This is Beer in Front, part of the Odd Pods Media Network and the
Beer Media Group. Sometimes the beer in front of you is the best one
yet. I'll talk to people around the beer world and get their stories all
about beer. That's Beer in Front and It's coming up now. Welcome to
episode two hundred and sixteen, the June twenty fourth edition of Beer in Front.
I'm your host, Dave Zalatoris, and Beer in Front is a proud
odd Pods Media Network member and charter member of the Beer Media Group. On
this episode, I sat down to talk some great local food with Aaron Fitzpatrick.
You might know him online is Fitsmagic. He travels all around town to
find the best in Chicago eating. We stopped at the city location of Ravinia
Brewing to have some of their great beer and tacos. All that and more
on Beer in Front and It's Coming Up Now. A couple of things before
the interview with Fitzmagic. Later on in the show, I'm gonna have a
takata. I don't think I've ever had that on the show, and it's
been a long time since I had that classic Mexican lagger, So stay tuned
for that. I'm gonna have a review of takat. People are asking about
my back. It's a nightmare. It's just a nightmare. So cliff notes
version, Well, not really cliff notes, but so I heard it in
August. It's still not right. But I've done nothing but go to the
doctors that I've been told to go to. I haven't gone to anybody on
my own because this is a workman's comp deal. So I've gone to their
doctors, their specialists, had their surgical procedures, all that. None of
this I'm doing on my own, following their advice, which is to not
lift anything more than fifteen pounds. So between that and all of the steroids
and everything, I've taken more steroids than jose can say go so naturally weight
has been put on and I haven't really done anything physical in ten months.
So they had another doctor of theirs say, oh no, he's fine,
like there's nothing wrong with his back. Dude, I can't tie my shoes.
But okay, you're the doctor, you're the expert. So this jimoke
thinks I'm fine. So I'm asking for what it's called work conditioning after your
offer a period of time. It's kind of like a week to two weeks
where you build up endurance and you build up your strength, because if they
want me to go back, I have to lift seventy pounds. Not all
the time, but it's part of my job description. If I can't,
I can't go. So that's part of this work conditioning, Like I'll have
to do that then prove to people that I can do it. So it's
just they're fighting back and forth. So my lawyer is appealing everything. Hopefully
by the time this airs, i'll find out more and whether they want to
give me wark conditioning or just throw me to the wolves. But in the
meantime, while they've been fighting, I stop getting paid. So if you'd
like to support to show, head over to patreon dot com slash beer in
front. But it's just a mess. It's like, all right, fine,
if you want me to go back, then send me back to work
and we'll just see what happens. But don't let me sit here for a
month and keep me twisting in the wind without getting paid while you guys haggle
it. So the back is a nightmare. I wouldn't wish this upon anyone,
and hopefully this will all be resolved in the very near future. In
beer and beverage news, sad news out of the state of Oregon, where
Cascade has ceased operations after the death of their founder Art Laurance. Last month,
Cascade made some phenomenal sours and that's really sad. Russian River is teaming
up with Brooklyn Brewery to come out with a new beer. It's a Belgian
style blonde called Phonia, and they're going to use an ancient West African grain
that requires no fertilizers or incesticides and it uses very little water. There's no
details on the exact like release date, but this is going to be about
a five and a half percent beer. Sounds pretty cool, so I'm looking
forward to trying Fonio from Russian River in Brooklyn. Core's Light has come out
with a smart soccer jersey and it's not made for like soccer players. It's
made for people like us, just slobs who drink beer. But this has
built in thermal sensors that will detect your body temperature and activate a cooling system
to keep you chill. Now. It has a captain's band around the arm
that also I guess has a cousy in it so you could keep your bottle
of corps Light hatch Torm. You'd think the mountains would turn that the color
should It should be like one of those hypercolor shirts. They missed out on
that, but you could check out corslight dot com if you're interested in this
cooling shirt. Bud Light and post Malone they're teaming up for a night in
Nashville next month on July sixteenth. They're gonna feature the upcoming new record from
post Malone. So that looks pretty cool. Keep an eye and ear out
for that locally here in Illinois. Unfortunately, Gray's Lake Brewery Light the Lamp.
They're gonna cease operations on Sunday, June thirtieth. I had a couple
of their things and I thought they were pretty good, But they're gonna shut
down on June thirtieth. Half Acre and Vienna b for teaming up once again
for their only gold West Coast pilsner. They're gonna have a celibration on July
fifth at the half Acre tap room. They're gonna have pre Vienna Beef hot
dogs, Limit Edition merch. I mean, the beer is really good.
I had it the last couple of years. It's really good. The merch
looks spectacular. So if you're in the Chicago area on July fifth, check
out half Acres Only Gold. If you always wanted to invest in a brewery,
Lake Effect Brewing they're having. It's a honey Comb credit platform. They're
using that to try to open up their new tap room or their first tap
room for that matter. It's like a I don't know if it's not like
a gofund me, but small people like you and I could use this Honeycomb
credit platform to invest in the business. Now. According to Lake Effect,
those who invest I also get a small piece of the company, and you
know, you get ownership in the company, ownership investing in the neighborhood when
they open up in Avondale. So this looks pretty cool. For more information,
check out Lake Effect Brewing. Germany has once again overtaken the US.
They are now the world's biggest hop producing country. Nine years ago, the
US took the title, but Germany took it back. So there's more hops
grown in Germany than anywhere else in the world. Hey, I'm pants Saran,
this is Stevie and I'm Aggie and we are bfytw podcast all about playing
games and having fun. Our games are usually based on British panel shows and
game shows, but we'll play anything that captures our attention and imagination. Why
it's right there in the title, You'll never guess what the F stands for.
I'm back Revenie Brewing Company twenty six oh one West Diversity in the Great
City of Chicago. They also have another location at five eighty two Roger Williams
Avenue in Highland Park. It's a great spot. I love the beer,
I love the food. Always good to support a local business. If you
remember, I was here a couple months ago and I talked to them.
They're going through some stuff right now, so if you get a chance,
please support a great local business. But I'm not here to talk about Revenee,
which we are. But I'm happy to have Aaron Fitzpatrick on. You
may owe him on social Media's Cheap Seats for one one. If you want
to know anything in the city about great spots to eat, Aaron is your
guy. So Aaron, thank you so much, brother, Thank you for
having me. Dave. It's a pleasure tell folks about yourself. How you
got started doing Fitzmagic Eats. So yeah, that I was telling you before
the whole food scene started, I guess probably during COVID, just everybody's making
stuff in their backyards and some things just sort of hit, and I sort
of took it that direction. And then in twenty twenty one, when everybody
started going back to the ballparks and everything, I actually sent out a tweet
at a White Sox game that regarding the player they had at the time,
you mean Mercedes, Do you remember him? But they made a hamburger out
of him, So they had a blurb of him up in the on the
scoreboard said that he was acquired by the White Sox in the Rule five Drafts.
So I said, well, why don't we make a beer after your
mean, maybe a Rule five draft And the one to eight guys got on
board and they got Ahold of a Goose Island and they within a week they
had a beer named Rule five Drafts. And that sort of just propelled me
for another year. And then I joined on tap sports and was doing I
started doing my food reviews that I do now there it was on tap Eats
and was there for a year. Now I'm on my own and traveling the
city finding little spots that you might not have heard of. And just little
places hot dog stands, and that all that love comes from traveling around with
my dad back in the day. He was always adventurous when it came to
food. You know, didn't like going to McDonald's and hanging the staples.
He always like, let's try this place. Okay, we'll go to parkis
we're in. We're a park, you know. And my favorite place was
Charcoal Delights over there in Albany Park in North Park where I grew up.
So that's my love for the just Chicago fast food. It's the best in
the world. Oh yeah, Like you mentioned the White Sox, so can
you tell people what is the deal with this campfire milkshake? And is it
worth the hype? So I got the chance to try that at their pre
season brought their new food menu and I got the chance to try Its very
tasty. Whoever is the marketing genius behind that, they deserve a raise.
You're not getting paid enough because that's been a draw to the the ballpark this
year. I mean when I had some family up over Memorial Day, we
went over there about fourth fifth inning, they were already sold out. It
just it's one of those things that takes off I mean it's right up there
with the cabbage patch kid. I think it's just the excitement. So it
might be the only thing drawing people into the park. So it could be.
It could be what is that thing run that's with seventeen dollars? Yeah,
it's but you get but you get the souven your glass with it.
Yeah, I mean it looks huge. I know. I think they did
the White Sox put out of being Simone Biles was having it at a game.
So they're really doing a good job of marketing the milkshake. It is
its own star this year. So while we're here once again at Ravinia Brewing,
I'm having their night ravine. This is a black IPA. I'm a
big fan of black I pas and I like this. Really get the nice
roasted malts there, good hops. What are you drinking eron? I've got
the u A Diversity station. I'm a little hazy here, very citrusy,
you know. I'm particular to the lighter builders and this is probably as about
as bold as I would go, but it's very good. I'll probably have
one of these again. This is delicious. Yeah, I mean all the
beer here is great for people at outside this area. When you think of
Chicago food, you only think of two things. You think of hot dogs
in pizzas. But we both know there's so much more to offer than a
tavern cut or a hot dog. What are some of the types of food
that you tell people to go get when someone's visiting Chicago for the first time.
That's one of that's a very difficult question. I've talked about it with
some friends. I think we need to set up like a tutorial on when
somebody asked me, where should I go for food? But of course there's
Italian beefs. Those are you know, that's another Chicago staple. And I
think you can get a good one on wherever you're at, you're you're you're
within a short distance away, because there's a lot of good ones out there.
The taco scene in Chicago is as good as anywhere. Yeah, I
mean, the verya tacos are really kind of the all stars now right now,
and there's plenty of good ones again, all over the city, all
even in some of the suburbs. You can find them. Some other good
things. Wow, geez, you know you were talking about ramen. That's
another thing that Chicago is starting to get a lot of popular things. And
also you're talking about deep dish pizza. There's always tavern style, you know,
and a lot of people will swear by that as Chicago style, and
I say you can have both, you know. You know, I am
just a proponent of if it tastes good to you. You know. A
friend of mine says, don't you you're young, and yeah, if you
like it, you know, got love. I love the tavern style.
I love deep dish. If it's good, it's good. Yeah, you
know, And it's hard to like people. They'll ask me about beer.
It's like, well, where are you staying? Right exactly where? Yeah,
I just said, somebody asked me on Twitter X where can I get
an Italian beef? I said, okay, well where are you going to
be staying? Broke it down from there and like, well, I'm gonna
be downtown. Is there anything good downtown? Yes, there is. There's
Lukes on Jackson. Go there. It's one of the best beefs around.
So and then if you want to go a little further south, you're getting
into Taylor Street and you've got owls, you know. Yeah, So yeah,
going out to the suburbs, you can go to Johnny Johnny. Oh,
yes, so many great spots. Yes, definitely. So just tell
me where you're going, where you're gonna be, how long you're gonna be
there, and then I can give you a little better answers. Yeah,
when you're not like dining out, do you cook a lot at home?
I sure do. I always say my wife is the cook of our household.
She's Cuban and make some of the most wonderful Cuban dishes that she got
from her mother. And but she just doesn't have time. So back in
the day I became I was stay home dad and at the time twenty four
years ago, now, wow, it's been that long. I was macarine,
cheese and fish sticks. You know, my mother, she was a
short order cook at a restaurant and she learned how to make cook fast good
meals, you know, meat, potato, vegetable. She gave me some
lessons and then from over the years, I got a hold of a grill.
So yeah, my favorite thing to put on a grill, I think
it goes between either broughtworst or beer can chicken. Those are like my two
just absolute favorites. Would you consider, like, say, the beer can
chicken would that be your signature go to dish that you make. I think
if I'm trying to impress somebody, like, you know, be a little
more fancy, that's probably it. If I'm having a group of people over,
let's get those brats out, let's get some burgers, you know,
things like that. I make a good burger too. So are you grill
berger? Are you on the smash burger train? Extremely popular now? So,
like during the winter, when I can't get on the grill, that's
when I do the smash. But I can get out on the grill.
I just like the whole experience of being out on the grills. So get
some put burgers from Jewel when they're on sale, and you're good to go.
Definitely. What I love about Chicago in the area is you don't have
a lot of there's really no chain restaurants outside of your fast food places.
I think you have one Olive Garden on Addison, But outside of that,
you don't have a ton of chain restaurants outside of your Portillos or you know,
fast food spots. You have great spots all over, from like Rico
Benni's to veto Nick's. It's up North Nuno, Kabob, and plenty of
others. What are some of your favorite places to eat in the city or
Chicagoland area for that man, Yeah right, I can't forget. I mean
suburbs have plenty of good food Northwest Indiana too. I think my favorite spot,
and this kind of gets into like what I like to do, is
I always go back to Charcoal de Lights, Kenzie and Foster. I used
to spend lunch is there with my grandfather who lived with us. I would
get a double cheddarburger with ketchup mustard and pickles. I love their char dogs,
their their milkshakes, and they've got it's one of those ketchalls. I
got good gros and everything, and so that that would probably be my favorite
spot in the city just and it's because it's what I find when I talk
to a lot of people, you say, what's your favorite beef, what's
your favorite pizza? It's the one you grew up with, It's the one
in your neighborhood, the one your dad took you to, one you went
for birthday. You know on what spot that I bring up a lot that
everyone it sort of has a memory of his Barnabys the pizza out there because
everyone had their pizza party there. You know, my little league team had
their pizza party, and they had their birthdays. It's just it. It's
the memories, the nostalgia, more than maybe even the taste of the things.
I mean, it's got to be good or it will last. But
it's those memories that build and and every and that's the beauty of Chicago.
Every neighborhood has has their own. Yeah. I think what is there only
like one Barnaby's left or I think there's two. Okay, there's the one
in was it Niles or Displays, like right on that border, and I
think there's one north of there. Yeah, I know there's one north,
probably close to the other location of Ravinia. I know that one's there.
I think the one in Displays closed down. It did for a while.
Yeah. I used to live right there in Rosemont and that was always good.
I know, Like that's the one my mother loved. So my mother
would always say, hey, on your way, can you stop just give
me a small cheese. I think the guy tending bar there is still the
guy that was there when I was there thirty years ago. He was good.
So yeah, you mentioned that you had your family in from out of
town, and I saw that, you know, you took him the socks
game. He did all that is like, I think she was your niece.
Is she like calling people a jag off or putting ketchup on her hot
dog? Right now? Ketchup on hot dogs? No, but she enjoys
it. He enjoyed the Chicago Dog, her dad, my cousin. He
enjoyed it. In fact, he went back home and made some right away,
I think the next day, and sent me a picture that they're making
their own. They can't. He took some relish with him because they can't
find that relish in Baltimore. But they definitely fell in love with some Chicago
staples. You know, I got the Pizza puff and oh yeah, I
went the Jearedonald's for some stuffed pizza, and you know we had the Chicago
Dogs and Johnny's for beef and and they love it there. You know they
might it was worth a twelve hour drive. Yeah. Actually Johnny's. They
got the New Star Chinese right across the street from Johnny's. That's another great
local spot that's outstanding. I love Newstar. Yeah, that's another Chinese restaurants.
We all have our neighborhood one that you know that we know and love
and you know, so I mean, obviously you couldn't give it to your
niece, But did you hook them up with my Lord? No? I
did not hook them up with the Lord. I'm sorry I let people down
with that. We've just had a short amount of time trying to get as
much. And maybe I'll take a bottle out to them and if I think
we might go out to Baltimore in the fall and okay, take them with,
you know, and spread them a Lord message. Yeah, you know
you wanted them to come back. So right, what are some of your
favorite breweries for either food or like places like this that have great food?
Okay? So I went to the Guinness one when they opened up, and
I there some some good mashed potatoes are out of this world. But you
know, and everybody knows Gainness and and I keep forgetting that. It was
District Brewery Yards, Ran, Ashland. My daughter took me there for my
birthday. We went there before Bulls game and they had a brisket fries to
go along with the beer that was out of this world. I really enjoyed
the food. There and the and also just I like, you know,
the little sample they give you that card and you go and get a little
bit and because you know, I like to just taste a little bit here
and there. So that's that was a that was a good one. So
I've been to Old Irving. It's my first time at Ravinia. Thank you
for doing this. This is uh love seeing new spots. So we'll see
how this is. So far, so good. Yeah, But you know,
when you're like researching new places to go, whether you're gonna do a
video or just gonna do a test a drive by, what are things that
you look for in a rest or a spot to try a lot of times,
while I get a lot of suggestions from folks, I've got a notebook
full that I could spend three years on, I think. And you know,
take I was at work and a guy came in with the burrito looked
really good. I said, where'd you get the brito from? He said,
Fred and Jack's. Okay. Two days later I was at Fred and
Jack's over and it's in the Chatham neighborhood and and got a burger there and
they had some chicken fries that were delicious and so that's that's kind of it.
It's just hearing it. You know. I might hear something on the
train, I might hear something in the grocery store. Just you know,
they're eating it, they're not falling over that. It must be good.
Let's go check it up, right. Someone ever raved about a place,
and I don't want you to throw them under the bus to their place.
But if someone ever raved about a spot and you went there and it's like,
no, this is no good, well, uh, I will say
this. I was at a spot. It wasn't It was south of Chicago.
I went in there for the food. I wouldn't even say what it
was. I would never go back there for the food. However, the
person who served me was so kind and generous. I would go back and
get a coke just for that. But it was it was really it wasn't
a good eating experience, but I just I don't want to It was just,
you know, it didn't match my taste. It wasn't like it was
spoiled or anything, but but it just Yes, so there are places,
there are a few places that I just know, but again, this like
there that the service was really nice, and I would go back in there
and get a coke if I was thirsty. Yeah, just because it wasn't
there their fault, you know, So so yeah there. I I don't
like everything. I just I just don't necessarily put it out there. Yeah,
that's kind of with me. I know, like there are some people
who've given me beer and I'm like, oh, the microphone didn't work that
week or something. Yeah, I don't know, like every but he's working
hard. I don't help pooh pooh him or whatever. But a beer that's
still really good is what I'm drinking is night ravine. Okay. Yeah,
I wish like black i Pas would have been more popular. I know they
were big like ten twelve years ago, but this is really good. Yeah.
This It's probably not something I would have just chosen on my own,
like I'm the Pilsners and the lighter side, but I'm glad I did.
This is like like their Taco Best is really good. And actually I know
I've seen that in cans, like I think even my jewel if it's not
jewel, I know, Benni's carries Taco Best, right, Yeah I know.
Uh so yeah you could find that that's in a bright pink can and
that's really good. I'm gotching something you might like. Is I still see
it community matters when I was here in February. That's a Vienna lagger.
That's excellent. I'm being a lagger more like a Samuel Adams type, but
that one's really good. So you know, maybe give that one a try
because I love that's one of my favorite Vanna loggers that's out there. Okay,
we'll definitely note that. Have you been to Smoke Steak yet? I
have not. That's really good. Like my wife and I have been there
twice. We were there a couple of weeks ago. It was my birthday,
so my wife took me there. And that I mean, for a
Chicago steakhouse, it won't break the bank. They do a really good job
with the soup, eating of the steaks and then see it and then they
give it a little smoke ahead of time, so you're not you know,
you don't need to take out a second mortgage, like if you're going to
Gibson's or Gino Georgetti's or something like that. But that's like a really good
thing. Even my wife and she ordered the chicken because she's like, I
kind of have a taste for chicken and it wasn't that great. And boy,
the service was absolutely phenomenal. They're like, tell us what you want,
will make it right. And even the manager came be he says,
I tried a little and you were one hundred percent correct. I mean could
have been nicer, and like, the stakes are phenomenal there. Okay,
definitely put that one to your list here. Yeah, I don't have a
pen with me here, I will be sure to find it. Are there
places that are on your list, like you're dying to try your bucket list
that for just one reason or another you haven't had a chance to hit it
yet. There's one, Yeah, Punky's Pizza or in a Bridge where I
have not been Rico Benny's over there have been in other places over in that
area, just haven't gotten to Punkies. You know. It's like hear about
it all the time. And even there's a lot of places I'm trying to
get to that I haven't been to in years, like with Jeane and June's,
I haven't all you know, it's been a long time since I've been
up there. There's a there's a lot of pizza places that just people are
like you got to get over here. I haven't been to fills in years,
you know, but that's one of the you know, that's cogolists as
you can get. So there are places. There's a I keep getting some
requests. There's a Filipino Breakfast and I think it's in this area. I
can look it up. That that's something I really haven't done. Is tapped
on his breakfast. As far as reviews, I mean, I get to
hug fins and and places like that. But I either I think that's not
too far from their far for me because I'm at like Montrose and Western.
Okay, yeah, I don't think it's all that far from me. What's
I can't remember the name of that. I mean we both mentioned Rico Benny's,
which is one of my favorite spots. Have you had the steak on
the pizza there? No, I have not. Yeah, that's something I'm
dying to try. And it wasn't Rico Benny's. But I remember, you
know, back at old Kamiski Park, my friend took me to this place.
This had to be late mid to late eighties, so it was after
the eighty three socks, but you know, before they took it down.
It was like a shack, like a hole in the wall shack. And
he's like, oh, this place is known for their steak sandwich it and
it was really close to Comisky Park and that was still like one of the
best meals I've ever had. And you know, Rico Benni's was like right
there with it. But I wish I knew the name of it. I'm
sure it was torn down after they curified the neighborhood. There's a lot of
Yeah, there's a lot of good eats just outside the park, you know.
You got there's a little food truck type of place of more than dogs
right at thirty fourth in Shields. He'd get a great hot dog there on
thirty fifth Street, Red Hots, the Maxwell Street up on thirty first Street.
That's been you know. And then there's George's if you go down to
Halstead, George's has got great gros over there and pizza Puffs. And I
had a lot of good stuff to eat around the ballpark. Yeah, if
you don't want to spend so seventeen dollars for a milkshake, you know,
yeah, pizza puff? Who is it? I think Chicago history puts something
out yet maybe was it yesterday of the day before. They just put something
on x or Twitter about pizza puffs, So I'm like, yeah, just
don't get the ones a jewel, right, you know, they've been sitting
under lamp all day. But with pizza puffs are the best. Yeah.
That's something I posted about a year ago at if a place has a pizza
puff, I'd buy the pizza puff. Yeah. It with everything else,
I gotta get a pizza puff. And I was just up at mc duck's
not far from here actually, and that was where I had my first pizza
puff forty years ago. With h They're just there were just a how do
you describe it? Just deep fried goodness. Yeah, it's like it's not
Ananada, It's yeah, it's a pizza tortilla, you know. Yeah,
it's a deep fried tortilla and it's just good. Yeah. I think that
was Baltimore. Meghan's favorite item was the pizza buff. You just liked it.
Hold it in your hand and like they're getting bougie. They have like
a pupleo chicken one all that. Like, no, just how about just
the regular pizza some meat, sauce, and cheese and we're good. Yeah.
What are some of your favorite cities outside of Chicago for food. So
two years ago I was in New Orleans for the first time and duh,
you know, so they were. I was there for about four days and
just tried to eat as much as I could. My wife was at a
conference and I was out eating. So did that. I lived for for
about eleven years about an hour north of Memphis in a town Bible, Arkansas,
right off of fifty five. So Memphis Barbecue is you know. I
love the driver rub and the venn and her base and things like you know,
the Rendezvous or the barbecue. Yeah, you know, Neely's is one
of my favorites, favorite restaurants to go to and just the town are.
I tell people for catfish, the best catfish I've ever had was at a
place is at a place called Benny Bobs in Blible. They're not opened that
They're not open on weekends, so it's like when people are passing through on
a weekend, they can't stop there. But it's the best catfish anywhere,
deep fried catfish I've had anywhere. So if you're ever in Blible, Arkansas,
Monday through Friday between about eleven and five, because they run out,
tried Benny Bombs, It's best catfish there. I mean we kind of talked
about it a little bit earlier, but like if you had to, if
still have put a gun to your head, name your favorite Chicago pizza,
your favorite Chicago hot dog, your Italian beat. Okay, so you're really
putting me on the spot with that, and I can't give you three.
I gotta give you one. You can give me. You can give me
three, alright, So okay, well I break it down. Is my
favorite place. It's gotta be good, obviously, but just my favorite.
My favorite place to have pizza is Palermo's on any fix. I just the
ambiance, The food is great. You know that the one you had yesterday
in the bag? No, that was old boy. Okay, take out
place on our own, very good, you know, very good Italian beef.
This one gets tricky because every time I try something, I go,
oh my, this is you know, that's one of those things where I
haven't tried as many different things. What would I say if I had to
just do one and that was it? Oh my goodness, I think it'd
be Johnny's again. Waiting in line on a hot summer night, throwing some
Italian ice. Oh yeah, you have to get the Italian the whole thing,
you know. But again there's a that doesn't mean anything else is bad.
Just if you were just to say one hot dog, hot dog,
it would either it's I would either go charcoal the lights there or super dog,
super dogs and other memories and just it's good stuff, you know,
even like and I don't think I've ever had the burger I have is like
my wife is on the burger and it's just like one of those things like
the hot dogs so good. I don't want to not get the hot dog
when I'm there, so but no, I you know, the burger's there,
according to my wife, and now you are. Yes, my daughter
will go for the burger when we go there, and she loves it.
And as I get older, I can just like you, I've got to
have the hot dog because that's what it is. But I've had many burgers
there and they are delicious, their milkshakes are good, and oh yeah,
it's it's just a great place to go. In fact, that was one
of the things and could do during the pandemic. You put everybody in the
car roll the windows down to super dark yeah, fine, you know so
that has It's just one of those places. Have you ever been to?
Uh it's up north on Irving close to Cumberland Bobo's. No, I haven't
Bobos. I think it was eater or time out, one of those type
of things. But they were raided and I been to Babbo's a thousand times.
Great beefs and great hot dogs. You know, it's kind of like
their fries are like Jeane and Jude where they handcut. It's just a greasy,
a greasy bag of fries. It's excellent, but no, they're hot
dogs and beefs. But it's a little hole in the wall place on Yeah,
Irving, like Cumberland. I would say it would be the nearest,
like major intersection. What you're saying Irving Park. Before you said Cumberland,
I was thinking you were gonna say Byrons, which is another That's that's one
of my favorites. I had the their was it the dog Zilla on a
French roll? I just watched that video last night. Yes, this is
delicious. Yeah, that's another favorite. What was it like pizza places?
You mentioned that there was see Nancy's was always one growing up. There was
a super ros super Rosa like bickering. Yeah, because I remember like moves
it on like Laurates at Harlem or whatever. Yeah, I remember like I
was always a Nancy he's growing up. Yeah. And then Wardo's that was
another big one. Yeah, there's this, there's there's almost too I can't
say there's too many, because there's never too much good food out there,
you know, there's always Oh but he's mentioned French fries and I got to
get back there. But there's there's a place up on Peterson, uh,
mister kebab. And I was told to go there for the swarm with chicken
sharma. But I got there, they were out. I was like,
so the guy, you know, I told him that we come all the
way from the south Side. He's like so, he's like, I'll make
you some fries and you'll never forget. And he sure didn't some French fries.
I'm going to go back just to get the French fries. That's yeah,
it's Peterson near Western Over, Okay that area. Yeah, mister,
that's another food trend to sharma. Yeah. Yeah, there's good places around.
I mean I mentioned no no, no kobab before. That's one I'm
I favorite spots. I mean, before I let you go, because I
know they're gonna get some lunch people in here. Have you ever been to
Badakis? I have not, But Dakis is another place Lawrence, right by
Damon. Great hot dog spot. Ye, they do a Korean beef ball.
Oh my goodness. It keeps going up every time I go in there.
Like when we started going there, it was like seven bucks. Now
I think it's twelve fifty. But that's really good. But it's just pizza
puffs. They have everything, but you have to get the Korean steak bowl.
Oh yes, at a hot dog stand. It's the best. Okay,
Eric, I'm gonna let you go here because we're gonna start eating with
microphones on because no one wants to listen to meat. But Eron, tell
everyone where they could find you. Yeah. So I am on Twitter,
x, Instagram, TikTok at cheap seats for one one and I also have
my YouTube page if you want. If you're asking where should I go,
check my YouTube page because I've got I realized I've got in this the past
year, so over thirty places on there now, like oh, I didn't
even realize that. And I've got about three thousand more to go, right,
I'll just keep put them up there. I usually get one every week,
and Thursdays is usually when I put one out, so I've got one
coming out tomorrow. I did a happy hour in West Loop, so that
was a little different, little out out of my lane, but I wanted
to give it a try because that's Chicago. Two is outdoor patio season,
so yeah, that's where you can find me. Awesome. Well, I
appreciate it. Once again. We are at Revinia Brewing Company. Don't get
it confused. It's the brewing company. They're located at twenty six oh one
West di Versy. They also have a location in Highland Park at five eighty
two Roger Williams Avenue. Great local spot. The beers are phenomenal, the
food is great. We'll talk about the food in a little bit or on
a video, so once together. You don't have to listen to meet Shu.
But it's a great spot. You need to go to either location.
The food's great, the beer is great. You will not be disappointed,
and please support local Illinois breweries. Aaron, thank you again, thank you,
thank you. This is a lot of fun. Yeah, all right.
The beer that's in front of you right now is Takati. Takata's been
around since the nineteen forties. It's a classic Mexican blogger. It's made in
the town of Takati in Baja California. You're still proudly brewed there, top
selling beer in the country. I don't think I've ever had Takati on the
show, and it's been years since I've had this beer. So the weather's
getting hot out there, it's time to fire up the grill. Have something
a little lighter, so I'm gonna bust open the Takat. Well, this
has a nice golden color, good foam on. This smells good, just
smells like a nice classic Macro lagger. It's good. I drink this again.
Four point five percent alcohol first quenching. Can't go wrong. There got
a nice flavor you get trying to think it's a little malt sweetness. I
don't know if they use any adjuncts like corn in this. It doesn't say
and, but I'm getting some kind of sweetness, so it could be.
I think it's good. I mean, this is something you'd crush at four
and a half percent. It's light, it's non offensive. Now this is
like the official beer of fighting. I think they're like big in the sponsorships
and boxing. So I guess if you need to go out and rumble,
you have a takata. But no, I like this. I think it's
been a lot since I had a corona. I think I would prefer this
over a corona. If you were grabbing a Mexican lagger next week I'm going
to do. If it's not next week, it's in the fridge, so
I'll have it in the next couple of weeks, Pacifical, because I haven't
had one of those in a long time. But no, tacata's pretty good.
Like you're going to a barbecue, you're going to sit outside, like
here in Chicago's. I'm recording this. It's ninety something to greed. You
don't want something heavy. You'd crush a couple of zacats and you'll be in
good shape. So if you see it, put it in a cart for
an intro Enil Carol. After I was done with the takat segment, Ruby
said, why don't you make a hidata? Now, as everyone knows,
my wife Ruby is Mexican American. So we had the other takat and like
this is something I've never made. So she's like, no, so we
took two limes, or she took two limes, squeezed the juice in a
big glass, and then rimmed the glass with salt, and now she started
it. So you're not going to get the can open sound here. But
I have the last half of this here, so it's pretty easy. It's
just your beer with salt and lime. So let's give this a whirl.
Here. That's pretty good. I like it. Like years ago you'd put
like the wedge of lime in the corona, but this is actually the juice
of two limes, so you have more of that lime flavor with the salt.
I think this is really good. Like why is my white ass not
had this before and drink this? Because like this is something you would just
duringk all the time. It's really good. I'm gonna ask some more.
Thinks she might've used too much salt. I mean, I got hypertension,
baby, what's she trying to do? She's trying to get my riches by
giving me all this salt. But the chilata is excellent. I like it.
If you have some Mexican logger laying around and you have some nice juicy
lines. Make yourself a chilada. That's gonna wrap things up for this edition
of Beer in Front. I thank you very much for listening, and I
want to thank again Aaron Fitzpatrick for coming on to talk about some great Chicago
spots to eat once again. You could bind him online act cheap seats or
one one. I also want to thank to find people at Ravennie You Brewing
for hosting us and turning the music down so we could talk. Have a
great week everyone, I'll see you next week on the show, and remember
sometimes the beer in front of you is the best one yet.