rant · moment 5 of 18
Chicago Food Tour: Cake Shakes, Deep Dish, and Portillo's Mayo Cake
from The Middle Of The End · #109
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
6 minAn extended riff on Midwestern eating culture — the meat-and-potatoes mining-town origins of Chicago food, Portillo's beef dip and mayonnaise chocolate cake blended into a milkshake, and a long debate with Ray over their respective favorite milkshakes (Carvel vanilla crunchy vs. 31 Below).
- 16:13Tim compares comedy to waving meat at a junkyard dog—if you drop the steak, the audience attacks.
- 16:54Every food in Chicago is designed to try to kill somebody.
- 17:28Chicago's heavy food originated from miners and factory workers needing hearty meals in brutal winters, but nobody changed their diet when the mines closed.
- 18:08Portillo's beef dip sandwich is so rich you finish it thinking you're going to die.
- 18:19Portillo's chocolate cake contains mayonnaise as a secret ingredient, mixed in so you'd never know unless they told you.
- 18:58The mayo cake glistens in an uncomfortable way that actually confirms the mayonnaise is in there.
- 19:23Tim describes Portillo's most popular item: pulverizing a slice of mayo chocolate cake into a chocolate shake.
- 19:51Drinking the mayo cake shake means you're essentially drinking mayonnaise.
- 20:54Tim's favorite milkshake is vanilla from Carvel with chocolate syrup and crunchy cookie swirl.
- 22:13Tim can't get past the idea of hunks of actual cake going down his throat while drinking the cake shake.
- 22:32After the cake shakes, Chicago's deep dish pizza awaits.