A popular Chicago restaurant chain is celebrating the election of Pope Leo XIV with a sandwich named in the pontiff’s honor.
Portillo’s, which has dozens of locations in the greater Chicago area and beyond, introduced the new offering — “The Leo” — on Friday, only a day after Pope Leo XIV ascended to the head of the Catholic Church.
‘The Leo’
“In the name of the gravy, the bun, and hot giard — we introduce The Leo: divinely seasoned Italian Beef, baptized in gravy,” reads a post Portillo’s shared to social media.
The sandwich itself, however, is nothing that a Portillo’s customer couldn’t have ordered last month. A standard Italian beef at Portillo’s comes with thinly sliced roast beef topped with sweet peppers, a hot pepper giardiniera (pickled vegetable condiment) or both. It can be ordered “dry” or with a splash of gravy (i.e., beef jus). Some customers might also prefer it “dipped,” meaning the whole sandwich is dipped in gravy.
Representatives from multiple Portillo’s locations in Chicago confirmed to Nexstar that “The Leo” isn’t so much a new sandwich, but rather a nickname for an Italian beef dipped in gravy. One explained it simply as a “shortcut.”
Customers also need to specify which peppers they want on The Leo, according to the chain’s online ordering app.
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Leo’s Chicago background
Robert Francis Prevost took the name Leo after being selected as the 267th pope last week. In addition to Italian beef sandwiches, Leo’s upbringing in Chicago and South Holland has also inspired jokes about his birthplace, including plenty of online memes. His allegiance to the Chicago White Sox is also a point of pride among the team’s fans.
“It shows he has good judgment and so hopefully he can make some good rules and give us … whatever he does from his on high and get us a winning team,” White Sox season ticket holder Dan Sullivan told Nexstar’s WGN.
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