So a Meat Guy Walks Into a Bar...

I was at a bar (whose name is yet to be determined) last night watching, then crying over, the ill-fated Bulls. Right before the end of the game, the bartender asked if I wanted to buy some meat. Just meat? I asked. Like raw naked meat? Apparently a fellow comes in every now and then, like the tamale guy in Wrigleyville, selling raw steaks. According to the bartender, they're very good.

Anybody know about this fella? He gave me his card:

Ruprecht Company
Wholesale Meats
Ribeye Steaks & Filets

Pasquale
708-408-4683

The company is located in Mundelein, which makes this even stranger. http://ruprechtcompany.com/

Do they have a vertical marketing sales model? What's next, "Get your Streetwise! T-bone steaks!"?

When I tended bar ages ago a guy would often come in with a variety of smoked ready to eat sausages, cheese spreads, cocktail breads/crackers, and mustards.
They were actually pretty good and not very expensive. Late night snacks at the bar vastly improved when he showed up.
Sometimes I really miss those days but I realize that at my age you can't go back; my liver, my wallet, and my wife will not allow it.

That's what I was hoping for, but sadly, everything was raw.

There are at least a couple guys doing this. One guy sells more of the typical butcher-shop fare (steaks, burgers, etc.) and the other guy has more sausages, cheeses and condiments, probably the guy zoid is talking about. About a year ago, one of them sold me a jar of the most obscenely hot horseradish I've ever had. It's awesome, and jacks up a bloody mary nicely. The other thing I remember is the guy wore a white butcher's coat, which was kinda charming.

The sausage guy goes by the nickname "G.I. Joe". His official company name is Perl Brand Foods. He's been doing the bar circuit for a couple of decades or more; working all night, hitting the bars until the last ones close at four a-m.

Occasionally, he carries our sauces as part of his selection.

Turns out I actually went to high school with him. I could tell you his real name, but then he'd have to kill both of us.

Buddy

G I Joe.... Got way more of my money late at night than he ever would have in the day. He has a wide area he covers. I remember seeing him in many different parts of town, and that was 15 years ago or more. Glad to hear he is still around.

2146 north wrote:...Got way more of my money late at night than he ever would have in the day.

That might be part of his business model.

Buddy

Perl Brand has not be around for 10 year or so. I knew the son of the owner and they closed down a long time ago. They had be around of the south side for a long time. They had wonderfull things. Even walmart carried them.

"G.I. Joe" is the son of the old Perl Brand owner. He and his brother operate a specialty food distribution company up in the northwest suburbs. The Perl Brand company used to make a line of sausages in a south side plant. "Joe" was doing the bar circuit even back then. I don't know how he stayed up all night selling sausages bar stool to bar stool, and then managed to run the plant during the day.

Of course we were 20 years younger back then.

Buddy

I remember the original Joe showing up at freight houses and baggage handler break areas when I worked at O'Hare field in the early 80's. He always had a stainless steel drum full of sausages on a two wheeled hand truck.
The guy really covered a lot of ground. There were days I would see him at O'Hare and later that night I would see him again working the bars on Lincoln Av.

JSM wrote:I remember the original Joe showing up at freight houses and baggage handler break areas when I worked at O'Hare field in the early 80's. He always had a stainless steel drum full of sausages on a two wheeled hand truck.

Oh, I bet security wouldn't let that happen anymore! Sounds like a really interesting character! This whole post has been fun. Reminds me of the street "mongers" when I was a little kid in... ah hem...... many years ago!

one of them sold me a jar of the most obscenely hot horseradish I've ever had.

Me too, bought this great horseradish from one of these guys for $5. About 2 weeks later I saw him in Joe and Franks at Archer and Harlem buying it for $2.29 a jar. Now I buy it when I'm sober, and I buy it at Joe & Franks.

My son and his friend were at Cary’s Lounge (great local bar now with a beer garden) last night when G.I. Joe the sausage guy appeared with many free samples of his wares. Pete, the owner, was delighted and ordered some brats. After they sampled quite a bit, my son snagged a menu/price list and bought two packages of pastrami to bring home. The pastrami is okay—seasoned well but a bit dry and chewy for my taste, probably due to it being sliced and then packaged up. Perhaps not the best choice, but my kid loves pastrami. Both guys thought the sausage, horseradish cheese, and other stuff they tried were very good.

The menu is interesting (see here for a PDF), but the thing the guys couldn’t get over is that “G.I. Joe” touted his Sausage Emergency Number for those times that you are in dire need of sausages! Call if you need that salami, andouille, braunschweiger, polish, or brat now!

If any community needs a Sausage Emergency Number, it’s ours, and I post it as a public service.

Perl’s All American Sausage Co.
Manufacturers & Distributers of Sausage Specialties
1420 Ensell Road
Lake Zurich, IL 60047
SAUSAGE EMERGENCY NUMBER: 773.255-6327
Toll Free 888-JOE PERL (888.563-7375)

Cary’s Lounge
2251 W. Devon Ave.
Chicago, IL 60659
773.743.5737
https://www.facebook.com/CarysChicago

seems this is an uber partnership just waiting to take off.

Meet 'G.I. Joe,' Chicago's Legendary Traveling Sausage Salesman

Traveling sausage salesman Joshua Perl has been on the road hawking meat (and telling tales) to hungry late-night drinkers for 40 years.

https://patch.com/illinois/chicago/meet ... e-salesman

Dave148 wrote:Meet 'G.I. Joe,' Chicago's Legendary Traveling Sausage Salesman

I've run into this fellow a few times, though not for years. To say he's quite the character is understatement. I recall the sausages being tasty, summer sausage in particular.

Dave148 wrote:Meet 'G.I. Joe,' Chicago's Legendary Traveling Sausage Salesman

Traveling sausage salesman Joshua Perl has been on the road hawking meat (and telling tales) to hungry late-night drinkers for 40 years.

https://patch.com/illinois/chicago/meet ... e-salesman

Back in the day, beautiful women threw themselves at Perl, who stands a lean 6-foot-3-inches tall and carries 250 pounds. "Sometimes a bartender decides she wants you," he said. "You do what you have to do."

Perl says he's fathered "15-20" children with five women. It's the reason he's still making sales calls to taverns into the wee hours.

Faces of Chicago: "G.I. Joe" Perl the sausage man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG7PnKTEExY

Artie wrote:Faces of Chicago: "G.I. Joe" Perl the sausage man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG7PnKTEExY

I like the way G. I. Joe is cutting sausage in the video. Similar but not exact to a roll cut used with round vegetables like carrots in Chinese cooking. (34-seconds in)