All In Good Taste | Hot Dogs, Trash Talk & Chicago History | The Wiener’s Circle All In Good Taste

Welcome to The Wiener’s Circle, one of Chicago’s most legendary,  and unapologetically unfiltered,  restaurants.

For decades, this Lincoln Park hot dog stand has been known for its char-grilled Chicago dogs, late-night crowds, legendary verbal abuse, outrageous marquee signs and one-of-a-kind staff. But behind the insults and chaos is something much harder to manufacture: a restaurant built around personality, loyalty, community and genuine hospitality.
On this episode of All in Good Taste, Aidan goes behind the counter with longtime Wiener’s Circle icon Poke and owner Ari to uncover how a neighborhood hot dog stand became a piece of Chicago culture.

Poke shares what it’s been like spending nearly four decades at The Wiener’s Circle, from her first shifts behind the register to managing generations of employees, customers and unforgettable late-night moments. Ari explains how growing up just blocks from the restaurant eventually led him to become one of its owners,  and why one of his biggest lessons was realizing that some things at The Wiener’s Circle simply shouldn’t be changed.
T
hey get into the unwritten rules of roasting customers, why ketchup on a Chicago hot dog can get you in trouble, how the team knows when a joke has gone too far, and why the restaurant’s trademark trash talk is rooted in affection rather than hostility.

The conversation also explores what traditional restaurants can learn from The Wiener’s Circle: talk to people like people, let your staff have personality and stop trying to manufacture hospitality through scripts.

Ari breaks down why he measures the restaurant’s success in more than dollars, describing a business that “pays with laughter,” gives back to its staff and community, and has evolved into something closer to a performance venue and cultural institution than a traditional hot dog stand.

And then there are the stories.
From Oprah and Ed Sheeran to Jeff Tweedy, Rick Bayless, Marshmello and plenty of other unexpected guests, The Wiener’s Circle has attracted celebrities, chefs, musicians and generations of Chicagoans,  and Poke isn’t particularly impressed by any of them.
We also get the story behind the restaurant’s viral marquee, including the infamous political signs, how the team comes up with them and why the best jokes have to fit within just a few lines.

This is The Wiener’s Circle on All in Good Taste — hot dogs, hospitality, chaos and Chicago exactly the way they’re supposed to be.

00:00 — Welcome to The Wiener’s Circle
01:56 — Inside the Famous Late-Night Experience
03:08 — Hot Dog Stand or Comedy Show?
05:34 — Nearly 40 Years at The Wiener’s Circle
07:55 — Why Poochie Never Left
10:52 — The Love Behind the Trash Talk
11:38 — From Neighborhood Kid to Owner
13:11 — A Business That “Pays With Laughter”
14:36 — Why You Can’t Corporate-ize The Wiener’s Circle
16:30 — Measuring Success Beyond Money
20:06 — What Restaurants Can Learn From This Place
22:04 — The Art of Roasting a Customer
29:22 — Becoming a Chicago Institution
30:26 — Oprah, Ed Sheeran & Celebrity Stories
32:07 — Behind the Famous Wiener’s Circle Sign
34:31 — Could This Restaurant Exist Anywhere Else?
36:04 — The All in Good Taste Tasting Menu
39:40 — The Ultimate Wiener’s Circle Lesson
40:19 — Raw Dog & What’s Next

#TheWienersCircle #AllInGoodTaste #ChicagoFood #ChicagoRestaurants #ChicagoHotDog #ChicagoEats #ChicagoFoodScene #ChicagoCulture #LincolnPark #Hospitality #RestaurantIndustry #RestaurantPodcast #FoodPodcast #ChicagoDog #WienersCircle

What is All In Good Taste ?

All In Good Taste is a podcast about the craft, culture, and people who make hospitality unforgettable. Hosted by Aidan Descourouez, it’s real conversation, the late nights, the early mornings, and the stories that remind us why this industry matters.

POKE: 00:00

I'm not sure if we can talk about this on camera, but lord Jesus. I can tell you from a customer's point of view, they come in for the verbal abuse. Here at the Wiener Circle, it's not only the food, it's not only the people, it's the vibe that we have here.

ARI: 00:14

Difficult to make money selling hot dogs. The little profit we made effectively give back to the staff.

POKE: 00:19

I go to the old bars at that time. I call them up like, Barry, he's trying to change the odds. I said, can't. Maybe he's to start your hot dog.

ARI: 00:26

It's just really a performance art venue. Yeah. And, like, any way we can use utilize it for that, promoting the different arts, whether it be

Aidan: 00:32

music or visual art. Who's been the most memorable celebrity guest, for better or worse?

POKE: 00:37

I've been at the Wiener Circle since '88. I was here when the opener came. That was, like, early time. Lawrence Fishburne. Asshole.

POKE: 00:44

I don't know if he still is today.

ARI: 00:46

Ed Sheeran came in, served 200 hot dogs or

Aidan: 00:48

Good to hear. He never asked. Extremely mad.

POKE: 00:51

He was I was wondering why he was at the wheel circle.

ARI: 00:55

The the truck foot long, was only three inches. That was in 2016. That's

Aidan: 00:58

great. Yeah.

POKE: 00:59

Come to the fucking wing. That's not gonna I'll put that black juice on that

Aidan: 01:03

I made in Descarae, and this is Good Fucking Taste.

POKE: 01:07

I guess. Don't worry. Most

Aidan: 01:14

restaurants believe that the customer is always right. The Wiener Circle has spent more than forty years proving that sometimes the customer is drunk, asking for ketchup, and completely wrong. But behind the insults, the late night chaos, and one of the most famous signs in Chicago, is really a story about hospitality, loyalty, comedy, and a team that helped turn a neighborhood hot dog stand into a cultural institution. Today, I'm sitting down with owner Ari Levy and longtime general manager Evelyn Poke Morris to talk about the people behind the counter, the stories behind the madness, and how you protect the soul of a place that was never meant to be polished. Thank you both so much for being here with me today, and thank you for hosting us.

Aidan: 01:56

For someone who's never experienced the Wiener Circle late at night, how would you describe what happens here?

POKE: 02:01

It's a very, very unique thing that goes on here at the Wiener Circle late at night. I actually worked a part of it in my younger years.

ARI: 02:10

Okay.

POKE: 02:10

Then I switched over to the day shift. Couldn't be

Aidan: 02:12

Yeah, you were telling me there was a little, there's a little difference between the day and the night tech here.

POKE: 02:15

Can can you run me The through night shift is, I would say people that love to drink and be very belligerent and Sound like a customers or

ARI: 02:24

the staff?

POKE: 02:25

Customers and staff.

Aidan: 02:26

Staff. Understood.

POKE: 02:27

It's so amazing because I literally had to hire people with that type of personality. Yes. Just a normal person wouldn't be able to do it. From there, we just go on from just being very, very unique, uniquely taking orders and people loving to try to put hot dog ketchup on their hot That's not gonna happen. Tell

Aidan: 02:49

me about what happens when someone asks for that.

POKE: 02:52

Well, that's probably when they get their fullest How would you put it? Fullest earful, yeah. A big earful, yeah. But more than likely, you can get them to change it around and try Chicago Dog. Okay.

POKE: 03:06

End up loving it.

Aidan: 03:08

Okay, so can you tell me, is this a hot dog stand that happens to have a comedy show, or is it a comedy show that happens to be a hot dog stand?

POKE: 03:15

Well, can tell you from a customer's point of view, they said that they would come in, they come in for the verbal abuse. Yeah. The food is good. Yeah. But they come in for the verbal abuse.

Aidan: 03:26

Sometimes we just, you know, deserve to be abused. Absolutely.

POKE: 03:29

And I think everybody loves a little bit of it.

Aidan: 03:31

Oh, yeah. How would each of you describe the other one of each other if they've never met you before?

POKE: 03:40

Well, love Artie. He's quiet guy, though. When I first met him, it was amazing because I'm like, okay, who is this guy? He's my own what do you mean he's my boss?

Aidan: 03:51

Yeah.

POKE: 03:51

And then he turns around and tells me, no, you're my boss. I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I'm like, wow. So other than that, you know, we just, he's a very loving guy. I love him.

ARI: 04:00

I describe Adwa as very maternal. She's kinda like the mom of the place. Most people don't know this, but half of the folks that work here are somehow related to her. But most often by blood or just through some, you know, one or two degrees of separation away. She's really like the mother hen of of the the place.

ARI: 04:20

I like And she can be a little sassy if the customers want that, but but I'd say she's sweeter than your average Wiener Circle.

Aidan: 04:26

You're sweeter than your average Wiener Circle employee. Okay. I I think you brought up a really interesting thing there. Ari, when did you realize, although that

ARI: 04:34

you did own the restaurant,

Aidan: 04:35

that Poka's actually the boss here?

ARI: 04:37

What did I tell her? She's the boss? Probably when I we realized that no one was listening to us, and every every little thing we tried to change Yeah. Went badly. So we're like, okay, we're just gonna keep keep the same.

ARI: 04:47

We did we did renovate the back. Yeah. But I got rid of the the parking lot and made up really it's really an event space. But, yeah, early on, it became clear that, like, we we shouldn't and weren't gonna be able to change anything of meaning successfully.

Aidan: 05:00

Does that ring true, Poke?

POKE: 05:01

Absolutely. I make it very clear. He truly tried. He brought in a couple of people, and they're like, this is not gonna work. And I I had to let him see that though.

Aidan: 05:10

Yeah. I got you.

POKE: 05:11

So, Paul,

Aidan: 05:12

where were you before the Wiener Circle?

POKE: 05:14

I was at a phone monitoring. Phone monitoring company. Yeah. It was for in my teens online. They used to have one-eight 100 teen lines and kids would be able to call in and just be themselves.

POKE: 05:28

I had That to monitor the was like in 'eighty two.

Aidan: 05:31

'eighty two, okay.

ARI: 05:32

She's been since what?

POKE: 05:34

'eighty three. You've been at No, I've been at the Wiener Circle since '88.

ARI: 05:37

Okay. We opened in '83, so she's Yeah. Almost a

POKE: 05:41

That's that's So I was down there for years, and all of a sudden I just go to work, and there's a chain on the door. Oh shit. I'm like, what the hell? Yeah. So I go home and of course I'm crying up a storm.

POKE: 05:55

I'm only 20 years old. I got two children. What the hell? My sister was working here at the time. Okay.

POKE: 06:01

So I come here to drop her off, but she had already told the old boss my story. Yeah. So when I got here to drop her off, he tells her, tell her to stay right there, I wanna meet her. And I'm like, what does he wanna meet me for? Because she didn't tell me she told him He comes out there and he's like, So I heard you lost your job.

POKE: 06:19

And I'm like,

Clay: 06:20

Yeah, who are you and what's going on? Is

ARI: 06:24

that Barry?

POKE: 06:25

Yeah, Barry introduced himself and he's like, Why don't you work here? I go, No, I've never wanted to work in a restaurant. I'm sorry. I just never wanted Surprise. Yeah.

POKE: 06:34

He's like, Well, he gave me a little lashing, like, Look, you're out of money. You don't have a job right now, you have children to take care of, work here, find you a job, and then you can go ahead and leave. And I go, okay, I'll try

Aidan: 06:48

it.

ARI: 06:48

Yeah.

POKE: 06:49

One week the men started giving me raises every week. I'm like, okay, he kept me here.

ARI: 06:54

Now it's been thirty eight years?

Aidan: 06:56

And you still do raises every single week for thirty eight years. That's a pretty healthy salary going on here.

POKE: 07:01

Well, back then, you know, minimum wage was like, what? $3.85 or some crap?

ARI: 07:07

Yeah. Absolutely.

Aidan: 07:08

What do you remember about your first shift here?

POKE: 07:10

My first shift was on a day shift.

Aidan: 07:12

Okay. Very still.

POKE: 07:13

Yeah. It was very just really busy. I was really good on the register. I guess he just really liked how I work. Yeah.

POKE: 07:22

And I fit right in and then got the orders in and out. So I didn't think much of it. I just thought like, okay, this is really busy. This is cool.

Aidan: 07:30

Yeah. Was trash parking always a part of the restaurant or did this During grow over the

POKE: 07:35

the day, it wasn't that bad. Okay. You know? Now it's like, it's taken its own.

Aidan: 07:41

Oh, I'm sure.

ARI: 07:42

Yeah, it didn't go as much till the nineties though.

POKE: 07:44

Yeah, that's when that really, really got on. But back then, was just been really busy and, you know, trying to keep people in order was hard. Okay. What

Aidan: 07:55

do you think people might misunderstand about why you've saved yours for so long?

POKE: 07:58

Well, I got into the lock with my family, friends, and everybody's like, what are you still doing there?

ARI: 08:03

Yeah.

POKE: 08:03

And trust me, never had dreamt this. Promise you. But I really love it here. The old boss, I mean, he helped me through a lot of things. I'm like an only child.

POKE: 08:22

Yeah. You know, my mother and father does not My mom passed when I was a kid, like Sorry, I lost that. Yeah. So he was like an uncle to me. Yeah.

POKE: 08:31

And he just gave me a lot of information. He gave me a lot of guidance, a lot of support. Yeah. Along with the customers. I mean, our customers, you wouldn't believe them.

POKE: 08:42

They are very, very extremely nice. We would have conversation and Lord, I tell you, I just don't know what to say. I love it. I really do.

Aidan: 08:53

Can you both potentially, you know, share a story from behind the counter that's, you know, never made into the news or maybe onto camera? Any good ones that come to mind?

POKE: 09:03

My best one was me working until I was working until 08:00. Okay. I could not get off early because the night shift hadn't showed up yet. So somewhere around 09:30, it was a group of drunken people.

Clay: 09:18

For

POKE: 09:18

sure. I'm trying to serve them or whatever. Next thing you know, one of them catches an attitude and he leaves out the door, he goes and get in the truck and he drove his truck to the front of the store. That was the holy that was the most I'm like, at that point, I said, I gotta get out of here.

Aidan: 09:36

There you go. No more nights out.

ARI: 09:37

Out and drove away then?

POKE: 09:38

No. He just left his truck and got out of the truck and walked and ran wherever he was.

Aidan: 09:42

That's insane.

POKE: 09:43

That was so so many years ago, Lord Jesus. Before we hugged him. How it's

Clay: 09:48

like Yeah.

POKE: 09:49

You're on that scared the crap out of everybody because, you know

Aidan: 09:52

Did you continue service that night or did the restaurant shut down? Was like, oh,

Clay: 09:57

We should stay home.

Aidan: 09:58

No. Serving hot dogs around the cars of the hotel.

POKE: 10:00

Out of there. You know, we and it's like, oh, that's us. You know? Yeah. We're gonna make it happen.

POKE: 10:05

If you're

ARI: 10:05

not shut down, we're staying open.

POKE: 10:07

That's okay.

Aidan: 10:08

Okay. How about you, Ari? Any anything that jumps to mind for yourself?

ARI: 10:12

Mean, there's a lot of great stories from before we honed it that I There heard was a a veteran, a Vietnam veteran, homeless guy who washed the windows for a dollar. Yeah. Has there were some wild stories around him.

POKE: 10:24

For it.

Aidan: 10:25

Feel like

ARI: 10:25

those were more for Fred Lee was his name. Those are more for the old owner Larry Goldetell. Got you. He has some amazing stories about that guy. Fred sadly passed away on On the bench.

POKE: 10:36

Oh, damn.

ARI: 10:37

On the millennium New Year's

Aidan: 10:38

Eve. Wow.

POKE: 10:40

On the bench.

ARI: 10:41

As for the old owner, he was Yeah. Well, he was living in the shack. And, yeah, they let him live in the shack. This is a different era.

POKE: 10:48

Yeah. Because everybody loved him also. Yeah. The whole neighborhood, they all knew him.

Aidan: 10:52

What I keep hearing from you guys is there's so much love coming out of this restaurant. Yeah. Even though everybody comes here to get abused.

POKE: 10:57

It's family oriented. It's like, and all the customers tell me like, it's like, I'm in my aunt's house the way you talk to me. You know, they, I'm like, yeah, that's who I am. Shut the sit

Aidan: 11:08

down. I'm like, like, lot

ARI: 11:11

of these rare healthy spaces where it's okay for people to hurl insults and say anything, and it's like, might feel tense, but it but it's it's out of love. Yeah. And it's like poochy or if it's Evelyn, they might roast a customer on the way in, and then it's like a a literal figurative hog on the

POKE: 11:27

way out.

ARI: 11:27

Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. It's not, like, mean spirited.

Aidan: 11:30

Yeah. I got you. Okay. Well, Ari, can you tell me what the Wiener Circle meant to you before you ended up becoming the owner here?

POKE: 11:37

Well,

Aidan: 11:37

one of the owners here.

ARI: 11:38

So I grew up three blocks from here. When my when I was little, my older brother would give me money to go go buy him a hot dog when I was, like, eight. I was, walking around. So just, like, fond memories. I grew I was born in '79, so, like, late eighties.

ARI: 11:52

That would've been I I always, like, liked food to start. We got the best hot dogs of Vienna. Yeah. The old owner, Larry Gold, would would tell you that that our char grill is a big special sauce part of what we do, for sure. It's part of the food.

ARI: 12:06

So I think I think Vienna, Chicago style about charred here tastes better than elsewhere. And then just the combi, like, to be able to to have a brand that could say whatever, yeah, we want, whatever she wants, I want. The brand is more than just one person. It was highly unique. I love roast comedy, and I'm a quan.

ARI: 12:25

I I trade in the public markets and do math all day. So having having a That outlet. Yeah. To be able to say whatever we want to think of the the sign for when we bought it for thirty something years said, home of the

POKE: 12:37

Home of the Charbroiled Cheddar Burger.

ARI: 12:38

Charbroiled Cheddar Burger, which is the which is our our burger. Yeah. Cheddar cheese. Yeah. We always I had this vision that that we can make the sign say whatever we want.

ARI: 12:48

Yeah. You know? And and so which is definitely done over the

POKE: 12:50

last couple done. Yeah.

ARI: 12:52

So we had a bunch of stuff to go viral. That's been super fun too.

Clay: 12:55

Yeah. Yeah.

Aidan: 12:56

Well, I I do wanna ask about that because you you, you know, brought up there that your background or, like, what you do on a day to day is trading and investing. Did this start as, like, a serious investment for you, or was this, a joke among friends? Like, what was the piece that you're, like, I want in here?

ARI: 13:11

To have a good investment, obviously, you'd like to make a good return on your investment. I always like to say that this thing is is pays with laughter. Yeah. We'll joke that it's our non for profit.

POKE: 13:20

Yeah.

ARI: 13:20

You know, it's just really you don't see a lot as many hot dog stands around anymore. It's For sure. It's difficult to make money selling hot dogs. And so, you know, the little profit we've made, we effectively give back to the staff or for pay through promotions to do

POKE: 13:34

And community.

ARI: 13:35

Just wild animals. Yeah. We've done a lot for for community, a lot of athletic charities.

Aidan: 13:38

Always going up all time.

ARI: 13:39

It's just so so quick. Yeah. Yeah. We try to be a voice of the community. Like, well, how can we rally not just Lincoln Park, the whole city, be a voice of the melting pot that is Chicago?

ARI: 13:49

We have so many different, you know, ethnicities here for sure. And in in Wiener Circle, our customer base is all walks of life. You see, you know, lawyers in suits, construction workers Mhmm. All kids, old people

POKE: 14:02

surgeons, everybody.

ARI: 14:03

Everybody in the world. We wanna be a for any occasion. Yeah. People of all different types and backgrounds like hot dogs, and we want to just, like, sort of bring bring together the community, even though people know us as

Aidan: 14:13

ship talkers. Yeah. Yeah. I I want to pull this back to one of the first things that we did mention briefly about the things that you could and couldn't change. What did Poke tell you initially off the bat that you couldn't touch?

Aidan: 14:27

Or what did we find out?

POKE: 14:36

So the people that he brought in with him, he was gonna try to do whatever they do. I don't know. But like I told him, this is the Winner Circle, very unique place. I'm so sorry. You can't just put this and form this into some McDonald's type restaurant.

POKE: 14:52

I'm sorry. No matter how much you try, it's just not

Aidan: 14:55

gonna happen.

POKE: 14:57

No. So they tried to not him personally, but the person that he had. He's like, Oh, we're gonna go with a different hot dog, a different burger. We have a butcher that we have our foot, Yes. Lot burgers coming And they come in three times a week.

POKE: 15:14

We don't have things just sitting around Yeah. Getting bad, things like that. Wiener Circle is very known for fresh food. Yes. So, these guys are like, oh no, we're gonna change the hot dog.

POKE: 15:26

We're gonna

ARI: 15:26

change the hot dog.

POKE: 15:27

He tried. Oh my god. He he said that to me and I I go to the old boss at that time. I call him up like, Barry, he's trying to change the hotdog. He's like, you can't.

ARI: 15:38

Maybe change

POKE: 15:38

the burger. Yeah. Kept it Vienna. Not from Vienna, but a cheaper hotdog. Oh.

POKE: 15:45

Like, no. No, we can't. It it was scanned on it. It needs to be scanned less.

ARI: 15:50

You need a natural casing.

Clay: 15:51

Yes. Gotcha.

POKE: 15:52

Exactly. So, you know, the old bar said, hey. He got in there. He gave Ari a car. He's like, I'm telling you.

POKE: 15:58

Don't do it. Yeah. And Ari listened and

Clay: 16:04

Yeah. It worked. We kept

ARI: 16:06

the the menu is exactly the same we did. We've got We've the added we got a liquor license in the back. And a veggie dog. And a veggie There you go. Everything else is the same.

Aidan: 16:16

Which, you know, it's it's it's a classic, right? Yeah. Ari, since, you know, you are coming at this from, like, a little bit more of the, like, the business trading side of things, can you tell me how you measure this business without, you know, looking at it from a spreadsheet sort of things?

ARI: 16:30

I mean, there's the traditional metrics like return on investment and Yeah. And actual income statements and the actual statements. But for me, it's more about are we making people smile and laugh? Yeah. And if we are, that'll show through to the financials.

ARI: 16:45

That'll show through to social media getting getting a lot of likes. We get calls from all sorts of different brands that want a co brand. We've like, twice, for example, we've had different dispensers. Heinz had one, and then the soda drink company, Slice, had one. Yeah.

ARI: 17:00

Yeah. They paid us for it. A bunch of movies have been released here. Yeah. At a concert on

POKE: 17:05

the radio.

ARI: 17:05

I know I used to do, like, a bar stop at the DJ Yeah. I was part of. It's just really a performance art venue. Yeah. And, like, any way we can use utilize it for that that use you know, promoting the different arts, whether it be music or visual art or whatever.

ARI: 17:19

If we're getting good receptivity in that that world Yeah. That's that's as much that's important to me for measuring success. Heard.

Aidan: 17:26

Can you can you can you run me through some of the traditions, some of the things that we do here?

POKE: 17:31

That's been going on probably.

Aidan: 17:33

Going on forever.

POKE: 17:36

It would probably be the swearing. That's the number one, And trying to keep that in the wraps of the younger people today is different than back in the day. So I had to tell them and correct them on top. Look, that's a little bit too far,

Clay: 17:54

you know?

POKE: 17:55

But the thing is we do not do the racial things. Don't do racial. We don't talk about people's ethnicity, their sexual Nah. Yeah. None of that is permitted.

POKE: 18:04

Like, you go that far, you gotta go.

Aidan: 18:05

You gotta go. What about for what your team or your staff does to like celebrate and enjoy? Is there anything like that that runs through?

ARI: 18:12

Or anything that we can talk about on camera?

POKE: 18:14

I'm not sure if we can talk about this on camera, but Lord Jesus, the marijuana. I'm like, if you all of them stop smoking and coming back to work, I'm a kill you. But they they have it.

ARI: 18:23

Coming back to work. They're doing it in the right next

POKE: 18:25

to kitchen. See, right next to the kitchen, the one that I'm outside the door. Look, kids, I'm screaming all day. People have to, because I got access to the camp. For

ARI: 18:34

sure, yeah,

POKE: 18:34

of course. So when I'm looking at, because I'm like the security, I'm

Aidan: 18:37

doing Yeah, you're everything. Yeah.

POKE: 18:39

So I'm looking at that, I see them smoking after I get on the phone and I'm calling people, they won't answer. I've called the store, they won't answer. Then I start texting.

Aidan: 18:48

Yeah.

POKE: 18:48

And I'm like, get the hell out away from my door. The children have to go use the washroom and you know, but hey. Coming here on

ARI: 18:56

a Saturday night. There's a rush out the door. Yeah. Not enough people working in the back because two of them are out in the side of the. Yeah.

ARI: 19:05

Like I'm don't does someone need to work? And they give me the middle finger. It's like, that's just another day at the window.

Aidan: 19:09

It's just another day at the window.

POKE: 19:11

But the customers bring the marijuana, like, on. Come on. Yeah.

ARI: 19:17

Exactly. If you're camera guy, he likes bring them blunts. That's

Clay: 19:21

what Yeah.

Aidan: 19:22

Actually, you know I saw him

Clay: 19:23

in my early twenties. I I I would skateboard over here and and I'd and and they'd be like, yo, here's $20. And hand me $20 from the cash register and be like, go across the street and get get us some Crown Royal and a blunt wrap. We'll give you a cheeseburger. I was like, alright.

Clay: 19:39

Do you really?

Aidan: 19:41

She's gonna have to look into that.

POKE: 19:43

Me. I try to keep my eye, but think I was gonna slip. It's gonna something's gonna slip. Oh, hear you. Knock punch.

ARI: 19:49

That was

Clay: 19:49

eighteen years ago.

POKE: 19:50

Yes. It still happens here or there. Yeah. I know I get a couple of people come bringing me stuff. I'm like, what is this?

POKE: 19:56

It's like, just smoke it. Okay. Okay. But I get handed off because I don't smoke.

Aidan: 20:01

I got you. What could he

POKE: 20:03

not like that?

Aidan: 20:06

What could a more traditional restaurant or restaurant group learn from a place like this?

POKE: 20:12

Learn to not have a stick up your ass.

ARI: 20:15

That's fair.

POKE: 20:16

Okay? People like to be talked to just normal ways. You don't have to come into a restaurant, Hi, may I help you? That's like the corny as shit. It's like, Don't really talk to me.

POKE: 20:29

Just tell me which one I eat and get the fuck out. When you come into my restaurant, I want to say, hi, how are you? How are you doing? I get so many people that come up here in the wintertime. I'm telling you, it's like, that's when the business gets a little slow, I can still work.

POKE: 20:45

Because I have my customers that come by, buy their food. They wanna sit in here with me for twenty minutes, talk, shoot the breeze, telling me what do's or don'ts, whatever it may be. You know? It's just a lot of fun in this place. That's a punish.

ARI: 21:00

You don't want a sterile ambiance. Yeah. You know? If everything's too rules based or regimented, it's gonna it's not gonna people aren't gonna smile and have fun Yeah. No matter how good the food tastes.

ARI: 21:10

That's true. If you're not smiling with the staff or whatever. That's why our staff is, like, first name, basic for all these customers.

Aidan: 21:17

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Aidan: 21:47

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ARI: 22:03

and keep them coming back.

Aidan: 22:04

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POKE: 22:30

You just have to really look it's a evaluation of the person you're talking to. You know? Some everybody has their, you know, their levels. Yeah. You know, some people even go too far and they're like, if they're going to, it's like, they're looking at you like, what the fuck are you saying?

POKE: 22:48

Yeah. And it's like, okay, don't get offended. I'm sorry. It's a more friendly thing. It's like, fuck that.

POKE: 22:54

Give me my food and I'm leaving. Yeah. Okay. But they still want the food.

ARI: 22:57

But they

Aidan: 22:57

still want the food.

POKE: 22:59

It's the best thing about

ARI: 23:00

it. Well, Pucci does brilliantly. She's almost finished.

POKE: 23:03

She's definitely done that

ARI: 23:05

at She could she could roast people in a way where it's a compliment. So, like, there could be a mother daughter that comes in, both beautiful, and she'll start talking about some some body part of of the the dog that might be a little uncomfortable, the booty or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. But it's it's a it's a because she's complimenting the booty, and she got it from her mother, and everyone, the whole family's laughing, but it's Yeah.

ARI: 23:26

You know, so it's like it's not it's a compliment, but it's it's awkward. Very awkward.

POKE: 23:33

The mom's like, no, I got it from my mom.

ARI: 23:35

I got it from my mom.

POKE: 23:36

Or she got it from my mom. Yeah. So,

Aidan: 23:39

yeah. How quickly can you tell if Augusta's gonna play along or not? It used to be harder

POKE: 23:46

back a long time ago, but because of social media and what we do now

Aidan: 23:50

focus on it.

POKE: 23:50

We have a lot people that come in and just really know what it is and ask

Clay: 23:55

for it.

Aidan: 23:55

Well, then I guess for you guys to protect your own team too, do guests cross the line on you guys as well when they walk in? Or is anybody ever too harsh or too abrupt coming approaching

POKE: 24:06

get town? Some. You get some, especially late night.

ARI: 24:09

Yeah.

POKE: 24:09

Those are the ones that that's probably why I don't do nights, like, really at all anymore because if you get people that come in like that and they're very drunk and it's just hard to control them.

ARI: 24:21

Yeah.

POKE: 24:22

And it's like, no matter how you try to bring that temperature down, sometimes it can get really out of place. It's just like, oh my gosh.

ARI: 24:29

Some customers will come in and not even know what we're about. Oh yeah. Just think. It's just a hot environment. It's a hospital environment all of sudden.

ARI: 24:36

Drinking Yep. And I'm get hostile back. But yeah. Yeah. So For the most part, it's under control.

ARI: 24:41

Yeah.

POKE: 24:41

Most times I go out, I'll go out there, I'll talk to them personally. You know, I'll be like, come and let me talk to you for a second. You know, just try to bring down the temperature. And it works more than likely.

Clay: 24:52

Yeah, guess, how do you handle customers that don't know what it's about?

POKE: 24:57

I handle them more on looking at I look at facial expressions. Yeah. And and basically how they're moving. Yeah. And then when I was like, take it easy with that one.

POKE: 25:08

And you know, I'll be like, come here, pull them off to the side, you know, and tell them like, come here. And then I'll explain a little bit. And they're like, oh, because I just had it like probably about four years ago. Brought a young lady in. This was two people, female and a male.

POKE: 25:24

Brought in another young lady that knew nothing about it, but they're standing behind her. Yeah. They're going to over her head like, get

Aidan: 25:33

her, get her. Yeah.

POKE: 25:33

So I'm like, what the fuck do you want?

Clay: 25:35

And she's like, she looked at me like

POKE: 25:38

she said, who are you talking to? Said, you bitch. And she's like, oh, I don't want shit from here. She turns around and walks out. And they're laughing.

POKE: 25:50

Like, if she was gonna react like that, why wouldn't you tell me? And they're like, she's alright.

Aidan: 25:54

She's fine. She's of our

ARI: 25:56

one star Google review. Sorry. Oh, Yeah.

POKE: 25:59

The next day she came in, and she's like, now I know, bitch. Now. I want a fucking hot dog. You know, so it was cool.

Aidan: 26:05

I would love to hear

POKE: 26:07

about some of these

ARI: 26:07

one star Google. Got some out of me. Really? Question mark. I know this place is a Chicago establishment, but it's literally insulting.

ARI: 26:14

The hot dogs do not make up for the lack of everything else. I can go get my milkshake at the McDonald's across the

Aidan: 26:19

street. Classic.

POKE: 26:22

Well, that that must have been one of those small shakes.

Aidan: 26:25

Oh, yeah.

POKE: 26:25

Know I mean? Wasn't that a Gucci?

Aidan: 26:27

No. Yeah.

ARI: 26:30

We got a bunch like that.

Aidan: 26:32

Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. Can someone be trained to do what this team does? Or is this just a natural instinct?

POKE: 26:38

I thought you could be trained. You really, really care So about what I do is try to hire and then I try to like cover you a little bit more, make you feel at home, make you feel that, you know, it's not that serious of a fucking hot dog and mustard, I'll try and, you know, put it on there. That's it. Once I like really break it, and some people I can get broken down, but the customers, we're known for what we do, our customers are making hard too. And I try to tell them, you know, employees like, you know, they don't know how to come in and just say, can I have a hot dog?

POKE: 27:15

You know, they're like, bitch. And don't get offended if you wear your heart on your sleeve.

Aidan: 27:21

This is not the place for evil.

POKE: 27:23

It's not the place for I've had a lot of people. I've probably had, within the last four years, about five people that came in for about

ARI: 27:30

Yeah. A week and

POKE: 27:32

Yeah. They just never come

ARI: 27:34

Not not everyone that she hires is, you know, has to be a front facing funny person. Yeah. That's true. In fact, I think she prefers more serious people to get stuff done.

POKE: 27:44

During the day. Yeah. During the day, I have I have an autistic guy.

ARI: 27:48

Yeah.

POKE: 27:48

You know, I have an autistic son myself. He's 25, but he doesn't get along with social cues. He's like more standoffish. I have him to come here and pretend, you know, I'm like, let's see if you can do this. And he goes, mom, no, I can't.

POKE: 28:05

I'm going home. I never wanna come back. Why don't you talk like that? So, and then I had another one, which is he works here now. His name is Jose.

POKE: 28:15

He's also 25

Aidan: 28:16

years old.

POKE: 28:17

He loves it.

ARI: 28:18

Yeah. Well,

Aidan: 28:19

we also met one of your other team members earlier. So before we started rolling, we set the fire alarm off in the restaurant.

POKE: 28:25

That's Angel.

Aidan: 28:25

Okay. Who is Angel? Tell me about Angel. Because you said

POKE: 28:29

Angel is man of all tricks and treats. Yeah. This guy came through this door, great personality. I mean, he's just hands on.

ARI: 28:39

Yeah.

POKE: 28:40

So one day I had a leak. Yeah. All of a sudden, you know, the sink is leaking. I'm like, what the? I'm calling.

POKE: 28:47

I'm calling. You know, I'm trying to get a plumber. It's the weekend. Yeah. Everybody, I can't come until Monday.

POKE: 28:51

Yep. Angel's like, I got it. He goes and okay. All I need to do is go to Home Depot and get this and that and the other. Okay.

POKE: 28:59

I give him my little store credit card. Go go. They come to back. Fucking sinks fit better than a damn plumber.

ARI: 29:06

There you go. It's a tradesman back in Venezuela. Yeah. He came here from Venezuela.

Aidan: 29:10

Super cool.

POKE: 29:11

Yes. We taught him a lot of English and he's he's really good. He talks shit to

Aidan: 29:15

the customers. Yeah. A lot of new words. I'm sure. A lot of new words.

POKE: 29:18

Yeah. Talks shit to the customers himself.

Clay: 29:20

He does. Oh,

Aidan: 29:22

yeah. When is the first time you realized? Because obviously, I know you've been here for almost And the whole damn I know this has always been a staple here. Like, Winner Circle has always been a staple. But when did you really notice that this was becoming such a hub for Chicago?

POKE: 29:40

I would say that mine was early on. I mean, literally I was in the trivial, eating hot dogs in front of this place. Before social media, you know what I mean? All of these things were happening when I first got here.

ARI: 29:53

So

POKE: 29:54

I knew it was a staple.

ARI: 29:56

I think the reputation was established in the nineties when the when the Smat Toppin' started. Chicago was a hotbed for improv and comedy. Yep. So it kinda just became became that place. But I think when it really, like, just hit it on the map was with social media and with, like, when Conan said Triumph, the Insult Dog Year about fifteen years ago.

ARI: 30:16

Yeah. They had they had a early TV show. They had a reality TV show that was here. That's Only lasted one season. That's super cool.

ARI: 30:24

That was just like it was on the map side.

Aidan: 30:26

Speaking of celebrities, who's been the most memorable celebrity guest? For better or worse, who's come through the doors?

POKE: 30:34

Now, do you want I'm gonna be honest. Very honest. Please do. Okay, I was here when Oprah came, year, year, year. That was like early time, but of course I wasn't talking crap.

POKE: 30:45

Was just like serving on a hotdog, she was good. Lawrence Fishburne.

Aidan: 30:49

Okay.

POKE: 30:49

Asshole, I don't know if he still is today. But back then, I'm like, he was doing the movie over here, Lord Jesus, I don't even know the movie. But him, Wesley Snipes, another a hole, had no personality. Like, what's wrong with you? Sinbad.

Aidan: 31:10

Yeah.

POKE: 31:12

He came in saying crap. I'm like, you guys are starstruck. So right now today, I really don't give a freak about That's stars at mean, no, I don't hate them, I just say, It just, yeah.

Aidan: 31:24

It's another customer, right?

POKE: 31:26

It's just crazy, yeah.

ARI: 31:27

How about you, Ari, anybody? We've had a lot of musicians. That's been really cool for me. I'm a big music person. Like, Ed Sheeran came in, served 200 hot dogs.

ARI: 31:35

There's thousands He of people was good. Marshmallow is super cool. So we vouch for all these ones, though.

Clay: 31:41

Yeah. Yeah.

Aidan: 31:41

The two They're like, I was just Oh my god.

POKE: 31:45

He was he was like, I was wondering why he's at the weakest circle. Yeah.

ARI: 31:51

We've got Jeff Tweedy from Wilco. Watching on Tuesdays here last week for our podcast. Yeah. A lot of restaurant people. Like, we had Rick Bayless last week.

ARI: 31:59

He was great. Had had him make a make a hot dog with different ingredients.

Aidan: 32:04

I saw your caviar dog with

ARI: 32:06

Oh, yeah. Make some

Aidan: 32:07

some really cool collaborations. I do wanna switch over and talk about that sign, though. Yeah. Can we talk about who has the creative freedom behind the sign? Who likes writing that kind of stuff up?

Aidan: 32:17

Can can we just talk about it?

ARI: 32:19

So I sort of lead the charge on it, but but but, you know, we do it a very democratic way, so, like, there's no bad way to source an idea. At least 10 different people have have come up with the sign. Yeah. Sometimes it's the staff. I sort of put, like, the final word smithing on it, and on health, will will Hank will put up the sign.

ARI: 32:41

But it's it's 15 characters by four lines. The best signs are simple and aren't too busy.

Aidan: 32:46

What are some of your

ARI: 32:46

favorites that you've put up? So one that I that I workshopped with Poochy is is one of my favorite ones for pride month at a year. I was like, Poochy. I was like, Poochy, what what what should we do for for pride month? She's like, well, here we call it dog on dog and bun on bun.

ARI: 33:01

So every every pride I was gonna say, like, proudest sport, dog on dog and bun on bun. I love that. And then, I mean, there's a whole bunch of them. Yeah. We made fun of all sorts of different people.

ARI: 33:12

Yeah. So do you think

Aidan: 33:13

you were nervous to put up?

ARI: 33:14

Some of the political stuff. Yeah. We've we've gotten we've we've gotten less aggressive than recent years. Yeah. It's because it's such a polarizing tide.

ARI: 33:23

For sure. I'm sure. We try to be equally opportunity. I think people think of us as, like, liberal because we we made fun of Trump a lot. So we had the Yeah.

ARI: 33:30

The the the Trump footlong that was only three inches. That was in 2016. That's great. Yeah. It was nice and simple.

ARI: 33:37

Yeah. But hey, it brought it brought some brought some negativity.

POKE: 33:40

It brought some negativity.

ARI: 33:41

We made fun on the left too. We've we've one one sign that I was really nervous about that stayed up just for a little bit said Hunter Biden buys his Coke at Portillo. Yeah. Coca Cola. And they're like Coca Cola.

POKE: 33:54

Coca Cola. Yeah. Yeah. Coca Cola.

ARI: 33:56

Yeah. When Elizabeth Warren was when she did the test to see if she was Native American, then she was like

POKE: 34:01

Yeah.

ARI: 34:01

Said it said Elizabeth Elizabeth Warren is one eighth Pola sausage. Yeah. So, yeah,

Clay: 34:06

we've that's coming up.

ARI: 34:09

The ball starts

POKE: 34:09

I'm like, Harry, get out of the party. Polis is

Clay: 34:12

Donald. Yeah. Oh,

Aidan: 34:16

that's great, though. I mean

POKE: 34:18

we got a lot of customers.

ARI: 34:19

They said no politics and then now one of our owner, one of my best friends, a co owner, is running for me.

POKE: 34:24

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

ARI: 34:26

I think, you know, it's a small world. We are behind that campaign. We want to match what

Aidan: 34:31

Could the Wiener Circle truly exist in any other city?

POKE: 34:36

I they a lot of people that come here, because people come from all over now. Yeah. They always say, you all need to bring this to our or city or whatever. I can't tell you if it

Aidan: 34:48

could survive.

Clay: 34:50

I think Chicago, because we we

ARI: 34:52

can't because it's Chicago, yeah. Chicago. It's hard to replicate things.

Aidan: 34:56

For sure.

ARI: 34:56

And, you know, people don't wanna chain as much as, like, the one of a kind this is a one of a kind unique experience. Yeah. Could it work? It could. When we bought it, there was one licensed one in Vegas that didn't make it.

ARI: 35:10

Got to do it. So many things wrong with it. For one, it was in a it was in a sports book at the casino. Yeah. But you think it would be good, but wasn't It didn't have the character.

Aidan: 35:20

It didn't have mom either, It you didn't have

POKE: 35:22

it didn't have yeah. That

ARI: 35:24

is the big thing. It's like.

POKE: 35:25

It needs character. It has to have character, it will not work. Because even working here during the day when I started hiring, being a hiring manager and just trying to, I would say form things into like it was when I first started. It was more of everybody's just a regular restaurant. Everybody can joke and things like that, but asking and swearing and all that, it wasn't really like that back then.

POKE: 35:54

I tried this shit, and they're like, no. We come here for come on. Need to fucking cut. I'm like, okay. Fine.

POKE: 36:01

We're back at it then. Okay.

Aidan: 36:04

Well, thank you. That was fantastic. I'm gonna switch to a one last little segment that we do that we refer to as our tasting menu. It's a set of six really quick questions. You both are more than welcome to answer.

Aidan: 36:14

They're all hospitality centric. So

POKE: 36:16

Oh, yeah.

Aidan: 36:17

Hopefully, that works. Maybe it will. Maybe it won't. We'll see.

ARI: 36:19

Right. Let's do it.

POKE: 36:20

We'll make it happen.

Aidan: 36:21

What dish drinker moment first made you fall in love with this business?

POKE: 36:25

I would say the closeness to the owners.

ARI: 36:28

Okay.

POKE: 36:29

I really like that I can have relationship with somebody that I work with. Yeah. More so, work for, I should They listen. Yeah. They understand you more.

POKE: 36:39

It's just more of a connection there. Instead of working for a corporation, you never see who you really work for. Yeah. So that's what I really liked about this place.

ARI: 36:49

What about you, Ari? Has something jumped out to you? I mean, just like the Chicago style hot dog. Yeah. It's the famous it's what it's the quintessential winter cycled food item and Chicago item, and that's what got me into into this cuisine.

ARI: 37:03

Yeah. I still eat one plenty.

Aidan: 37:07

What's the hardest part of the work that guests never get to see?

POKE: 37:11

Me doing every damn thing. What's part of that?

ARI: 37:15

Yes. Cheese.

POKE: 37:16

I mean, just trying to get them to do

Clay: 37:18

Do you know? Because they're always fucking high. Yeah. You

POKE: 37:24

know? Gotta come here and work. Storing people to work. Yeah. It's just like, girl, look, this is, you know, you got a lobby full of people.

POKE: 37:30

You're fucking stoned. You're still talking shit to one customer. I got 12 people that's hungry.

ARI: 37:35

Yeah.

POKE: 37:35

You know, like, get your shit. Put your priorities right. And they're like, fuck you, bitch. And I'm like, fuck you. I gotta take all the orders.

ARI: 37:42

I gotta take all orders.

Aidan: 37:43

I'm doing it myself. Yeah.

POKE: 37:45

That's how it goes. Okay. It just happened late yesterday. That's right. Yes.

POKE: 37:52

Home fucking night shift won't be here at 08:00.

ARI: 37:54

Yeah. They're always late.

POKE: 37:56

They don't fucking get here until eleven.

ARI: 37:58

So you just have that

Clay: 37:59

one question? Yeah. I'm calling How

ARI: 38:01

does that go with poker groups?

Aidan: 38:02

That okay? No. That doesn't go okay with I called called called Ronnie. I

POKE: 38:08

called Robbie. She says she called me poke because she was here from years ago. Right? So she she's like poke, I'm gonna have to come in not at eight but at ten because I have a family reunion going on. Like, fine.

POKE: 38:20

Yeah. Supposed to be here. She's going through relationship fucking problems. She don't fucking come in. Poochy.

POKE: 38:27

Poochy fucking comes in at 09:30. I call Inspector, where are you? I'm on Fullerton coming over. Bet you it supposed be an hour and a half ago. Yeah.

POKE: 38:37

So I'm like sitting here and I'm working. I opened the fucking store and now here it is. I'm still here at 11:30.

Aidan: 38:44

God's fear.

POKE: 38:44

Fucking crazy.

Aidan: 38:45

Fucking crazy indeed.

POKE: 38:46

But I can, you know, just the way I work, I'm not really I don't get really stressed out about it, but Reagan did she's like, I don't know what the fuck you're eating or drinking, but you're crazy. You're

Clay: 38:57

crazy. Yeah.

POKE: 39:00

She just told me that last time. I'm like, no, I've been doing it so long. Like second hand to me. You know what I mean? It's like nothing saying.

POKE: 39:06

I

ARI: 39:07

gotcha.

Aidan: 39:08

What does good taste mean to you? Good taste? Good taste.

POKE: 39:12

I mean, I'm trying to understand that. Wait a minute. What the fuck do mean?

Clay: 39:15

That's okay too. What the fuck?

Aidan: 39:19

You can take it however you

Clay: 39:20

want. Okay.

Aidan: 39:20

It's a very open ended question.

POKE: 39:22

Something

Clay: 39:26

positive. Something positive. That's great. I I'm gonna run with that. Thank you.

Clay: 39:32

And

Aidan: 39:34

then one last one. If you could leave our listeners or viewers with one lesson from your journey, what would it be?

POKE: 39:40

Come to the fucking Wiener Circle, man. We here at the Wiener Circle, I'm telling you, it's like just the vibe alone. It's not only the food, it's not only the people, it's the vibe that we have here. Bring your ass here, trust me, you're gonna love every minute of it, and especially if I'm here, okay?

Aidan: 40:01

Okay. Well, that was fantastic. Thank you both so much for your time with me today. Where can anybody find you guys? Obviously at the Wiener Circle itself.

Aidan: 40:10

Absolutely.

POKE: 40:11

I don't know

Aidan: 40:12

if you want to plug anything else. I know you also have a show that is happening here as well. I just wanna kinda open up the mic for you guys. Yeah.

ARI: 40:19

We have our own podcast called Raw Dog, where guests love that I'm famous or interesting or otherwise, sit down for an interview with with us. It's typically Pucci and Matt Brewer. Yeah. Sometimes I sit in there, at the same table, and the premise is, like, they're interviewing for a shift, and then at the end, they get the job. They work they work a shift with Pucci as their boss, a short shift, put her on apron.

ARI: 40:41

We've had Marshawn Lynch, Colson Loveland, Jeff Tweedy, Rick Bayless, and they're all starting to come out. That's awesome.

Aidan: 40:48

Super, super, super excited to see your episodes coming out here

POKE: 40:50

soon. Oh, dear. Come and see us. We get a bunch of the people. What do you call those people that come from social media after class?

POKE: 40:56

Influencers. So Oh, lord. I got one of them. I went viral on this shit, and I didn't even

Clay: 41:02

know. He

POKE: 41:04

had it on and had the glasses on, and everybody's like, he had on the glasses. I'm like, girl, I don't know. I can't know. I'm holding shit. And he's just sitting there in the glizzy.

POKE: 41:15

And I get so many customers now, I want a glizzy. Bitch, a hot dog. Yes.

Aidan: 41:21

Yes. Well, thank you both so much for having me hang out with you both today. I'm excited

ARI: 41:26

to kinda do a little

Aidan: 41:27

bit of walking around with the restaurant with you right after this.

ARI: 41:30

I put on the apron himself.

Aidan: 41:31

I would love to come.

POKE: 41:33

Have you ever worked in a restaurant?

Aidan: 41:34

I work in a restaurant every day.

POKE: 41:36

Alright. Well,

Aidan: 41:39

do. I got my ass and I'm ready to go. You can put me through the paces, boss. I'm ready to work.

POKE: 41:44

Alright. You're working on day shift. It's still daylight.

Aidan: 41:47

Don't let

ARI: 41:47

her say too late though. Alright.

Clay: 41:49

I appreciate you. Alright.

Aidan: 41:51

My name's Ada Descray, and this has been All In Good Taste.