Libations for Everyone Charles Awad & Ben Quam

Time for another Chicago guest on Libations for Everyone! Derrick Tung is the owner/operator of the spectacular Paulie Gee's Pizza (Charles' fav pizza in Chicago). He joins LFE to detail future plans for more Paulie Gee's locales, a brewery food service collab, a new bar concept, smashburgers, traveling to a Shaolin monastery in Hunan province to study kung fu (SRSLY), and a heck of a lot more, in addition to these six topics of the week:
🍝 What’s your favorite thing to serve someone that’s vegan?
🎷 What new-to-you genre of music have you explored more fully recently?
🎗️ Where does your drive to do good come from?
🧭 Name somewhere that you have traveled, that you absolutely adore, that you are well overdue to visit again.
🍕 When it comes to creating and eating pizza-- is anything off the table for you?
🏙️ What is your favorite thing about living in such a vibrant city?
Grab yourself a slice of LFE!
Beverages of Choice
This week's featured spirit, courtesy of our sponsors at Beam Suntory:
Basil Hayden Kentucky Straight BourbonFIND US
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Jessi Pollak is one of the most apropos individuals to join Ben & Charles in their pursuit of sometimes-inspiring, oft-weird, libations-laden, bar-style conversations, as a one-time World Class US Bartender of the Year, Speed Rack national finalist, and the commander of all of the wonderful things you lift to your lips and sip for Soigné Hospitality (they, of the heralded Spoon & Stable, Demi, Mara, et al).
Quam whipped up a lovely, light, neutral sherry based cocktail, which was shared alongside neat cordials of gin, and homogenized within a chat containing these six topics of conversation:
🧊 Name a bartender that had a lasting impact on your life.
👂 What is a sound that will make you smile no matter what mood you’re in?
🍸 Name a classic cocktail that’s being modified a lot these days, that you believe is perhaps better left alone.
🪞 What is your favorite room or space in or around your home?
🍄‍🟫 What is an ingredient that you adore, and want to make more people love?
🛏️ Name the steps you take to make your bed.
Let's shake things up!
Beverages of Choice
This week's featured spirit, courtesy of our sponsors at Beam Suntory:
Sipsmith London Dry GinFIND US
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Friend of the Podcast, Gustavo Romero, returns to Libations for Everyone, and not a moment too soon, as his absolutely spectacular restaurant Oro was recently named a finalist for James Beard's Best New Restaurant in the US.
The fellas talk about culinary accolades, the bizarre phenomena of leaving the last piece, weird things that beets and asparagus do to your body, the continuing evolution of Nixta and Oro, the versatility of peanut butter, and these six topics of the week:
🌶️ Name an odd or surprising staple in your pantry.
🎁 What is a tradition that many people celebrate that you would like to see done away with?
⏱️ Name a place that you’ve been where you can go to feel like you’ve traveled back in time.
📺 What TV show cancellation are you still mad about?
🔥 What's your go-to beverage on a hot day when you're sweating behind the stove or a grill?
🗺️ You've just been awarded a James Beard award. You can go anywhere in the world to celebrate. Where do you go?
Let's dig in!
Beverages of Choice
This week's featured spirit, courtesy of our sponsors at Beam Suntory:
Tres Generaciones Tequila ReposadoFIND US
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Vivaaaaaaaa Wrestlemania! Viva Knievel singer extraordinaire Jake Quam, and our very-own resident Chaz, are both newly returned from having the times of their lives in Philly for all of the many festivities of Wrestlemania week.
These two wrasslin dorks chat up the OTHER Quam about their adventures at the pro-grape equivalent of Disneyland, and Jake tells all about what's cooking this spring for Viva Knievel-- beginning with their annual "hot szn kickoff" spectacular for the legendary Art-a-Whirl festival in Minneapolis on May 17th at Bauhaus Brew Labs.
All that, and more, in addition to your six topics of the week:
🧇 Name a food that’s better somewhere other than where it was originally created.
📀 What was the first music that you remember being YOUR music?
⚾️ What is the greatest sports moment you’ve ever witnessed live?
☢️ What’s the first creature comfort you’d miss in a post-apocalypse?
☀️ What's your unofficial summer food of 2024?
💪🏽 How do you describe pro wrestling to people that don't understand it?
PLUS: a lil teaser for a production that Jake and Charles are working on together.
Hit that play button like a Stone Cold Stunner 💀
Beverages of Choice
This week's featured spirit, courtesy of our sponsors at Beam Suntory:
Knob Creek 9 Year Straight Kentucky WhiskeyFIND US
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It's due time for another tag-team edition of the pod! What once was a convenient fill-in for cancellations or open dates, has become an alternative episode type unto itself, and is becoming more and more difficult to find a space for in the never-ending avalanche of spectacular guests on LFE.
The boys discuss Charles' recent Japan adventures, SURPRISE MAYONNAISE, Memaw's Cheese Tiddies (yes, they are a real snack food), and all of the following topics:
🔥 What outdoor cooking technique do you really want to GIT GÜD at this year?
🍖 Name a food that you pretty much avoid eating except for at a very specific place.
🚍 What's the worst thing about traveling with others?
🤝🏽 Name a memorable “single serving friend” you made on an adventure.
💭 You can only eat one of the following for the rest of your days: pizza, burgers or tacos. CHOOSE WISELY.
🌍 Name a food that’s surprisingly popular in a foreign location you've visited.
We're tagging you in!! Let's start the show.
Beverages of Choice
This week's featured spirit, courtesy of our sponsors at Beam Suntory:
Maker's Mark Private Select: American Oak StaveFIND US
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Amanda Jacobson from the delightful, hilarious, spoopy Wine & Crime podcast, and the steamy, titillating, BONKBUSTERY Passages pod, is the LFE third-host o' the week! Seldom do Charles & Quam have the chance to clink glasses on-air with such a kindred spirit-- as fellow "drinking a lot while laughing hysterically into a mic" enthusiasts.
Talking about pod life is just one small part of this G&T sesh, in addition to an infinite number of terrible puns, stories about broken bones on vacation, frozen pizza history 101, and these six topics:
🍟 New fast food creations have become a lot dumber throughout the decades. Invent a new fast food creations that would absolutely kill it today.
❄️ Winter is ending in some parts of the world, and soon to begin in others. What is a favorite "I'm not going outside" meal of yours?
✅ Describe a time you said YES to something that you considered passing on, and you were really happy you did.
🍷 How has your taste in wine changed over the years, and what wine are you really into right now?
🐇 Loving dark, macabre, brooding stuff rules. But what type of floofy, lighthearted or comedic fare cleanses your palate?
🚲 Being a good traveler is complex. Name a time you were a part of, or witness to, good OR bad tourism.
PLUS: Charles won't STFU about Japan, having just returned a couple days ago,
These three really like to talk, so buckle up. LFE time is here again!
Beverages of Choice
This week's featured spirit, courtesy of our sponsors at Beam Suntory:
Roku Gin & TonicsFIND US
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