Chicago-style food battle: David (Great Chicago Fire) vs. Goliath (Portillo's)
Portillo's has opened in Clermont and a new one is planned to open this year in Lady Lake.
Considered an iconic Chicago-inspired fast casual restaurant since 1963, the eatery serves homemade Italian beef sandwiches, Chicago-style hot dogs, charbroiled burgers, cheese fries, chopped salad and desserts like chocolate cake and cake shakes. The eatery now has six restaurants in Florida: Brandon, Clermont, Kissimmee, Orlando, St. Petersburg and Tampa.
You can order online for takeout or delivery at Portillo's in Clermont. The Lady Lake Portillo's will be 7,800 square feet and will seat up to 226 guests. Ample outdoor patio seating that will be provided.
The news about the Portillo's has caused concern for Great Chicago Fire Brewery & Tap Room owner John Sokol. "People have driven two hours to come to my place because there was nothing else around," he said.
What does Great Chicago Fire have that Portillo's doesn't have? The thin-crust pizza that native Windy City eaters love, says Sokol. He also praises his authentic Chicago/Illinois-based food suppliers such as Vienna Hotdogs, Fontanini Meats, Turano Bakery and Iltaco Foods.
"Pizza is one of those things that everybody tries and loves at our place," Sokol said of his brew pub-restaurant, in business since 2016. It's a go-to of Leesburg chamber membership/events director Joa Jane Harpster. The Daily Commercial interviewed her about her restaurant picks last fall.
Sokol's corporate-owned competitor was founded by Dick Portillo. The eatery started out as a family-run business and later sold his 38 stores to a venture capital investor (Berkshire Partners). Portillo's later went public on the stock exchange. "We are still a family run small business with nowhere near the buying power they have," Sokol said. "I am not saying they are a bad place. They are a benchmark to Chicago food, just like Olive Garden to Italian food, Red Lobster to seafood and Buffalo Wild Wings to wings. There are plenty of small businesses doing it better, just not cheaper. We can't compete with corporate buying power and ad dollars. Are we better than Portillo's? That's not for me to say, that is up to the customer's individual taste. Are we different from Portillo's, the answer is yes!"
Not every local is loyal to Great Chicago Fire. When asked which is better, Terry Miller of The Villages said, "Portillo's, hands down."
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Portillo said that he sees his namesake restaurants as more of a special destination than other fast-casual chains. He still provides guidance as a consultant to Berkshire Partners, including the fielding of potential CEOs. One of Portillo's sons, Michael, still works for the restaurant, training managers.
"The wide variety means families linger, even with no kids' menus or toys," the Portillo's founder said. "The company has shipped its food to every state for in-home celebrations."
Sokol concedes that he doesn't have the chocolate cake you can get at Portillo's. "They have the best chocolate cake in the world," he said. "I will give them that ... and we don't have hamburgers. That's pretty much it."
He created an infographic to share with Chicago-style food lovers what his establishment has that Portillo's doesn't:
Sokol is an active member of the Leesburg business community and local government. A former deputy fire chief, he has been a staunch supporter of first responders as well as veterans. He hosted the 22nd anniversary 9/11 remembrance, which has taken place since 2017, adjacent to the Fire & Police Memorial he built that year in front of his establishment at the corner of Third and Magnolia streets in downtown Leesburg.
Operating an eatery in a pedestrian-friendly downtown where you can shop and attend outdoor events gives Sokol an advantage. While his restaurant might not be as sparkling or spacious, eating on a patio overlooking a parking lot and shopping center doesn't offer the same ambiance as sitting outside on Main Street. Great Chicago Fire may be a little rougher around the edges but it is also somewhere you can watch a Cubs or Bears game with fellow fans, a plus expressed by Yelp reviewers.
Some equate new with clean and gravitate toward more corporate-regulated restaurants. According to a Los Angeles Times story, the cleanest of all the fast-food eateries: the popular chicken restaurants KFC or a Chick-fil-A. "Though you’d think all the raw chicken being thrown around would spread some serious salmonella, it seems these restaurants keep their food-borne bacteria under wraps," the L.A. Times report said.
"We work together, we work hard, we strive to the best through quality, great service, positive attitudes, cleanliness and sanitation," writes one Portillo's general manager in his Indeed review. "We are a growing company with a positive outlook that has provided stability for out team members throughout the pandemic."
But mom-and-pops "are far from dead," says one Forbes report. "Seven of every 10 restaurants are still one-unit eateries, the National Restaurant Association reports.
A look at a Portillo's Florida arrival: Portillo's already in Sunshine State, when will Midwest chain come to SW Florida? We asked
Service is always a sticking point when it comes to the age-old question of mom-and-pop vs. corporate chain eateries.
One Reddit user said of Portillo's: "At times you can walk into the store and be the only one at the counter, and it will still take 20 minutes to get your food. They're so overloaded with drive-thru and grubhub/delivery/app orders."
Of course, chain restaurants can vary from one location to another. The Clermont Portillo's, which has far fewer reviews than Great Chicago Fire because of its recentness, does share the same average review: 4.1 stars.
The first Florida Portillo's, in Brandon, has more than 8,600 reviews and an average score of 4.5 stars. Take this info with a pinch of salt. We cannot confirm the veracity of the individual Google scores.
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Chicago grub: Great Chicago Fire vs. Portillo's
