(funky beat)
The 2019 Jeep Wrangler and I have an awful lot in common
this morning.
We're both on cruise control,
until we get some fuel in our belly.
- Give me all the bacon and eggs you have.
- Well it's a good thing we're at Meli Cafe in Greektown,
where I hear their portions are huge!
And, you can't spell Meli without "Me."
Well and "Li," but I honestly, I have no idea who Li is.
Breakfast, the most important meal of the day.
Discuss.
- [Angelo] When you wake up, the first thing you wanna
think is, you wanna get some food, you wanna get some
energy for the day.
So that's why we feel that breakfast
is the most important thing here at Meli Cafe.
It's our food, our atmosphere, our staff here.
(phone ringing)
- Hello Meli Cafe, Elliott speaking.
How can I help?
Hello, Yani, you want to speak to Yani?
Let me put you on hold, one second please.
This is the hold music.
You are on hold.
You can't do a Chicago's Best Breakfast show
without a killer steak and eggs.
- [Angelo] Yeah, and for breakfast that is a staple.
- They buy the good quality steak.
- Like a hearty, full plate.
- It's always cooked to perfection, seasoned great.
- I'm a Greek, so I love the idea of oregano on it,
and a little lemon squeezed on it.
- I need to go and make this food.
Otherwise, I'm gonna be answering calls for people
who've got overdue dates on their accounts.
- Yeah, and customer service-wise, eh,
we'll see how you are in the kitchen.
- [Elliott] How did you like my hold music, though?
- I would give it probably a nine.
- Okay.
- I'll have to hear a little bit more music later on.
(phone ringing)
(Elliott singing)
(rock music)
- [Elliott] So this is Chef Juan, and he is the man in
charge of everyone's breakfast here in Meli Cafe.
- [Chef Juan] Thank you.
- [Elliott] Like most Executives, do you have a
private bathroom and a helicopter?
- Yeah.
(crickets chirping)
- Yep, okay, he's got his own helicopter.
Skirt steak, hormone-free.
- And I wanna show you how to marinate,
Greek style.
Start with the olive oil.
- [Elliott] With lemon juice.
- [Chef Juan] Put a little bit of garlic,
- This is where our Greek flavors come in.
- Yeah.
- The lemon and the oregano together.
- [Chef Juan] Then, you wanna put some fresh ground pepper.
- Ah, I've always wanted to be a, I love when you go to
restaurants and the server's like...
- Fresh pepper?
- There you go, there you go.
- Say when.
- [Chef Juan] That's it, that's enough.
- Gratzi.
- I need a holster for this, how bout that?
- There you go, there you go.
- You want some pepper with that?
Just walking down the street, everyone.
You want some pepper with that?
- You want some pepper, right?
- You'll get a little shot of my hand twitching.
Pow!
- There you go, there you go.
- I've had a lot of coffee this morning.
(edgy rock music)
Whoo!
I may crash at some point but right now, holy (censored),
my heart is racing, yeah!
- [Chef Juan] Little whisk, little whisk.
Then after that, we just let them sit for...
- Two days?
- Two days.
- We got two-day old marinated steak ready to go?
- 48 hours.
- Okay, because we need to go and make this food.
All right, after you, your way.
Putting this back in my holster.
- Let's go, come over here.
- Your move, punk.
- [Harry Callahan] Make my day.
- That steak is marinated to hell, but we can't start here.
We have to start with our hash browns, right?
- [Chef Juan] So this is clarified butter.
- Nice big handful?
- [Chef Juan] Yeah, exactly.
- [Elliott] That's enough, chef?
- [Chef Juan] It's enough.
In the meantime, we're gonna cook the steak.
- Yeah, we do.
One more flip?
- [Chef Juan] Yeah.
- [Elliott] Notice there is one thing missing
from our steak and eggs.
- The eggs!
- [Elliott] Oh I got a double yolker!
- Yeah it's a lucky day.
- Double yolk!
Really left to do is just the plate up, right?
- All right, yep.
- You can take care of that as the executive?
- Yeah, that's it, I can do it.
- Besides which, I hear the phone ringing.
Hello, Meli Cafe, what's your favorite color?
Hello, Meli Cafe, what're you wearing?
Yo, you ready for breakfast?
Wazzah?
Finally, food is here.
- Let's see what you cooked here,
a perfect medium rare.
- The right amount of pink, the right amount of charring.
- That skirt steak keeps that flavor in,
and again, marinating it for those two days,
it gives it that extra flavor.
And that's what the thing is,
it's definitely Chicago's best deal.
Along with being Greek, that just gives it that extra flair.
- It's a classic breakfast dish, served on a
classic street, in a classic neighborhood in Chicago.
Three locations, but you guys are
still family owned and operated.
- Yes, we are.
My father-in-law and his partner,
Yani, started this off.
- We'll always be friends with Meli Cafe.
They'll always like our stuff, we'll always like theirs.
But now, we have something we can all agree on and unify
ourselves over, breakfast.
I didn't know where I was going with that.
I'm just waiting for the phone to ring.
(phone ringing)