About Us
After hearing of a Chicago-style beef stand named Mad Dog's that once graced State Street in Madison, Wisconsin during the 1940’s, the wheels started turning for Brad Bailey and Paul Frautschi. What had happened to Mad Dogs, an eatery that was so popular with the locals - Many of whom had traversed north from Chicago to settle here?
They decided to recreate a Chicago-style beef stand right off State Street in the former site of Red and White Hamburgers. The mission to build an authentic beef “stand”, true to Chicago emphasizing speed and the high quality had begun. Starting where it all began they made the trip to Chicago to the Vienna Beef factory. Home of all-beef hot dogs that had been made with the same recipe for over 100 years, they witnessed the care and quality that went into Vienna products. That trip solidified a relationship with a great beef producer. They knew that we could use no other hot dog.
The next stop on their tour was a visit to Scala Beef. Four generations had kept the seasonings a secret that Pat Scala’s grandfather had used when he invented Chicago’s most famous food, the Italian Beef. Pat volunteered to take them on the next leg of the pair’s journey to perfect a sandwich for Madison worthy of Chicago lore. They witnessed Pat’s employees carefully hand rolling meatballs while sitting on pickle buckets and carefully selecting USDA choice top sirloin to produce the Italian Beef. This was old school! They even hand stuffed their famous sausages. Pat then took them to sample the finished product. They knew this guy had clout. He parked wherever he wanted and parking police just smiled, waved and walked on by. The three started at Al’s #1 on Taylor. Very good. They then proceeded to Mr. Beef on Orleans, Mr. Beef on Harlem and finally to the mecca of beef sandwiches, Johnny’s Italian Beef on North Avenue in Elmwood. Brad was the first to try Johnny’s with a lemon ice. He couldn’t believe his taste buds. Paul was overwhelmed with triumph. The finest Italian Beef had been found.
How did they do it so well? After subtle inquiries, Paul and Brad were asked rather impolitely to leave. Little did they know how low they would stoop to secure the information we needed so badly. Paul’s telephoto lens was about to come in very handy. They had our information. Pat graciously looked away.
They hopped in the car and Pat pulled into a nearby grave yard. Both started to get a little uncomfortable and looked at Pat. Why were we here? Had they uncovered a secret that wasn’t meant to be leave Chicago? Pat pointed to a small family grave as they all got out of the car and saw that it was the resting place of Al Capone. Pat said he thought the two Wisconsinites would enjoy seeing this popular tourist attraction. The two both agreed at that point, that it was a good thing to keep all the secrets they had learned that day.
