Tony Mata was about a year in as general manager of Frank and Mary’s Tavern in the summer of 2022.
With great power comes great responsibility, and as the steward of the 50-year-old, blue-collar dive bar, it was his sworn duty to usher it out of the darkest depths of the pandemic and preserve its legacy for another half century.
The lunch crowd was back, sure, but it wasn’t enough. One of his ideas was to help build a nighttime crowd with pop-ups.
That’s when Pat Berger stepped up. Berger, owner of Max and Issy’s (né Paddy Long’s) and Kaiser Tiger, was a longtime friend of Mata’s and offered to jump in.
A Beef with Berger was the third pop-up in Frank and Mary’s history. Inspired by an occasional special at Berwyn’s Cigars and Stripes, which Berger maintains smokes the best barbecue in Illinois, he rubbed top round roast with Italian seasonings then smoked it gently until it hit 120 degrees Fahrenheit. He sliced it, while still pink inside, and gently lowered it into in the jus made from its own smoked liquid essence, homemade beef stock, red wine, and more herbs.
Swaddled in a roll, he offered it, as one does, hot, wet, or sweet. He promptly sold out of everything, in the end donating his time, product, and profits to Frank and Mary’s.
Then (and now), everybody in the bar and restaurant business was having a rough time recovering, not just financially, but spiritually. This was Berger’s beef against burnout. “It was the kind of thing I’ve been trying to do to get myself back into some sort of passion about this industry,” he says. “I think I’ve been successful getting that passion back. This is all part of it, you know, doing things like this.”
You can get your passion back—whether it’s hot, sweet, or wet—this February 24 when a Beef with Berger plays Monday Night Foodball, the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Frank and Mary’s.
In fact, this is Berger’s third pop-up at F&MT. He returned with his smoked beef the following summer, an event that led him to offer a controversial option this time around: smoked scamorza cheese.
“That’s from people bitching the last two times that I didn’t have cheesy beef,” he says. “I don’t do cheesy beef. I never order one. I think it’s an abomination.” But as a committed hospitality lifer, he’s incapable of saying no, so this Monday, the bar is a cheesy beef safe zone.
It’s also Berger’s biggest beef menu yet. He’s offering Kaiser Tiger’s Italian sausage, on its own or as a beef combo. And he’s tapped KT’s new chef Andre Overton, formerly of Cobblestone and Boqueria, to step in.
Now, I’m always asking chefs for precise details about their dishes, and sometimes it’s like pulling teeth. When I asked KT general manager Callie Roach for some intel on Overton’s hand-cut BBQ potato chips and his apple pie biscuit, I received more than 800 words of detailed description, direct from the chef, complete with “serving suggestions and enhancements” and tasting notes encompassing aroma, texture, and flavor progression, from the first bite through the mid palate to the finish.
I can’t say it any better than he can:
“These ultra-thin potato chips are impossibly crisp, delicately light, and coated in a perfectly balanced sweet and spicy BBQ powder. The chips deliver an irresistible crunch, complemented by a bold seasoning that layers smokiness, subtle sweetness, and a lingering heat. The seasoning blend enhances the natural savory depth of the potatoes while adding complexity with notes of caramelized brown sugar, tangy spice, and warm, earthy undertones. Each bite starts with a touch of sweetness, followed by a smoky depth, and finishes with a satisfying, slow-building heat.”
And that apple pie biscuit is
“a cobbler style dessert. A comforting fusion of classic apple pie and fluffy biscuits, baked together for the perfect balance of textures and flavors. Tender, cinnamon-spiced apples are caramelized in a rich brown sugar sauce, nestled beneath buttery, golden-brown biscuits made with a combination of butter and lard for maximum flakiness. A warm cinnamon brown sugar glaze coats the biscuits, adding a subtle crunch, while a luxurious vanilla ice cream glaze melts into every crevice, enhancing the dish with creamy sweetness.”
Chefs take note: Overton is a poet.
So get your beef with Berger and more this Monday, February 24, 5 PM till sellout at 2905 N. Elston in Avondale.
And hark: only two more Foodballs before a brand-new spring schedule starts: March 3, it’s the return of Johnny’s Table, featuring rookieEat Ghosts, followed by the fine Boricubexican filigree of Mother Prepper on March 10.
And something really special is coming on Saint Patrick’s Day. . . .
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2025-02-20 16:16:29
