Warren's Ale House in Wheaton is one of 'Chicago's Best'

WHEATON – When Joey Vargas stops by Warren's Ale House in Wheaton, he likes to order the restaurant's Italian beef egg rolls.

"I like the fusion of the crispy egg roll shell and juicy Italian beef," the Carol Stream resident said.

He is not alone in his love for the egg rolls. Elliott Bambrough, co-host of the WGN television show "Chicago's Best," was at the restaurant Jan. 5 taping a segment that will spotlight the restaurant's egg rolls. The segment is set to air Jan. 29.

As part of the segment, Bambrough interviewed Vargas. That took Vargas, a regular watcher of the show, by surprise.

"I never expected to be asked questions during the show," he said.

Bambrough himself had high praise for the egg rolls.

"That is a serious egg roll of Chicago proportions," he told Warren's Ale House co-owner Jerry Hernandez during the taping of the show. Hernandez and his brother, Jorge, also own and operate Ellyn's Tap & Grill in Glen Ellyn and Lavergne's Tavern in Berwyn.

As part of the taping, Warren's Ale House executive chef Mark Downing showed Bambrough how to make the egg rolls. As Downing related, the creation of the dish happened quite by accident.

"This was just a random thing we came up with," Downing said. "At Ellyn's Tap & Grill, we had some leftover Italian beef and we were putting some combinations together."

The Italian beef egg rolls, which also feature giardiniera, jack cheese and au jus dipping sauce, are the No. 1-selling appetizer at Warren's Ale House, which is located in the Town Square Wheaton shopping center at 51 Town Square.

"Last year, we sold 9,000 orders, which is 18,000 individual egg rolls," Downing said. "People love it. It's something a little different. It's a cheesy beef in an egg roll."

Downing, who is chef at Warren's Ale House, Ellyn's Tap & Grill and Lavergne's Tavern, said he feels honored that his creation will be featured in the upcoming segment.

"It's something that we created that people just rave about," Downing said. "Everybody's going to be watching [the show], including my parents down in Florida."

This is the first time Warren's Ale House will be featured on "Chicago's Best."

"Customers are supposed to send them messages or tweets to get [a restaurant] nominated," Jerry Hernandez said. "We were nominated by our customers or enough customers got ahold of them. They gave us a call and asked us if we would be interested in participating."

He is honored his restaurant will be featured on the show.

"It's definitely our No. 1-selling item at all of our locations," he said. "It's an appetizer, but a lot of people get multiple orders just to have them as their meal."