OUR TOP FAVORITE CHICAGO DELIGHTS

Chicago is home to some of the best dishes in the country, but did you know that it is also the place where many great foods started out? That’s right- the Windy City is really the only place to get some of these foods in their authentic, original flavors and made the way that they were meant to be enjoyed.

Deep Dish Pizza- This is the one that everyone knows Chicago for, and there are some many great places to try this signature pizza at. You may also want to branch out and try some less traditional methods of deep dish pizza while in the city. There are a lot of pizzerias that have taken the conventional recipe and done some amazing things with it.

Italian Beef- This sandwich is famous around the world, and it was probably invented at Al’s Beef in 1938. The sandwich started as a way to take beef that wasn’t very tasty and preserving it to make it last longer, all while adding some spices to it to give it more appeal. The original Al’s Beef in Chicago will let you try the sandwich wet, which gives the signature dish a generous helping of gravy to make it even more unique.

Wrigley’s Gum- Of course, gum has been in use for thousands of years, but the Wrigley’s Gum company started out in Chicago back in 1891 by a soap and powder salesman. Wrigley’s Field is actually named after the advertising genius behind this gum. People all around the world know and love the gum because its creator had the brilliant idea to send a stick to everyone who was listed in the phone book back when the company first started.

Twinkie- Another globally known product had its humble beginning in Chicago. James Dewar worked for the Continental Baking Company and first filled the spongey cake treat with banana crème. Vanilla was added later and became the signature filling for this packaged treat.

Vienna Beef- Chicago may be known for its veggie-filled hot dogs, but the frankfurters that make up those hot dogs also come in a signature style. Vienna beef was brought over to Chicago from Vienna and was popularized during the Great Depression. The same type of hot dogs are used all over the city, and it is part of what makes Chicago hot dogs such definitive game day staples.

Chocolate Brownies- Chicago is real a food lover’s paradise, as we wouldn’t have chocolate brownies without Chicago resident Bertha Palmer. She was looking to create a new kind of treat that would be similar to a cake but small enough to fit into a lunch container. She used crushed walnuts, semi-sweet chocolate and apricot glaze for her initial brownies, and the name “brownie” didn’t even come into use until years later in a catalogue from Sears Roebuck.

What We Recommend For Event Space Cleaning

It takes a lot of work to create a space that looks great for your event, keep it looking great throughout your event and then clean it all up afterwards. The key to event space cleaning and a successful event is a solid plan of action.

You need to figure out who will clean what and when they will be cleaning. Everyone should know their jobs, and your people and venue should be well organized. Here are some tips to help you pull that off.

Assign Trash Duty

Depending on how big your event is, you may need a few people on trash duty. You’ll want them to clean up the space before the event, getting rid of any wrappers or cleaning supplies that were left behind during preparations. You’ll also want them to periodically clean out on the event floor, keeping the space safe and clear. They also need to be ready to clean as the event is wrapping up. No one wants to look back at the venue as they are heading out and see a bunch of trash, so have your people organized with precise times allocated for them to clean.

Janitor Services Will Be Required

You will also want someone to be ready to clean up any spills, whether they are dry or liquid ones. These are safety hazards, and you’ll want them cleaned up as they happen. Many venues will ask the wait staff to act as janitors, but you want dedicated cleaning personnel on this duty, as you don’t want to slow down the wait staff. The janitorial staff should be keeping an eye out for spills and periodically patrolling the event venue to keep things clean and looking their best. Even a small spill can spell major disaster, so this job is vitally important.

Have a Leader Picked out

You will need to have your cleaning staff organized under a single leader. This is someone who will be able to get away from the activities of the event periodically to assign jobs to individuals. They may need some way to communicate remotely with other cleaning staff, but they should not be expected to do any cleaning themselves. They need to be paying attention to cleaning issues and then assigning the right person to the job as those issues arise.

Know What’s on Hand

Before you start up the event, you need to make sure your cleaning personnel have everything they need to keep the space clean. You don’t want to find out partway into your event that there isn’t a way to properly clean up spills or get rid of broken glass. You need a contingency plan for everything, and you need a way to clean up any kind of mess. Run the possibilities through your head and brainstorm with other event organizers working with you. Together, you can come up with scenarios that you should prepare for and then find solutions to those scenarios. Have a plan of action written out ahead of time and post it where everyone can see. That way, if something happens, everyone is on the same page and the problem can be addressed quickly and effectively.

We Spill it All On Cleaning A Brewery

One of the most difficult parts of operating a brewery seems to be keeping it clean. Most brewery owners have their own methods of cleaning that differ somewhat from what their competitors use, and they tend to stick with what they know works but still struggle to find a way to get their brewery looking as clean as they would like it.

If you have experienced this same problem, and you are looking for a solution that will give you a thorough clean, then you should keep reading.

Cleaning the Kettle

The kettle should be sanitized every time wort is transferred out of it into another vessel. This means that once a batch has been made, the kettle should get a thorough cleaning. This will prevent cross contamination. You want to start with a cold rinse, as a hot one would bake in some of the contaminants. Then drain the kettle and fill it with a water and detergent solution. How much detergent you use will depend on how big your kettle is. You will want to finish by washing the kettle down with another cold rinse and then cleaning with hot water and disinfectant.

Powerful Chemicals Are the Key

You should use a cleaning agent that is strong enough to kill germs, because with brewery cleaning, you should have the apparatus physically clean and chemically clean. You want to kill all those microbes that you can’t see, since they can affect the flavor of your batches and can contaminate and cause food poisoning. A brewery is the perfect breeding ground for many kinds of germs, so make sure that yours stays very clean.

At the same time, the chemicals should not be so powerful that they eat through your apparatus. You’ll have to do some research for the kind of equipment you are using. You don’t want to damage your investment, but you do want a completely sanitary brewery.

Cleaning Small Equipment

You can’t just rinse down the smaller items that make up your brewery equipment, like spigots, siphons, tubing and racking canes. These will need to be disassembled and then soaked in a sanitizing solution. Once they have soaked for 15-20 minutes, you can scrub them down with a non-metallic cleaning tool, such as a scrub pad or bottle brush.

Replace when Necessary

Part of keeping a clean brewery means replacing the items that won’t hold up over time. Anything that’s made of plastic will have a limited shelf life on it, so be sure to replace them every so often. If you see discoloration start to appear on your plastic parts and see the parts begin to degrade, then regular cleaning isn’t going to fix that. You’ll need to get replacement parts in time.

Poor Cleaning Doesn’t Show Right Away

You may have your brewery looking physically clean, but you might not have killed the microbes. If that happens, you probably won’t notice the negative effects right away. Your next batch will probably taste fine, but the batch after that will be tainted enough that you will likely notice something off. By the third batch, you will definitely taste an issue, and you’ll know that deeper, more thorough cleaning is required.