His stuff with Benny Blanco is an absolute acid trip
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I didn’t even know these existed. Will check it out.
He’s a local boy here. Over the last couple years he’s opened bunch of great spots across the city: Matty’s Patty’s (smash burgers), Fonda Balam (upscale Mexican street food), and he just opened Prime Seafood Palace which is architecturally stunning: Inside Chef Matty Matheson’s New Toronto Restaurant, a Striking “Wooden Cathedral” | Architectural Digest | Architectural Digest
He’s got such an interesting story so totally agree on Trap Draw
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his new spot looks bonkers…need to know how much it cost to build.
Any restaurant with a caviar menu is above my paygrade, though.
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Love this song, and that he raps in a Chicago accent. Only thing missing is a reference to the Jewels.
Just caught up on this, the brother in law ran the Chicago Party Aunt Twitter account and guessing advised on some of the stereotypes.
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My favorite thing about this show has been my introduction into high end Japanese made tshirts and denim.
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Was in the neighborhood today (more on that later), so decided to drop in to Mr. Beef for lunch and see if anything had changed as a result of this show. I was happy to see not a damn thing, although the benches in The Elegant Dining Room are now padded. No idea when those went in.
And now, the beef sandwich review:
Mr. Beef has always served a very solid Italian beef sandwich. Maybe not the greatest in the city, but the location and experience are all part of it. The beef was fresh, juicy, tender and well-seasoned. I was feeling frisky and decided to follow the guy in front of me and add provolone. And of course we’re going hot peppers and dipped (or “juicy,” as they like to say). Bread was fresh and was more than able to hold up to the juice throughout. The only surprising negative was the giardiniera. Not even close to anything resembling hot. Some decent contrasting crunch, and if I’m honest I feel like they shorted me a bit. But zero heat. Their fries are always hot and fresh. Dr. Pepper. 3.5 
It’s really sad to see a lot of both well-established and newer restaurants and businesses in this neighborhood clearly struggling. There’s always been a decent amount of churn, construction, and gentrification here, but walked past a place temporarily closed because they can’t find staff, and others now with lease signs in the windows. The Green Door is no longer open for lunch. I was there early, and Mr. Beef still had a line, and was even longer as I was leaving.
Didn’t hear anyone call anyone else “Chef”. No one was stabbed or had anything thrown at them, although the four guys working the place were hustling.
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What I took away from it was he was saving the money for Carmine to start his own spot. Especially after the Al-Anon meeting where Carmine went through their past. Any left over money after a death would go to his estate to pay off debts - raw cash is a different story.
I binged the show over the last 2 days and couldn’t get enough. Episode #7 was a true work of art. The initial tension and then straight adrenaline rush to the veins for ~18 straight minutes. As someone who’s worked in various functional and dysfunctional restaurants, it brought back some intense memories. The episode reminded me of True Detective Season 1 Episode 4(?) where Rust goes undercover. Side note: TD season 1 may be the best season of a show to ever come out.
Richie grew on me throughout the season as they started to surface part of his true character and the guy he could be. Honestly one of the more complex characters
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100% agree with this - worked in the industry roughly 6 years? My last industry job was at a family owned Italian restaurant. They had 1 location that opened in Metarie in the 70s.
In 2013 they opened a second location in Mandeville, across the lake from New Orleans. The daughter and son-in-law were running the show.
My first day was the day they opened and none of the wait staff knew we were opening that day. That year was various degrees of chaos. I bartended 5 nights a week while finishing my senior year of college and have no clue how I managed a ~3.4 that year (I sucked at school so that was one of my better GPAs)
I wouldn’t change my experience there for anything else.
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@Randy karizo??!
I’ve lived about half a block from there and feel similarly. Bernie’s the place temporarily closed has been open and closed a decent amount since 2020 so not sure what’s going on there. Losing brunch across the street was a tough scene but overall a lot of the staples that I go to have stayed open throughout covid.
I think it’s just an odd part of river north, don’t think we get too many tourists coming to the area and never seemed like too many businesses are located in the area so they’re relying on the people that live within a couple blocks of it
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I really hope the gentrification stuff that they touched on a couple times during the season will be a much bigger focus/point of tension in season 2. Gentrification is always talked about in media through the housing crisis it causes (which is good because it is the biggest problem), but the effect it has on local bars and restaurants that do a lot of blue collar business always feels like it gets overlooked.
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Watching the show late I understand. Enjoying it as it’s a cross of two of my favorite things- Chicago and restaurants.
One picking nits thing that I just can’t get over is how they are making risotto and beurre blanc sauce at a beef stand.
I feel like the restaurant itself didn’t need to be Italian beef… so if the menu development stuff is somewhat of a plot line it could’ve been something else.
May have been better to be a neighborhood tavern or something?
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This bugged me too. I suspect it’s because we know the actual location. For me it was slightly distracting, but I’d guess if you don’t know the place it’s less of a suspension of disbelief situation.
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Thank you! That bugged me for so long. I’d heard so many restaurant industry people rave about how realistic the show was. And maybe that part does happen, I’ve never worked in a restaurant. But that risotto bit seemed like something out of Noma or Eleven Madison Park than a beef stand. Perhaps it would happen at a beef stand run but a James Beard winner but, like, is she buying completely separate ingredients for their family meal? Would anyone ever have an expectation of having risotto on a beef stand menu?
And give me a line of dialogue how they do it right and are completely from scratch vs the other guys or something. Even making the giardinera from scratch is a stretch at a place like that.
I have no illusions the beef at any of the beef stands is actually made on premises.
Am I not giving them credit?
I did appreciate finally in episode 6 they introduced cousin’s talents for the restaurant, taking and calling the orders and working the line with some charisma.
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The idea is they are trying to turn the beef shop into something more than just a beef shop. So she’s working on recipes for their new concept.
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We back
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