September 30, 2005
Chicago Food reaching out
Having grown up in Chicago, I’m a big evangelist for Chicago food. You New Yorker’s have that cheese-on-cardboard thing you call pizza, it’s nothing of the sort. And a hot dog without a salad on top of it isn’t worth eating. I’d expound on the wonderfulness of Italian Beef sandwiches, but it’s a Chicago staple unknown outside the city, and it would be lost.
So I’m happy to see that some of the Chicago greats are expanding outside the Chicagoland area. Pizzeria Uno did so a long time ago, and has now spread all across the country. Having had it at the original Uno’s in downtown Chicago as well as many of the franchises, I can say that it’s much better at the original, even compared to those in the Chicago suburbs. But when you need your deep-dish fix, you need your deep-dish fix.
The first is the Billy Goat Tavern, which earned fame as part of a Saturday Night Live skit, which is opening in Washington DC:
The Billy Goat Tavern, a local institution made famous by the “Cheezborger, Cheezborger” sketch on “Saturday Night Live,” is setting up shop in the nation’s capital.
It’s the first foray outside Chicago for the restaurant, also known for a curse that some say has kept the Cubs out of the World Series for 60 years and counting.
Bill Sianis, the son of the current owner, Sam Sianis, and grandnephew of the tavern’s founder, William “Billy Goat” Sianis, said he and his dad have long wondered if the tavern could make it outside its hometown.
Given the Goat’s popularity among tourists who never tire of asking for fries in the hopes of hearing “No fries, cheeps!”, Sam and Bill Sianis thought Washington, with its steady stream of out-of-towners, would make it a perfect spot to give it a try.
“They say nobody in Washington D.C. is from Washington D.C.,” Bill Sianis said. A lot of people from Illinois who work on Capitol Hill have been asking when the Billy Goat was coming to town, he added.
I do wish them luck, but I’m not convinced the Billy Goat will have the appeal outside Chicago as some other places. The Billy Goat in Chicago is more of a sentimental, hometown favorite. It’s gained acclaim because of the family’s history in Chicago, and from Saturday Night Live’s “Cheezborger” skit.
The second, which of course gets put in just after I move AWAY from SoCal, is Portillo’s. They’re opening their first non-Chicagoland location in Buena Park, CA (about 20 minutes from where I lived in Irvine):
Portillo has decided not to franchise his new location to make sure that it maintains the same standards as the Chicagoland stores. For example, he is making all of his West Coast employees attend a week of Hot dog U, just like Chicago-area employees do. He also believes that Californians only wanting to eat lighter food like tofu and alfalfa sprouts is a myth (we can attest to that!) and is trusting his instincts that Portillo’s in LA will be a success. Others aren’t so optimistic saying that Californian’s eating habits are a lot different than Chicagoan’s and that when they do go for unhealthy, quick casual food, they go for Mexican (we can also attest to that!).
Portillo’s is the food I grew up on. They’ve got some of the best hot dogs is Chicago, great burgers, incredible cheese fries, and decent italian beef and italian sausage sandwiches. When I think about comfort food, this is what comes to mind. So next time I’m in southern California, in addition to a stop at In&Out, I’m going to have to drop by my home-away-from-former-home 
Crap… Now I’m hungry!
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Just give me fried chicken.
Back off on the NY style pizza man. It’s not all sauce on cardboard. Pontillo’s pizza is the best.pizza.ever. You can keep Uno’s – the crust is nasty – it’s more like pie dough.
And no one can make a decent buffalo wing outside the NY Roch/Buff area.
Lived in West suburbs of Chicago,(Northlake), where there is a Portillo’s and The Winking Dog for 38 years. We have lived in Lomita, Ca since 1971. My wifes’ birthday is 10-11 and they are opening on 10-10. She loves Italian Beef sandwiches. We will be going there on mondy, 10-10 for the opening. There was a mustards in Long Beach that was to have Italian Beef ten years ago, but was terrible. There was another place in Los Alamitos that was not the same as Chicago’s Italian Beef.