442: The Last Original Food Blogger with Titus Ruscitti

0:28This episode is brought to you by Resi and American Express. The suburbs these days are where you have to go to find little mom and pop type finds like that, that people mostly don't know about. I know nothing's really hidden per se these days, but you've still got little spots in the strip mall in some suburb of some big city that are relatively unknown. This is Taste. I'm your host, Matt Rothbard.

0:59The title of this episode is The Last Original Food Blogger, and really this is no exaggeration. Titus Rassidi has been writing his influential blog, Shy BBQ King, for more than a decade, publishing dispatches from the Chicago food scene on the No Frills Blogspot platform. It's a throwback publication, tipping to Chow Hound and the original Serious Eats. And it's so fun catching up with Titus about all the exciting restaurants he's visited around the Midwest. We talk about Chicago beef, Tavern Pizza, Tacos, Barbecue, The Bear, naturally, and his intense interest in Midwestern foodways that has him visiting Wisconsin, Indiana, and West Michigan regularly.

1:47This is such a great conversation about one of the world's greatest food cities. I hope you enjoy it.

2:03Titus Resetti, welcome to This Is Taste. What is up, my man? How are you doing? Great to be here. You know what? I'm just going to jump in and say this. You are the last food blogger in America. Yes, I am one of the few remaining ones, at least from a dining out perspective. No recipes for me. No recipes, but also you literally publish on a blog spot account, and there's many listeners who don't know what that is. So that's cool. Also, you're independently funded. You're not writing for a publication. You do it all for the love. You pay for your meals. You're not linked up with PR too much, maybe a little.

2:40No, not at all. I do do like freelance for local publications like Chicago Magazine, but for that same reason, because they know that I like to go to little neighborhood spots that are less visited and just less published by the few remaining publishing. Independent guys. And then you also, you're not on Substack, so you don't even like monetize your content. You literally do it for the straight love, the way many people got into food blogging back in the early 2000s. What drives you to publish with such frequency, Titus? Well, that's a question that I do still get asked. One of the reasons I'm still on Blogspot is because I've become comfortable with it.

3:25Yeah. And it's just there and it's so easy and I know how to use it. but also because like I come from the time before social media, you know, Instagram and TikTok with the, of the food message board era, so to say, and I was probably a little too young for Eagle it in Chowhound. But here in Chicago, we have a message, a food message board that's still going called LTH forum that I just kind of found out of college when I started getting more interested in food and dining out. And I started posting there and my blog is kind of like an extension of my post from there I kind of post in the same style I would post there and other people did so it's just kind of like a a message board slash diary well I like the way you write because it's very straightforward you're you're you're giving us what we want which is like why you go there what is there the more the what than the why which I feel I like both styles of writing but you're doing a lot of like the exposition and just like explaining what the dishes are and you're taking the cell phone photos and it's an in bed long scroll fucking love it man because it's so like deeply researched and cool yeah yeah it's it's basically kind of a public diary i guess you know like it's i i enjoy um going back you know as much as i enjoy eating out i guess the next best thing is is going back to the vacations or you know all the visiting all the restaurants in the time and i'd like to do that just by by writing it like in a diary form or whatever how did you start the blogspot account how did you like what what compelled you to like sign up for that and it's it's i should be saying this from the jump you can link to in the show notes i'll make sure it's very clear it's shy bbq.blogspot.com shy bbq king king oh that blogspot sorry king i forgot to give you the king shy bbq king.blogspot.com yeah and that's a random name and just like the blog was i just honestly kind of started it for fun at one point yeah as an extension of the food forums that I participated in, including LTH Forum.

5:23And also I got to give a shout out to Road Food, which most people these days probably don't even know, but the old, it was originally a book by Jane and Michael Stern, which kind of just about regional food and like going to places throughout the country and eating unique dishes, regional specialties, you know, New Haven pizza, Chicago style hot dogs and the likes. And then that turned into a site and had a message board and I posted there and, you know, my posts were always well received and I just kind of figured I would extend out or branch out to the blog and I've kind of been stuck there ever since.

5:59I mean, it's a level of, I'd say, like social anthropology. You could throw some ologies on it, but it really is a style of writing that is dying because I think a lot of people want to have takes, right? Absolutely. Take masters. I mean, you may do some rankings from time to time, but you really aren't. You're about like, let's profile the restaurant or the five restaurants or the 20 restaurants. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I've always loved to explore. And I guess my favorite way to do it is through food. And as I've always told people, it's not always about like, you know, going to these places, like trying to find the best meal of my life.

6:35But it's just about like trying to have an interesting experience. And you're more likely to meet interesting people or hear interesting stories at like a local town pizzeria than you will at like, you know, like a brand new, like a trendy spot. Not that I don't like those type of places, too, but it's just. Yeah. You can always find like local type spots wherever you are, you know. All right. So a really cool quote from one of your recent posts. Without regional food, we'd be eating the same stuff. And I feel like that's like really plainly spoken and super true because regional food makes America specifically, but all the other countries, of course.

7:10But we're talking about America here. So it's such an interesting place to write about food. Now, let me ask you, what drives what draws you to regional food and what are some of the regional spots that you've that you've taken on? Because it's not just Chicago. No, yeah. I mean, what drives me to regional food is the exploration of finding it. And that includes, you know, whether it's just going to a different neighborhood in the city you're from or to an entirely different state or region. And, you know, like to me, regional food can be a few things in that you got hyper regional dishes that in their purest form can only be found in little pockets across the country.

7:49You know, stuff like a Sonoran dog in Tucson or fried clam bellies in New England or even more specifically Isaacs County, Massachusetts. So and then, you know, those some of those dishes do end up going national like Detroit style pizza. So you can find good Detroit-style pizza in Austin, but what you can't get is the experience of eating Detroit-style pizza at the original Buddies on Conan Street in Detroit or at a place like Louie's and Hazel Park, like the real local-type spots that are iconic to the neighborhoods and cities and states that they belong to. I'm going to transition. A great sentiment there.

8:26And we'll now get into specifics. I want to make a general overview of what you're into. But we're going to dig into it. We're going to go into some of these regional dishes, these places that you visited, Argentina, Southwest Michigan, Miami, Florida. I mean, there's so many places that you consider Athens. I'm going to Athens the next month. I want to hear about Athens. Athens is an amazing city. Now, let me ask you about Chicago pizza right away. I mean, I want to jump right in. Why does everyone feel like they have to be a dick about Chicago pizza? That is a good question. I think basically because people are uncomfortable with what they're not used to.

9:05And Chicago pizza is one of the more polarizing regional foods or pizzas. Because, you know, pizza itself is so regional and deep dish pizza is one of the more polarizing pizzas. But I also think that like New Yorkers specifically, they know that Chicago is probably the only city whose pizza scene can compare or at least take on New York. And it had that standpoint. So that makes them feel a little uncomfortable. I'm not even talking about just deep dish. I'm saying that Chicago, you know, we have a few styles of pizza, which is why you have to consider it one of the best pizza cities or pizza cultures because it's not just one style.

9:48Like, you know, New Haven, Connecticut has the best New Haven style pizza, but what about other styles of pizza? Pizza is very regional and very diverse. So Chicago, you know, has the tavern thin, the deep dish, the pan, even the Quad Cities style pizza, which is from the Quad Cities area, which is Illinois and Iowa. Quad Cities, I'm just thinking coming around that train is all I'm thinking about Quad Cities. but I don't know about the pizza style, but what is Quad City Pizza? So Quad City style pizza is unique for a few things, including the dough, which is a very yeasty dough. Ah, cool. It's also unique, so it's kind of puffy, the dough, and it's unique in how it's cut.

10:28It's sliced one down the middle and then straight lines, so it's kind of long, rectangular pieces. And then it's also unique in the sausage, which is you know sausage in the midwest is superior to all other pizza toppings chicago is the only city in the world or city in the u.s where sausage is more regularly ordered than pepperoni yeah in the region and in the quad cities for their sausage it's a loose sausage so it's almost like loose meat it's like crumbly yeah exactly crumbly with a lot of fennel and uh just kind of you you kind of get some in every bite when it's that way which is different it's unique and then the last thing that makes quad cities pizza unique is they it is the home of the taco pizza they a place they created taco pizza using that same sausage just seasoned with like you know taco seasoning and then like uh crisp up tortilla shells and lettuce and sauce and it's actually you know pretty good to try once in your life yeah you try it once you put it off that you notch the belt and then maybe move on i mean i think uh chicago pizza is the second best in the country i agree with you fully all right this is like let's do quickly your favorite pan your favorite tavern your favorite deep dish starting with pan well pan is uh i mean lou malnati's is always going to be one of the legends and it's just the taste is unique and you know it's one of those things when you if you taste you eat a lou malnati's you know what it is but these days since the pandemic um happened there's been an actual uh kind of like a trend upward in deep dish and pan pizza so a lot of new spots have come out and Millie's Pizza in the Pan which I think you went to last night is exceptional yeah I'm Robert on the show or we had him on the show depending when we do these interviews yeah it's exceptional I love that what about a tavern the tavern style is what I grew up on it's it's my by far my favorite style pizza you can't beat a thin cross sausage pizza from Pat's Pizza which is in Lincoln Park.

12:29They've been there since the 50s. They're originally in Lakeview. And, you know, we used to walk to Cubs games at Wrigley Field. And we would, depending on whether it was a day game or night game, we would stop there before or after the game for a sausage pizza with my dad, maybe my grandpa, my uncles and cousins and whatnot. And so I've been eating it my whole life. So I'm kind of a homer, but also it really is as I've grown up and had so many other pizzerias throughout the city. Pat's is still one of, if not the best. And they actually are credited with the five-day ferment in the fridge to get it so thin, which a lot of these new spots, like Uncle Kim's Pizza up in Westmont are using that style.

13:14So they're kind of like the pioneers. Yeah, I kind of want to check out Uncle Kim's. I've heard good things of Uncle Kim's. Yeah, it's a fantastic spot. Just make sure you order ahead because it's popular and small. Popular and small. What about Video Nick's? We haven't talked about that. you we went there next we went to last year i believe during the james beard awards and that too is a childhood favorite of mine we didn't get there as much because i've lived in lincoln park but my mom is from the south side and i have fond memories of trips uh you know being on the south side and going to veto and nicks after a baseball game or a basketball camp or something like that and as far as um atmosphere goes you can't beat veto and nicks it's like that's the thing i love about a class of pizzerias is the old school ones and like the characters they have.

13:58And Vito and Nick's is one of those that will just lose character as soon as you walk in. I think we went there and it was like we were, it was empty, but we talked to the bartender a bit and we had this guy who was like flying out to Denver. Yes, exactly. And then I went there later in the summer with my friends and there was a little bit of a funeral party. Someone had passed, an older family member, and the entire dining room was packed with a funeral party. and it was just that dining room. I mean, listen, you can't create that on a set. Yeah, exactly. You cannot recreate that. Tavern pizza is becoming pretty popular across the country these days and there's some great examples.

14:37But like I said earlier, the one thing you just can't recreate is the spaces themselves and the people that make the food and the customers that are sitting beside you. Yeah, so it's Pat's, Vito and Nick's, and Millie's Pizza in a Pan. Those are the three I'm hearing from you. Those are three fantastic choices. Moving on, let me ask you, who's the most underrated chef in Chicago right now? It's a tough question because I do feel that food media has gotten pretty big to the point where a lot of people are known. But I will say, I feel that Zishan Shah and Yoshi Yamada, who are chefs and co-owners of Super Kana, should be household names in the city.

15:20It's one of my favorite restaurants in town. I go there at least five times a year, which is pretty often. What's the restaurant? Super Kana International, which I would describe as Indian-ish. It's just a fun take. They have stuff like butter chicken, calzones, and a breakfast dosa hash, stuff like that. It's just that's very high quality cooking from two really nice guys. And I never have taken anyone there that had anything less to say than it was awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I know the name only and I've never been there. So yeah, exactly. I think that's a good answer. Thank you for the answer. Okay.

15:55Off the plane. First time to Chicago in ever, or maybe first time in a long time. I've gotten my rental car. I'm hitting the blue line. Where am I going, Titus? Like, is there a spot that you're like, you got to go there first right now? Another tough question. I know I'm asking these tough things. You're bringing them today. I mean, it's tough to say. It's a tough question. But a spot that I always find myself returning to off of a plane is La Chaparita, which is a taqueria in Little Village that I think everyone should try. Because a lot of people don't understand just how good and how deep the Mexican food in Chicago goes.

16:36And La Chaparita is honestly, it's my favorite taqueria north of Mexico. And I've been to, you know, LA, Dallas, Houston, everywhere. And Mexico City, I'm sure you've been there too. Oh yeah, Mexico City. Yeah, so let me ask you about Little Village. And I think it's a really good point to dwell on because La Chaparita is dope. I feel that place is definitely known. But I think there's a lot of perception that Chicago is maybe like a deep dish town or a fine dining town. we don't talk enough about the Mexican food here and I met you when we were out with Jose Rolat for a couple years back and you know Jose writes very extensively about Mexican cuisine in America and tacos but like give Little Village and like that part of Chicago some press because I feel like you could come here and eat Mexican food and only Mexican food you're not you're going to love it it's going to be some of the best you've had in your life yeah exactly Chicago really does have some of the best Mexican food you'll find outside of Mexico.

17:35I won't go as far as to say it's better than LA, but I would probably say it's the best Mexican food you can find east of LA. And it's definitely the best Mexican food you can find that far away from the border. And that's due to a huge, you know, Mexican population. I believe there was a recent thing that one in five people in Chicago is Hispanic. And, you know, the majority of the Hispanic community here is Mexican. And Little Village is the epicenter of Mexican immigration to Chicago going back to the 1920s. So even today, you'll hear like, oh, you know, you got to go to Pilsen to get great Mexican food.

18:14And yeah, there's amazing Mexican food in Pilsen. But going to Little Village, you know, in some cases feels a lot like you're in somewhere in Mexico and you're walking down 26th Street, which is the main corridor. And it's just flooded with little independent restaurants. Poblano restaurants. restaurants yes and that's the other thing it's all over Mexico yeah the other thing is Chicago Mexican food is like Mexican food in general is very regional so we have a large population of people from Jalisco Michoacana Puebla and a few other places like that so you'll Montemoros like border towns too not not as not as much border town food just because I feel like you know there's kind of the border town food is just you know you'll find that in in the border in texas and places like that but we have a um huge population from herrero mexico so you'll see you know little you look at the menus at these places and you'll often see little dishes that you don't see everywhere else at you know taquerias it's much deeper than just steak tacos or el pastor and chicken and you know like we're talking like little things like picaditas or like tealudas and wonderful stuff like that.

19:26Yeah, like regional specialties like that. I love the sentiment so much. I love the way that you write and talk about regional food and it feels like Mexico is just one of other, one of many cuisines that excels in Chicago. What is something that maybe I don't even know that Chicago has a community of chefs and restaurants that maybe like a culture that maybe I just, I've never heard of. Well, one thing that I always like to point out when comparing, you know, Chicago to other cities and what's good here that a lot of people don't know about is the Eastern European food, which is also kind of having a moment right now.

20:07So it's a perfect time to talk about it with the opening of a spot like Anelia, which is a Ukrainian restaurant ran by a couple that has a couple of really good restaurants, though their Korean one closed. Bev Kim and Johnny Clark. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And their Korean restaurant just closed, but they're redoing that into a different concept. But Anelia has been very well received. It's a Ukrainian restaurant that Johnny's mom, I believe, maybe has a little bit of play in it. All the cooks in the kitchen are females from Ukraine. but in going deeper than that Chicago has the huge Polish population one of the largest outside of Warsaw if not the largest we have the largest Bulgarian population outside of Bulgaria and there's just a lot of Eastern European food that is actually much better than I thought it was four or five years ago after I started really digging deep into it and all the different dishes and regional specialties What's a Bulgarian dish that maybe we haven't tasted that we can get in Chicago go do you have something off the tip you know tip your tongue yeah there's a kebabish type um thing i think it's called like a kebab like kbap but it's basically a minced meat of usually pork or beef um ground and it's you know got a little cumin in there and maybe a little pepper and stuff and it's really finely ground you know the best spots will grill them over fire grilled charcoal and they'll come with like a few dipping sauces including like a spicy feta it's just i mean if you like charcoal grilled meats there's some really good i love it bulgarian options but most of those are in the spawn in the suburbs which these days is kind of how chicago goes to get the best um or the most interesting unique international options little mom and pass bots you kind of got to go to the suburbs these days due to different reasons including rent and and just immigration city's getting pretty expensive yeah titus okay let's talk about The Bear.

22:04We have to talk about it because obviously the show's out and season three's out and still is the talk. It's such a great show. I want to get your sense. You're a local, you're native. What's the show mean to you and Chicago? Well, it obviously means a lot to Chicago. Chicago is, as I like to call it, the world's largest neighborhood, meaning it's a big city, but it's actually really small. And when something like The Bear comes out and goes national, like Chicago takes huge pride in that. And yeah, it's just, I mean, it's been great to watch it. The storyline is great. The acting is great. But my favorite part is just seeing all the little restaurants from Chicago or the chefs or the little things that most viewers, you know, from outside of the city might not catch.

22:53I mean, yeah, you see little pockets. You see Kusama, of course, has a big close up. But you have like all the local spots in the show. So like clearly, and you've also got the music and the skyline and you've got gray January and February days, which they filmed the first two seasons around. Yeah. And then, of course, the other thing I love is that the Italian beef has finally been given its due. Back when I first started my Shy BBQ King blog, I also had a little side blog called Beef with Hot, which means, which is how you order an Italian beef in Chicago. You say you want a beef and with hot means with hot peppers on it.

23:30And I would go around to all the little beef stands around the city and score the Italian beefs because Italian beef really was my favorite food growing up. My I had I basically like grew up in hot dog stands and Italian beef stands. And I just love that the Italian beef has kind of gotten a national requisition. And it's also kind of, we're starting to see, it's slow, but we're starting to see places make Italian beef from scratch again, which is kind of a thing that disappeared with the Ciscofication of food in the United States. A lot of spots don't make their beef from scratch. It's bagged in a factory somewhere and bought at a restaurant depot or delivered from Cisco, which is just not what makes an Italian beef so great.

24:16So what is a good spot then? I mean, there's like a lot of competition out there. Yeah, there's tons of spots to get an Italian beef in Chicago, but unfortunately there's not a ton of spots to get a made-from-scratch Italian beef. But two places that everyone knows about that are from Chicago and should always, everyone, if you haven't been, you should definitely check out our Johnny's Beef, which is in Elmwood Park. It's a suburb that borders Chicago, so it's a little bit of a ride. And then Elle's Beef, the original on Taylor Street, which is its own entity. It has nothing to do with the other locations, so they still make it from scratch there.

24:51And to me, it just tastes like childhood. Yeah, Al's is dope. And you get Italian ice across the street. And Mario's, which just opened a couple weeks ago. Oh, reopened. For the summer, yeah. Yeah, so I got to hang out with Mario. Very fun. On the stoop. Yeah, he was hanging out, just holding court on the stoop. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and that's one of the city's most iconic places. Absolutely. So if you're in Chai this summer or even whenever, Al's and Mario's, super worth going to both. Yeah, it's a fantastic one-two punch because they're right across the street from each other. And they're probably going to be relatively close to where you are.

25:25Yeah, right. Because if you're staying downtown or even West Loop, you're like right there. Yes, not far at all. Taylor Street. Sorry, Taylor Street. Yeah, Maxwell's right over there. Oh, my God. My dad grew up in Rogers Park. And I feel Taylor was, for him, that was like the center of Kona. universe in Chicago. That and Greek Isles. For some reason, he loved Greek Isles. Yeah, yeah. Chicago. Greek town, man. Greek town was unfortunately kind of a thing of the past. I know. I know. You still have a couple of Greek restaurants hanging on. Yeah. Tell me about Indienne. That's Indienne spelled the French way.

25:58It's one of the five finalists for the James Beard Great Lakes. And I've not heard of this place, but you just wrote a really cool post about it. And it was a nice review. So what's going on at Indienne? Yeah, so Chef Sarker is putting out beautiful, vibrant, great tasting plates of food at what I would call Chicago's most London-like restaurant just because it's an Indian tasting menu and it kind of reminds me of a lot of spots that you would find in London at the moment. Yeah, South Asian food in London is on a different level from America. And it's cool that you call it this place because I think South Asian food in Chicago is not one of the main food groups, at least on the national press.

26:37So I'm learning as we go to have had a couple of guests. Dennis Lee talked about it as well. It's great, great stuff. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, we've always had Devon Street, which is a huge Indian corridor, definitely the center of Midwest Indian commerce and whatnot. But a lot of that shifted into the suburbs. So now to get like the regional Indian food that's really starting to pop up across America, in Chicagoland anyway, you kind of got to go out to the suburbs to find it. So Titus, let's get out of town. One thing, as I mentioned at the top, is I really like that if you're reading shybbqking.blogspot.com, you are getting a sense of your travels because you're doing these Chicago roundups, but then you're going to places like Southwest Michigan and Athens, et cetera.

27:22What drives you to Southwest Michigan? You've written a lot about this place. It's close to me. I grew up there. But you really understand that there's a food heritage in Southwest Michigan that is really defined. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I guess more than anything, what drives me there is the fact that it's a relatively short drive from Chicago. Right. You know, like trips to Michigan and Wisconsin are kind of an extension of summertime shy as people from the city like to, you know, escape to those places for a little weekend getaway. But I mean, the beaches in Western Michigan are actually some of the best in the country, at least during July and August.

28:01Definitely agree. And the area has fertile soil and favorable climate, making it a hub for wonderful agricultural stuff. Oh, yeah. Not to mention some of the country's best microbreweries. And it's, you know, beautiful, scenic, wonderful outdoor area. It's starting to take off in a way that it really was kind of stalled. Like, you know, it's been a favorite of Chicagoans for more than 30 years now. But only in the last five years or so, we really started to see a boom in the tourism as far as culinary and brewing goes. Oh, yeah. Greener farm down there near Berrien Springs. And you've got you go up to Grand Rapids, go to the beaches, Saga Tuck, South Haven.

28:41Yeah. I'm just giving my hometown a shout out. Yeah. It's a beautiful area for the summertime. You can't. Yeah. But what about let's go to the suburbs? You mentioned a few times in passing. But when you're in Chicago, it's a sprawly place like L.A. and Dallas. Yeah. And there's a lot of these communities. Give us one more example of a suburban experience that you can go to just heading out of Chicago for a unique food experience. Yeah. One of my favorite suburbs is Bridgeview, which is a south suburb of Chicago. And it's the home to the country's largest Palestinian population. And I think maybe even the second largest Middle Eastern population behind Dearborn, Michigan.

29:24And just like you see with other cultures and stuff, there's a lot of restaurants and chains opening from the Middle East that are doing wonderful, you know, things like Turkish, interesting Turkish style barbecue or, you know, charcoal grilled kebabs and stuff like that. And there's just, it's really booming, so to say, and that there's just the population keeps growing and new restaurants keep opening. And charcoal grill kebabs are one of my favorite things to eat. Yeah, that's one of my favorite places to go. Yo, definitely. I mean, it sounds like the suburbs alone could be its own blog, you know?

30:03Oh, absolutely. The suburbs these days are where you have to go to find little mom and pop type finds like that, that people mostly don't know about. Like I know nothing's really hidden per se these days, but, you know, you still got little spots in the strip mall in some suburb of some big city that are relatively unknown that should be, you know, way better known or at least more. Wait, so where are you traveling next? I know, as I mentioned, you've been to Athens, you've been to Buenos Aires, you've been to San Diego, Chile, Miami. You go there every winter. I feel like I know your travels, reading your blog.

30:39And really, it's cool because you give it some time. You're not just doing weekends trips. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes I'm traveling for work and most times it's for play. But with the summer around the corner, I really do try to stay in the Midwest, if not the U.S., just because the weather is perfect for a trip to New York, New England, or just Michigan or Wisconsin and whatnot. I'm actually going down to Indianapolis very soon. And, of course, I got a few food stops planned. So that's usually how it goes. I always got a few stops wherever it is I am. What country do you want to go to? What's on your list?