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- OAK + SWINE.
I'm gonna take a wild guess
that you guys specialize
in
whiskey, bourbon, and barbecue.
- You hit it right on the head, absolutely.
But we are very proud of our brisket as well.
It's a very traditional Texas-style barbecue
that we're trying to bring
to the Western suburbs of Chicago.
It's very simple. It's all about the smoke and the rock.
- How did OAK + Swine come to be?
- I spent 15 years in the trading pits at the CME
and cooking was a way of using the other side of my brain
so I can decompress
and use a little bit of creativity
and kind of relax.
And so it snowballed from there.
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- This, of course,
is an even more difficult episode to get yourself into
because not only do you have to have great food,
you have to have beautiful food
to be on Insta-worthy
- Eat with your eyes first,
so we take a lot of pride in what we do.
We really pay attention to the details
and we make sure that everything we put out every single day
is the best of our best.
- Brett said that we had to come and try to animal frites.
- Well, you know, it is a great dish.
It's on the shareables menu,
but I have people that come in
and want that just for their meal.
I have a friend that comes in
and wants two have those as a meal.
It's got a little bit of everything in it.
- It is not a dish
I think you could find in any other restaurant.
- And that was the concept
and my chef Mitch was the one
that really kind of tied it all together.
- What is on it?
- Well, what's not on it?
First of all, you know,
you're gonna start with a layer of a hash brown waffles,
house-smoked pulled pork
and then we got Polish sausage sliced up,
house-made cheese,
smoked Gouda,
pepper jack,
a little bit of American cheese in there.
It's delectable, that's for sure.
And then you get some giardiniera peppers on there
and then a fried eggs.
It's the perfect topping.
- And you've put a Nashville hot-red seasoning on the egg.
- Yeah. You got to give a little kick at the end.
- All right. Show us the kitchen
and let's build this baby.
- Let's do it.
- Byron, you look prepped and ready to go here,
should we build this?
- Let's do this. So, we have to start
with our famous, hot waffle base.
Gud, helping us smoke pulled pork over there.
Pull the sausage,
slice up nice and good.
- With every item that you add,
I find myself leaning more and more forward
as if I'm gonna get to the food,
if I just lean closer. (both laughing)
- All right, then we top it off
with our house-made cheese sauce
and then fried egg on top.
What's not awesome with fried egg on top?
- You tell me, I'll think you're crazy.
- There you go.
And then giardiniera, right?
You got to have a little bit of spice in there.
And then Nashville hot--
- Dust.
- And a beautiful Salt Bae action from chef Mitch there.
- Chef Mitch is the best, absolutely.
- I'm gonna fry an egg
and then can we eat it?
- Please, I can't wait.
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- All right.
I'm pretty pumped about this.
Tater tot waffles.
How did this become a thing?
Because it's genius.
- Just trying to push the envelope a little too much
but I'd probably say one too many bourbons
and you never know what you're gonna think of.
- We both have the bourbon,
so, cheers-- - Cheers.
- And lets eat some tater tot waffles.
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It is a rare moment on this show
where I don't know where to begin,
but wow.
I am extremely critical of cheese sauce,
maybe more than anything else.
It's spectacular.
- I've been working on it for a long time,
so very, very proud of the cheese sauce.
- The combination of the pulled pork
and the Polish sausage is so smart
because you get that right,
that salty smokiness that everybody wants in a pulled pork
and the Polish sausage is a sweeter, softer sausage,
so it's like a perfect combination.
And eating a tater tot in waffle form,
it's so smart (Byron laughs)
because there's nothing more sad
than like, when your tater tot
starts to crumble off your fork
and you lose the bite.
- Plus with the waffle,
you get a little bit more crispiness, you know,
you get that ratio of crispy to soft.
It's perfect.
- I'm honestly going to make eggs
with the Nashville hot-red seasoning on top
cause I want just to eat that punch.
Not only does this look Insta-worthy,
it does has Insta-worthy flavor.
If this was an Instagram food review,
you would get (bell rings)
five out of five stars (bell rings)
- Because of our passion for food,
our passion for giving you
the best experience you can possibly have.
And we're not just trying to have good barbecue,
we just having great food.
- This is some great food.
Seriously, Byron, this is spectacular.
- Yeah. A little bit of everything.
There's nothing more you can put on there.
- You don't change this dish ever.
- They would run the other time if I do.
(Byron laughing)
- Am coming for you Byron,
don't mess this up. - No.
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