The Questlove Show - Open Mike Eagle Talks Touring, Europe, & Chicago Food

Episode Date: May 23, 2026

In a recent conversation with Padma Lakshmi, Questlove brought up the near-sacrilegious act of putting ketchup on a hot dog in Chicago. Chicago native Open Mike Eagle reacts — while admitting he may already be disqualified from the debate for entirely different reasons. The podcast affiliate (and recent guest) also speaks about the hometown food he gravitates towards, name-checking some purveyors.  The mini episode conversation with Mike and show producer Cousin Jake also veers into touring life, road food, and experiences traveling through Europe.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Our podcast is called Hey Jonas. We've here since everyone has a podcast, we wanted to as well. And we've had some incredible guests so far. And now our good friend, Nile Horn, is joining the show. How's it going, boys? Hey, Niall. It was the same thing with Slow Hands. The whole answer is not about anything else really, is it?

You know, or taste so good can't be about food. You do the same, Nick, with some of the stuff that you've done. You too, Joe. Drop what you're doing and listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Everyone sees me as a football player, but before anything else, I'm human. Every single day, I'm still learning how to live with problems, mistakes, relationships, emotions ever since I was born. This isn't a normal podcast. Everything here is spontaneous, real, and genuine.

Just honest conversations about what it means to be alive. I'm Javierito Hernandez and listen to Learning to Be Human on IHard Radio, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcast. The Questlove show is a production of IHeart Radio. Open Mike Eagle. What up, sir? How are you? I'm going to give you the real answer, Che. I'm exhausted.

Well, you got a reason to, and I'm going to ask you about it in a second. but for everybody out there that's like where is quest love's voice this is the quest love show this is a mini episode um i'm cousin jake one of the producers on the quest love show and we're here with open mike eagle who is newly getting integrated with the family and i got to say i love it and i think the reason you're exhausted is one of the reasons i really appreciate you you've had a busy week oh yeah man i was uh doing some touring last week so i was in brooklyn montreal toronto lansing michigan in Cleveland and I got back

a couple days ago and just been hitting the ground running in between to her legs because I fly out to start the next leg in Amsterdam in a couple of days.

Nice. Well, around the time this runs, we like to go from farm to table around here pretty quickly. So this should be up if you are part of our

audience in Europe. You know, definitely check Mike on the socials. Everyone should do that anyway, but he might be swinging through your neck of the woods. Indeed, indeed. That's dope.

That's dope. So in those, you know, five or six dates, you just came off of any highlights, was there any place in the limited downtime you had that you were like, I really like this area? You know, I really like Montreal. I got a chance to spend a couple days there late last year. I was on tour with a Fantagram and we had a day off. So I really just got to hang out in Montreal for a while. And it's such a beautiful city with art everywhere. and good food everywhere.

You know, and it's even though, you know, most cities on this hemisphere are relatively new, you know, compared to like Europe and a lot of other places, Montreal feels old. And I like that about it too. I went for the first time in, I think it was 2024. It's funny. My wife is Canadian born.

And I had never been to Canada until I was in my 40s, which is pathetic because I grew up like you did. I grew up, you know, in the Rust Belt. You know, I'm from Pittsburgh originally, which to get to Toronto is a short drive. Yeah. So shame on me, but I definitely felt like I was in an older city and I agree with everything you said. And it's funny that you mentioned food. So when you did your episode this season as a guest, I really valued you kind of spoke about, you know, making some culinary or. I should say eating missteps during the pandemic and, you know, the turnaround journey you've been on since.

So I wanted to ask you, you know, when you're on the road, what is your relationship with food? Because I think we all like good food, but good food isn't always good for us. It's tough. I go a lot of places where there is a lot of good food around, but I often don't get to experience it, to be honest. you know, that's one thing that people ask me all the time when you go to these cities, what do you eat? What do you eat? What do you eat? And like, I hate that the truth is that I eat usually what's right by the venue or usually, or I play a bunch of places where there's a kitchen and house because they have a restaurant component to the venue. So whatever's on their menu.

You know, I think one of the things that it's hard for people to understand is the schedule when you're touring, especially the way that I tour, which is typically, you know, we're in a, we're in a van. We're driving day to day. So we're spending, you know, five, six, eight, you know, hours in a van all day. And we're often getting to the venue very close to when it's time for sound check. If we're lucky and things go smooth, there's a few hours maybe between when everything is set up and when doors open or when it's time to play. So, you know, we can get out maybe and, you know, walk around a little bit for, for an hour or two. That's if things go smoothly and they do not always.

Yeah. But what we don't get to do is typically go find the popping spot that's got all the great Yelp reviews. Everybody tells us to go to because there's a line at those places usually. And we don't have time for that, let alone the travel to get to and from and make sure where we need to be on time. So we often have to miss out on the good food. Well, the other part, and I'm not a performer, but like, you know, the meal that gets the love on Yelp is probably not the thing you want to eat before you're jumping around on stage for two and a half hours. True. You don't want the fancy burger right before you go on stage.

This might be a little too heavy for you in the moment. So on the subject of food, there was something else. I'm talking to you about it away. Well, let me ask you this. Like, when you go to Europe, I know what the schedule looks like, but is there one thing that just you look forward? two that's on the eating tip of things of just like when you see that you're like I'm going to I'm going to carve out an hour whether it's in the morning or night for this one thing in this one place I you know I have a hard time eating in Europe I really do have a hard time eating in

Europe Jake I'm so American I'm so American and it's it's like I encounter the worst parts of myself and I'm on the road in Europe because I am such a creature of convenience and habit and things like breakfast options. There's a lot of places in Europe where your hotel breakfast is just like a bunch of meat and cheese on platters. And it looks fancy. But that's not the breakfast I'm looking for. I'm looking for some from hot eggs somewhere. Nobody's got my hot eggs. It's that sort of thing I'm sort of always negotiating with and trying to figure my way around is how do I find something that I feel is satisfying or come out of my comfort zone enough to to feel satisfied by what's being offered to me.

When it's not like I have a bunch of time to sit in the same city and get used to something, I kind of got to stick and move. So it can be tough. I think in Europe especially, it can be hard just because culturally eating is so different over there than it is over here. you mean just in terms of the act of it or just the way the attention to detail or I think it's a little bit of both I think that in America specifically there are a lot of options for you to like eat substantially while also like moving around and that's not even

just relegated to like fast food like the idea of a diner or something like that where you, you know, they're making you food, but it's not designed for you to sit there all day and eat. A diner is usually, you know, you're stopping and getting something convenient. You're sitting at a counter. You get up when you're done. A lot of the places to eat that I've encountered in Europe are sit down cafes.

There's tables outside. People are, you know, smoking cigarettes and talking and they have time to sit and eat. And I would imagine the picture that it paints for me is people to also eat. in their homes. But when you're out and about in the world, they don't have the same options. But there is good street food, though. There's good street food. Like, depending on, you know, what part of town you can't get some good street food. There's just not a lot of restaurants. The amount is a lot less. Yeah. I got you. And I've found that, I mean, sort of like Canada, I did not, I had never crossed the Atlantic Ocean until, you know, I was 36 or 37 years old.

which was great. I mean, it was a privilege. So many people never get to do that. But the food that I've found over there that I like the most is street food or like take and walk with you type food. I haven't found, I have, but not as the same abundance of that sit down by. But it is cool to just see people at three in the afternoon hanging out, whether they're having a cup of coffee or a drink or whatever. Seriously. You know.

That is one of my favorite cultural differences is when you go to Europe. And I mean, there's a different version of this in London. and there is in France and there is in Amsterdam, especially when you're going around this time of year. So I'll be going, you know, it's May, it's nice outside. Everybody's outside eating. Everybody's outside chilling. Everybody's outside enjoying the weather.

Everyone is outside convening as human beings in a place where, like, there are some cities in America where that sort of built in. I think in East Coast cities, there's a lot more natural, organic sort of meeting spaces. Here in L.A., they got none of that. They got none of that. Like the closest you get out here is like the grove, which is just like a retail fake place thing.

Outdoor ball. Yeah, exactly. You don't really get the sort of natural, organic, everyone is out sitting along a river. Like, you know, you don't really get that out here. So that's one of the things I really do appreciate the most, is human beings just convening outside and enjoying the weather and enjoying each other's

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The Jonas Brothers here. Our podcast is called, Hey Jonas. We've here, since everyone has a podcast, we wanted to as well. And we've had some incredible guests so far. And now our good friend, Nile Horn is joining the show. How's it going, boys? Hey, Niall. It's the same thing with Slow Hands.

Slow Hands is not about anything else, really, is it? You know, or taste so good can be about food. You do the same, Nick, with some of the stuff that you've done. too, Joe. Drop what you're doing and listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. I wanted to ask you something about home because looking at the 40 or so episodes that the Questlove show has run this year, and this is rare. You are our only guest that has Chicago roots. Really?

Yeah, I mean, it's funny because Chicago comes up a lot. Like, a lot of folks just reference it being musical influences or folks have, I'm trying to think if anyone lived there. But the biggest Chicago reference, at least if we are going off of comments on YouTube or on Spotify or, you know, places people leave comments, is Amir had a conversation this spring with Padma Lakshmi, who has a new show, America's Culinary Cup. I believe it just declared its winner. I saw a few episodes. It was great. And she's kind of elevating what she had done with Top Chef. But Amir made reference to something I wanted to ask you about.

And you may or may not have answers, but he said it is a sin or treat it as a sin in Chicago to put ketchup on a hot dog. You know anything about this? I've heard about it. I haven't eaten a hot dog since I was 13 years old. Okay. It's like one of the first things I ever in my life decided I didn't want no more of was hot dogs when I was a child. So I do hear that they're accustomed. I do hear that Chicago dogs are treated in some sacred manner and you can perform various types of sacrilege.

with how you treat the Chicago hot dog. But I'm not, I'm not a part of the religion. I step out of it. Without getting, you know, too too personal. Was there, was it the ingredients? Was it just the practice of a hot dog? Like, you know, was it, are you just like, listen, there's so much other things to consume in this world? I think there, it was a confluence of factors.

Okay. I was raised by my grandparents who, you know, were not that far removed from, you know, southern migrants. migration to Chicago. So I ate a lot of pork, a lot of pork growing up, like, a lot of pork. And I think I started realizing when I was relatively young, I just didn't like it that much. Like, it all just felt too salty and not the greatest taste to me. And then when I was about 13.

I learned how hot dogs were made. Yeah. And bologna and all this other stuff that I was being fed. And I was like, I don't want that anymore. I don't want a mechanically separated, you know, I don't want to get to, I don't want to invoke too much dirty imagery here. But it's not the parts of the animal that you want to eat. And I felt like my experience of eating it was like, yeah, that's kind of what this. this tastes like. It tastes like amorphous gross meat. Like I don't, I don't enjoy this. And then there was

another component of me really discovering hip hop and starting to understand like the sort of 5% stuff that like the Wu-Tang was talking about. And, and, you know, so, you know, I'd stop eating like skittles because, you know, the gelatin. And so, you know, the gelatin. And so, you know, know, I had gotten really aggressive on that sort of pseudo spiritual tip of the identity that I was taking on as a young hip hopper. So that started to make me pretty stringent about what I did or didn't eat at that time too in a way that does not persist to this day, but that was part of the thinking at the time. No, I can I can respect it and relate to it in other ways of just like, you know it's funny how hip hop does that so you know i know you've obviously you spoke about it you've

lived in l.A. for more than a decade now correct right yep no it's it's it's been it'll be 22 years oh 22 damn 22 years that's that's crazy first of all when you do go back to chicago be it on tour or to see loved ones is there because you're not i mean if you're on tour you're working but if you have the time is there that thing that feels like home on the food side of things? It really is. I really do need to go get some of that deep dish. Really? I really do. What's your spot?

I mean, yo, so like there was a spot by my crib called Rico Benis. I don't even know if that's still around, but that's like the one I associate with the deep dish most. There's Lou Malnottis if you got time to go to a sit down, nice place. People talk crap about Gerdonos. I love Gerdonos. I will always love Gerdonos. The smell of that crust. all that spinach in that deep dish pie.

I'm a big fan. I'll always love it. I do personally think it's the superior pizza style, but I can say that and also hold space for the fact that you cannot eat that all the time. You will die. You will die quickly if you eat that all the time. It's a special thing, reserve for special occasions like when you say when you have time.

You have to have time to allow them to cook this. you can only really eat two slices of a day. So it takes you a while to even eat it. But it is my favorite. That's home for you? Oh, yeah. It's expensive, too. I went to the loom.

I went on tour with Rock the Bells in 2008 on the media side. And I remember I took my coworkers out. I thought I was just grabbing us all a nice meal. And the bill came for Lume. That was more than I had. Yikes. That was a past due moment for sure. But one thing I wanted to ask you that I just learned about recent years, and you're a west sider of Chicago.

No, Southside. Excuse me. I recently learned about this other style of pizza, the bar, the tavern. Is that a thing? Is that, you talking about when it's cut into the grid? Yeah, it looks like a jigsaw puzzle, sort of. But it's the opposite. It's like.

It's super thin crust. Cracker, yeah. Yeah, super thin crust. That's sort of associated in my mind with the North. side actually. It might be on the west side too. But that is the other pizza style. Like when, you know, you were in elementary school and there was a pizza party and the school brought in a pizza, that's the sort of pizza that they brought in, you know, cut on the grid and, you know, you wanted the square piece in the middle. You didn't necessarily want the corners, but it was

like all crust because of the way those were cut. But yeah, I grew up eating that. And I didn't even realize until I was an adult that that was like a regional thing. Yeah, and I just learned there's a spot in Philly that runs a cheap one, like every day between like four and six, like a happy hour thing. And it's top three in Philly and that's sacrilege because Philly takes a lot of pride in its pizza. But I enjoy it. And they were like, yeah, we model it after the Chicago style. And I'm like, man, next time I'm in Chicago, I want to go to some of those, some of those places that really kicked that off. Italian village is the, is the go-to spot for the grid pizza.

And I, there's some actual name for it that alludes me right now. Okay. Yeah, but that's, that's the, that's the, um, unofficial official. Yeah, but the spot, the spot is Italian village. Okay. That'll be my first stop. I'm just curious, you know, like, people make a lot of the show The Bear and, you know, at QLS we had Robert Townsend on in this season, Jamie Lee Curtis.

Shout out to Robert Townsend. He's amazing. You ever met him? Yeah. Well, I've interviewed him. Okay. I interviewed him remotely. Nice.

Nice. Phenomenal storyteller and like one of those things. And we'll talk about this in another mini. But like when you get done speaking to him, you literally want to just put on his entire canon. Yeah, man. Hollywood shuffle immediately. Let me show you something. I got right behind me because I didn't know he was going to come up.

Yeah. And for the, I guess this is just audio. So I'll have to describe it. Describe it. And I just happen to have this. This is the audio reels for, uh, Partners in Crime. Oh, wow.

He did on HBO. Mm-hmm. This is the, the, uh, the audio reel from the, the television production of that show. And it's, it's very heavy old two-inch tape reels. That is, are you somebody, like, I know you collect things. You spoke in the episode about, you know, obviously your boombox collection, but are you, like, I know Amir collects reels. Or is that part of your thing now?

No. Um, those happened to come into my possession. There was a person who used to work for me as my assistant who had some, Somehow those that come into his possession and he knew I was a big Robert Townsend fan. So he gave him to me. I'm in the process of getting those to Robert now because I got like four of them from different projects that he did. See, I'm just trying to get him back to him because last I spoke to him about him, he'd be very happy to have him. Yeah, that's dope.

I love when you hear those stories of people help getting, you know, very crucial pieces of memorabilia back to their creators. Is there anything like that in your career that you know is? out there and you not even necessarily who has it but that you would like back wow that's a great question so i feel like i look at old videos of me performing sometimes because i'll put that stuff on my live stream to sort of start it off like while i'm setting up i'll have some old video me performing playing and i've always had a table because i've always sort of had my own gear to trigger my beats when I'm on stage. And I used to keep a lot of like very evocative knickknacks on the table.

I had a little crown that I used to pass around and have everybody in the crowd touch. I used to have this little Ice King from Adventure Time figure. I had a robot somebody, like a felt robot, somebody had stitched for me. And it's like, I don't know where any of that stuff is now. And I don't think I lost all of these things. one go, I think just slowly but surely I would misplace one thing, this place another thing. And now I don't really even carry stuff like that anymore. But if anybody ever like found or had one of those things that brought it to me, I'd be over.

All right. Let's manifest that. So one last question, just as we, you know, chit chat about food in Chicago, is there anything about Chicago food that people get? That's why I started to ask with the bear. Like people get wrong. I don't mean in media, but just like a misnomer when people show up that they might not get. I mean, I do take it back to the pizza thing for one.

I do think that as Chicago ones, we are very loud in our support of deep dish pizza. But I do think a common misconception is that people think we want to or encourage people to eat that every day. I don't think it's not a good idea. It's similar to In London You know, they're famous They're fry breakfast or whatever The sausage and the

The tomatoes and all of the stuff And they are known for that But when you go out there and you talk to it And they're like Yeah, we don't eat this every day That would be impossible So this is like a Sunday morning thing With family

This is not an everyday On special occasions. Yeah Yeah, yeah And so, you know, that's, I think most food misconceptions start there that just because a region enjoys the thing. People think that that is the staple. Like, you know, people in New York, they get a slice of pizza almost every day from the corners. Like, you can't do that with deep dish pizza and nobody is asking you to.

No, you can't do with a Philly cheese steak either. And people assume and they love to talk about it. And like, to me, that is a low form of conversation. I mean, it's part of people who are genuinely interested with the Philly Cheese Stake. TikTok, I'm always just like, yo, let me know when you're done. So people have a lot of cheese steak opinions. Oh, so many. So many.

And it's one of those things. I don't know if this happens with pizza, but like your choice says five other things about you, you know? Really? And you believe that this is true? I believe that part is true. I've lived here 25 years for the better part of. And yeah, I mean, just like if somebody says, you know, they like this one spot, well, I probably know how you voted or I know how you see this city. You know what I mean?

It's one of those. It's one of those. You tell on yourself with your. 100%. Unless you come in and you're like, hey, I know, like,

don't get me killed out here, but I like this and here's why. There you go. That's interesting. I don't know I have political implications. I got to be really careful out there. Well, you know,

yeah, you let, but it's funny, there's been a lot of cheese steak talk over the years on the show and Amir's opinions on places and certain spots has evolved and changed, but he shouted out some legendary ones.

But yeah, It's always great to wrap with you. I wish you very well on this tour. You're going to come back with some stories. Always. There's always something. That's the truth. Well, please look out.

We are dropping new Questlove show episodes on Mondays. These minis are hitting folks during the week or the weekend. You know, let us know if there's anything we can do to help keep this engaging on either side. But I know we have so many great things in the canon. And I really just enjoy rapping with you. We're going to get a mirror back on here. as soon as he finishes up those roots picnic rehearsals too i could imagine note those are quite daunting yeah i'm getting much less correspondence with uh with with with with the man the legend these days but i know come june

first he'll be back at it so all right man until next time watch a love shows a production of i heart radio it's that time to put on your jersey and wave your flag whoever you root for why do i watch the walk up That's like asking me, why do I breed? And it's beautiful. The guys are young and cute and fit. It's not just a game. It's your culture.

It's a connecting force. From Futuro Studios, I'm Fernanda Chavari, and this is American Football, a show about soccer culture in the U.S. and its underdog roots. Listen to American Football on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Joy is essential, and it's all. also elusive, but now there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence, Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, Hoda Kotby. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Open your free iHeart radio app. Search Joy 101 and listen now. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby is presented by

CVS. All right, listen up. The Jonas Brothers here. podcast is called Hey Jonas. Because since everyone has a podcast, we want it to as well. And we've had some incredible guests so far. And now our good friend, Nile Horn, is joining the show. How's it going, boys? Hey, Niall. It's the same thing with Slow Hands.

Slow Hands is not about anything else, really, is it? You know, or taste so good can be about food. You do the same, Nick, with some of the stuff that you've done. You too, Joe. Drop what you're doing and listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Everyone sees me as a football player, but before anything else, I'm human. Every single day I'm still learning how to live with problems, mistakes, relationships, emotions, ever since I was born.

This isn't a normal podcast. Everything here is spontaneous, real and genuine, just honest conversations about what it means to be alive. I'm Javier T'Hart-R-Nandes and listen to Learning to Be Human on IHard Radio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human