Eating Pizza With Cool People
Volume Four - Sara Faddah and Dario Durham
One of the things I was super excited about when I started this newsletter was something I’m obviously calling “Eating Pizza With a Cool Person”. The idea is pretty simple: I reach out to someone I admire who is doing helpful, unique or interesting things in Chicago, offer to take them out for pizza, and we have a conversation.
Sara Faddah and Dario Durham make up the Chicago history and culture podcasting duo 77 Flavors of Chicago — which started as a project meant document their culinary journey through each one of the 77 different neighborhoods in Chicago, but has since evolved into so much more.
When I interviewed Sidney Madden from City Cast Chicago (HI SIDNEY!) she recommended I reach out to Sara and Dario and I can’t thank her enough. Aside from being a wealth of knowledge about so many different facets of Chicago history, Sara and Dario are both funny, charming, engaging, and you can feel how much they love spending time together.
We met up at the one and only Vito & Nick’s where we ordered two pizzas and had an incredibly interesting conversation about the way food has influenced so much of Chicago’s identity and its neighborhoods, what it took for Sara to finally try an Italian beef, how they first met, what it was like to suddenly have a wildly popular podcast (after only two episodes), how much money you should spend on audio equipment, and so much more.
CPN: Let’s start by talking about where you both grew up.
Dario: I actually grew up really close to here, at 63rd and Campbell. Went to school at Stevenson until fifth grade, then went to Washtenaw because my grandma lived at 79th and Paulina. So I’m all around here, man.
Sara: I grew up in Jordan, in the capital city, Amman.
CPN: When did you move to Chicago?
Sara: I moved here for college. I went to Illinois State, so not really Chicago. I did three years of my undergrad, then I moved to Mexico. But I came back in 2017, and I’ve been living here ever since.
CPN: What made you want to come back? Did you just really like Chicago?
Sara: I did, yeah. I originally moved here because my dad went to school at Southern Illinois in Carbondale, and we visited here all the time because my uncle lived in the city, so I wanted to come somewhere familiar. And this was the only place I knew.
CPN: Are you still glad that you came here?
Sara: Oh yeah! I love it way more now. Before it was like an arbitrary decision, but now I’m choosing to stay here.
CPN: Do you remember your first favorite pizza?
Sara: Every Friday we would go to Little Caesars, but not like the Little Caesars here. It’s the Jordan Little Caesars, which is entirely different. They had this huge salad bar, and they made pan pizza. We would always get the meat lovers, and then my mom didn’t eat meat, so we’d get a veggie lovers too. And we’d just pile up our salad bowls. Not only was that my first favorite pizza, but also the only pizza I knew for, like, years.
Dario: Is it still around?
Sara: It’s still around. It’s literally a couple blocks from where I grew up. When we started coming to Chicago to visit, and I don’t know where my uncle would order pizza from, but he’d get tavern-style with anchovies on it and I loved it. I loved salty fish in general when I was younger, but then I suddenly got an aversion to fish and didn’t eat it for a long time. But I thought that was a Chicago pizza.
CPN: They all had anchovies?
Sara: Yeah.
Dario: That was a gross misunderstanding. Like, literally gross.
Sara: Maybe I just loved it because I loved him, and I wanted to have that connection.
Dario: This is cool. I’m finding out information I never even knew.
Sara: Four year later. Here we are. What was your favorite pizza?
Dario: Papa T’s. I can’t tell you where it was or anything, I can just tell you the set-up when we got it. I was young, we lived at 62nd, and we had this big, long dining room table we would all sit at and eat our pizza. It was never in the kitchen, and it was always at the dining room table because it was a really big pizza. Sausage and pepperoni at the same time, back when I used to do that. And it was thicker, it was like, do you know Beggar’s Pizza? Not quite like that, because it had more cheese, so it was layered a little bit better. But it was tavern-style pizza. Man, that pizza. To this day! It’s not around anymore, though.
Sara: So not to this day.
Dario: (Laughing) I guess not. Just to the memory in my head then.
CPN: Do you remember your first time having Vito & Nick’s?
Dario: First time we had it was on the podcast. It was within our first year, probably about six months in.
Sara: Almost two years ago to the month, I’d say. We literally sat right over there (pointing), and we did an interview. It was my first time ever having an Italian beef pizza, and also I was an Italian beef hater at the beginning. Soggy meat? Disgusting. But then I had their Italian beef pizza and it was life changing.
Dario: I don’t eat anything other than sausage and/or pepperoni. I had a bad experience as a shorty, and it just messed me up. So for the longest time, I’m talking from the time I was like 11 until now — I’m 40, and I just started trying other things. That was one of the first because they said it was that good. And of course I loved it.
CPN: So did that change your opinion on Italian beef in general?
Sara: Um, no. What changed my opinion was an Al’s Italian beef, because the owner was like, you’re going to try one. And I was like, whatever. And he said, no, you’re going to try it.
Dario: Chris literally sat right in front of her, watched her eat it, and filmed her.
Sara: I actually did like it a lot. It was the flavor. It wasn’t just wet meat. But I definitely was an Italian beef hater. It was still very wet, though. The bread is wet.
CPN: So why is Vito & Nick’s your favorite pizza?
Sara: To me this is the Chicago my uncle used to talk about. My dad passed when I was very young, I was eight, so my uncle became that father figure to me. And this is the Chicago he would talk about. He lived on the South Side. Just walking in here feels like I’m stepping back in time into the stories he told. It’s nostalgic to a time I never experienced, which is weird, but it feels very homey. I like the vibe of it. It’s unapologetically itself. You’re in their space when you’re here.
Dario: I’m literally stepping back into nostalgia. I didn’t go here as a kid, but my house is minutes away. You’ve got the carpet on the wall. You don’t get no more Chicago than having carpet on the wall.
CPN: There’s carpet on the ceiling too!
Sara: I’m sure it was beige when it was installed, but now it’s like…
CPN: 50 years of cigarettes later.
Sara: You can smell the cigarettes, can’t you?!?
Dario: This place definitely has a vibe.
CPN: What do you love about Chicago?
Sara: What a difficult question. The people. They make the city what it is. It’s a very unique place to be, because you’re in a large city, but it’s still the Midwest — so you get the best of both. The history is crazy because a lot of the world’s firsts, not just the country’s firsts, come from Chicago. It’s been an experience to walk around and discover all these things that Chicago did. Like the electric kettle was invented in Chicago. Which is insane. You’d think that somewhere like England would have done that. And they made it better, but it was invented here. Things that changed the world were made right here in Chicago, and that’s a really cool place to be.
Dario: How much time do we got? How much editing do you want to do? For me it’s the stigma of the people. Like we have this chip on our shoulder, and in some cases, rightfully so. Second city? Second to none. We work hard. Right in the middle of the country, so everything has to come through us. The architecture, and the history, and the food, and the art, and the music. So many things started here. But we have that chip. You wouldn’t even have certain days if it wasn’t for Chicago. You wouldn’t even have a Black History Month. Or Labor Day. Or unions in general! So when you think about all the stuff we’ve given the world, that’s a place to be proud to be from. And Chicago just has this ring to it. And our flag is even cool!
Sara: It’s the second most recognizable municipal flag to Washington, D.C. Which doesn’t even make sense, because no one can tell you what that looks like. So lies.
Dario: “They can’t be the greatest at everything, so…”
CPN: What do you think could make Chicago better?
Sara: What’s being focused on in the media in general. What sells is all these stories about Chicago violence because that’s what’s going to get you views. You talk about the good stuff and people are less likely to tune in. And it’s not that people don’t want to hear the good stuff, because all we talk about is the good in Chicago, and people engage with that a lot. It’s the national media and their coverage of Chicago that has to change. How people see Chicago, that perception is not the reality. We’ve traveled to every single community area and not at any point did we ever feel unsafe.
Dario: The people could make Chicago better. And what I mean by that is, when you think about New York or LA, there’s a sense of pride. If a New Yorker is in LA, they’re making it known they’re from New York. And the New Yorkers, they stay together. Texans, when they go anywhere…they’ve got the biggest mouths. And we do have a lot of pride, so I’m gonna tread lightly, but our togetherness could help change the huge negative cloud that’s hanging over us. If we were a little bit more unified, I think that could change so much. I came up in entertainment, and it’s not as cohesive as people want to admit. Comedy in Chicago, we’ve fallen so far off in having any big names come from here. We used to be a mecca. Everybody wanted to come here, and so many people came from here. But now you don’t hear that a lot. And if you look at music right now, we have some absolute hitters. We gave the world a lot when it came to music. But at this current moment, who is the most prominent Chicago figure right now? It’s hard to name. Any why is that? We have a lot of talent, but it’s sitting on the bench. There’s no pulling each other up like there used to be. We should have the most pride of any city in the world, but for some reason we can’t get over that hump and stand together arm in arm and say Chicago is dope, and here’s why.
Sara: I agree, but I also think there’s privilege in being able to do that. To focus on that. Obviously when you’re worried about feeding your family, or finding a job, you’re not so concerned about that. We did an episode about The University of Chicago Magazine, which doesn’t exist anymore, it existed for less than a decade in the 1920s and 30s. And one of the main pieces in the magazine was about a New Yorker that came to Chicago and said, “Chicago isn’t like what we hear about it in the news. The reputation doesn’t match the reality.” So that was the same repuatation back in the 1920s. And the 20s was obviously Al Capone and all that stuff, which definitely contributed to that repuation, but it’s been this way forever. Since the dawn of Chicago, even after the World’s Fair.
Dario: Even though we got another one!
Sara: It’s just really hard to change that impression. And a lot of people are trying. A lot of creators are trying. And that’s one of our things, anytime we create content about Chicago, our goal is to change the narrative. And really, who’s watching the news anyway?
Dario: Suburbanites.
CPN: It’s crazy to me when you meet people from the suburbs who are too afraid to come to the city that they live 10 miles from.
Dario: It’s the wildest thought process. You are literally depriving yourself of some of the most fun and best experiences you possibly could have.
CPN: It’s an incredible city.
Sara: The fact that there’s a beach in the city, and you can go hiking, and it’s all within a 20 mile radius is insane.
Dario: And we could do it every day if we wanted to.
CPN: One of my favorite things to do with someone who has never been here is to take them on Lake Shore Drive for the first time.
Sara: My childhood best friend was like, “There’s beaches in Chicago? I didn’t even know there was an ocean?!?” First of all, it’s not an ocean. We’re in the middle of the country. It’s a great lake.
Dario: That’s the perception. And people don’t want to do any research after they hear the negative. They don’t want to find out.
Sara: A lot of influencers want to move to Chicago now.
Dario: Because Chicago is the most Instagrammable city in the world.
Sara: Chicagoans are going on Instagram and Tik Tok to be like, do not move here.
CPN: We’re good. We’re full.
Sara: We do not want you.
CPN: It’s still afforadable though in a way lots of places aren’t.
Dario: You get all the premium, but at half the cost.
Sara: If you live in a regular neighborhood, it’s extremely affordable in comparison to other cities this size.
Dario: If you are coming to Chicago though, be prepared to pay for three different stickers for your car.
Sara: Or you just register it with your friends in the suburbs. Mine was registered in Bloomington-Normal for like two years.
Dario: Don’t give away our secrets!
CPN: What role does food play in the overall history of Chicago?
Dario: Food is the unifier. It’s like a church. There are churches all over the city. And for a lot of immigrants, when they came into these communities, that was the place for them to go. Or look at Hull House, that was a place for the Italians to come in. Over in Chinatown you had the Pui Tak Building. And that’s where you made your food. And that’s how that neighborhood grew, that pocket of people grew. Then all of a sudden, Chicago is this huge mecca and meeting place for all kinds of immigrants, who all have their different spots. So now we have authentic Mexican food, and Italian food, and Asian food.
Sara: And then the children of the children also have all these inovations. Like Jibaritos were invented in Chicago. To go back further into history, when Chicago first started, so many trading routes came through Chicago. So food that got transported across the country, and especially to the East Coast, was because of Chicago. Yes, it was a swamp. But we also had a lot of farmland. And sugar. The candy industry exists because of Chicago. So if Chicago wasn’t that middle ground between the South and the East then a lot of those food wouldn’t have moved around. Soul food came to the North because of Chicago. The Pullman Porters told people to come to Chicago, and the Chicago Defender wrote articles telling people to come North, because of opportunities and work. So all of that food traveled North because of that.
Dario: The name Chicago is derived from “stinking onion”. So even the name is from food. Food has been part of our history for forever.
Sara: The first time I heard this was from the Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce, and they said you can eat around the world in Chicago. And that’s true.
CPN: How did the two of you meet?
Dario: She hit on me at a comedy show.
Sara: First of all, calm down. “Hit on me” is a very strong assumption. I didn’t necessarily hit on you, but I mean, I noticed you. I went up to him and I talked to him, but it wasn’t hitting on you.
Dario: It took a little while, because she didn’t believe I was as busy as I was.
Sara: It took him two weeks from when he asked for my number to when we went on our first date. And I was like, I have options. I don’t need this.
Dario: I was in the thick of my comedy career, and it felt like I was the hottest thing smoking in Chicago at the time. I think that year I had done 365 shows. So I’m trying to tell that to somebody I just met…
Sara: “I’m sooooo busy.” Alright.
Dario: But we hung out, and that was the end of that.
Sara: And he fell in love with me.
Dario: I eventually showed her and I was like, look, I’m not lying.
Sara: He literally said, “I have two hours between when I get off work and when my comedy show is. Do you wanna go out?” And I said sure. And have gave me a time limit! But then he said I could come to the show if I wanted.
CPN: Did you think he was funny?
Sara: Of course. He’s the funniest person I know. And if he wasn’t funny, I don’t know if we would have lasted. The best part of our relationship is that we literally laugh all the time.
CPN: Did you feel any extra pressure for that first show, knowing she was there?
Dario: No.
Sara: He has an ego the size of Chicago.
Dario: When you know you got it, you got it. Give me a mic and a stage and I’m good anywhere.
CPN: So what has Dario taught you about food?
Dario: Ooooh. That’s a good one! Answer the question!
Sara: I had never had as many burgers as when I started dating Dario. I definitely had a lot less interest in American food. I thought it was bland, but it’s not. Sometimes he’ll get nostalgic for a meal he had as a kid that I’ve never made before. Like meat loaf. I don’t even like the idea of it. It makes no sense to me. But I said I’m going to challenge myself to make a really good meatloaf. And I did. So he challenges me to learn about food that I was a hater of for no reason.
CPN: And what has Sara taught you about food?
Sara: Everything he knows.
Dario: Honestly, that’s probably true. She’s from Jordan, and I didn’t even know half these spices existed. All these different mixtures of foods, and how you can pair things together. She’s a very good cook. I try a lot of things because of her. And I got my very first camera, I’m a photographer because of her. She’s taught me everything. She’s got me to try so many different things. But I’ve got to say it because I want it on record here; (laughing) I don’t like parsley.
Sara: He forms opinions on things he’s never experienced. The last time he had a mushroom he was probably eight. But he eats so many things now and doesn’t even know. Last night he had a spring roll and was like, “Oh my God! That’s so good!” It had mushrooms in it.
Dario: This was my question! She’s taught me a lot about different tastes. And how to cook things. She can take any ingredient in our kitchen and just put it together. The only other person I knew who could do that was my dad. Who could just make something out of nothing, and it’s good. This is the first relationship I’ve had where I didn’t have to go home to my momma to eat. I’m good at home now.
Sara: You’ve become a lot more adventurous about the food you eat.
Dario: Thank you.
Sara: You’re welcome.
CPN: What’s unique about Chicago food?
Dario: I think the fact that we came up with a lot of things, that’s really unique. How often do you go to a place and there’s a completely new type of food? We were the hog butchering capital of the world, so all the meat came from Chicago. And what that did in a socioeconomic sense, this is a time when black people had just been freed, and the stockyards started the same year that slavery ended. So people of color had to create food from the scraps they were given. And they made things that were different, but are now mainstream — like rib tips. Nobody was eating the tip of the rib. But now it’s a thing. And it’s something people stand in line for. The fact that people are comfortable bringing their culture here. We went to this restaurant that’s from the country Georgia, and it’s the only Georgian restaurant in Illinois I believe, and they literally fly their plates in from Georgia. And their curtains. And their utencils. Not to mention all the spices and the food. But they do those things to make it like home. And that’s what’s unique about Chicago. The effort is there to create their home here. To make their own authentic story. No matter what culture you talk about; black, white, German, Italian, Asian — it’s all literally the same thing: we made something out of nothing for you. It’s that sense of authenticity.
Sara: A lot of the major food cities, you’re either having fine dining, or you’re having great street food, or there’s maybe some great mom and pop shops. Chicago has a great combo of all three. You can have the best hot dog you’ve ever had right across the street from a three Michelin star restaurant. You have a ton of food incubators. Restaurant incubators, that are really trying to keep that mom and pop shop culture alive. Then you also have a lot of restaurants groups that are creating spaces with top chefs so they can open their own bakeries or restaurants. You can experience all levels of all kinds of food in one city, which is super unique.
CPN: Where did the initial idea for the podcast come from?
Sara: So Dario spent like $2700 on equipment in the middle of the pandemic for another podcast he had that he wanted to make better. That podcast doesn’t exist anymore. But I put on the headphones to try it out with the mic and I said, this sounds really good. We should start our own podcast. And we literally thought 20 people would listen to it. It was supposed to be date night, we go to these community areas, we go to a restaurant, then we go home. Then maybe like our second episode the Chicago Tribune wrote an article about us and it blew up our life. Suddenly we had this huge listenership that we did not expect. So it can’t just be date night anymore.
Dario: It was wild. The beginning story is crazy because it wasn’t supposed to be a weekly podcast, it was supposed to be a bi-weekly podcast, so the logistics of everything changed like that and we had to adapt. The only thing we knew is that we had to get a couple more episodes out so that people had something else to listen to. I remember when we did start taking off and we had to go into Apple and change it from bi-weekly to weekly. And we didn’t know what we were doing, and it wasn’t popping up on Apple, and that’s what we needed to be on. So I went in an added it again, and the moment I added it the other one popped up. So fun fact, there’s two versions of the podcast.
CPN: How would you decide which type of food or which restaurants for the neighborhoods when you’d visit?
Sara: We always had the intention of not doing anything that wasn’t locally owned. We really, really tried hard to do all locally owned businesses. We wanted to do the hole in the wall, or the neighbohood favorite. I wanted it to be a, “If I was living in this neighborhood where would I eat?” kind of thing. So we’d get a ton of suggestions from people who lived in the neighborhood. We’ve visited over 250 restaurants in the last two or three years.
Dario: Probably even more than that to be honest with you. There’s a lot of stuff we don’t put on there. But the first 77 were structured. Community area, then the food of that community area. It was just us following the criteria, like Sara said. As soon as it opened up, after we were done with those 77, it was time to figure out how we tell the story of Chicago now. Where does food fall in line? Still kept the same cadence, history and then food, but the whole city was the canvas and the playground now. So now you’re not limited to the boundaries of a community area. You can tell a story here and be over here. So it opened up more opportunity to move around.
Sara: And the podcast was always history first, so we wanted to lean more into the history of food. We talked to a food historian at DePaul and it was mind blowing. So we wanted to lean more into that, and it became more about what went along with that topic, the history of the topic.
CPN: What do you think the food of a neighborhood teaches you about that neighborhood?
Sara: I think Chicago Lawn is probably one of my favorites to look at when we talk about that, because the demographic in Chicago Lawn changed a ton from white, to black, to Mexican over the last five decades. And you can really see that change. You still have these OG establishments that are Polish and Irish, and then you have a ton of black businesses, but the newer stuff is mostly Mexican. See you see the entire history of how the neighborhood changed. But there’s also more unsettling stories, like say Humboldt Park, where you can see the gentrification happen. There’s all these mom and pop shops that are slowly closing down, and then restaurant groups are coming in and taking all those spaces. And now people who lived there for decades can’t afford to live there anymore.
Dario: If you were coming from any other place and just dropped yourself into any location in Chicago, you just have to look at the restaurants and that’ll tell you who’s there. It’s a delicate balance because Chicago is the most segregated city in, perhaps the world, but that also comes with a certain identity all Chicagoans identify with: this is my neighborhood. This is where I came from. This is where the immigrants came, and this is why my food is here. Like Scafuri over in Little Italy is a 120-year-old bakery!
Sara: And around it there was a ton of Italian businesses, immigrant-owned Italian businesses, and none of them exist anymore. It’s standalone businesses now. The story of Little Italy is so interesting because now you have a Subway where a 70-year-old Italian restaurant used to be.
Dario: Or Chinatown. That’s not the original Chinatown, that’s the place where Chinatown was pushed to. And when they pushed them there, they made a town hall there. Like, a legit town hall for Asian folks. So you see all the food there, and how they make it look, and even the street signs are in Mandarin. That’s an identifier.
Sara: And the architecture was intentionally made to look that way so they couldn’t get pushed out again.
Dario: People get touchy about it like, “There’s a Mexican restaurant, so this must be where the Mexicans live.” But most of the time, you’re right. And that’s not such a bad thing.
CPN: So what’s on your all-time Chicago food bucket list? You can pick three items.
Sara: Here’s one of them. And not because it’s the best, but because it’s such a cool experience. What’s the place that’s on Lower Wacker? Billy Goat Tavern. That’s such a fun experience that’s nostalgic and weird. So not because it’s the best burger, more because it’s interesting.
Dario: I’ll match you with that and say way down in Roseland, Home of the Hoagy.
Sara: That’s one of the best hoagies in the city. I’ll stand on that.
Dario: That whole experience there. You get there early? It’s still not gonna be early enough. You’ll be there at least an hour.
Sara: Just take three hours out of your day and get that sandwich.
Dario: The payoff is huge.
Sara: Order enough sandwiches for a week, because it’s a once a year experience.
Dario: We go there and order two at a time.
Sara: Same thing with Lem’s Bar-B-Q. You have to be there 30 minutes before they open.
Dario: Clump up that whole strip, though. That 75th corridor, right there, you throw a dart and you’re good. You got vegan food, soul food, barbecue, the bakery is right there, home cooked food in a restaurant setting and you can get Kool-Aid on the menu.
Sara: There’s a place in Rogers Park we went to that’s Somalian cuisine. I’ve never had Somalian food before, and it’s just this one lady, and she runs the entire restaurant with her son. And there’s no menu, it’s just whatever she decides to cook that day. So it’s really hard for me narrow it down. But if a friend of mine was coming to town and I had to take them to three places I would probably do Virtue, Red Hot Ranch for a burger, and then either pizza or an Al’s beef. Just to get that Chicago experience.
Dario: Three is tough. But that’s the luxury we have in Chicago. It depends on how I’m feeling that day too. Like if I wake up and I’m like, I want that.
Sara: Like right now I want Gretel.
Dario: Gretel is amazing.
CPN: We love Gretel too.
Dario: That burger. We’ve had Gretel twice in the last three weeks.
CPN: That sounds like a good problem.
Dario: It’s a great problem.
CPN: That’s what I was going to ask next, where you take your friends and family when they come to visit.
Dario: We had an OG spot we featured on the podcast that was out in Edgewater, but it’s gone now. Gadabout. We went there probably twice a month.
Sara: Right now I think it’s Daisies though.
CPN: I’ve heard so much about Daisies.
Sara: It’s great for daytime, just to get lunch or a pastry, but it’s wonderful for dinner. The chef’s brother owns a farm, so it’s very seasonal. All the vegtables come from the farm. It’s a great experience. And their famous for their pastas.
Dario: To me, that’s me stepping outside of the box to try something different and being so pleasantly surprised. A lot of my friends just go for burgers, but we could easily wine them and dine them there and they’d be like, this is great. Well, you came out from the suburbs, so of course this is better. If you take them someplace that’s so far from their usual thought process and then they realize, “This is cool!”, not only do you get great food, but then you have an experience that you shared. Most people don’t go into the neighborhoods in Chicago, they go downtown. Or they go to a specific establishment, and then they’re out. When you go to Daisies, you’re right there on Milwaukee. It’s a good place to take people to experience life in Chicago, and not just food.
CPN: Was there anything you were really surprised by how much you enjoyed it?
Dario: I tried Majani, which is vegan food. And I’ve trashed vegan food, like most people do. But it wasn’t bad. Tofu? Still not my cup of tea. But a lot of stuff can be made vegan and still be good. And that was the education I got very early on, I think it was the fourth or fifth episode. I also had octopus. Which is something I said I would never, ever, ever do. But grilled octpus is actually pretty good. So those are my two biggest opinions that changed. How about you?
Sara: I’m good.
Dario: Sara eats anything, though…
CPN: Just not Italian beef.
Sara: I do now.
Dario: And meatloaf. But Italian beef was a big one for me. So that was a big personal moment for me when she tried it because I’m like, now we can eat Italian beef!
CPN: For people outside Chicago though it’s a weird looking sandwich. And it is wet meat.
Dario: And we make it even wetter!
CPN: What’s your other favorite food city besides Chicago?
Sara: Barcelona.
Dario: Hands down. Barcelona is different.
Sara: We had a ton of incredible food. And there’s a lot of really interesting food innovations in Barcelona too, so you have a lot of memorable experiences with food. But just in general it’s great. And I grew up in Jordan, and I think we make amazing food. I will die on the hill saying that Arabs make the best chicken.
Dario: I’m gonna climb that hill with her.
Sara: You’ll have the best food in Jordan. You can walk into any mediocre looking place and have an incredible meal.
Dario: And we did. When you walk into a place here, in the states, lots of times the hole in the wall place has the best food you can get. And it’s kind of like that all over the rest of the world. In Barcelona we went to this place that was literally the size of a shoe box.
Sara: It was standing room only.
Dario: And you can only stand for an hour before they kick you out. But the food you get…
Sara: It’s tinned seafood. That’s all they serve. It’s basically like tapas, but with tinned seafood. It’s called Quimet & Quimet. There’s a wall of tinned seafood, and a wall of wine. They have 500 bottles of wine. And each thing is like 2 Euros, and you’re standing there eating these little bites of like kumquat, shrimp, and marscapone — things that you’d never think to put together. And it’s incredible.
Dario: If you’re adventurous, go to Barcelona. Their seafood is the best.
CPN: Last question, do you have any advice for someone who’d like to do what you do?
Sara: Don’t do it if it’s not something you actually enjoy. If you’re just doing it to try and go viral on the internet, don’t do it. You’re going to hate it very quickly. We enjoy making content, learning about Chicago, and spending time with each other.
Dario: Podcasting is the craze right now, and anybody can buy a mic. Or put a camera in your face and now you want to be cool on YouTube. But that’s not it. We have an audience of 80 plus countries, and it’s because we love what we talk about it. It’s that substance, right?
Sara: When we started out, our first two episodes were shit. I really don’t know how the Tribune was like, “Oh! This is a good one to write about!” Our concept was good, but it wasn’t well researched. And we quickly realized, oh, we’ve got to step this up. So start from the beginning with a plan, or your elevator pitch or whatever you want to call it, but let your idea evolve.
Dario: I’ll also say this, I think people see this certain standard for podcasts, for how you’re supposed to present yourself on audio or whatever, and it’s so buttoned up. Throw that out. Be loose. We are literally us, just like we are in real life. And our best compliment we ever get is when people meet us and they say you’re literally the same as you are on the podcast. We’re regular people. We don’t have to put on a front for anybody. And that translates better. Also, you don’t have to spend $2700 on audio equipment.
Sara: You abslutely do not. $300. Max.
You can listen to Sara and Dario every week on the 77 Flavors of Chicago podcast, which is available all over the world on Apple Podcasts.
And you can keep track of everything they have going on and see all their hilarious and informative quick Chicago history videos on their Instagram.
I love Sara and Dario and follow on Instagram! Loved this feature, thank you, Eric! I’m a native New Yorker now living here and I tell ANYBODY WHO WILL LISTEN (and even those who won’t 😂) what a spectacular city Chicago is. We’ve got problems, nobody denies that, but wow there is so much here and so much potential to be realized. Have a great weekend, everyone!