All language subtitles for V.is.for.Vino.S04E04.Chicago.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB

Welcome to Chicago.

It's the Windy City, Chi town,
the City of Big Shoulders.

Wait a minute.

This is a different kind of episode.

Feels like it needs a
different kind of introduction.

Good to be back.

Welcome to my favorite city in the US of A,

Chicago literally has it all.

It's got the kind of
friendly and genuine people

you can find in the Midwest

in a clean and accessible big city.

I always sum up Chicago's size as such.

You can definitely have
a car here if you want one,

but you don't necessarily need one.

You can just take the bus or the L train.

Chicago's also got a hand in
just about every sports league,

basketball on the house that Jordan built,

which is also where the Blackhawks play,

one of the original six NHL teams.

Two major baseball teams, my Cubbies,

who play at the world famous Wrigley Field

and that other team on the south side,

sorry, White Sox fans.

And of course the Chicago
Bears who introduced the world

to the Super Bowl Shuffle back in '85.

Nowadays, well, let's just
say there's always next year.

If you're into comedy,

you've got the world famous
"Second City" comedy club,

whose alumni include
Dan Aykroyd, Steve Carell,

Chris Farley, Tina Fay,
Amy Pohler, Mike Myers,

Jim and John Belushi, you get the idea.

And if you're into music,
the Chicago blues scene

is historic to say the least.

If you like architecture and history,

Chicago's got plenty for you to dive into.

Sure, it's a bit touristy,

but I always recommend taking
a riverboat architecture tour

if it's your first foray into Chicago,

it really helps bring the city

and its history into context.

And yeah, I know I'm from Cleveland,

but Chicago's always had a
really special place in my heart.

I came to school here at DePaul University

and graduated here.

I had my first restaurant job here

and I fell in love with food and wine.

I fell in love with my wife here,

we met at DePaul and we got married here.

And you know how there's some places

that just always feel like home,

even if you're not physically there?

For me, that place has always been Chicago.

At this point, you may be
saying, well, that's all great,

but why are we here?

After all, they sure as
hell don't grow grapes

on Michigan Avenue.

Well, first off, Chicago
has one of the best food

and wine scenes in the country.

And second, wine isn't
all about where it's grown,

it's also about you.

And so for this episode,

that's exactly what we're focusing on.

The consumer side of wine,
the stores and restaurants

that actually get the wine into your hands,

how to ensure you're getting
quality wines from these places

and ways to improve your
taste and pairing abilities.

But before we get to all that,

let's chat a bit about
America's complicated history

with wine and alcohol.

Prohibition.

It was known as the noble experiment here

in the United States,

that eventually turned
into a failed experiment.

Prohibition was essentially
a 14-year ban on alcohol.

Funny enough,

prohibition didn't actually
ban drinking alcohol,

only manufacturing,
selling and transporting it.

Which means that if
you had a stocked cellar

that could last you 14 years
when prohibition started,

you were all set.

For most people, however,

this effectively
constituted a ban on booze,

the effects of which, believe it or not,

are still being felt today.

In the early 1900s,

the Temperance Movement, as it was called,

had been gaining steam for some time

for a variety of reasons.

Women wanted sober, less abusive husbands,

various religions preached moderation,

industrialists wanted more
productive factory workers.

And some people who
were anti-European immigrant

or anti-minority decided it wasn't so much

about the drink itself as it was the people

who were doing the drinking.

It all came to a head through the passage

of the 18th Amendment,
which was put into effect in 1919.

Alcohol consumption briefly went down,

but like most things, if
there's a will, there's a way.

The void left from the lack
of formal alcohol production

and distribution gave birth

to huge organized crime enterprises.

One of which congregated here,

this is the "Green Mill",

one of the best jazz
clubs in the city today.

Back in the twenties though,

this place was one of the many speakeasies

that existed all over the
country serving illegal booze.

This one in particular was a
favorite hangout of Al Capone,

the most notorious
prohibition gangster of all,

In fact, right here was his favorite booth,

eyes on the show and
eyes on every door leading in

and out of the joint, a
perfect view for a mob boss.

At the height of prohibition,

Al Capone was making the equivalent

of half a billion dollars a
year in untaxed revenue.

The mobs employed
warehouse workers, truck drivers,

accountants and bribed cops.

Thank you.

Politicians.

Thank you.

And even the
prohibition agents themselves.

Thank you.

And of course,

with any organized crime comes violence

and Chicago was known for
some of the worst fighting of all,

with 729 people killed

in Cook County alone during prohibition.

Eventually the government
realized that prohibition

was unenforceable,

doing nothing but costing
them tax money, lives

and increasing crime.

So in 1932, FDR ran on a
campaign to repeal prohibition

and he became president
in a landslide election.

This is "The Berghoff",

the place that received
the very first liquor license

in Chicago after FDR took office

and prohibition was repealed.

But the effects of
prohibition are still here.

Organized crime operations made millions,

which they leveraged into
loan sharking, prostitution

and illegal gambling for decades.

We lost thousands of great
bartenders to other countries,

which devastated our cocktail scene.

Many wineries that could
have had rich histories,

went out of business.

And the 21st Amendment, in
response to organized crime,

gave states the rights to
set their own liquor laws.

This is why some states have dry counties,

government-run liquor shops,

and more importantly,
to many people's despise,

why wine oftentimes can't
be shipped to consumers

across state lines.

But here's to hoping that the effects

of prohibition continue to fade.

At the end of the day,

we should all be able to buy
and drink wine as we please.

Just a heads up,

we're gonna be doing a lot
of eating while we're here.

Now, even though some Chicagoans may try

and tell you that deep
dish pizza is just for tourists.

Trust me, locals still can't
get enough of it either.

And they argue regularly
about which spot is best.

For me, it's not even a contest.

Welcome to "Lou Malnati's".

One of my crew members is Chicago native

and when I told ' you were gonna be here,

it was like I told him
Beyonce was gonna be here.

He was so excited
because "Lou Malnati's" is...

Why? Do I look like Beyonce?

It's his royalty as far
as Chicago food scene.

So thank you for having us in the kitchen.

We're gonna make the real deal today.

I almost feel like I'm
getting some secret

that I shouldn't know.

Don't tell my wife, I'm
gonna take off my ring.

Really? I keep mine on

'cause my wife has an issue with that.

The dough is honestly
the magical part of this pizza.

You know, when
you pick it up and feel it,

you'll feel it's kind of pillowy, right.

Breathing, right.

It's had a chance to rise.

So we've got a little
olive oil in the bottom

and now what we're gonna
do is just kind of press it out

to the side.

Just taste a little bit, yeasty
kind of beer flavor, right?

Oh, it does taste like beer.

Gently pull up the sides.

It's a thin dough with thin sides,

but the sides have to
come up enough to contain.

So that was my question.

Prodigious amounts of
mozzarella and sausage.

This is mozzarella from
a little dairy in the middle

of the state of Wisconsin,
put a little more in your mouth.

So we're gonna talk like this,

like a couple guys from the back alley.

We're gonna go a couple layers,

important to get good coverage.

Why?

You don't want
any bite without cheese.

You don't want any bites without cheese.

Couple layers, all right.

Right, now you're
gonna take some sausage.

Now I like to just kind
of take a little bit of time

and just start working it down the sides.

And as you notice, there's
no fennel in this sausage.

Now, you know who uses
fennel in their sausage?

Guys who buy flavorless bad meat.

Is there a secret to the sauce?

Look at the size of the
tomatoes on the sauce.

Look at this.

They're, almost, a
lot of 'em are almost whole.

When I get these babies.

Perfect.

I mean, it's like
eating peaches, isn't it?

It's so sweet.

Is is, they're super sweet.

We send a crew out
to California every year.

And when the tomatoes are at their reddest,

when they're at their fullest, we say, go.

So you do this
and then you can 'em up.

We can 'em up for the year.

Yep.

And we can a couple
hundred thousand cases

of these things.

Wow.

We want to cover all the meat.

These are ready.

That's it.

We're gonna go right in here.

Now we wait.

We're gonna leave it in the oven 'bout,

you know, 25, 30 minutes.

We don't wanna cook it too fast.

I could get hotter, faster ovens,

but this is a bread product
and I wanna take it time.

You wanna drink some
wine with me while we wait?

How 'bout that?

All right, let's do that. I'm in.

So I did Syrah from Santa Barbara.

Because if you get a cool climate Syrah,

like one from Santa Barbara,

what you're gonna get
is the acidity that you get

from Sangiovese and Chianti,

but I like the meatiness
that you're gonna get,

'cause the classic pizza
here has the sausage on it.

That meatiness of the
Syrah coming off the...

I love that.

..the gaminess of the meat.

Cheers.

Nice. Great color on this Syrah.

In addition to matching flavors,

the acid in the wine
likes the salty cheese,

fatty sausage and the acidic tomatoes.

My father worked for my grandfather

at another pizza place in the city.

And he finally decided, you know what,

I wanna have my own.

And when he opened, holy cow, you know,

they hadn't seen anything
like that in the suburbs.

There's people lined up at the door,

down through the parking
lot around the corner,

into the neighbor's yard.

It blew up.

I was 15.

And you were probably
dragged into the restaurant.

Oh yeah. And told to bring my friends.

But then not too long
after that, he gets cancer.

Now I get outta school
and try to turn things around

in this third store that
started out kind of ugly.

One bad store can take two good ones down.

So we closed that
store. We kind of regroup.

We owed people money.

We started doing outdoor festivals

and we get back on our feet financially.

And then we start opening more stores

and this time we do it a little smarter.

The best piece of advice I ever got

was from another entrepreneur.

And he said, there's
gonna have to be someone

in the business who is
going to refuse to let it fail.

And if you're the owner,

it's probably gonna have
to be you, like at any cost,

that sounds like exactly what you did.

That's wisdom right there.

How many stores are there now?

60, 70 stores.

Oh, congratulations.

We've been pretty blessed.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, to your father in it.

Yeah.

Look at that.

That's a fricking symphony right there.

You can hear it too.

There we go.

It's like a commercial. This
is absolutely tremendous.

Pizza toast, wine toast.

I'm so excited.

Oh my God.

It's as good as I remember.

Every time.

You think, oh, how many times
could you have the same thing

and it be as exciting as the last time

and it truly is like that.

Now, you ever dunk yours in the wine?

I mean, you ever just try to dunk it and?

You're an efficient guy.
That's really what it is.

It's a question I get all the time,

how do I buy good wines at the store?

Well, fret no more, because
today we're breaking it down.

Let's start with my most important

and also most controversial
piece of wine buying advice,

stop buying wines from the grocery store.

Boo.

I know, I know, I'm
challenging the status quo here,

but let me explain.

Number one, big grocery
stores have to buy wines

that they can stock in every
single one of their hundreds

or thousands of stores.

This means they have to buy
wines that are mass produced,

but wine isn't a commodity like computers

or plastic thingamajigs, it's a crop.

So as production goes up,

quality tend to decrease
and corners get cut

in order to fill the
shelves at these stores.

In America in particular,

mass produced wines
have all sorts of additives,

which by the way, don't
have to be listed on the label.

Some additives aren't so bad,
but some, like Mega Purple,

which can be found in cheap wines, are.

Number two, while it
may look like there's a lot

of options at the grocery store,

most of these wines are actually owned

by about two or three wine conglomerates.

Number three, storage.

This one's a no-brainer
since you can actually see

that wines in grocery stores
are stored about as well

as the two-liter of warm
soda they stand right next to.

And finally, number four.

Most wines and grocery
stores are ubiquitous

and well, boring.

They're purposely made that
way so they'll be unoffensive

to the general masses.

A simple solution to all of this,

a small independent
wine shop, like this one.

This is "Juice @ 1340".

A local shop owned by my
friend, Derrick C Westbrook,

who used to be a Somm

at some of the city's finest restaurants.

We sat down to chat
about why you should buy

from local shops whenever possible.

I mean, just about every customer,

like we have a relationship.

Yeah.

You know. And it.

I saw you tonight.

I mean, everybody who came in, you're like,

oh, I saw you last week.

Yeah.

I mean, how many times are you gonna,

your kids are gonna get a sucker

and then your dog's gonna get a dog treat,

like you're not gonna
see that in a grocery store.

You're not gonna see
that in those big box places.

Yeah, in addition to the
personal service that you offer,

you know all the bottles here
because you picked them out.

Yeah. I know all the wines.

I know all the beers and all of us,

the entire team, knows
all the wines, all the beers,

all the spirits, know what I mean

and we can talk about them
from our personal experience,

more so than just talking to
'em from tasting notes, right?

Yeah.

And so that's what's fun is

and I can learn what you do and don't like.

I care about the story.

I care about where the wines come from.

I care about what the wines represent.

Being organic or biodynamic
or being made by BIPOC people,

it is our form of speaking
about what we value in life

and in the world.

What you can offer that I would say

a grocery store does not,

is you can get wines that are more,

I would say, have more character.

So a lot of the wines
on grocery store shelves,

they're gonna be very, very
similar from wine to wine,

even though they're different.

They're gonna be very
similar because they're meant

to be very unoffensive to
a large amount of people.

Yeah. Exactly.

'Cause there are wines that
I'm buying that may not sell

in 10 days or 20 days, right.

It's because I'm not
looking to purchase that wine

for turn and burn.

I'm looking to purchase that
wine for the one weird thing

that somebody comes in and they're like,

I kind of like this, I don't know.

And in my brain goes off, right,
I go into my Rain Man mode,

I'm like, oh, this is what you need.

Yeah. I'm just picking out like, yeah.

'Cause the other thing
you can do is you can bring

in stuff that is, maybe there's
only a couple cases of it.

Yeah.

Right.

So a grocery store can't buy it

or even a big chain can't buy it.

Yeah. 'Cause it doesn't
make sense, right?

That shelf space is too valuable for a SKU

that's only gonna be there
for, you know, 10 days.

So we take it on because we like,

yo, we can run through this

and show people something different

and we get to buy stuff,
especially when it comes

to like our beer and spirits
that like are here at Chicago,

for sure.

And when you buy those local things,

you are supporting people who you can touch

and see and feel, right.

Down the whole supply chain, right?

Yeah.

You personally are buying that

and then the money is going here

and people are spending their money here,

well now the whole supply chain is local.

Yeah.

And it stays in your community.

A hundred percent, right.

And it's like having
those things, but still,

yo, we're gonna have the dopest selection

that we can find and we're gonna go

and find the dopest stuff
from everywhere else.

You know, the reality
is as a smaller shop,

you don't have unlimited
budget for inventory.

So you're only bringing
in stuff you believe in,

you can't fill the shelves.

I can't. And my mistakes
cost me more, right?

I love this 'cause we're
piling on the reasons why

to shop at these places.

The thing they say that every time you buy

for local business, you're
actually like physically

making a person smile, get excited.

Yeah. A hundred percent.

And that person,
whether that person's you

or somebody else in their community,

I think it just really helps out.

Yeah. Awesome.

Cheers. Thank you for having me man.

Thank you. Thank you for coming. Cheers.

Another solid accessible option

is a medium sized store

that specializes in wine and spirits.

This is "Binny's", a
local family owned store

with about 44 locations.

These stores offer a few things

that smaller wine shops can't.

Number one, bigger store
means bigger selection.

So if you're looking
for something specific,

you're more likely to find it here.

And with that larger
selection comes versatility.

Whether you want a $15 weeknight wine

or a $100 special occasion wine,

there is more options for
both your budget and palate.

Number two, because the
store specializes in wine,

you're still getting
professionally certified staff

who know wine and do tastings, trainings

and seminars regularly on the wines.

And number three,
because they're purchasing

for a few dozen stores,
they have strong relationships

with producers and importers

and they can usually offer
some of the best prices.

Your first line of defense
at a wine shop is the staff,

finding someone who can actually help you,

who has actually tasted the wines.

Most people at wine shops love wine,

it's why they work there.

Just be sure to share
a few important pieces

of info with them.

Number one, the grapes and
the places you normally drink.

Both of those things, not just one.

Number two, if you're pairing
the wine with something.

Number three, how much
you're looking to spend.

And number four,

always mention if you're
willing to try something new

or off the beaten path, which by the way,

I highly recommend doing,

it'll allow them to find you something fun

and of better value.

Let's switch it up and say,

you're buying wine out on your
own with nobody to help you.

Buckle up because here are my 10 tips.

Number one, figure out
how the store is laid out.

It's usually by place or by grape

or a combination of the two,

but I've also seen wine shops organized

by price, by body or by style.

Number two, ignore awards and scores.

Only bigger wineries have the money

to enter these competitions

and scores are completely
subjective, anyway.

Number three, ignore labels.

There's nothing wrong
with having a cool wine label,

but some of the best wines in the world

are in plain clothes, as they say.

On a similar note, number four,

ignore the wine descriptions on the bottle.

The descriptions on the back of the bottle

are meant to sell wine and
consequently not offend anyone.

So, many wines tend to
have boring generic descriptors

like smooth and dark,
take 'em with a grain of salt,

but some descriptors will
clue you into the style of wine.

Toast and vanilla mean oak influence.

Rich, luscious and dark
mean big warm climate wines.

Whereas bright, zesty, crisp
mean cool climate wines.

Number five, there is
a sweet spot on price,

in my opinion, that gets
you a good high quality,

complex representation
of most wines on the planet.

And it's the $15 to $30 range.

Some famed wine regions
are gonna cost more,

which leads me to my
next point, number six.

As the Thai people say,
"Same, same but different".

You're not gonna find
champagne or Napa Cabernet

or Barolo for around $30,

but you will find Cava made
in the champagne method,

Chilean Cabernet and
Lange Nebbiolo for $30.

So don't be afraid to Google

something like champagne alternatives

if you have your heart set on something

that's outta your budget.

Number seven, get specific.

The smaller, more specific
the area is that you're buying,

the more likely it is to have quality

and yield controls in place.

So don't buy California wine,

buy Sonoma wine, better yet,

buy Russian River or Alexander Valley wine,

which are specific places in Sonoma.

Don't buy French wine, buy Bordeaux

or better yet Saint-Emilion,

which is a specific place in Bordeaux.

Number eight, pay attention
to ABV or alcohol content.

This is your best indication

of the style of wine you're getting.

And number nine, when in doubt,

Spain, Portugal, South America,
New Zealand and Australia

all have tremendous bang for your buck.

And finally, number
10, don't stress too hard.

Part of the fun, for me anyway,

is picking a bottle and
then busting it open at home

to see how right or wrong I was.

In 2021, poorly produced
wine that makes it all the way

to commercial shelves
is almost nonexistent.

So enjoy the fun that
is picking out bottles,

knowing that good or bad,

your next bottle is
right around the corner.

I told you we
were gonna eat a lot

while we're here.

Next up is a dish that's
as iconic as the city itself,

the Chicago hot dog.

And Chicago does not play around

when it comes to encased meats.

The historic "Superdawg Drive-in",

run by the second generation
of the Berman family

has been serving dogs for over 70 years

and is many an aficionado's
favorite hot dog in the city.

Well, I feel like I've been
transported back to the fifties.

Actually, 1948. Superdawg
was started by my parents.

My parents were high school
sweethearts, grew up in Chicago.

My dad went off to Europe, World War II.

Came back from service, they got married.

And my dad said to his
young bride at the time,

let's do this for the summer.

Let's do this for a summer.

And this was the original location?

Original location,

the Superdawg figures on the
roof, named after my parents,

Maurie and his adoring sweetheart, Flaurie.

Was he that muscular in real life?

Exactly, yeah. Oh yes.

Summer of 1951 on, we've
been continuous year round.

You're open late.

We're open really late.

So open until 1:00 AM, 2
on Fridays and Saturdays.

Wow.

We never close early.

We are a drive-in restaurant
with car hop service.

We're gonna press the button.

Okay.

We're gonna wait
for our order to be taken.

Great.

Who's in there taking the order?

My brother Scott.

Hi, ready to take your order.

I would love a Superdawg, please.

Everything on that Superdawg,
including hot peppers?

Yes.

That'd be mustard, relish,
onion, pickle, peppers.

I love it. That sounds perfect.

I'm gonna come in and meet you

so I can see how we make this thing.

Very good. See you
in a couple minutes, thanks.

This is like a symphony.

There is.

The three sided monster,
how many hot dogs...

how many Superdawgs?

There you go.

How many Superdawgs
can you crank out here?

It looks like a lot.

240 on the side
and we got three sides, so.

wow.

The first thing we're
gonna do is we're gonna start

with a steamed poppy seed bun.

Then we're gonna take the Superdawg,

which is made for us to our recipe,

so you can't get it anywhere else.

And that's a bigger, I think,

dog than a lot of other ones.

Bigger dog than you find
around the city of Chicago.

The first thing that goes on is mustard.

Golden mustard.

Only mustard, no ketchup.

I'm sorry I even said the word.

Watch your language
in the kitchen here, buddy.

Then we're gonna put on
the bright neon green relish.

That's a Chicago trademark thing, you know?

The nice, bright white Spanish onions,

again, raw onions, kosher dill pickle.

And we're gonna take our box,

'cause all of our Superdawgs come in a box.

We're gonna just open that up.

Put the dog in.

All of our sandwiches come with Superfries,

they're hand cut every day.

Now most places around the
city of Chicago use a red tomato.

We're a little different. We
use a green pickled tomato.

Oh, okay. I like that.

People either lover,

they're lovers or they're haters,

so you must be a lover, I guess.

Then if you'd like, the
memorable hot sport peppers.

Sure, those are must for me.

They go right up on top there.

Then we're gonna close our box.

That's easy.

Simple but complicated
because the ingredients,

I know you guys spend a lot of time

picking out the proper ingredients.

Like you said, down from
the dog itself to the fries,

which I heard you have a
custom, what is it, slicer?

We have a slicer that is
proprietary, custom made for us,

that gives it the crinkle cut
on all four sides of the fry.

It gets the right amount of color

and the right amount of crispiness to it.

Beautiful. Well, thank you.

If you don't mind, I'm gonna go take this

and have mine outside
with some wine, is that okay?

Absolutely.

All right. Thank you so much.

Thanks for stopping.

This is my blue box. You get the red box.

Same thing.

My dad just liked both colors.

Okay.

So we have half a
million of each, every year.

- So we...
- Half a million boxes.

So they didn't wanna
wrap 'em in just wax paper.

So they designed this custom box

that holds the Superdawg inside,

the heat of the Superdawg,
the crispiness of the fries,

has air vents on the
back, if you look here.

The problem with a lot of
crinkle fries is they are soft,

they have no texture and
these have this great crunch.

All right, I have to go
in there on the dog now.

It has the same taste since 1948.

I've had a lot of Chicago style hot dogs.

This is I think the best one I've had.

Thank you.

And I'm not just saying that.

A lot of times you get these
dogs and they fall apart.

Correct.

And then you can't get a
bite of everything in one bite.

Right?

This is absolutely delicious.

Thank you. Yes.

All right, so have you ever

had anybody pair a Superdawg with wine?

Never.

All right, so I could be the first.

I had a lot of fun picking
what wine would go

with a hot dog.

A lot of people said rosé,
but I wanted to do something

a little more off the beaten path,

so this is a Grüner, which
is an Austrian white wine.

And it's known for having a lot of green,

kind of vegetal flavors in it

and can even have
some white pepper flavors.

I thought that that would pair really well

with a lot of the green you
have going on here, right?

Green relish, green
tomato, green sport pepper,

green pickle.

In addition to the matching flavors,

the acidity in the Grüner
Veltliner matches the acidity

in the relish and tomato and mustard

and cuts through the fat
and saltiness of the dog.

It's great to talk to Lisa
and Don and now you

and really get a sense of
something I know you guys

take a tremendous amount of pride in,

which is your family business.

As we say, thanks for stopping.

Cheers.

There are heroes in every restaurant,

capeless crusaders whose sole purpose

is to make sure you get
a bottle of wine you enjoy.

These warriors are called sommeliers,

the French word for wine steward.

And while the title of Somm
may seem like it's simply about

opening bottles and
pouring wine, like most jobs,

there's so much more
to it than meets the eye.

So to learn a bit more
about life behind the curtain,

I head to "Gibson's Italia",

a stunning three-floor Italian
steakhouse in downtown

and one of the top 20
highest grossing restaurants

in the country.

Donned in my coat and tie,

I prepared to shadow Somm, Kelly Palmer,

for a firsthand look into
the life of a sommelier.

Okay, so what did I walk in and you doing,

what are we up to?

Okay, so I am going
to do a little light stocking.

We always do this at
the beginning of the shift,

so you don't have to do
it at the end of the shift

when you're tired, after you've
been running around all day.

Gotcha.

And your feet hurt.

How many different
wines do you guys carry?

400.450?

Okay.

And you have to make
sure all of those are stocked

at any given moment.

Yep.

And then not only do
you have to make sure they're

in stocked and ordered,

but you have to make sure they're organized

because there's nothing
worse than if you're working

at a restaurant, you've
sold 'em on a bottle.

Yeah.

And then you come up

and you realize it's outta stock.

Right. Exactly.

And then they're waiting
and then you can't find it.

And it's super stressful.

Basically half your shift is
managing everything else.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah, the service portion
of it is actually pretty small.

This is also the big part of the job

nobody thinks about is how much glassware.

Oh my gosh.

You go through on a shift.

We're fortunate enough to have a person

whose only job is to polish glassware.

Except for these, these are.

These are the good ones.

Yeah, if I break one it's,

I'm only mad at myself, you know?

I am notorious for breaking
glasses, unfortunately.

You know, when people
come to a place like this

and say, all right, well,
the wine is expensive.

Well, you're also paying
not just for the wine,

but you're paying for the
Somm and the service.

Sure.

You're paying for the glassware.

The nice glassware, to sit
in a nice chair, for the view.

There's a lot of things

that go into the price of the bottle.

My favorite part of the job

is just actually getting to talk about it.

And when I have a customer
that wants to talk back with me.

Like, we have so much fun

and we just get going and it's great.

Before service started,

Kelly had a few moments
to explain how she constructs

the wine list and share
some wine ordering tips.

All right.

So if I'm a guest and I'm coming in here,

and I get this book, which is beautiful,

it's like 50 plus pages,
but where do I start

as far as navigating?

What are the tips we can give guests

to kind of make sure they get a wine

they're gonna like?

Tell your server that you
would like to speak to the Somm.

That's why you're here.

That's my entire job.

And don't be intimidated.

We're not here to make you feel silly

or to try and push something on you.

We want you to get
something that you really like.

Yeah and that's a big,
I think misconception,

a lot of people think, oh, the
Somm just wants to upsell me.

No. Just tell me what you normally drink.

So my big thing is, I'm always like,

don't try and be too complicated.

You don't have to say,

oh, "I want a really tannic high acid",

and get into wine descriptors.

People will get in the weeds on that

and say contradicting things.

Just tell people, I think
what you normally drink.

Say it's Burgundy, okay.

Burgundies tend to be really expensive,

especially in a restaurant.

Tell me what you wanna spend.

Yeah.

So I'll try to figure out
what style of wine you like

and the price range you want to be in.

And then when you want to tell us

how much you want to spend,

let's say I'm with, we're
colleagues or I'm with a date

and I don't want to say a number.

Is there like a subtle way to do that?

For sure. I'll just pull you aside.

And we just kind of go
through the list together.

You just point to what you.

Yeah, exactly.

And that's what I tell people too.

Like if you have a list
in front of you be like,

oh, I was thinking
something similar to this

and point to something
that's in your price range.

Don't point to the name of the wine,

point to the price of the wine.

My other don't that sometimes people do,

they'll be like, well, give
me a good bottle of Barolo.

And then they won't open the list.

Yeah.

Well, just know if you do that,

especially depending on the restaurant,

they might only have one
Barolo and it might be $300

and then they get the bill

and they're like totally surprised.

And they think the Somm ripped them off.

That's not what anybody wants.

Especially Gibson's, one of
our main things is not upsell.

We undersell at every opportunity.

Yeah.

Undersell and over deliver.

I think a big thing is telling the Somm,

do I want exactly what I'm asking for?

Or am I open to try
something off the beaten path

that's similar.

Right.

So you want like a Pinot noir or Nebbiolo,

you wanna spend a hundred dollars.

It's gonna be a good wine.

Is it gonna be a great wine? Maybe not.

But I could take you to say Sicily

and get you an Etna Rosso,
which is Nerello Mascalese

and people don't really know about it

and it's kind of the Burgundy of Sicily

and you get a lot of those same flavors

and those same characteristics,
and it's a great wine

and it's not nearly as
expensive as Burgundy

or Barbaresco or Barolo.

What is the etiquette on tasting?

If you're like, oh, can I
have a taste of this or that?

If it's by the glass,

I'll bring you as many tastes as you want.

Okay.

It's Gibson's.

I'll find the time,
we'll do this all night.

Sure, sure.

Sure.

Well, that's very kind,
so I'll be the bad guy

and say, try not to go like Baskin Robbins,

like just don't like 10 of them.

I usually try, if I'm asking for a taste,

I'll ask for a taste of two wines

and I'll do it at the same trip,

so the Somm only has to make one trip.

Yeah.

And I'm picking between those two wines.

Yeah.

We landed on the bottle.

Somm brings it over, presents it.

Let's go over, kind of
what is the etiquette there?

So I'm gonna bring it over.

I'm gonna tell you where
it's from, Chateau Palmer.

It's from Margaux, which is in Bordeaux.

I'm gonna tell you the vintage.

And why are you doing all this?

We wanna make sure
that there aren't any mistakes

before I open it.

Right.

I want you to know exactly what this is.

But just make sure it's what you ordered.

Yeah.

Sometimes there's miscommunication.

'Cause once you open it.

Somebody's paying for it.

Yeah.

Either the restaurant's payin' for it

or you're paying for it.

You're gonna pour a taste.

Now what is the taste for?

The taste is to see
if the wine is flawed.

Because a lot of
people do think the taste

is to see if they like the wine

and then people will send back the wine

if they don't like it.

Yes.

I think most places will
take back a bottle of wine

if you don't like it,

but that's not really
what the taste is for.

Right.

Final piece of advice

when you're ordering
from a restaurant Somm.

Don't take it too seriously.

Yeah, just have fun.

Have a good time.

All right. Well I guess
we have to get ready.

We have service in what? Like two hours?

Yeah.

All right. Let's do it.

It was 4:00 PM.

And you could sense the
dinner rush looming in the air.

If you're unfamiliar
with a restaurant shift,

let me fill you in.

After pre-shift and
prepping your mise en place

a few hours before open,

the happy hour crowd makes their way in

between four and 5:00 PM.

If it's a popular restaurant,

they're usually fighting
each other for bar seats

and the staff gets to go
from zero to a hundred,

right at the outset.

The early diners come around six,

people come in right from work,

the older crowd or people
going to a show later.

And the big rush, where you run the risk

of getting in the weeds, as
we say, is from seven to nine.

As staff, dinner service
is a lot of rinse and repeat.

The controlled chaos of routine.

On a good night, it goes as such,

greet diners, take order,
feed diners, turn the table.

Happy customers, happy staff.

But as my restaurant veterans know,

it's almost never that simple.

As a Somm, you're often flying solo

or maybe with one other,
which means unlike a server,

the whole restaurant is your territory.

Three tables just arrived at the same time

and they all wanna talk
to you about the wine list.

The new server, Brad's,
chatting your ear off while you run

from table to computer
about which glass of Merlot

on the list is best,

when you don't even
have a Merlot by the glass

to begin with.

You misplaced your wine key,

probably when you loaned it
to Brad, because he forgot his

and you also noticed that the busser

dropped Burgundy glasses off at a table

that's about to get Bordeaux,

a problem that'll take
you more time to explain

to the busser than to just go fix yourself.

But on the way to fix it,
your bartender tells you

you're out of Chardonnay by the glass,

even though you know she's
just not looking hard enough

in the cellar for it.

And finally you serve table 32 their wine,

but your manager wants you to greet a table

of VIPs upstairs ASAP, you get the idea.

But if we do our jobs right,

the customer never knows any of this.

The restaurant looks
like a well-oiled machine

and you never saw us
without a smile on our faces.

The shift ends, you do your side work

and head home for the
night or maybe a night cap,

if your energy level allows.

The restaurant experience
may seem like classical music

to you, but it's jazz to us.

It's all day in the life of a sommelier.

Time to round out our
Chicago food staple trifecta.

Quite possibly, my favorite Chi Town dish

is the Italian beef

and where better to
pair some beef and wine,

than the place that
invented the sandwich itself,

"Al's Beef", the original
location on Taylor Street.

We're gonna have an
Italian beef sandwich today,

our signature sandwich.

This is the place that
invented the beef, correct?

My grandfather, he invented this in 1917.

He was a peddler and he
used to go on the streets

and sell sandwiches.

Gets invited to a wedding

and the thing they had
was a piece of roast beef.

He said, listen, that piece of meat,

that you're serving 15 or 20 people with,

I can do 40, so they said, well, sure.

And he comes up, since he's a sandwich guy,

he's got the slicer.

Yeah.

So he slices this stuff paper thin.

Super thin.

That's how he started
the Italian beef sale.

Now what we do is you
can see the juice here.

This is all natural.

Okay.

You can see
how it holds together,

it's a thin piece of meat.

And what we do is just
slap it on, holding on to.

What is this fork? This is.

That's our fork.

We invented this fork because
prongs don't grab everything.

All the little particles, it won't grab it.

So the forks do, they
drag everything with it.

Gotcha, all that flavor.

Then what we do,

hold this like this, swirl this around.

You dip the whole thing!

This is our mix, the giardiniera mix.

Little spicy.

We make it ourselves here.

Yeah, it's a spicy, hot mix.

Wrap it in this paper here.

Okay and that is how you
do Italian beef sandwich.

Do you drink Lambrusco?

I drink whatever you're gonna give me.

That's a good answer.

So Lambrusco is a
semi-sparkling red wine from Italy.

It's a little bit sweet.

Just a little.

So you can go with the spicy food.

Sweet spicy.

Oh, okay.

And it's fresh because it's chilled.

It's bubbly, 'cause you
know the beef's heavy.

This one checks a lot of boxes.

If your food is spicy,

you need a little sugar in your wine.

Like from this Italian Lambrusco.

The acid and bubbles from
the wine love the fatty beef,

ditto for the tannin in the wine

and the sweetness and acid in the wine

love the salty beef and French fries.

And I know these aren't
technically from the same place,

but could we say Italian
beef and Italian wine

are at least second cousins?

Why not?

So how do I eat this?

Ah, there's called an Italian stance.

Okay.

And what we do is put your forearms here,

your legs back a little bit.

Back it up.

So anything falls, it falls down.

Don't fall on you.

Okay.

And I got a stomach, so
it usually hits my stomach.

All right. So back up.

So what we're gonna
do is put our face into this.

You gotta like to eat.

So good.

Vinny, you talk, I'm gonna eat.

You go, 'cause I can talk
about what this tastes like.

The spice, the sandwich
with the kind of soggy bread

and the French bread
can hold up to the dip,

which is nice too.

And you're right with the stance,

'cause I'm losing stuff
out the bottom here.

Right.

That's why you got the stance.

I like it with the wine.

How many sandwiches you eat a week?

This has gotta be dangerous
to be too close to this.

Guy asked me that one time.

And I said I had more beef

than John Wayne had on his cattle drives.

Trying to get away without paying?

You keep giving me this wine!

This is about the greatest
afternoon I could ask for,

if I'm being honest.

Oh, if Marilyn Monroe was
here, we'd have more fun.

I first arrived in Chicago in 2006

as a student attending DePaul University,

just a semi-awkward kid from Cleveland

in awe of the big city, eager to learn.

Fast forward 14 years, I hear that DePaul

started a School of Hospitality Leadership,

AKA a school tailor-made for people getting

into the food and beverage industry.

So I met with the director of the school,

Nicholas Thomas, to hear more.

Welcome to the School
of Hospitality Leadership.

Oh thanks. It good to
be back in my alma mater.

We started with a very generous gift

from the Hilton Foundation,

since then we've received multiple gifts

from the Marriott Foundation,

individual, private and company donors,

to do something really unique.

We wanted to create a business program

in the city of Chicago focused
on hospitality leadership.

And that's what we did.

What we also really wanted to do

was to follow the
mission-driven aspect of DePaul.

We do everything we can

to support first generation
college students.

We do everything we can
to support minority students.

And we also provide a
very, very significant amount

of scholarship opportunities
for our students.

You know, really those scholarships mean

that students that might
not have had the opportunity

to go to school, can.

Very nice.

And so if you're wanting to get into,

let's say hotel management,
casino management,

restaurant management,
this is the place to go.

I think so.

I think so for a couple reasons,

one, we have a really strong
co-curricular program here.

Mentor programs, internship
opportunities, student clubs,

we have a huge study abroad portfolio.

All of our faculty and
staff here are passionate

about what they do.

The faculty, vast majority of them,

are either still working
or came from industry.

Very cool.

Well, I have a Nerd Lab to do

and I think I could use
help from a professor.

Can you help me out?

I'd love to.

All right.

Welcome to the V is for Vino Nerd Lab.

We take complicated wine
topics and make 'em simple.

Today we're talking
about how to taste wine.

How to taste wine.

I know, I know, you
taste wine all the time,

but there is science to tasting

that'll help you get more outta your glass.

And while most occasions don't call

for an in-depth analysis of wine.

She loves you.

There are times that
you'll wanna properly identify

what's in your glass.

Tasting wine can basically be
broken down into three parts,

sight, nose and palate,

or in layman's terms,
look, smell and taste.

Let's start with sight.

Look at the color.

For white wines, light colors like straw

and greenish yellow probably
mean a light fresh wine

that doesn't have any oak presence.

As wines age, or get exposed to oxygen,

either from oak barrels
or from time in the bottle,

they get darker, more
opaque and turn more gold,

then amber, then brown.

Red wines are the reverse.

They get lighter as they age.

They may start as a deep
purple or ruby in color,

but as time goes on,

they'll become more
transparent and start to turn tawny

and then brown, basically
all roads lead to brown.

This is similar to how some fruit,

as it gets oxidized and ages,

gets old and starts to brown.

With wine, this process just takes longer.

The more translucent a wine is,

the lighter in body it tends to be.

Pinot noir from cool
climates is usually see through

and pale ruby and it's
flavors tend to be tart,

like cranberry and pomegranate.

On the flip side, the
more opaque the wine is,

the bigger the wine will be

and have more ripe fruit character.

Cabernet Sauvignon from
warm climates is deep ruby

or purple in color and its flavors

tend to be blackberry or cassis.

Okay, on to the nose.

So, I was just about to
tell them that the nose

is actually the most
important part of wine tasting.

Tell 'em why.

Absolutely.

So we have 400 olfactory receptors

that pick up over a
trillion different odors.

Yeah. Compare that to like five tastes.

So essentially most of what you're getting

when you're talking
about the flavors in wine,

it's coming from the nose.

Absolutely.

So this is why when you
have a cold, for example,

and your nose is stuffed
up, you have trouble tasting.

The same way, if you pinched your nose,

you wouldn't be able to tell the difference

between an apple and a
potato if you took a bite of it.

Which one's the apple?

Idiota.

So the first thing I'm
definitely doing is giving a swirl.

The reason we swirl is because alcohol

and water evaporate at different rates.

And so when you swirl,

the alcohol evaporates up into the air

and carries the flavor
aromas up into your nose.

The first thing I want to do

is I want to take a
big smell of it.

And I wanna try to identify the fruit.

In this case, I'm really
getting some strawberry,

but that doesn't tell
me all I need to know.

I need to qualify that fruit.

And in this case,

strawberry can be lots of different things.

You can have bruised strawberry,

you can have ripe strawberry

you can have jammy, dried, cooked.

The second thing I'm doing is I'm looking

at non-fruit aromas that I'm getting.

That might be something like minerals.

It might be something like
flowers, it might be herbs.

And then there's one final step to it.

I wanna talk about oak,

baking spices, cinnamon, tobacco, vanilla.

This really helps me
understand a lot about the wine.

And then a couple other pieces of advice

I give when people are smelling.

Number one, I keep my mouth open,

helps me get more out of it.

Number two, don't go too deep.

If you get too far in there,

you're gonna burn your
nose with the alcohol.

So just enough to smell.

And then the third thing is that I'm trying

to get as much information
as I can out of the nose

before I even go and taste it.

So I'm gonna try and
basically confirm everything

that I smell on the palate,
which is where I'm going now.

We are here to talk about the palate

or the taste of the wine.

And if we've done everything
right up until this point,

we kind of already have
an idea of what the wine

is gonna taste like.

We're really just tasting
to confirm what we smelled

and to learn about the structure.

Now what is the structure of the wine?

Exactly.

So there's five components to structure.

Let's talk about sugar. Is it dry?

Is it off dry? Is it sweet?

Sure. How much sugar are we getting?

Exactly. Then you've also got acid.

So is it gonna be super
tart, like a lime or a lemon?

So is it low, medium or high acid?

Is it super tart and crisp

and really makes your mouth salivate

or maybe a little less so.

Exactly. And then
tannin, low, medium or high.

Does it suck the
moisture outta your mouth

like a dark chocolate or
like an over steeped tea?

Exactly. Then we also have alcohol.

Does it make your throat burn? Is it hot?

Like a shot of vodka?

Exactly.

And then we've got body.

Is it like cream, where
it's rich and creamy.

And full bodied?

Exactly.

You feel this weight in your mouth

or is it light and crisp and fresh?

Like skim milk.

And then finally, what we're gonna do

is we're gonna take all of this,

everything we gathered from the nose,

everything we gathered from the palate

and say, okay, is this
wine simple or complex?

And what we're looking
for is the finish of the wine.

How long is the finish?

How long is this staying in your palate?

Hope people learned a little bit more

about how to taste wine.

It takes a little more
time to taste this way,

but I think you get a little
bit more out of your glass

if you do it like this.

So cheers to DePaul and my alma mater

and cheers to you guys, keep geeking out.

Chicago isn't all comfort
food and steakhouses.

It's got some of the best
contemporary cuisine around.

So I had to make room
for one final stop, "ABA",

in the trendy West Loop neighborhood.

As a Lebanese boy myself,

I was more than excited to
have some Mediterranean cooking

from Top Chef alum, CJ Jacobson,

at one of the hottest restaurants in town.

As a chef, I started
in southern California.

I was playing volleyball in Europe.

I used my height, you can't tell right now,

but well, you know, I'm.

You're very tall.

I'm frickin' tall, yeah.

Playing in Europe, I just
kind of noticed a different,

the way people eat differently.

They didn't have as many sort of phobias,

they're excited about things,
so I got to see the world.

That gave you your kind
of taste and you got the bug.

You're like.

Oh yeah. I'm like, oh
my gosh, this is so great.

First I started working at a restaurant

on Abbott Kinney in Venice Beach.

When I finally moved here to Chicago

and joined, "Lettuce Entertain You",

Rich asked me, he goes,

C, what do you think
about Mediterranean food?

And I said, I love it.

You know, but I didn't grow
up in the Mediterranean,

didn't grow up in Beirut
or Italy or anywhere else.

I grew up in SoCal, so I know
they have similar sensibility,

so I'll go with that.

But I wanna make it my own.

But similar climate, right.

For sure. Yeah.

We have Mediterranean
climate in Lake Forest,

California, where I grew up.

So how did you learn
Mediterranean cuisine?

YouTube. No, I'm just kidding.

I think probably ideally, I mean,

I did research and research
and research and error.

And I did live in Israel for 10 months

in one of my volleyball seasons,

so I recall a lot of stuff there.

Seeing the sensibility
of the people every day,

getting their groceries and
the way they would cook,

how fresh and clean it was.

It was very, very similar
to Southern California,

sort of farmer's market cuisine, I guess.

It wasn't that much of a stretch,

what was a stretch was
understanding like ras el hanout

and all these north African spice blends

or Berbere spice and
becoming comfortable with those.

Then they were maybe
intimidating me in the beginning,

but now they just seem
like one more page in a book

that you can kind of add or not add.

I never thought I'd open
a restaurant this big,

this successful, doing
food from the middle east,

it's kind trippy.

If it's, I always say good will be good.

Yeah.

And that's obviously evident by how much

of a reputation you have in the city.

I mean, this is one of the
hottest places in town right now.

Thanks, man, I appreciate it.

Very cool, well, I'd love
to cook some of the dishes,

if you have a second.

Yeah, let's go do it.

All right. Let's do it.

We're gonna start with the
Greek style salad. You ready?

Yeah, let's do it.

All right. Cool.

So first we need to make the dressing.

I have a garlic clove here,

so let's kind of crack it a little bit,

cook it with a little bit of the vinegar

and I'll just kind of hang out
and we'll come back to this.

Do some other stuff.

All right. So let's let that marinate.

This is just an onion, gonna
go ahead and slice them.

I mean, these are olives, okay.

Don't know how to clean olive?

This is a special time for you.

So I'm gonna show you.

Can't even believe how many
like actually cooks we have,

come in, they're just like
slicing olives with their knives.

I'm like, no, no.

We're like a rustic Mediterranean restaurant

Just press it down.

And it all comes out.
There'll be some oil there.

Do you marinate these
yourself? These are good.

Yeah.

So yeah. Have at it?

Yeah. I'm going for it.

There's two types of people in the world.

People who like olives and people who don't

And I dunno if I can hang
out with the people who don't.

Well, I mean, I was one who didn't.

So, I mean, we would've
had a rough run of this.

They call these vine
ripe. These are cherries so

that's what we do.

Next up is cucumbers, an oblique cut, okay.

All right, so we're getting
pretty close here, right?

Yeah. Yeah. We've been letting that sit.

It's been sitting.

Imagine it's been sitting
for like an hour or so.

Yay. It'd be really, really nice.

Yay.

I get a spoon,

two parts vinegar to one part olive oil.

Two parts vinegar, one
part less, more vinegar,

more acid?

I think so. So taste it.

Perfect.

Good, right.

And you know what?

Just good, good high quality olive oil.

Yeah. You taste that strongly right?

It tastes strong.

And here is our vinaigrette.

So, you wanna taste a
tomato and see where we're at?

Yeah. I love it.

Oh, really good tomato.

Pretty money, right?

Sweet. Oh my God.

They're kind of coming to alive.

Next, feta, right?

We use a Bulgarian feta, we
get from like a local Greek guy.

Lots of Greek people here.

I don't know where they get it,

but you know, we have
another restaurant in Austin

and we don't have our
Bulgarian hookup, so we got.

Yeah, you got a guy.

We don't have a guy.

Anyone's in Austin, they know a guy?

All right. So right here, you
have to make a decision.

Well, I'm making it for you.

I'm not gonna add feta in here

because I don't want this
to be some weird salad bar.

Goopy mess.

Giant mess, you know.

Flashbacks of some sort of weird buffet

where you wouldn't
wanna be in the first place.

So I'm gonna add some feta.

I'll probably put like two
pieces on the ground right here,

By the ground, I mean
the bottom of this bowl here

and I don't want a lot, I
just want enough to be able

to taste it with my eyes and olive oil.

I love that. Good finishing oil.

Yeah.

Right on top. - Important.

Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Two different types of tomatoes.

So two different textures, a little bit.

Yeah and if you taste one, side by side,

the little guy's definitely sweeter.

Sweeter and these ones are a little more.

And it has a more
like adult tomato flavor.

All right, so dish number
two is our lamb ragu hummus.

So we're gonna do first
is we're gonna heat this up

and we're gonna keep it warm.

We don't wanna like boil it
because it'll kind of change

what's happening inside the hummus.

Can I try it?

Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead.

But you know how like the French,

like the omelet is the test?

Yes.

For Mediterranean, it's hummus. Oh yeah.

Is it good?

Delicious, delicious.

How are your eggs?

Now the recipe for the hummus is,

without giving away any secrets, I guess.

Well, you can probably
guess entirely what I do.

So you got chickpeas, you got tahini,

which is ground sesame seeds, right.

Also you need to cook your chickpeas.

We get ours from Washington state,

also garlic, olive oil, lemon juice.

So next up is making our ragu.

So a little bit olive oil,
garlic, flavor in chilies.

Ah, okay.

So we're making it, it's gonna
have some heat, this dish.

Oh yeah.

I love it, yeah. And the
toasty garlic, just delicious.

So this is a lamb
that we roasted overnight.

Okay. What cut?

It's a shoulder.

Okay.

That help you with the shoulder?

And the lamb, you just
braised until it got tender?

We put a spice on it called lamb spice,

which essentially chili de arbol,

where we take all the seeds out.

Yep.

And toasted cumin.

I'm gonna add some harissa.

And what is harissa?

Harissa is a kind
of like the north African,

middle Eastern tomato sauce.

Mostly chilies, garlic, cumin, coriander.

All right, I think we're
ready to plate now, if you are.

Yeah. Let's do it.

Gonna put our hummus here.

Usually I go.

And you got
the little well in the middle

just to kind of catch some of that sauce.

Yeah.

These are just parsley stems.

Add a nice little bite to this dish.

Oh, pita action, huh?

Yeah. A little pocket action.

Oh my God.

I see why that's one of
the most popular dishes.

Yeah.

The, whoo! And it's got some heat.

Yeah.

But the creaminess from the hummus.

Yeah.

Kind of balances it out.

I approve. This is absolutely incredible.

I'm so glad you like it.

Thank you for all this.

Thank you man.

Time to pair our dishes with some wines.

So how do you select the wine list here?

Because you have a lot of different foods

and a lot of times they're on this table

at the exact same time, right?

The fish, the meat, all the appetizers,

because that's the style of the cuisine.

So, I think that we
always try to pick wines

that are super versatile,

obviously wines with like good acidity,

not a lot of overly heavily oaked wines

or anything like that,

just because we want things
to be super approachable.

We try to keep the wines in Mediterranean.

So somewhere near the
ocean and the Mediterranean.

So what are we starting with?

So the Village Salad
is kind of your classic,

you could call it kind
of classic Greek salad.

So with this dish, I really like this wine.

It's a rosé from Corsica.

Corsica?

People are always kind of like,

what do you think the
next big wine region is?

And I think Corsica is
definitely one of those regions

and for our kind of cuisine, it's amazing.

It's ocean wine.

It's briny, it's salty, it's high acid.

It's refreshing, as you're
sitting here on the patio,

having a vegetable, kind
of tomato-based salad.

It's amazing. Especially with the olives.

The clean wine goes
great with the clean salad

while the acid matches
the acid in the tomatoes

and the dressing.

And the salinity
compliments the briny olives,

plus Mediterranean food

and Mediterranean wine go great together.

All right, so now this is
a challenging dish too,

because spice and the
lamb and not just spice,

but spicy to an extent, there's harissa.

So this one, we went definitely unique.

So Chateau Musar, the most
famous winery in Lebanon.

Yep.

This is their Musar Jeune Rouge,

this is their entry level.

It's Cinsault, Syrah and
Cabernet Sauvignon.

Cinsault, I think,
adds a little bit of fruit

and structure to this wine,

where the Cabernet gives it a little bit

of that kind of like earthiness.

And then Syrah gives it
that acidity and that spice.

A little bit of like a chalky quality

that sometimes I get where
it's almost a Sweetart thing,

which is a weird description for wine.

Yeah, this has that spice that you want,

like you said, from the, must be the Syrah.

I get that spice. You already said it.

But the Sweetart thing,
because you get blue fruits

and you know, the blue Sweetarts.

I mean, it has so many of those parallels,

which is really cool.

The high acid wine cuts
through the creamy hummus.

And while this wine isn't sweet,

it's fruity and low tannin, so
can pair with the spicy lamb.

The medium bodied dish
matches the medium bodied wine

and again, the Lebanese dish
and the Lebanese wine go great.

I knew you were gonna
like bring some fun wines

that we hadn't had on the
show, especially these regions.

So you brought me exactly
what I was hoping you would do.

Was glad to have you
in, thanks for coming in.

Cheers.

In 1871, the Great Chicago
Fire destroyed much of the city,

17,000 structures.

So in 1893, the Chicago World's Fair,

called "The Fair That Changed America",

rose from the ashes and showed
the world Chicago was back.

And much of it happened
here in the Midway Plaisance,

in Jackson Park, a mile-long expanse,

20 minutes south of downtown.

The fire and the fair gave Chicago a chance

to rebuild the city for the
20th century and beyond,

a clean slate to create an
enduring modern metropolis.

And 27 million people,

came from all over the planet to attend,

to see things like the
world's first Ferris Wheel,

eat new foods called Cracker
Jacks and Juicy Fruit gum

and see innovations in architecture.

As you've seen, that mix
of food, wine, history and fun

still draws people here today.

Chicago sometimes gets made fun of

as the city of people
who weren't brave enough

to leave for New York or LA

or shiny new cities like Austin or Denver,

but guess what makes Chicago special?

It's those people who've
always called Chicago home.

The food traditions run
by diehard Chicagoans,

born and raised, continuing
their family's legacies,

the people whose father's
father's father never stopped

believing in a Cubs championship.

The people investing in the
city because it's their own.

People here are so kind,

they're often called Midwest Nice.

And why wouldn't they be?

They're proud to show off
their buildings, their homes,

their food, their sports,
their friends, their history,

their city, Chicago.

Whoa!