{"id":35934,"date":"2012-02-07T10:02:58","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T17:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alleewillis.com\/blog\/?p=35934"},"modified":"2012-02-07T10:02:58","modified_gmt":"2012-02-07T17:02:58","slug":"allee-willis%e2%80%99-kitsch-%e2%80%98o-the-day-%e2%80%93-chili-ing-at-chili-johns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/allee-willis%e2%80%99-kitsch-%e2%80%98o-the-day-%e2%80%93-chili-ing-at-chili-johns\/","title":{"rendered":"Allee Willis\u2019 Kitsch \u2018O The Day \u2013 Chili-ing At Chili John’s"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>\n

It’s rare I have a weekday that’s not stuffed with work, a mish-mash of songwriting<\/a>, blogging<\/a>, curating<\/a>, working on my next live Super Ball Bounce Back show, etc., etc., etc. \u00a0But last Friday was one such day and I spent most of it at one of my favorite still-standing places in Burbank, Chili John’s.\u00a0This is such a serious chili pad I even took the Wienermobile <\/a>there a few weeks ago:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Chili John’s\u00a0started in\u00a01900\u00a0and is still going strong in Green Bay, Wis.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Chili John’s Burbank, the only offspring, was erected in 1946. All they serve are dishes topped with SERIOUS chili.<\/p>\n<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\n

The prices are a little different than back in the ’60’s:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

As usual, Mark Blackwell documented my culinary experience:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

I spent a lot of time documenting the decor:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

The entire restaurant is a U-shaped array of formica and bright orange vinyl:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Even the light switches go way back:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

In the center of the counter there are vats of different strength chili:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

The neon clock over the entrance to the kitchen is classic:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

LOVE the fake flower pots and the ‘Chili John’s’ that rim the walls as they meet the ceiling all the way around the restaurant:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

But nothing kills me more than the wall mural that runs along the entire east side of the restaurant:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

As photogenic as the decor is, I spent most of my time photographing the food:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

And what food it is!\u00a0The chili dogs, with varying-degrees-of -spiciness-chili are INSANE…::<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

…as are the Sloppy Johns:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

The chopped onions add a crispiness to make for a cornucopia of textural wonderness.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

You can get a glimpse \u00a0of other dishes\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0All the foodstuffs are definitely a two-fisted job:<\/p>\n\"\"\n

Mark and I started with the excessively wonderful and creamy lemon pie, pictured below but solo-photo-of-which I forgot to take, and then dove backwards into the main course. As you can see, the take home cartons were already poised to be loaded:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Here I am in the kitchen to check out how the secret seasonings are brewed:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Owner Alec \u00a0Loguercio pours the fixin’s into a giant grinder:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Then it’s all tossed into a pot that’s so big it’s stirred with an oar:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Chili John’s is a family run joint. Alec…,<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

…and his mom, Debbie,…<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

…who was there the day we pulled up in the Wienermobile.:<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Sue Mell, family friend, also pitches in:<\/p>\n<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\n

It’s no secret that I love hot dogs.\u00a0I don’t care what’s in them (though Chili John’s offers a choice of beef, chicken or vegetarian dogs). \u00a0They’re health food for the soul.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Put that hot dog under a bed of homemade chili and then put that chili dog in a setting like Chili John’s with a seriously friendly staff and the smell of simmering garlic tickling your membranes and you’ve got one happy chilin’ Allee Willis!<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s rare I have a weekday that’s not stuffed with work, a mish-mash of songwriting, blogging, curating, working on my next live Super Ball Bounce Back show, etc., etc., etc. \u00a0But last Friday was one such day and I spent most of it at one of my favorite still-standing places in Burbank, Chili John’s.\u00a0This is … read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165,1367,87,911],"tags":[61,3036,3002,3232,3245],"class_list":["post-35934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food","category-kitchen","category-kitsch","category-place","tag-allee-willis","tag-burbank","tag-chili-johns","tag-kitsch","tag-kitsch-o-the-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35934\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}