodore Street business plaza that includes the BrightDogs dog park and day care.

Early next year, Taps Tips will be expanding its restaurant into one of the adjacent storefronts that Brightdogs doesn't need anymore. The expanded venue will be called Taps Tips Eat & Play.

Taps Tips will be unveiling its Monday special in the near future. Tuesdays feature two pulled pork tacos, slaw, fries and a can of soda for $8.95. Wednesdays feature smoked jerk chicken: one-half chicken, yams, fries and a can of soda for $14.95. Thursdays feature turkey legs and Fridays are Maxwell Street Polish sausages.

After being open less than 10 months, Taps Tips has 1,738 Facebook likes and 1,835 Facebook followers. According to Facebook, Taps Tips has a 4.4 rating out of 5 stars among its 84 reviews.

"We definitely have some great reviews," Fred Tapley told Patch.

Taps Tips has started a monthly food raffle to encourage more traffic to their restaurant.

So far, a couple of winners of the highly coveted Raffle Platter have been drawn.

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"It's definitely something we'll continue to do," the owner said. "That's very easily over $100 worth of food."

Taps Tips wants to get out of the word that Thanksgiving is approaching, and Taps Tips will be serving up regular turkeys and jerk turkeys.

Fred Tapley urged people interested in their Thanksgiving turkeys to start calling ahead with pre-orders.

The restaurant phone is 815-782-7135. A carryout-focused restaurant, Taps Tips also does a significant amount of business with DoorDash and Uber Eats.