Chicagoland is household to numerous neighborhood food stuff specialties. There are, amongst a lot of other individuals, the Mom-in-Legislation (a hotdog bun stuffed with a Chicago corn roll tamale, as served at Fats Johnnie’s, 7242 S. Western) and the Jim Shoe (also known as Jim Shoo or Health and fitness center Shoe, a bun crammed with gyros meat, Italian beef, corned beef, and ersatz tzatziki sauce, as served at Stony Subs, 8440 S. Stony island).
None of these community meals specialties incorporate substances that are definitely unique. It’s the strange combination of very typical ingredients that helps make these Chicago authentic food items stand out.
So it is with the Rodney Fry, as served at Cuzzo’s Pasta, Pizza & Panini (330 Madison, Oak Park).
The Rodney Fry is a mound of French fries, dotted with circles of sliced sausage, mounted with Italian beef and cheese and, if you like, giardiniera and/or sweet peppers. The counter particular person told me that it also contained tomato sauce, but no sauce was in evidence. The fries occur contemporary from the warm oil, then all the elements are added and the entire matter is baked in an aluminum bowl.
“Why is it called the Rodney Fry?” I requested the young guy driving the counter. The origin story of the Rodney Fry, I was explained to, is that a “guy subsequent shop at the gaming location [Grandmaster Games, 436 S. Ridgeland] arrived in and requested us to make it. So, we did. I believe his name was Rodney.”
Specifically how specified specialty food items arrived to be is ordinarily shrouded in mystery, while Unwanted fat Johnnie will tell you his development is identified as the Mom-in-Law because “it, far too, will give you heartburn.” My friend Dr. Peter Engler questioned a counter man or woman at Stony Subs where by the Jim Shoo arrived from, and the youthful person pointed to his head and explained, mysteriously, “It arrives from the intellect!” (They do get in touch with the spot *Stony* Subs, if you get my which means).
At Cuzzo’s, The Rodney Fry is not on the standard menu it is shown on the wall underneath the title “Hidden Menu” (not precisely hidden, is it?).
The Rodney Fry tasted precisely as I predicted it to flavor, combining the acquainted flavors of the fries, the beef, and the cheese. I experienced requested for the fries to be performed “extra crispy,” but it is exceedingly challenging for even crisp fries to sustain their fragile crunch when they are lined in moist meat.
That these types of a dish would be invented, by another person at some stage, would seem unavoidable. In actuality, there have been sightings of comparable dishes about the globe. Poutine, the renowned Canadian creation of fries included in gravy, cheese curds and a lot of other optional components, is the closest to the Rodney Fry. Good friend Dan Herwig instructed me about kapsalon, a “quintessential Dutch ‘loaded friets’ dish that has a similar origin story. Neighboring hair salon personnel visits a shawarma store and requests a delightful monstrosity [French fries topped with doner or gyros meat, gouda and Indonesian hot sauce].”
What I obtain so intriguing about specialties like Rodney Fries and kapsalon is that they spring – little “d” democratically — from consumer ideas. This phenomenon has started off me contemplating about uncommon food stuff combos I may possibly like to request. l could see a exclusive get of hash browns blended cheese and bacon at George’s or an anchovy-chili pepper pizza from Cucina Paradiso. Sometime a person of these creations could show up on regional menus. You can thank me afterwards.
