Wisconsin Foodie | Kenosha Drive-ins | The Diplomat | Season 11 | Episode 6

- Announcer: This week on Wisconsin Foodie .

[upbeat music] - Chuck Laferney: You know, as a little kid comin' in here, the smell, the hamburgers and all that, it was just a dream I had that someday I would do it.

You know, Kenosha was American Motors, so it was a motor city.

So we had lots of drive-ins.

So I would say us and The Spot are probably the only two left.

If you grew up on the other side of town, you're a Spot person.

You know, most people, if they grew up on the north side, they're Big Star.

If they grew up on the south side, they're Spot.

- Mary Polzin: I've been here for 40 years at The Spot Drive-In.

It's changed a lot.

Same building, they just added to it.

You know, and our food is really good.

I think it's amazing.

We get fresh meat every day.

The cooks, they make it with love, most of 'em.

- Luke: In your mind's eye, what is the experience of The Diplomat?

- Dane Baldwin: I want them to feel just comfortable.

They experience something that was not overly stated, but still has quite a bit of thought put into it.

There you go.

One Diplomat.

- Luke: This burger has all the makings of a legend.

- Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters.

[upbeat music] - The Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk with just a few simple ingredients: sun, soil, rain, and grass.

And grass, and grass.

- Yee-haw!

- Organic Valley Grassmilk.

Organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit Swissconsin and see where your beer's made.

- Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure, stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit dnr.wi.gov.

- From production to processing, right down to our plates, there are over 15,000 employers in Wisconsin with career opportunities to fulfill your dreams and feed the world.

Hungry for more?

Shape your career with these companies and others at fabwisconsin.com.

- With additional support coming from the Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to onsite, high-quality butchering and packaging, the Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically-raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, love your butcher.

Additional support coming from the Viroqua Food Co-op, Central Wisconsin Craft Collective, Something Special from Wisconsin, Crossroads Collective, the La Crosse Distilling Company, as well as the Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

[upbeat music] - Luke: We are a collection of the finest farmers, food producers, and chefs on the planet.

We are a merging of cultures and ideas, shaped by this land.

[sizzling] We are a gathering of the waters, and together, we shape a new identity to carry us into the future.

[upbeat music] We are storytellers.

We are Wisconsin Foodie .

[paper tearing] [waves crashing] [upbeat funky music] - Chuck Laferney: Well, my grandfather started it in 1954.

So it's been in my life ever since I was a kid.

You know, as a little kid comin' in here, the smell of the hamburgers and all that, my grandpa workin' hard, it just...

It was just a dream I had that someday I would do it, you know, and when my grandpa retired, my uncle bought it.

I thought that dream had been shattered.

You know, I figured for sure it'd go to his son.

His son would buy it.

But when he got ready to sell then, his son wasn't interested and he approached my parents to see if they would buy it.

They said yes and so then they approached me to see if I would, and then I got to realize my dream come true as a little kid.

And I've been here 20 years now.

25 if you count I worked for my dad 5 years.

Sounds like a lot of years to work, but when you're only open six months, then you gotta be perfectly proficient at every spot.

Drive-ins to Kenosha itself, you know, Kenosha was American Motors, so it was a motor city.

I mean, this was like the Detroit of Wisconsin back in the day, and so we had lots of drive-ins.

1950s style, but we got the bubble lights and the neon as you can see, and carhops.

There's no inside seating at all.

You just eat it in your car, and there's some nostalgic in it now.

Late '80s, early '90s, when you know, there was that question, will the drive-in go on?

And then it kind of became nostalgic.

So then younger people wanted to start coming to 'em because they don't have these things so much anymore.

So I would say us and The Spot are probably the only two left.

Hamburgers and French fries is the main thing here.

We tried salads, but they didn't go over so well.

This is a burger place.

People like burgers.

The double cheeseburger is by far the number one seller.

The bun is grilled.

Two pieces of meat and two pieces of cheese, ketchup, mustard, and onions, it's simple.

I feel like the burgers are unique because it's hard to replicate it.

I could tell you everything that's in it, but you're not gonna get the taste of the burger without the seasoning off the grills.

And then we use Velveeta cheese, which melts a lower temp, kinda turns into a Cheese Whiz almost type of melting point.

and so it all gets into the burger and the meat and everything.

That makes us a little different than most other places too.

Kenosha's a great city.

We get a lot of people from Chicago, Gurnee, Illinois, too.

But most of 'em are just locals.

And when I say locals, within five, six square miles of here.

Because if you grew up on the other side of town, you're a Spot person.

You know, most people, if they grew up on the north side, they're Big Star, and if they grew up on the south side, they're Spot.

I'm still to this day, surprised when I go somewhere and they say, "What's Big Star?"

You know, and I'm like, "How can you live in Kenosha and not know where Big Star is?"

- Everything is delicious.

[upbeat rock music] - Woman: Hello.

- Luke: Hey, how are you?

- I'm good, how are you today?

- I'm great.

- Wonderful.

Do you need some time or were you all ready?

- I don't know.

I guess, since this is my first time at Big Star.

- Okay.

- And what would you recommend?

- A lot of people like the double cheeseburgers.

- Okay.

- Those are really good.

If you want a bigger one, we've got the half pound.

It's two quarter pound patties.

- No, I think, I think I'm gonna go with the double cheeseburger.

That'd be great.

- Okay, grilled onion, ketchup, and mustard on that?

- Yes.

- You got it.

- Chuck: Okay, so we got a double hamburger here.

Like I said, the ketchup, mustard goes on top.

The bun doesn't get toasted on a hamburger bun.

Just on the cheese.

We make about 1,500 burgers a day between the two grills.

So that's quite a few burgers.

This is Velveeta cheese.

We get it in a five-pound block from Kraft, then we cut the block in half and slice it to order.

Let that cheese melt a little bit.

So my grandfather, he chose Velveeta cheese for his cheese.

Nobody's changed it.

This is what Kenosha wants.

You know, that's what they grew up on and we don't change things.

We just try to keep them the way they were back when he opened it up.

Well, I'm proud to be able to take over for him.

It's, you know, it's an honor, but I give the credit to the business to him.

He had the vision, and I'm just honored to be able to be part of it, you know?

Ready.

Yeah, that's great.

[upbeat music] - I'm so excited.

- All right.

- Thank you so much.

- So I hope you enjoy.

- That was fast.

[both laughing] - The cooks are amazing.

- Awesome.

- They really are.

- Well, tell them thank you so much.

- Thank you.

- We appreciate you.

- Thank you very much, enjoy.

- Thanks a lot.

Yeah, the food is here, and not a moment too soon.

Burgers, specifically the cheeseburger, is a way in which chefs judge each other.

Going to a restaurant that has a burger on the menu is kind of like giving an artist a blank canvas.

But place like this, Big Star?

These burgers are iconic.

This is the double cheeseburger.

Ooey gooey, delicious cheese, all melted on there.

Pickles, grilled onions, all kinda coming together in this nice, soft, white bun.

All right, north side.

Let's see what all the hype is about.

That's straight up delicious.

Yeah, I gotta say, like there's something so basic and elemental about a good drive-in burger.

So the smooth richness of the cheese, the pickles, the grilled onion.

You know, that chewiness that you get from burger, that really, really fine burger.

This is comfort food at its finest.

This is Americana.

This is a Wisconsin icon.

The bar has been set high.

Now we've gotta check out Kenosha's only other the drive-in, The Spot.

A south side story.

[upbeat music] - Mary Polzin: I've been here for 40 years at The Spot Drive-In.

I mean, I was only 17 when I started workin' here.

But you know, I got married, had a kid, three generations of the original owners.

It's changed a lot.

Same building, they just added to it.

This one was just started by Harold, 1945.

He just came out of the war and he decided he wanted to build a drive-in, and he did.

His son took it over mid to late '90s.

And then Mark was here at the young, the grandson.

So when they sold it, Mark would have been next.

I've been through three families and then these guys.

These guys are amazing so far.

Double cheeseburgers, our bacon double cheeseburgers, mozzarella sticks, cheese squares.

Those are our biggest sellers.

Right now, it seems the green beans and pickle chips are taking a little spike.

You know, we make homemade root beer.

You can't get that just anywhere.

I've had people take three gallons back to Atlanta, Georgia.

Every year they come here, I know 'em when they come in, and I know that they're gonna get three gallons while they're here and drink them, and come on their way out of town and get three more to take home.

But we have our root beer whirl, it was made by the original owner's wife.

She named it.

It's like a float all mixed together into shake, but we call it a whirl.

You know, I feel that that to us is one of our unique things that we can get, you know, and our food is really good.

I think it's amazing.

We get fresh meat every day.

The cooks, they make it with love, most of 'em.

You know, it's like I said, 40 years, these kids, these are my kids, pretty much.

I have a daughter and a grandson, but these are like, I watched all these kids grow up and I seen couples get married that met here.

Now their daughters are working here.

The girl working window, her parents met here.

One of my car hops, her parents met here.

Seen it all.

I always tell people if I had to work inside of a cubicle, I would've never lasted.

I just like bein' outside.

You know, I come outside, I'm outside every day, eight hours a day, five days a week.

People are awesome.

You know, and I love my, the people I work with.

You seen 'em in there.

I think I'da jumped out a window if I worked in an office.

I don't think I would've ever done this this long.

[upbeat music] Hi.

- Hey, how are you?

- Good.

- I would like to do a double cheeseburger.

- Ketchup, mustard, pickles, onions?

- Yes.

I think I would like to do some green beans.

- Do you want ranch with 'em?

- Yeah, why not?

I mean, this is Wisconsin after all.

- Somebody called that Wisconsin ketchup.

- Yeah, sure, I've heard that, Wisconsin ketchup.

- I never heard it before in my life.

That was funny, that was good.

- And then I want, so I used to work at a drive-in and we did Black Cows.

- That's a root beer float.

- Well, it was like whirled?

- Oh, that's what we call a whirl.

- A whirl?

- Yes.

- Oh, well, you know, what's in a name I guess.

I would like a whirl, and I would also like a gallon of root beer.

- Thirsty, huh?

- Yeah, you know me.

[upbeat groovy music] Holy smokes, that's a lot.

Look at that, booyah!

I ordered almost the same thing that I had previous today.

This is actually a banner day for me.

Two burger joints in one day.

And what we see is this double cheeseburger with the cheese, onion, pickle, ketchup, and mustard on this soft, white bun.

It's distinctly different.

This bun is softer.

You can see it's just a really, really thin layer of bun there.

So you get all that meaty richness and goodness kinda packed together.

The onions on this one aren't griddled, so they have a little bit more of a crunch, but this is a really, really satisfying burger.

The other thing that kind of intrigued me is they had fried green beans.

Now this isn't something that you see in most drive-ins, but these green beans look like they've been breaded and deep fried.

Some chili flake on there, they look spicy.

I dig that.

Ooh, that's got a little stank on it, too.

Yeah.

That's gonna make the whirl taste even better.

The whirl is a throwback to my memories of bein' a car hop at the root beer stand in La Farge.

We called these Black Cows, but apparently, when you whirl it together here in Kenosha, it's called the whirl.

That is good.

The moral of the story is this.

You can't really go wrong grabbin' a burger at either of Kenosha's two iconic drive-ins.

They're both different, nuanced, the different cooking styles, different serving styles, different accompaniments.

But the thing that's great is they're both worth a trip into Kenosha.

Come and explore the many, many differences and nuances that we have all through the state and tell 'em the Wisconsin Foodie sent you.

[slow funky music] - Luke: Dane, this is so amazing.

It's kinda surreal, actually.

We're sitting in front of The Diplomat, and first and foremost, I wanna thank you for hosting us today and letting us come in and hang out a little bit.

- Yeah, thank you.

- For those who are unacquainted with The Diplomat, can you tell us a little bit about like the style of food that people might expect to find here?

- When we're developing a dish, what's in season is really important.

And also, we're trying to do things in good posture.

So over the years you hear things, you know, like casual fine dining, and the way we really try to approach things is, you know, presenting certain nostalgia points in a way maybe you haven't thought of yet.

I grew up eating what was put on the table, and ultimately, it was typically something that was really good.

You know, burgers, meatloaf.

I mean, you know, typical American fare.

- Sure.

- Yeah.

- In your mind's eye, what is the experience of The Diplomat for diners?

What do you want them to feel?

- Dane: I want them to feel just comfortable.

I want them to feel as though they experienced something that was not overly stated, but still has quite a bit of thought put into it.

You don't wanna come across as unapproachable or anything like that.

You know, we want people to feel like they're getting something interesting, but sometimes, you know, you just want someone to come in and not have to guess what this is or pull out their phone and Google a term that maybe you and I have been accustomed to saying and knowing because of our profession.

But you know, we also wanna make sure that, you know, the experience is approachable for everyone.

Some people are really into that.

Some people want, "I'm gonna go to this place "and I'm gonna learn something new," or "I'm gonna try something different."

Not everyone is here to do that, you know?

- So if I was coming into Milwaukee and coming to Brady Street, what are some things that I might expect to find on the menu here?

- What time of year is it?

- Let's say summertime.

- Okay, you know, that's one thing that we've tried to run a balance of.

You know, there are some staple items, but we tried not to repeat items, and that's a hard thing to do.

- Yeah.

- But there are things that people really dig.

You know, the peanut butter pie gets a lotta calls.

Another thing that has become part of our identity is The Diplomat burger.

It's not the only thing we wanna be known for, but ultimately, we're very proud of everything that we put on the menu.

And, you know, you wanna make sure it's approachable and you know, what's more approachable than a cheeseburger?

- Luke: If you don't mind, I would love to try that.

But I know that there's more behind the curtain than just the burger at The Diplomat.

I feel like I'd be selling it way short if I didn't ask you if there's anything else that you might wanna put together.

So that way we can broadcast it and scream it from the rooftops.

- Yeah, absolutely.

I mean there, ultimately, you know, here again, you know that burger is the kind of precursor to approachability.

And so I think a lot of what we do is actually that indeed.

Yeah, I've got a couple things I think we can put together.

- Awesome, I can't wait.

- Cool.

- Luke: Thanks, man.

- Dane: Yeah.

We're making a fregola Caesar salad.

So we have fregola, which is a Sardinian pasta.

We are gonna use some purple mizuna.

It kinda gives us a lettuce component.

We lightly salt it just so wilts a little bit.

We're gonna add some radishes that we're gonna slice very thin.

We always slice 'em to order just because if we hold them in any water or ice, I mean, it will kinda dry out a little bit of the bite and spiciness of the radish.

We're gonna season with a little salt as we always do.

A little lemon juice for added acidity.

We take our Caesar dressing, and we developed a Caesar dressing recipe that we're happy with.

The kind of key ingredient is we finish it with a little bit of yogurt, which gives it an added acidity, and then what we're going to do is we're gonna add a little bit of breadcrumb.

We're going to grate some SarVecchio parm over the top.

Caesar salad typically has some sort of parmesan, right?

And just a little bit more breadcrumb.

And then we take these boquerones.

It's a white anchovy, a Spanish anchovy.

I'm actually gonna add a little bit of chopped herbs, chives, tarragon, parsley, and that is simply done.

There you go.

Here we have our fregola salad.

So it's dressed with a Caesar dressing.

It's a lot like a pasta salad.

- Luke: It's gorgeous.

- Right on, thanks.

- It's gorgeous.

- Dane: I really appreciate it.

- Oh man, I appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

- Dane: Enjoy.

- This is great.

So this fregola salad.

Fregola is a small, tiny pasta, which is why our chef had kinda indicated that it is traditionally a pasta salad.

Wow.

That's amazing.

The fregola itself, really creamy, really perfectly balanced with that Caesar dressing.

And that's what I wanna say about this dish.

It is so insanely balanced.

You get a little bit of the acidity in the Caesar with the lemon juice, and then you get a little bit of the garlic.

You get the anchovy that's been cured in olive oil, and then that vinegar.

You get the purple mizuna and then that daikon.

But the thing that's killer and it takes it completely over the top are those lemon breadcrumbs.

You bite into this thinking you're gonna get that soft mouthfeel like you get with like a pasta salad or a macaroni salad even, but that intense crunchiness with that lemon?

Oh, it's out of this world.

And this is so well-executed that not one of those ingredients overpowers the other.

That's kind of the secret and the hallmark of a great chef is someone who can put together big, big flavors and not have any one of them envelop the other one.

This is legitimately good food.

[upbeat groovy music] - Dane: So our burger buns.

Just a white bun with sesame seeds on top.

We use high gluten flour, which gives it a nice, nice texture.

This one just came out of the oven.

So we use a good amount of melted butter.

And that's how we toast the buns.

You know, when we have this burger, we're talkin' Thousand Island, lettuce, onion, tomato, American cheese.

Kinda like quintessential toppings for a burger.

There you go.

One Diplomat.

- Oh my gosh.

How did you not expect this thing to blow up?

- Dane: Hey, thank you.

- [laughing] This is a beast.

- Dane: Right on, well, enjoy.

- I appreciate it, man.

- Dane: Thank you.

- I never met a burger I didn't like.

One of my actual MOs is when a chef brings out a knife with the burger, it's usually in the best interest to cut the burger before trying to eat it.

So that is actually what I'm gonna do.

Oh, man.

That house-made bun.

Nice and glazed on the outside, like an egg wash on that thing.

So it's got a crisp crunch to it.

And then the inside, it's just enough bun to support all of that.

That is delicious.

Probably the quality of the meat actually comes through first.

This is really, really a high quality.

And I can tell that based on the amount of fat that's in that burger and its ability to pick up that char smoke, it's really good.

The secret sauce, AKA the garlic aioli mixed with house-made ketchup, you're not gonna find anything like that.

This isn't something that you can easily pick up and make at home.

House-made pickles are just right.

It's got a little bit of sweetness.

It's got a little bit of saltiness.

But it's just right for the crispiness.

Lettuce finely shredded, tomato, red onion.

This burger has all the makings of a legend.

There are so many options for delicious burgers.

You have your classic drive-in burger.

You have your beautiful, chef-created burger.

And to be fair, I've never really met a burger that I didn't like.

But I think in order to really figure it out, you've gotta taste it for yourself.

[cheerful music] And The Spot is a southside eatery that came strongly recommended to us by one of the Wisconsin Foodie longtime employees, Nelson Schneider.

This is his neighborhood jam.

I feel like I get this all up in my mustache.

How am I, am I doin' good?

[upbeat music] Oh!

I got a cold headache.

- Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters.

[upbeat music] - The Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk with just a few simple ingredients: sun, soil, rain, and grass.

And grass, and grass.

- Yee-haw!

- Organic Valley Grassmilk.

Organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit Swissconsin and see where your beer's made.

- Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure, stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit dnr.wi.gov.

- From production to processing, right down to our plates, there are over 15,000 employers in Wisconsin with career opportunities to fulfill your dreams and feed the world.

Hungry for more?

Shape your career with these companies and others at fabwisconsin.com.

With additional support coming from the Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to onsite, high-quality butchering and packaging, the Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically-raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, love your butcher.

Additional support coming from the Viroqua Food Co-op, Central Wisconsin Craft Collective, Something Special From Wisconsin, Crossroads Collective, the La Crosse Distilling Company, as well as the Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Are you hungry for more?

Check us out on YouTube.

Make sure to hit that subscribe button so you can be the first to see new and unique videos, as well as browse past episodes.

[groovy music]

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sa7SZ6arn1%2BrtqWxzmiinqafqLWiecOroK%2BdXZ67tHnToZxmnJmlubC5wK1knKCYp7evew%3D%3D