Buona, Chicago’s Original Italian Beef and the official beef of the Cubs and the White Sox and Ben’s Chili Bowl, a beloved DC staple since 1958 and the “official dog” of the Washington Nationals, are raising the stakes during the upcoming National League Division Series. The winning team will serve “humble pie” in the form of two sandwiches to the losing team’s culinary captain, who will be forced to wear the winning team’s cap and jersey while he’s filmed eating the other city’s famous street food. David Kaplan of ESPN Chicago 1000 (Kap & Company) and Host of SportsTalk Live Host and Cubs Pre- and Post-Game analysis on Comcast SportsNet, will represent the Chicago Cubs, and Bruce Johnson, WUSA 9 Anchor, will represent the Washington Nationals.
During the five-game series, which will take place between October 6 and October 12, fans from each city can rally around their famous local sandwiches made their favorite way: in Chicago, it’s Italian Beef, Hot and Baptized, and in DC it’s a half smoke “All the Way.”
An Italian Beef sandwich is composed of thin slices of slow roasted beef simmered and served in its own natural gravy on Italian-style bread; “Hot and Dipped” (aka “Baptized”) means it’s served with Chicago-style giardiniera (an Italian relish of spicy pickled vegetables) and dunked in the gravy; a Half-Smoke is a quarter-pound smoked pork and beef sausage served “All The Way,” which means it’s topped with mustard, onions and Ben’s Spicy Homemade Chili Sauce.