July 9, 2025 • 38 mins
Host of Food Network's "The Kitchen" and "Sandwich King" Jeff Mauro joins Jeff Joniak and Tom Thayer to discuss his appreciation for the Chicago Bears and giardiniera.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cut open that DJ Moore and Zone Touchdown touchdown pairs.
I am Jeff Joniack blitzes on dont Go R.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What was like playing for Coache Goodgo.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure
coming is a big trouble.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Dottie Goos Mottest Sweat.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Bears, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Brought to you by Miller Light with the voices of
the Bears, Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Back with you and hope better than ever here on Bears, etc.
The podcast version number one fifty one. We're brought to
you by Miller Lte with Super Bowl winning Bears guard
Tom Thayer. I'm Jeff Joniak. We got celebrity status Round two.
He is the co host of The Kitchen on the
Food Network, host of The Sandwich King, the podcast Come
On Over, and he's running his own company, Moro Provisions.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
He is oh Park.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Native, Bradley graduate and lead guitarist of the band The
Jewel Bags.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Oh Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Lots of discussed with Jeff Morrow in this episode, and
first and foremost the insider of us, Tom and I.
This rarely has ever happened that we had to do
a do over. We had a technical flaw, so he
sat with us for virtually an hour about a month ago,
and he was willing to do this again because we
couldn't air it a technical difficulty. So Jeff, accept our
(01:22):
apologies and our graciousness for you joining us once again.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Jeff, Tom, it was such a pleasure the first go round.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
That it was a gift.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I look at this as an opportunity to do even
a better job at being interviewed by YouTube find legends
and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Well, you know, you know the thing is, it's.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Like you gotta pluss, you gotta press play and record
at the same time, not just record. That's the problem.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I deserve that, but that's not what happened. But I
do deserve that, And you know you have the great
benefit Jeff. You know Christine, uh keep asking me, oh
my god, you can't just do it over. It's not
going to be as good as the first time. When
I go good. Thing is, Tom and I have short memories,
so we don't remember anything from the first episode right to.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Really remember six percent of our previous interviews.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
So well, I got a.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
Lot of different topics to talk about. I'm kind of
glad that we have an opportunity to do a rerun
because I got a lot on my mind for the
royalty of all sandwiches, and the sandwich.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Came all right, Well, then take it away, big Timmy.
What's first on your list?
Speaker 5 (02:27):
So he Jeff brought up the fact that you play
guitar in a band. Okay, if Jeff, Joniak, Jeff Morrow
and myself we are going to a concert, and we're
going to go to either a Pearl Jam, a Taylor Swift,
or a Kenny Chesney, what concert are we going to do?
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Well, I know where I'm going. I mean, it's not
a question for you.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Yeah, well I would go to Pearl Jam. Out of
those three, that's the music I know. Number two would
be Taylor Swift by far, just because.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
You know I could.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
We can maybe make a last minute call and probably
flip those tickets for about three grand piece and so
we can bank that and go like tour with Pearl
Jam with the profit we make off that. But yeah,
Kenny Chesney, I'm not I'm not a you know, I
appreciate country music, but I was obsessed with Pearl Jam
back in high school. Like I saw him like I
went to like a Pearl Jam car concert at Soldier
(03:17):
Field alone.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
I mean that's how I.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
Was in eighty eight. No, no, because I was there.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
I was at the Pearl Jam concert at Soldier Field,
and I know it.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Was it was probably ninety eight, yeah, ninety five, maybe
ninety four, ninety five.
Speaker 6 (03:33):
Yeah, yeah, I was at that concert myself.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Two dudes alone watching pro jam. We could well could
have found each other back then. The different Tommy.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Anytime he's in town, he gets backstage, so you know
we can't compete with that. Yeah, way, I love pro
jam too. Had a chance to meet him one time.
I was out of my mind. It was wonderful at
the at the Lodge down by a Rush Street over there.
But Tommy's good friends and then they're surfing buddies.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Well, next time you see him, you have to ask
him if he remembers a story from that same era.
It was that same tour. It was Milwaukee Fest. I
went and saw him twice. I was in the fan club.
So you get early tickets back then via male order,
and I was obsessed. And I had my grandpa. After
he passed, I got his old Italian American sons of
Italy like hat like a little Coopelin paper boy style
(04:20):
hat that was red, white and green, the colors of
the Italian flag, and I'd wear it everywhere.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
But back then I had.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Long curly hair down on my shoulders because I was,
you know, grungy, hippy whatever.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I was just a dude about town.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And I went to this concert and I managed to
sneak down in the first row, and then I made
friends with the security guards.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
They didn't kick me out both nights, so it was both.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
The first night, Eddie Vedder swinging his microphone as he
tends to do on the edge of the stage, singing porch.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I think that was the song, right, and.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
He looks at me and he sees this guy with
long hair in this goofy Italian American hat on, and
he goes he points to me and he's like, throw
it up, Eddie Vedder. And I was obsessed with Eddie
that I threw my hat up. He put it on,
he sung like two songs with his stupid hat on,
and then he threw it back, and naturally, the whole
crowd like just engulfed my hat and it was like
lost in the masses. But since I made I was
(05:14):
charming to the to the security guards and made from
made him laugh, right, the great equalizer humor. They like
separated the crowd, grabbed my hat and gave it right
back to me. It hit and he remembered me the
second night and did the same thing with my hat.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So leaving the concert, I was like the hat.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
They're like, attack guy, you still have that? I hope no,
I don't.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
It's my greatest regret in life, other than getting the
chance to make out with this girl where I had
the opportunity to when I was sixteen years old on vacation.
It was like a summer flying and I just didn't
seal the deal. My second greatest regret in life is
this that I do not have this hat anymore. It
got lost in college or something. Who knows I would
(05:57):
I would have that thing in like so you know,
like a plexiglass mold.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
In reference to your makeout session, do you sing the
Grease song summer Lovin'?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
That's all I ever wanted is a chubby kid with
no game. I just wanted that summer fling.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
It never happened for me, but yeah, that's why I
always gravitated towards Grease.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
So who do you watch now, who do you like
going to see?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I just saw a Doctor Dog, which is my favorite
band in the world, at the at Red Rocks last week.
I did took a twenty four hour trip to Denver
and saw that they're a great band out of Philly.
They've been around for twenty something years. They're just a
great group of guys. A big Willco fan, you know.
And then you go back as far as I love
the Beatles, I love the Beach Boys.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I mean name it, like.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Some indie stuff, some rap, but like you know, even
going back to Louis Prima, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, like
those classics. I mean, we have a very wide array
of music we listened to here in this house.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
So, Jeff, are you I don't know if you're too
young for this. A buddy of mine just flew over
to England to see the Oasis concert and they re
reformed after sixteen years of being a part and seventy
five thousand fans each night.
Speaker 6 (07:11):
And I'm not a music guy.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
So they're songs I know, but I don't know, like,
oh that that's Oasis. I know those guys, but I
don't that may be too young.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
For you no, I love Oasis. That was my during
my formative years. I was in high school when they
started coming out. But I'm going to the concert here
at the United Center, so I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I think it's if they make it that far.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
You know, those brothers are known for, you know, not
getting along very well, fistfighting each other, and that's when
you know the rock and roll is real.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
This podcast has brought you by the official beer partner
of your Chicago Bears Taste Like midder Time Chicago. Go
to millerlank dot com slash Bears Pod to find delivery
options near you. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Calories and three point two cards per twelve ounces. Your
Bears fandom, when did it begin? When did it hatch?
And are you excited about what's around the corner here
(08:09):
with Ben Johnson and the Fellas.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I'm very excited, you know, full disclosure. It's the only
professional sports I watch is each week's Bears game. For
some reason, I don't have space, I don't have room,
I don't have the mental capacity for watching multiple sports
during the course of the week. So I get very
excited and I'm passionate about the Bears. I mean, I
(08:32):
think it started again eighty five eighty six Tom, when
you know, I think everything in my life is food related,
and I think we talked about this the first time,
but I have to I think it's such.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
A core memory.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
It's those little cardboard playing cards, but they weren't like,
you know, baseball card size are bigger. All with the
Chicago Bears players from the championship team during that season,
we're released in McDonald's.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Ye, So those things to.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Me, it was like, you go, like it was an
excuse a to get you know, you know, a quarter
pounder and a fries and a side a twenty piece
And I'd be like, oh, I can you know, It's
just I'm just trying to collect mom, you know, I'm
just trying to support my team. But meanwhile I'd just
be you know, eating fast food, which to me was
like the greatest combination. So it was that, Yeah, that season,
for sure, did your.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
Cards go by the way of the hat or do
you still have all of the cards?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
So like, I'm so now I'm like keeping everything, like
every concert T shirt for the last fifteen years, I
like meticulously put away, but like that that the hat
is somewhere, you know, I just don't know where it
was such I think I lost it in college.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
I mean, not your hats.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
My son's right next to me eating a bowl of
meat and he's, you know, he's really crushing my vibe.
Speaker 6 (09:47):
Here.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Say hi, Lorenzo, Hey Lorenzo, how you feeling, buddy?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I get out of here.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
What kind of meat is it? Did you make it?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Well?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
I made a turkey bowligne's last night, A giant pot
just nothing. Because my wife started working last Monday. She's
a nurse, so she went back to work part time.
She got a new fun job. She's working in the city.
It's doing great. She's really happy. But like Monday and Tuesday,
I got a really you know, I'm like vacuuming. Now,
I'm like changing the laundry over and I'm making dinner.
(10:14):
I'm like, wait a minute, I got nine jobs and
I just added this one in the mix. So I
made a big pot of turkey bolognes and then I
got some my wife brought home like a pound of
like shaved RIBI like thin ley sliced ribbi from Trader Joe.
So I just I went outside. I got my you know,
cast iron skillet, nice and hot, and I just seared the.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Bejesus oide of it.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
So he's just literally eating a bowl of meat. You know,
he's in a protein and stuff, you know, lift and
weights all that stuff.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
So, you know, Jeff Joniak brought up the fact that
you have marrow provisions the food order business. So luckily
enough we got the Italian beef kid. You know what
was cool about that is so I've probably eaten a
thousand Italian beefs in my life through all the different
spots in my travels in the Chicago land area. But
I got to say that the most exciting thing about
(11:01):
getting an order from you is the fact that you know,
you get a sandwich at a place and you always
want more meat on it, or whish I could stand
behind the counter and make it like I want to.
It was the first time, Jeff, that I sat at
the stove and I got to make the Italian beef
sandwiches like I wanted. And one of the hints that
(11:21):
you put on the way to go about it is
to take the oil from.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
Either the honey g or the Jardnair.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
And put it on the bun before you toast it,
the first time I've ever done that. But I think
the most exciting thing about it was being able to
put as much on it as you wanted to, rather
than having someone behind the counter and make it the
way they want to.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Well, especially in these times when there's a ton of
shrink flation, you can basically double triple meat your sandwich.
You'll still have plenty for you know, five more sandwiches.
That's the beauty of the kids. But I mean it really,
I'm so proud of it. I mean, it's it's such
a it was such a laborer loved like developing this,
but we made it great, and we made it as
(12:09):
familiar as your favorite beef at any beef stand.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
You know, this is not like the you know, you got.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
The tubs you can go get at the grocery store
frozen and it comes in the gravy and it's like
by the time you heat it up, it's just like
a mess, right, and it's all overcooked. Like, if you
follow my instructions, you are going to have the best
beef of your life. And it's the instructions, as you know, Tom,
like you did it. I'm looking at you. I'm like,
how the hell did this guy make a beef you know,
with those hands, those myths of it, but no anybody
can do it. And yeah, we're five years. Marble Provisions
(12:38):
will be in business five years this August. And you know,
there's no stopping. I'm not stopping until everybody in the
United States of America has a chance to set an
Italian beef sandwich top with my craft yard and era.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yeah, because most people don't know what the heck it is.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
You know, you have the honey g out. I mean insane.
It's a whole different than Jardinaire. And it's just I've
been saving I've been putting on a turkey sandwiches and
everything it is.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
It is insane.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I get the sense I might be throwing that in
some eggs too, just to you know, just to spice
it up a little bit.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I do it almost every morning.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
You make a little scrambled eggs or even like on
a sunny side up on some toast or avocado toast,
or a.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Bagel and cream cheese.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Like our honey g is like our most proprietary thing
I kind of crafted and invented, and that's our medium
spiced kind of pepper forward jardin eara. It's not super spicy,
but it's packed in grade A honey, so you get
all the vibe the funk of jarden Era, but it's
got that super slick sweetness to it that people I
mean obviously sweet heat. I didn't invent that flavor combination,
(13:44):
but you it's it's a it goes so well on everything.
Like you said, mixing a little male put on your
turkey sandwich, it's it's bananas.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
And you're working with the Stefani restaurant group. And as
you told us before, your dad grew up with Phil Stefani.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I used to play and trips to make a little
extra scratch in college. And that's actually where my mom
and my father met. Was on one of those trips
to Spain and my dad pretended to be a Spaniard
because he had a mustache. You know, he obviously had
way more game than I did growing up. But yeah, yeah,
so him and Phil are close. So now you can
get our Marl Beef's at all their Stefani Botega locations
(14:23):
as well as Lollapalooza this year. So maybe that's our end.
I don't think Pearl Jam's playing. I think that would
be I don't know much as like his younger crowd.
I think these days at Lallapalooza, half the artists I
don't even know who the heck are.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
And why sandwiches? Why has that become your thing?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Because it's professionally That's what I did most of my life,
from the time I was fourteen to you know, I
made it on Food Network.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
I was always a deli guy.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
I always you know, I had a deli in the
early two thousands with my cousin Dave for four years.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
And then you know, when I went.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
To culinary school, I learned about culinary as a whole,
you know, obviously French trained, as most culinary schools are,
and then I applied all that to making more sandwiches
by the time I got out of school. So for me,
it's it's you know, every culture, continent, country has a
version of a sandwich, so it resonates across the globe.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
It was what I enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Eating more than anything currently and growing up. And I
feel like people are so passionate about me just talking
like you right now, like like you know, it's like
pizza and sandwiches, right like people who talks about like
chicken salad.
Speaker 6 (15:35):
You know, like.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Caesars, I mean, you know, like a chopped salad, right,
Like who talks to me apasta even right, These things
of this nature don't have such a like people have
a connection to sandwiches and they just you know, I mean,
I go on the street and people just want to
tell me their favorite sandwich and their recognitions.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Whether I'm in a.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
City, you got to go here, you got to go there,
you know, So it just connects with people.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
I gotta ask you this real quick. What's the most
important thing in the sandwich? Is it the bread or
is it the meat? Because that's what I got the
same question written down Tom. You guys, that's why you
guys do what you do.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Yeah, to me, it's the bread, you know, as important
as the meat and meat are you know, the foundation
and the roof of the sandwich, right the basement and
the top and then the roof. You will, it doesn't
matter what's in the middle. If your bread, if you
start with subpar bread, stale bread, or bread that maybe
is a subpar that you didn't treat with a little love,
(16:32):
with a little bit of butter and a little griddle,
little heat up, a little painting in jarred and narrow oil,
and a quick toast in a three hundred and seventy
five degree oven for three and a half minutes right
just to reactivate it. Then it doesn't matter. You can
have a five wag you beef in the middle and
some flagra and a lobster tail and all these indulging,
special high end ingredients in the middle, and you're still
(16:53):
gonna have a bad experience. Like that's why I net
like people to me like that's the greatest thing.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Like I got out and I'm like, people.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Are like, you got to try this burger and I
travel and I'm like, why don't you just touch the bread.
It's a little fat, little oil, put it on the
griddle for thirty seconds. This experience would have been so
much better. And that's just kind of been my goal.
Make sandwiches better.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
And it all.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Starts with the bread. Unfortunately, you can't skip out on it.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Well, Jeff first time advice because I've never had a
lobster roll, and I know Jeff Joniac went to the
East Coast and stood in line for almost two hours
for once. So a local grocery store they had lobster
tails on sale for Fourth of July, and I went
and read the recipe and everything, and I made lobster
rolls for the first time in my life this weekend
(17:43):
for my brother, his wife, and myself. Is there any
first time advice if you're reading a recipe or creating
a sandwich or anything that you you know from your experiences.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
I think when you read a recipe, you to literally
read the whole recipe through first and kind of figure
out what you need to do and figure out the timing.
I'm guilty of it, maybe just because I've written so
many recipes, Like I'll just open up a recipe and
I'll just start cooking, you know, I'll heat up a pan.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I'll be like, all right, we'll do this bit by bit.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
But it's wiser to read the whole thing and then
secondly work out your meson plus which is kind of
prepping all your it. To French words, culinary term means
everything in its place. You have your carrots dice ready
to go, You have your onion dice ready to go,
You have your.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
All your seasonings out ready.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Anything that's measured out you do ahead of time before
you even click on the heat. That way, you kind
of can ensure that are you're moving with purpose and
you're cooking with speed in precision, right, and you're not
scrambling for something while something's burning on the stovetop right,
you're like because what if you're like, oh, it's time
to see your the chicken breast, but then you got
to dice this pepper after you flip the chicken breast,
(18:57):
but the pepper's not diced, so then you know, then
everything's out of say, so always have kind of everything
in its place before you start the recipe. That's how
you you know, I think that's what separates, you know,
the pros from the schmos.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
I did wait in long.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
It was more than two hours in Maine, outside of Camden,
Maine for what they said you had to have.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
And I was in the line so long.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
I'm thinking how good? How different can it be? But
it was a pounds and a half of lobster. Oh
and it was something, but it was gone. I waited
for three hours and ate it in thirty seconds. That's
what it felt like.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Anyway. Time money, Yeah, time is money.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
How much is your time worth?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Exactly exactly? I don't know that I could do that again,
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Speaker 4 (19:51):
I cut you off, big Jef.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
What do you got?
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Oh? I love furniture, that's my second.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
I was gonna be the furniture king, but just the
you know, the overhead was too high. The uh, I
love a lobster roll, right, I think I think the
beauty of a lobster roll, uh is in two things.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Right?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
How that split top New England style bun is buttered
and griddled golden brown?
Speaker 6 (20:12):
Right?
Speaker 3 (20:12):
I assume where you went and waited in line, you
got it wasn't just on like a brioche bun. Right,
it was like this beautifully treated thing that like you
know that is enveloped in lobster meat.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
And then it comes down to the lobster meat.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
You know, it's got to be that right texture because
it can get a little it can get a little rubbery,
or it can get like underdone you got it. It's
like the lobster has to melt in your mouth. You
don't have a little snap to it, but not too
much butter, not too much mayonnaise, not too much like
herbs that they put in it. Sometimes people do chives
or tarragon or something like. It's just got to be
lobster and buttered bread, basically a little cream base to
(20:47):
take it home.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Jeff, one more embarrassed question. So forty years this year
is going to be the anniversary of the Super Bowl.
So when you take the Super Bowl Shuffle and you
take the actual team, is there anything that you gravitated
towards the team itself or did you enjoy the Super
Bowl Shuffle.
Speaker 6 (21:06):
Or were you know where did that fall into.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Your life's huge it was.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
I mean, come on, I'm a performer from a family
of performers. We all had our separate parts. And I
remember my are my family had a pizza quite a
hop in late night spot pizza place restaurant called Tia
Tilly's that was uh Western Springs right down like when
(21:31):
there was nothing there, and we I remember they had
a I mean, I'm dating myself with They had a
light up dance floor, like a disco dance floor. And
I remember being there with all my cousins doing the
Super Bowl shuffle over the PA and we all had
our lip syning parts of And I was always a
mama's boy. Otis one of a con The ladies all
(21:52):
love me from a body in my mind, and I
was like, you know, six year old, seven year old kid,
you know, banging it, banging that.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
That verse out.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
So yeah, I mean thee I still have the tape,
it's upstairs, the VHS tape that I didn't lose.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
What about the team itself, you know, because there's so
much that focuses on the defense of the team, But
then you had Jim McMahon, you had Walter Payton and
that crew as well. Do you remember anything unique about
the team or were you just a fan because of
the dominance of that team.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
I think it was the collective dominance of the team,
you know, I mean, but there was. It was the
last time I knew, you know, majority of the players
on a team. I mean, I you know, you know,
as an adult and everything, but to be that young
and to have a connection to majority of the whole squad,
I mean, it was a unique moment. You know, and
I was just young enough to remember so much of that,
(22:45):
but also to kind of plant those seeds and carry
it through to to.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
My adult age. Here.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
You know, I was I think eight years old, seven
years old during that time, and it was you know,
I mean, I'm so glad I wasn't like twenty back then.
Cute right now, how old are.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
You back down? I know you were a baby.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
That jersey, that jersey behind me is the jersey I
wore in the game.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Get out of here. You stee a hold on.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
I mean you could probably look at they It looks
almost like I'm looking at that jersey.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
It almost looks like a diaper bottle.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Okay, it's funny you bring that up, because tom will
pull it off the wall and show you, because he
does this to the current players and they cannot believe
that he was forced to wear this particular jersey.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Tommy, tell him what it is.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
It's like a tucking thing, like a like No, it's
a onesie where it comes underneath your crotch and then
it buttons.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
It buttons right in your waistline and you.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Never have to worry about untucking.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
Exactly, and you never got grabbed by a defensive lineman
trying to rip and grab it.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
Set you know, set guys.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Free by buy for Kate, your your your satchel. There
can you imagine right up the crack and right up
the front.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
That's it. That's precarious.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
Listen, if you ever have a music gig and you
want to wear it and you know, maybe a little warm.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Or a summer festival all years buddy, Oh my.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
God, I knew it. I saw that.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I was like, something's off. But also you see it
makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Well he was, I guess you get grabbed.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
He was such a big guy too. It's funny when
you see him in uniform and pictures because it doesn't
look like the numbers are actually they look like they've
been painted on it as opposed to stitch down because
he's so huge, they're.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
A little off.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
They're just they're the five and the seven are a
little off and they're stretched to the max. Hey, we're
brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears,
and you are a uniform guy. You've gotten jerseys and
you didn't exactly know where they were until recently for
custom Chicago Sports jerseys six years ago. Recently recovered. We
(24:43):
discussed this the last time. How thrilled are you that
they found him?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
They are.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
They're probably on my wall in my office right now.
I search for these things which I got over the
years by throwing out the first pitch or do we
shoot the puck for the black Hawks run out the
first pitch again at Socks and Cubs. So I had
for these jerseys that meant a lot to me, that
had my name on it, that were gifted to me
by the teams, and as a lifelong Chicago in sports fan,
(25:12):
I mean, this is like, this is great. I wanted
these for the rest of my life. They were on
the wall at my now gone closed restaurant, Poor Committees,
which was in wicker Park, which had a good run,
but you know, kind of closed over the cover of night,
and I couldn't get back in there due to, you know,
some debts that were due. As you know, listen, I
(25:35):
was just the guy. I just made the menu and
try to try to try to make the food, but
I misplaced Hi. I couldn't get back in there, so
I kind of had this light search for a while.
Right after it happened, I asked around, nothing happened, and
then I waited a couple of years, and then I
did a Reddit post which kind of got a lot
of traction, asking people around Chicago Land, being like, Hey,
(25:55):
has anybody seen these There's really they're literally one of
a kind, and there's four of them. I don't know
why anybody would want my jersey that we're professionally framed
as you know, Tom, I mean, you didn't even spring
for a professional framing of that classic jersey onesie right there,
it's hanging off, you know, a dry cleaning hanger on
your on your brick facade going down the stairs in
the basement, right, So it's like to frame the jury.
(26:18):
It's like twelve hundred dollars. So I wanted these things back.
I wanted them they're up in the restaurant because I
was proud of them. I wanted them back. And it
took a twelve over a year, and then I got
a call out of the blue and there was a
lawyer who worked on the bankruptcy who did worked on
the liquidation of the restaurant, equipment and everything in the restaurant,
(26:39):
which is, you know, a robust business. Evidently I should
have gotten that instead of the restaurant business. I'd be
riding high and he's like, I got these. I don't
want to be on film. I don't want anybody to
know who I am.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
But they're all yours.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
They've been laying up against a conference wall in a
random office here in downtown in the Loop. Just my
My receptionist is a fan. Evidently I don't know who
you are, but these are your jerseys. She's like, I
think this guy's looking for his jerseys. So he gave
me a call and I was there a couple of
days later, stuffing them into my uh, you know, reasonably
(27:15):
sized hatchback.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Ah, there's one missing on there.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
We got to help you out on that one.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Our age pains or injuries keeping you on the sidelines.
Athletico's movement experts are here to help you turn your
setbacks into comebacks like Jeff Marrow and create a personalized
game plan for your recovery with no prescription or referral needed.
Athletico Physical Therapy is where your comeback story begins. Athletico
proud to be the official physical therapy partner of the
Chicago Bears.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Big time.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Jeff, you know, we're all Chicago guys, all of us.
So when you look at how you distribute your pandemonium
to the Chicago sports teams, because you talk about your
jerseys in reference to all your experiences you had. But
when you grow up in Joliet, you kind of grow
up a Socks fan. But when you look at the
excitement the Cubs have provided in recent history, you're kind
of a fan of everybody. We got the Bulls and
(28:02):
Michael Jordan, we got the Blackhawks and their success the Bears.
We talk about how do you distribute your pannemonium? Because
I know you said that you're only live watching is
the Bears games on Sunday, But are you a Cubs fan?
Are you a Socks fan?
Speaker 6 (28:17):
And what do you how do you go?
Speaker 3 (28:19):
I was raised a Socks fan my dad's My dad
was from Taylor Street area, which excuse a little further
south than it does north, and we only went to
Socks games growing up, so much so that I went
to the last game at the old Comiskey and I
went to the first game at the new Sox Park.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
So and that was again.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
During the years where I was I mean, that was
the Frank Thomas era and we were obsessed. I mean,
I loved I was. I open up the Tribune every
morning and look at the stats and check out the record.
And I was so like into the granular aspect of
baseball so much so that you know, I I mean,
(29:01):
we'd go to twelve thirteen games a year. It was fabulous,
So yes, so much so Tom that I despised the Cubs,
like just because you know, it was either like my
friends were all Cubs fans and I was the only
Socks fan, and we were kind of like the dirtier,
grittier right And all my friends were kind of from
somewhere else and I went to school with they weren't
(29:23):
like third generation Chicago, and you know, my parents were
city people and I lived in the city till I
was eleven, and you know, I had this like kind
of I was like, I'm so proud of that the
Socks were the southside team that was gritty and for
the true ones, not this sunny you know somewhat. You know,
I would always skew the Cubs fans is like a
little more preppy, you know what I mean, And like
(29:45):
where the Socks were getting you know, disco demolition, getting
into fights at the stadium, jop you know, jumping over
the wall and I know this was all like in
the mind of like, you know, a teenager pre team,
but you know, some of that kind of still owes
true to me, where I'm always secretly rooting for.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Winner of the seventh season of Food Network Star.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
How big was that?
Speaker 6 (30:04):
Jeff?
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Oh God, I mean come on, Like I tried out
for that four times, so I finally made it on.
So it was a journey just getting on that show,
which to me was, you know, a clear path to
getting my own, you know show with my point of
view on the network. Always being a performer, always a comedian, comic.
(30:26):
I did every every you know style of performance possible.
But I always kind of cooked to make a living.
So how do I kind of intersect those two things
on a large scale? And that's Food Network. So to
be on Food to get on Food Food Network Star
was a journey. Then I had to win it, and
I was gone for two months. I mean no contact
with my family. I mean one phone call every ten
(30:47):
days that was like ten minutes timed in videotape. So
my wife be like, how's it going. I'm like, I
can't talk. She's like, oh, you know, and she just
you know, chew my ear off for ten minutes. Tell
me everything that was going wrong in the house. You know,
washerr bro, my mom fell a dislocated her elbow, you know, shoveling.
So I'm like, you know, it was a heck of
(31:08):
a journey, but I'm so glad I wanted because it
was transformative. I mean, you know, it's it wasn't an
overnight thing. I know, people like your life changed overnight,
and I go. I mean, I kind of orchestrated my
entire life to get to this moment. So for me,
it's been this kind of slock. This's just this uphill grind.
So when it finally happened, I was so ready that
it was like I mentally prepared for it. But the
(31:30):
irony is that by the time the cast lists and
the press release came out for season seven of Food
Network Star My Season, I not only I already knew
I won the show, like before anybody knew I was
on the show, but I also filmed my entire first
season of Sandwich King. So when everybody was like, where
(31:51):
have you been or where'd you go? For two much
and they held my job, I was the private chef
at guaranteed Rate. They're now rate dot com or whatever
for four years and I fed two hundred and fifty
people a day and they were all like, where did
you go? For two months, everybody thought I either went
to rehab or jail, so you could go. You know,
it goes to show how my reputation was. But I,
(32:13):
you know, I came back and then people were like,
where'd you go. I'm like, you'll see, you know, I
went and learn how to make salami with Mario Btali.
That was my big lie that I thought would kind
of throw them off. I didn't want to get sued.
We had a heck of an NDA that we signed.
Obviously they didn't want the story to lead so so
I knew in my heart so deep down like that
this was this was my journey and this was meant
(32:35):
to be. But by the time I even wanted, I
couldn't share it with anybody.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
For months. It was wild, like I held a secret.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
In So I'm like sitting there slicing meat in the
morning and people are.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Like, well, you have no idea.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
Well I got you know, not only did I win
this silly show, but I made my own first season
and that was for almost fifteen years ago.
Speaker 6 (32:55):
Where was it film that.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
It started in Los Angeles, right. We lived in like
a house in the hills with you know, fourteen other
people sleeping on bunk beds from Ikea with sub like
sub twin mattresses I'm telling you, like smaller than twins
and like like like not even military mattresses. I'm talking
(33:18):
prison mattresses, you know, about two inches thick. And it
was like, I'm like what cold water? It was crazy
with that was like the heyday of reality. They really
tried to milk the contestants right emotion out and get
them to cry and break down. And it wasn't about
like lifting their spirits and making them into a star.
(33:38):
It was like, how do we have the best reality
TV here? Nonscripted you know, fights within the you know,
they just egged us on to know en And I'm like,
I need to just get through this cause I know
I have kind of the baseline knowledge, experience and talent
to get me through.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
I just can't get.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Homesick and get too far, you know, get too emotion
and all that way, and just just focus on it.
So and then we went to New York for like
four weeks. At the end, it was crazy, like my
wife's like where, like Sha Carr, I'm like she like,
you mean, they didn't even tell that my husband got
on a plane and went transcontinental, Like they didn't know that.
You know, my son was barely two at the time,
(34:19):
so he had no idea where daddy went. You know,
how do you explain to a one and a half
year old that Daddy's going to film a you know,
reality show competition.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
It was wild. Like I mean again, I.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Wouldn't give up the experience for the world, but it's
it was definitely a means to an end that I
would never repeat. And it's not for everybody, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
It's not sound like two days under Ditka Tommy Right.
Speaker 6 (34:46):
I was trying to.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
Thought analogize in my head what that would be like.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
That's something else good news.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new planes with all
the bells and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity screens at every
seat in the room for everyone's really united, Proud to
fly the Chicago Bears and you too.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Be Sandwiches on unit on their be strow on board menu.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
We have a breakfast sandwich currently going to August and
then August it'll be my pepperoni pizza melt for all
flights over eleven hundred ninety miles on the be Strong board.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Mall interesting, that's outstanding.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Your success is amazing, But I have won in today's
environment when you did twenty four dollars in twenty four hours,
three meals in twenty four various cities Washington, Chicago included
could you do that today?
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Today's kind of like.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Thank thanks for bringing up that show that was canceled
about a lot.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
I just find it fascinating.
Speaker 6 (35:41):
How could he do that?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
How can that was the biggest problem with this show.
The math was incomprehensible. It was three meals and a
snack and for twenty four hours with tip and it
was like people were like, this is be as nobody believes.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
That, you know. Everybody was like, how do you even
do that?
Speaker 3 (35:57):
It was a fun show. It was very difficult to shoot.
But that was whatever. Wow, twelve years ago, thirteen years ago,
I mean with inflation plus the economy fifty.
Speaker 4 (36:07):
How about fifty fifty and twenty four?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Now it doesn't have a good ring to it.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
No way you fifty like not even if you if
you go to Cleveland, if you go to small Town America.
If you go anywhere fifty bucks will not buy you
three meals.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Not a chance.
Speaker 7 (36:20):
No, No, you're even if you go to like all
these or Trader Joe's and you buy stuff, you know,
forty eight dollars of stuff and then maybe make three
meals that won't even feed two people three meals.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Tom could pull it off, though, because Tom is, if
nothing else, a minimalist.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
You make it work.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Yes, he is.
Speaker 5 (36:39):
I grew up with depression era mom and dad, so
we lived as as cheap as possible.
Speaker 6 (36:45):
Well, Jeff find it.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Listen, man, this has been enjoyable.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Again. We could talk forever.
Speaker 6 (36:50):
You.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
You got a special gift, brother, you got you know,
there's it here. Let me rephrase it. You got special gifts.
You're multi talented. We wishing nothing but continued success. Thanks
again for everything you do for Marrow Provisions, and thanks
for the grub. I can't wait to dig into it
and hope you enjoy this Bear season. Man, it's gonna
be fine.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Way, it's gonna be a big one. We got a
lot of things to look forward to. And if you do,
if you're curious, do you want to try our Jardonara
or rubs whatever. We're now in Jewel Fresh time Piece
fresh Market, so you can find us in all Jewels
or Atmorl Provisions dot Com. And the Jewel Bags are
playing the Fested Italiana on Saturday night the Taylor Street Festival,
So if you're in the city, you're going to Fested Italiana,
(37:29):
come see my eleven piece band bang it out in
front of thousands.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Hopefully yes, get there. That sounds fantastic. Special thanks to
our guests, the Food Network's Jeff Morrow Moral Provisions.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
For Top There, I'm Jeff Jonahyak. Thanks for listen.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Everybody please subscribe now to the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or wherever you get your podcast. Bear Down Everybody
Speaker 3 (38:00):
May less past the first ste
Cut open that DJ Moore and Zone Touchdown touchdown pairs.
I am Jeff Joniack blitzes on dont Go R.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What was like playing for Coache Goodgo.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure
coming is a big trouble.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Dottie Goos Mottest Sweat.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Bears, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Brought to you by Miller Light with the voices of
the Bears, Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Back with you and hope better than ever here on Bears, etc.
The podcast version number one fifty one. We're brought to
you by Miller Lte with Super Bowl winning Bears guard
Tom Thayer. I'm Jeff Joniak. We got celebrity status Round two.
He is the co host of The Kitchen on the
Food Network, host of The Sandwich King, the podcast Come
On Over, and he's running his own company, Moro Provisions.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
He is oh Park.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Native, Bradley graduate and lead guitarist of the band The
Jewel Bags.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Oh Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Lots of discussed with Jeff Morrow in this episode, and
first and foremost the insider of us, Tom and I.
This rarely has ever happened that we had to do
a do over. We had a technical flaw, so he
sat with us for virtually an hour about a month ago,
and he was willing to do this again because we
couldn't air it a technical difficulty. So Jeff, accept our
(01:22):
apologies and our graciousness for you joining us once again.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Jeff, Tom, it was such a pleasure the first go round.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
That it was a gift.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I look at this as an opportunity to do even
a better job at being interviewed by YouTube find legends
and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Well, you know, you know the thing is, it's.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Like you gotta pluss, you gotta press play and record
at the same time, not just record. That's the problem.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I deserve that, but that's not what happened. But I
do deserve that, And you know you have the great
benefit Jeff. You know Christine, uh keep asking me, oh
my god, you can't just do it over. It's not
going to be as good as the first time. When
I go good. Thing is, Tom and I have short memories,
so we don't remember anything from the first episode right to.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Really remember six percent of our previous interviews.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
So well, I got a.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
Lot of different topics to talk about. I'm kind of
glad that we have an opportunity to do a rerun
because I got a lot on my mind for the
royalty of all sandwiches, and the sandwich.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Came all right, Well, then take it away, big Timmy.
What's first on your list?
Speaker 5 (02:27):
So he Jeff brought up the fact that you play
guitar in a band. Okay, if Jeff, Joniak, Jeff Morrow
and myself we are going to a concert, and we're
going to go to either a Pearl Jam, a Taylor Swift,
or a Kenny Chesney, what concert are we going to do?
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Well, I know where I'm going. I mean, it's not
a question for you.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Yeah, well I would go to Pearl Jam. Out of
those three, that's the music I know. Number two would
be Taylor Swift by far, just because.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
You know I could.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
We can maybe make a last minute call and probably
flip those tickets for about three grand piece and so
we can bank that and go like tour with Pearl
Jam with the profit we make off that. But yeah,
Kenny Chesney, I'm not I'm not a you know, I
appreciate country music, but I was obsessed with Pearl Jam
back in high school. Like I saw him like I
went to like a Pearl Jam car concert at Soldier
(03:17):
Field alone.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
I mean that's how I.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
Was in eighty eight. No, no, because I was there.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
I was at the Pearl Jam concert at Soldier Field,
and I know it.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Was it was probably ninety eight, yeah, ninety five, maybe
ninety four, ninety five.
Speaker 6 (03:33):
Yeah, yeah, I was at that concert myself.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Two dudes alone watching pro jam. We could well could
have found each other back then. The different Tommy.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Anytime he's in town, he gets backstage, so you know
we can't compete with that. Yeah, way, I love pro
jam too. Had a chance to meet him one time.
I was out of my mind. It was wonderful at
the at the Lodge down by a Rush Street over there.
But Tommy's good friends and then they're surfing buddies.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Well, next time you see him, you have to ask
him if he remembers a story from that same era.
It was that same tour. It was Milwaukee Fest. I
went and saw him twice. I was in the fan club.
So you get early tickets back then via male order,
and I was obsessed. And I had my grandpa. After
he passed, I got his old Italian American sons of
Italy like hat like a little Coopelin paper boy style
(04:20):
hat that was red, white and green, the colors of
the Italian flag, and I'd wear it everywhere.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
But back then I had.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Long curly hair down on my shoulders because I was,
you know, grungy, hippy whatever.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I was just a dude about town.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And I went to this concert and I managed to
sneak down in the first row, and then I made
friends with the security guards.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
They didn't kick me out both nights, so it was both.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
The first night, Eddie Vedder swinging his microphone as he
tends to do on the edge of the stage, singing porch.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I think that was the song, right, and.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
He looks at me and he sees this guy with
long hair in this goofy Italian American hat on, and
he goes he points to me and he's like, throw
it up, Eddie Vedder. And I was obsessed with Eddie
that I threw my hat up. He put it on,
he sung like two songs with his stupid hat on,
and then he threw it back, and naturally, the whole
crowd like just engulfed my hat and it was like
lost in the masses. But since I made I was
(05:14):
charming to the to the security guards and made from
made him laugh, right, the great equalizer humor. They like
separated the crowd, grabbed my hat and gave it right
back to me. It hit and he remembered me the
second night and did the same thing with my hat.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So leaving the concert, I was like the hat.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
They're like, attack guy, you still have that? I hope no,
I don't.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
It's my greatest regret in life, other than getting the
chance to make out with this girl where I had
the opportunity to when I was sixteen years old on vacation.
It was like a summer flying and I just didn't
seal the deal. My second greatest regret in life is
this that I do not have this hat anymore. It
got lost in college or something. Who knows I would
(05:57):
I would have that thing in like so you know,
like a plexiglass mold.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
In reference to your makeout session, do you sing the
Grease song summer Lovin'?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
That's all I ever wanted is a chubby kid with
no game. I just wanted that summer fling.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
It never happened for me, but yeah, that's why I
always gravitated towards Grease.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
So who do you watch now, who do you like
going to see?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I just saw a Doctor Dog, which is my favorite
band in the world, at the at Red Rocks last week.
I did took a twenty four hour trip to Denver
and saw that they're a great band out of Philly.
They've been around for twenty something years. They're just a
great group of guys. A big Willco fan, you know.
And then you go back as far as I love
the Beatles, I love the Beach Boys.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I mean name it, like.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Some indie stuff, some rap, but like you know, even
going back to Louis Prima, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, like
those classics. I mean, we have a very wide array
of music we listened to here in this house.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
So, Jeff, are you I don't know if you're too
young for this. A buddy of mine just flew over
to England to see the Oasis concert and they re
reformed after sixteen years of being a part and seventy
five thousand fans each night.
Speaker 6 (07:11):
And I'm not a music guy.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
So they're songs I know, but I don't know, like,
oh that that's Oasis. I know those guys, but I
don't that may be too young.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
For you no, I love Oasis. That was my during
my formative years. I was in high school when they
started coming out. But I'm going to the concert here
at the United Center, so I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I think it's if they make it that far.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
You know, those brothers are known for, you know, not
getting along very well, fistfighting each other, and that's when
you know the rock and roll is real.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
This podcast has brought you by the official beer partner
of your Chicago Bears Taste Like midder Time Chicago. Go
to millerlank dot com slash Bears Pod to find delivery
options near you. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Calories and three point two cards per twelve ounces. Your
Bears fandom, when did it begin? When did it hatch?
And are you excited about what's around the corner here
(08:09):
with Ben Johnson and the Fellas.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I'm very excited, you know, full disclosure. It's the only
professional sports I watch is each week's Bears game. For
some reason, I don't have space, I don't have room,
I don't have the mental capacity for watching multiple sports
during the course of the week. So I get very
excited and I'm passionate about the Bears. I mean, I
(08:32):
think it started again eighty five eighty six Tom, when
you know, I think everything in my life is food related,
and I think we talked about this the first time,
but I have to I think it's such.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
A core memory.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
It's those little cardboard playing cards, but they weren't like,
you know, baseball card size are bigger. All with the
Chicago Bears players from the championship team during that season,
we're released in McDonald's.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Ye, So those things to.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Me, it was like, you go, like it was an
excuse a to get you know, you know, a quarter
pounder and a fries and a side a twenty piece
And I'd be like, oh, I can you know, It's
just I'm just trying to collect mom, you know, I'm
just trying to support my team. But meanwhile I'd just
be you know, eating fast food, which to me was
like the greatest combination. So it was that, Yeah, that season,
for sure, did your.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
Cards go by the way of the hat or do
you still have all of the cards?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
So like, I'm so now I'm like keeping everything, like
every concert T shirt for the last fifteen years, I
like meticulously put away, but like that that the hat
is somewhere, you know, I just don't know where it
was such I think I lost it in college.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
I mean, not your hats.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
My son's right next to me eating a bowl of
meat and he's, you know, he's really crushing my vibe.
Speaker 6 (09:47):
Here.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Say hi, Lorenzo, Hey Lorenzo, how you feeling, buddy?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I get out of here.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
What kind of meat is it? Did you make it?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Well?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
I made a turkey bowligne's last night, A giant pot
just nothing. Because my wife started working last Monday. She's
a nurse, so she went back to work part time.
She got a new fun job. She's working in the city.
It's doing great. She's really happy. But like Monday and Tuesday,
I got a really you know, I'm like vacuuming. Now,
I'm like changing the laundry over and I'm making dinner.
(10:14):
I'm like, wait a minute, I got nine jobs and
I just added this one in the mix. So I
made a big pot of turkey bolognes and then I
got some my wife brought home like a pound of
like shaved RIBI like thin ley sliced ribbi from Trader Joe.
So I just I went outside. I got my you know,
cast iron skillet, nice and hot, and I just seared the.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Bejesus oide of it.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
So he's just literally eating a bowl of meat. You know,
he's in a protein and stuff, you know, lift and
weights all that stuff.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
So, you know, Jeff Joniak brought up the fact that
you have marrow provisions the food order business. So luckily
enough we got the Italian beef kid. You know what
was cool about that is so I've probably eaten a
thousand Italian beefs in my life through all the different
spots in my travels in the Chicago land area. But
I got to say that the most exciting thing about
(11:01):
getting an order from you is the fact that you know,
you get a sandwich at a place and you always
want more meat on it, or whish I could stand
behind the counter and make it like I want to.
It was the first time, Jeff, that I sat at
the stove and I got to make the Italian beef
sandwiches like I wanted. And one of the hints that
(11:21):
you put on the way to go about it is
to take the oil from.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
Either the honey g or the Jardnair.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
And put it on the bun before you toast it,
the first time I've ever done that. But I think
the most exciting thing about it was being able to
put as much on it as you wanted to, rather
than having someone behind the counter and make it the
way they want to.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Well, especially in these times when there's a ton of
shrink flation, you can basically double triple meat your sandwich.
You'll still have plenty for you know, five more sandwiches.
That's the beauty of the kids. But I mean it really,
I'm so proud of it. I mean, it's it's such
a it was such a laborer loved like developing this,
but we made it great, and we made it as
(12:09):
familiar as your favorite beef at any beef stand.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
You know, this is not like the you know, you got.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
The tubs you can go get at the grocery store
frozen and it comes in the gravy and it's like
by the time you heat it up, it's just like
a mess, right, and it's all overcooked. Like, if you
follow my instructions, you are going to have the best
beef of your life. And it's the instructions, as you know, Tom,
like you did it. I'm looking at you. I'm like,
how the hell did this guy make a beef you know,
with those hands, those myths of it, but no anybody
can do it. And yeah, we're five years. Marble Provisions
(12:38):
will be in business five years this August. And you know,
there's no stopping. I'm not stopping until everybody in the
United States of America has a chance to set an
Italian beef sandwich top with my craft yard and era.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yeah, because most people don't know what the heck it is.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
You know, you have the honey g out. I mean insane.
It's a whole different than Jardinaire. And it's just I've
been saving I've been putting on a turkey sandwiches and
everything it is.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
It is insane.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I get the sense I might be throwing that in
some eggs too, just to you know, just to spice
it up a little bit.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I do it almost every morning.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
You make a little scrambled eggs or even like on
a sunny side up on some toast or avocado toast,
or a.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Bagel and cream cheese.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Like our honey g is like our most proprietary thing
I kind of crafted and invented, and that's our medium
spiced kind of pepper forward jardin eara. It's not super spicy,
but it's packed in grade A honey, so you get
all the vibe the funk of jarden Era, but it's
got that super slick sweetness to it that people I
mean obviously sweet heat. I didn't invent that flavor combination,
(13:44):
but you it's it's a it goes so well on everything.
Like you said, mixing a little male put on your
turkey sandwich, it's it's bananas.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
And you're working with the Stefani restaurant group. And as
you told us before, your dad grew up with Phil Stefani.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I used to play and trips to make a little
extra scratch in college. And that's actually where my mom
and my father met. Was on one of those trips
to Spain and my dad pretended to be a Spaniard
because he had a mustache. You know, he obviously had
way more game than I did growing up. But yeah, yeah,
so him and Phil are close. So now you can
get our Marl Beef's at all their Stefani Botega locations
(14:23):
as well as Lollapalooza this year. So maybe that's our end.
I don't think Pearl Jam's playing. I think that would
be I don't know much as like his younger crowd.
I think these days at Lallapalooza, half the artists I
don't even know who the heck are.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
And why sandwiches? Why has that become your thing?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Because it's professionally That's what I did most of my life,
from the time I was fourteen to you know, I
made it on Food Network.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
I was always a deli guy.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
I always you know, I had a deli in the
early two thousands with my cousin Dave for four years.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
And then you know, when I went.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
To culinary school, I learned about culinary as a whole,
you know, obviously French trained, as most culinary schools are,
and then I applied all that to making more sandwiches
by the time I got out of school. So for me,
it's it's you know, every culture, continent, country has a
version of a sandwich, so it resonates across the globe.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
It was what I enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Eating more than anything currently and growing up. And I
feel like people are so passionate about me just talking
like you right now, like like you know, it's like
pizza and sandwiches, right like people who talks about like
chicken salad.
Speaker 6 (15:35):
You know, like.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Caesars, I mean, you know, like a chopped salad, right,
Like who talks to me apasta even right, These things
of this nature don't have such a like people have
a connection to sandwiches and they just you know, I mean,
I go on the street and people just want to
tell me their favorite sandwich and their recognitions.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Whether I'm in a.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
City, you got to go here, you got to go there,
you know, So it just connects with people.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
I gotta ask you this real quick. What's the most
important thing in the sandwich? Is it the bread or
is it the meat? Because that's what I got the
same question written down Tom. You guys, that's why you
guys do what you do.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Yeah, to me, it's the bread, you know, as important
as the meat and meat are you know, the foundation
and the roof of the sandwich, right the basement and
the top and then the roof. You will, it doesn't
matter what's in the middle. If your bread, if you
start with subpar bread, stale bread, or bread that maybe
is a subpar that you didn't treat with a little love,
(16:32):
with a little bit of butter and a little griddle,
little heat up, a little painting in jarred and narrow oil,
and a quick toast in a three hundred and seventy
five degree oven for three and a half minutes right
just to reactivate it. Then it doesn't matter. You can
have a five wag you beef in the middle and
some flagra and a lobster tail and all these indulging,
special high end ingredients in the middle, and you're still
(16:53):
gonna have a bad experience. Like that's why I net
like people to me like that's the greatest thing.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Like I got out and I'm like, people.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Are like, you got to try this burger and I
travel and I'm like, why don't you just touch the bread.
It's a little fat, little oil, put it on the
griddle for thirty seconds. This experience would have been so
much better. And that's just kind of been my goal.
Make sandwiches better.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
And it all.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Starts with the bread. Unfortunately, you can't skip out on it.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Well, Jeff first time advice because I've never had a
lobster roll, and I know Jeff Joniac went to the
East Coast and stood in line for almost two hours
for once. So a local grocery store they had lobster
tails on sale for Fourth of July, and I went
and read the recipe and everything, and I made lobster
rolls for the first time in my life this weekend
(17:43):
for my brother, his wife, and myself. Is there any
first time advice if you're reading a recipe or creating
a sandwich or anything that you you know from your experiences.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
I think when you read a recipe, you to literally
read the whole recipe through first and kind of figure
out what you need to do and figure out the timing.
I'm guilty of it, maybe just because I've written so
many recipes, Like I'll just open up a recipe and
I'll just start cooking, you know, I'll heat up a pan.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I'll be like, all right, we'll do this bit by bit.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
But it's wiser to read the whole thing and then
secondly work out your meson plus which is kind of
prepping all your it. To French words, culinary term means
everything in its place. You have your carrots dice ready
to go, You have your onion dice ready to go,
You have your.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
All your seasonings out ready.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Anything that's measured out you do ahead of time before
you even click on the heat. That way, you kind
of can ensure that are you're moving with purpose and
you're cooking with speed in precision, right, and you're not
scrambling for something while something's burning on the stovetop right,
you're like because what if you're like, oh, it's time
to see your the chicken breast, but then you got
to dice this pepper after you flip the chicken breast,
(18:57):
but the pepper's not diced, so then you know, then
everything's out of say, so always have kind of everything
in its place before you start the recipe. That's how
you you know, I think that's what separates, you know,
the pros from the schmos.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
I did wait in long.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
It was more than two hours in Maine, outside of Camden,
Maine for what they said you had to have.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
And I was in the line so long.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
I'm thinking how good? How different can it be? But
it was a pounds and a half of lobster. Oh
and it was something, but it was gone. I waited
for three hours and ate it in thirty seconds. That's
what it felt like.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Anyway. Time money, Yeah, time is money.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
How much is your time worth?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Exactly exactly? I don't know that I could do that again,
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Speaker 4 (19:51):
I cut you off, big Jef.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
What do you got?
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Oh? I love furniture, that's my second.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
I was gonna be the furniture king, but just the
you know, the overhead was too high. The uh, I
love a lobster roll, right, I think I think the
beauty of a lobster roll, uh is in two things.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Right?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
How that split top New England style bun is buttered
and griddled golden brown?
Speaker 6 (20:12):
Right?
Speaker 3 (20:12):
I assume where you went and waited in line, you
got it wasn't just on like a brioche bun. Right,
it was like this beautifully treated thing that like you
know that is enveloped in lobster meat.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
And then it comes down to the lobster meat.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
You know, it's got to be that right texture because
it can get a little it can get a little rubbery,
or it can get like underdone you got it. It's
like the lobster has to melt in your mouth. You
don't have a little snap to it, but not too
much butter, not too much mayonnaise, not too much like
herbs that they put in it. Sometimes people do chives
or tarragon or something like. It's just got to be
lobster and buttered bread, basically a little cream base to
(20:47):
take it home.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Jeff, one more embarrassed question. So forty years this year
is going to be the anniversary of the Super Bowl.
So when you take the Super Bowl Shuffle and you
take the actual team, is there anything that you gravitated
towards the team itself or did you enjoy the Super
Bowl Shuffle.
Speaker 6 (21:06):
Or were you know where did that fall into.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Your life's huge it was.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
I mean, come on, I'm a performer from a family
of performers. We all had our separate parts. And I
remember my are my family had a pizza quite a
hop in late night spot pizza place restaurant called Tia
Tilly's that was uh Western Springs right down like when
(21:31):
there was nothing there, and we I remember they had
a I mean, I'm dating myself with They had a
light up dance floor, like a disco dance floor. And
I remember being there with all my cousins doing the
Super Bowl shuffle over the PA and we all had
our lip syning parts of And I was always a
mama's boy. Otis one of a con The ladies all
(21:52):
love me from a body in my mind, and I
was like, you know, six year old, seven year old kid,
you know, banging it, banging that.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
That verse out.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
So yeah, I mean thee I still have the tape,
it's upstairs, the VHS tape that I didn't lose.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
What about the team itself, you know, because there's so
much that focuses on the defense of the team, But
then you had Jim McMahon, you had Walter Payton and
that crew as well. Do you remember anything unique about
the team or were you just a fan because of
the dominance of that team.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
I think it was the collective dominance of the team,
you know, I mean, but there was. It was the
last time I knew, you know, majority of the players
on a team. I mean, I you know, you know,
as an adult and everything, but to be that young
and to have a connection to majority of the whole squad,
I mean, it was a unique moment. You know, and
I was just young enough to remember so much of that,
(22:45):
but also to kind of plant those seeds and carry
it through to to.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
My adult age. Here.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
You know, I was I think eight years old, seven
years old during that time, and it was you know,
I mean, I'm so glad I wasn't like twenty back then.
Cute right now, how old are.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
You back down? I know you were a baby.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
That jersey, that jersey behind me is the jersey I
wore in the game.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Get out of here. You stee a hold on.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
I mean you could probably look at they It looks
almost like I'm looking at that jersey.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
It almost looks like a diaper bottle.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Okay, it's funny you bring that up, because tom will
pull it off the wall and show you, because he
does this to the current players and they cannot believe
that he was forced to wear this particular jersey.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Tommy, tell him what it is.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
It's like a tucking thing, like a like No, it's
a onesie where it comes underneath your crotch and then
it buttons.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
It buttons right in your waistline and you.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Never have to worry about untucking.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
Exactly, and you never got grabbed by a defensive lineman
trying to rip and grab it.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
Set you know, set guys.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Free by buy for Kate, your your your satchel. There
can you imagine right up the crack and right up
the front.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
That's it. That's precarious.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
Listen, if you ever have a music gig and you
want to wear it and you know, maybe a little warm.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Or a summer festival all years buddy, Oh my.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
God, I knew it. I saw that.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I was like, something's off. But also you see it
makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Well he was, I guess you get grabbed.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
He was such a big guy too. It's funny when
you see him in uniform and pictures because it doesn't
look like the numbers are actually they look like they've
been painted on it as opposed to stitch down because
he's so huge, they're.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
A little off.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
They're just they're the five and the seven are a
little off and they're stretched to the max. Hey, we're
brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears,
and you are a uniform guy. You've gotten jerseys and
you didn't exactly know where they were until recently for
custom Chicago Sports jerseys six years ago. Recently recovered. We
(24:43):
discussed this the last time. How thrilled are you that
they found him?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
They are.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
They're probably on my wall in my office right now.
I search for these things which I got over the
years by throwing out the first pitch or do we
shoot the puck for the black Hawks run out the
first pitch again at Socks and Cubs. So I had
for these jerseys that meant a lot to me, that
had my name on it, that were gifted to me
by the teams, and as a lifelong Chicago in sports fan,
(25:12):
I mean, this is like, this is great. I wanted
these for the rest of my life. They were on
the wall at my now gone closed restaurant, Poor Committees,
which was in wicker Park, which had a good run,
but you know, kind of closed over the cover of night,
and I couldn't get back in there due to, you know,
some debts that were due. As you know, listen, I
(25:35):
was just the guy. I just made the menu and
try to try to try to make the food, but
I misplaced Hi. I couldn't get back in there, so
I kind of had this light search for a while.
Right after it happened, I asked around, nothing happened, and
then I waited a couple of years, and then I
did a Reddit post which kind of got a lot
of traction, asking people around Chicago Land, being like, Hey,
(25:55):
has anybody seen these There's really they're literally one of
a kind, and there's four of them. I don't know
why anybody would want my jersey that we're professionally framed
as you know, Tom, I mean, you didn't even spring
for a professional framing of that classic jersey onesie right there,
it's hanging off, you know, a dry cleaning hanger on
your on your brick facade going down the stairs in
the basement, right, So it's like to frame the jury.
(26:18):
It's like twelve hundred dollars. So I wanted these things back.
I wanted them they're up in the restaurant because I
was proud of them. I wanted them back. And it
took a twelve over a year, and then I got
a call out of the blue and there was a
lawyer who worked on the bankruptcy who did worked on
the liquidation of the restaurant, equipment and everything in the restaurant,
(26:39):
which is, you know, a robust business. Evidently I should
have gotten that instead of the restaurant business. I'd be
riding high and he's like, I got these. I don't
want to be on film. I don't want anybody to
know who I am.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
But they're all yours.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
They've been laying up against a conference wall in a
random office here in downtown in the Loop. Just my
My receptionist is a fan. Evidently I don't know who
you are, but these are your jerseys. She's like, I
think this guy's looking for his jerseys. So he gave
me a call and I was there a couple of
days later, stuffing them into my uh, you know, reasonably
(27:15):
sized hatchback.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Ah, there's one missing on there.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
We got to help you out on that one.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
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Chicago Bears.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Big time.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Jeff, you know, we're all Chicago guys, all of us.
So when you look at how you distribute your pandemonium
to the Chicago sports teams, because you talk about your
jerseys in reference to all your experiences you had. But
when you grow up in Joliet, you kind of grow
up a Socks fan. But when you look at the
excitement the Cubs have provided in recent history, you're kind
of a fan of everybody. We got the Bulls and
(28:02):
Michael Jordan, we got the Blackhawks and their success the Bears.
We talk about how do you distribute your pannemonium? Because
I know you said that you're only live watching is
the Bears games on Sunday, But are you a Cubs fan?
Are you a Socks fan?
Speaker 6 (28:17):
And what do you how do you go?
Speaker 3 (28:19):
I was raised a Socks fan my dad's My dad
was from Taylor Street area, which excuse a little further
south than it does north, and we only went to
Socks games growing up, so much so that I went
to the last game at the old Comiskey and I
went to the first game at the new Sox Park.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
So and that was again.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
During the years where I was I mean, that was
the Frank Thomas era and we were obsessed. I mean,
I loved I was. I open up the Tribune every
morning and look at the stats and check out the record.
And I was so like into the granular aspect of
baseball so much so that you know, I I mean,
(29:01):
we'd go to twelve thirteen games a year. It was fabulous,
So yes, so much so Tom that I despised the Cubs,
like just because you know, it was either like my
friends were all Cubs fans and I was the only
Socks fan, and we were kind of like the dirtier,
grittier right And all my friends were kind of from
somewhere else and I went to school with they weren't
(29:23):
like third generation Chicago, and you know, my parents were
city people and I lived in the city till I
was eleven, and you know, I had this like kind
of I was like, I'm so proud of that the
Socks were the southside team that was gritty and for
the true ones, not this sunny you know somewhat. You know,
I would always skew the Cubs fans is like a
little more preppy, you know what I mean, And like
(29:45):
where the Socks were getting you know, disco demolition, getting
into fights at the stadium, jop you know, jumping over
the wall and I know this was all like in
the mind of like, you know, a teenager pre team,
but you know, some of that kind of still owes
true to me, where I'm always secretly rooting for.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Winner of the seventh season of Food Network Star.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
How big was that?
Speaker 6 (30:04):
Jeff?
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Oh God, I mean come on, Like I tried out
for that four times, so I finally made it on.
So it was a journey just getting on that show,
which to me was, you know, a clear path to
getting my own, you know show with my point of
view on the network. Always being a performer, always a comedian, comic.
(30:26):
I did every every you know style of performance possible.
But I always kind of cooked to make a living.
So how do I kind of intersect those two things
on a large scale? And that's Food Network. So to
be on Food to get on Food Food Network Star
was a journey. Then I had to win it, and
I was gone for two months. I mean no contact
with my family. I mean one phone call every ten
(30:47):
days that was like ten minutes timed in videotape. So
my wife be like, how's it going. I'm like, I
can't talk. She's like, oh, you know, and she just
you know, chew my ear off for ten minutes. Tell
me everything that was going wrong in the house. You know,
washerr bro, my mom fell a dislocated her elbow, you know, shoveling.
So I'm like, you know, it was a heck of
(31:08):
a journey, but I'm so glad I wanted because it
was transformative. I mean, you know, it's it wasn't an
overnight thing. I know, people like your life changed overnight,
and I go. I mean, I kind of orchestrated my
entire life to get to this moment. So for me,
it's been this kind of slock. This's just this uphill grind.
So when it finally happened, I was so ready that
it was like I mentally prepared for it. But the
(31:30):
irony is that by the time the cast lists and
the press release came out for season seven of Food
Network Star My Season, I not only I already knew
I won the show, like before anybody knew I was
on the show, but I also filmed my entire first
season of Sandwich King. So when everybody was like, where
(31:51):
have you been or where'd you go? For two much
and they held my job, I was the private chef
at guaranteed Rate. They're now rate dot com or whatever
for four years and I fed two hundred and fifty
people a day and they were all like, where did
you go? For two months, everybody thought I either went
to rehab or jail, so you could go. You know,
it goes to show how my reputation was. But I,
(32:13):
you know, I came back and then people were like,
where'd you go. I'm like, you'll see, you know, I
went and learn how to make salami with Mario Btali.
That was my big lie that I thought would kind
of throw them off. I didn't want to get sued.
We had a heck of an NDA that we signed.
Obviously they didn't want the story to lead so so
I knew in my heart so deep down like that
this was this was my journey and this was meant
(32:35):
to be. But by the time I even wanted, I
couldn't share it with anybody.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
For months. It was wild, like I held a secret.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
In So I'm like sitting there slicing meat in the
morning and people are.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Like, well, you have no idea.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
Well I got you know, not only did I win
this silly show, but I made my own first season
and that was for almost fifteen years ago.
Speaker 6 (32:55):
Where was it film that.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
It started in Los Angeles, right. We lived in like
a house in the hills with you know, fourteen other
people sleeping on bunk beds from Ikea with sub like
sub twin mattresses I'm telling you, like smaller than twins
and like like like not even military mattresses. I'm talking
(33:18):
prison mattresses, you know, about two inches thick. And it
was like, I'm like what cold water? It was crazy
with that was like the heyday of reality. They really
tried to milk the contestants right emotion out and get
them to cry and break down. And it wasn't about
like lifting their spirits and making them into a star.
(33:38):
It was like, how do we have the best reality
TV here? Nonscripted you know, fights within the you know,
they just egged us on to know en And I'm like,
I need to just get through this cause I know
I have kind of the baseline knowledge, experience and talent
to get me through.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
I just can't get.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Homesick and get too far, you know, get too emotion
and all that way, and just just focus on it.
So and then we went to New York for like
four weeks. At the end, it was crazy, like my
wife's like where, like Sha Carr, I'm like she like,
you mean, they didn't even tell that my husband got
on a plane and went transcontinental, Like they didn't know that.
You know, my son was barely two at the time,
(34:19):
so he had no idea where daddy went. You know,
how do you explain to a one and a half
year old that Daddy's going to film a you know,
reality show competition.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
It was wild. Like I mean again, I.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Wouldn't give up the experience for the world, but it's
it was definitely a means to an end that I
would never repeat. And it's not for everybody, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
It's not sound like two days under Ditka Tommy Right.
Speaker 6 (34:46):
I was trying to.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
Thought analogize in my head what that would be like.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
That's something else good news.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new planes with all
the bells and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity screens at every
seat in the room for everyone's really united, Proud to
fly the Chicago Bears and you too.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Be Sandwiches on unit on their be strow on board menu.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
We have a breakfast sandwich currently going to August and
then August it'll be my pepperoni pizza melt for all
flights over eleven hundred ninety miles on the be Strong board.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Mall interesting, that's outstanding.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Your success is amazing, But I have won in today's
environment when you did twenty four dollars in twenty four hours,
three meals in twenty four various cities Washington, Chicago included
could you do that today?
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Today's kind of like.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Thank thanks for bringing up that show that was canceled
about a lot.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
I just find it fascinating.
Speaker 6 (35:41):
How could he do that?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
How can that was the biggest problem with this show.
The math was incomprehensible. It was three meals and a
snack and for twenty four hours with tip and it
was like people were like, this is be as nobody believes.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
That, you know. Everybody was like, how do you even
do that?
Speaker 3 (35:57):
It was a fun show. It was very difficult to shoot.
But that was whatever. Wow, twelve years ago, thirteen years ago,
I mean with inflation plus the economy fifty.
Speaker 4 (36:07):
How about fifty fifty and twenty four?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Now it doesn't have a good ring to it.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
No way you fifty like not even if you if
you go to Cleveland, if you go to small Town America.
If you go anywhere fifty bucks will not buy you
three meals.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Not a chance.
Speaker 7 (36:20):
No, No, you're even if you go to like all
these or Trader Joe's and you buy stuff, you know,
forty eight dollars of stuff and then maybe make three
meals that won't even feed two people three meals.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Tom could pull it off, though, because Tom is, if
nothing else, a minimalist.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
You make it work.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Yes, he is.
Speaker 5 (36:39):
I grew up with depression era mom and dad, so
we lived as as cheap as possible.
Speaker 6 (36:45):
Well, Jeff find it.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Listen, man, this has been enjoyable.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Again. We could talk forever.
Speaker 6 (36:50):
You.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
You got a special gift, brother, you got you know,
there's it here. Let me rephrase it. You got special gifts.
You're multi talented. We wishing nothing but continued success. Thanks
again for everything you do for Marrow Provisions, and thanks
for the grub. I can't wait to dig into it
and hope you enjoy this Bear season. Man, it's gonna
be fine.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Way, it's gonna be a big one. We got a
lot of things to look forward to. And if you do,
if you're curious, do you want to try our Jardonara
or rubs whatever. We're now in Jewel Fresh time Piece
fresh Market, so you can find us in all Jewels
or Atmorl Provisions dot Com. And the Jewel Bags are
playing the Fested Italiana on Saturday night the Taylor Street Festival,
So if you're in the city, you're going to Fested Italiana,
(37:29):
come see my eleven piece band bang it out in
front of thousands.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Hopefully yes, get there. That sounds fantastic. Special thanks to
our guests, the Food Network's Jeff Morrow Moral Provisions.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
For Top There, I'm Jeff Jonahyak. Thanks for listen.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Everybody please subscribe now to the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or wherever you get your podcast. Bear Down Everybody
Speaker 3 (38:00):
May less past the first ste
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