John Williams

After 3 weeks of voting on 64 Chicago area “Mom & Pop” Italian Beef places, we finally have a new champion of our annual Chicago’s Best Beef Tournament, sponsored by Turano Baking Company and Caruso Provisions.

John Williams was joined by Chicago’s Very Own Eats podcast cohost / WGN Radio bracketologist Michael Piff to call the winner, live on the radio. Listen to the announcement and the 2025 champion’s live reaction below:

Congrats to Duke’s Drive-In for winning this year’s Chicago’s Best Beef Tournament! And great showing by Johnnie’s Beef and their incredibly well-earned Chicago area following for helping make the 2025 Best Beef Tournament so fun.

See the round-by-round results of the 2025 Best Beef Tournament on the original tournament page. The reason we do these tournaments is to support local businesses, so try as many of the participating Italian Beef places and check them out here.

Stay updated on tournament results and all things Chicago food by subscribing to Chicago’s Very Own Eats on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. All episodes are available on the Chicago’s Very Own Eats podcast page at WGNRadio.com.

The Mincing Rascals this week are John Williams of WGN Radio, Eric Zorn, Publisher of The Picayune Sentinel, Austin Berg of the Illinois Policy Institute, and political pundit Marj Halperin! This week the Rascals head to New York to start the podcast and break down Zohran Mamdani winning the Democratic mayoral primary. What do the Rascals think the win means for the Democratic party? Governor JB Pritzker will officially announce he’s running for a third term tomorrow. Will he still eventually decide to run for president in 2028? The Rascals break down JB’s political future. The United States bombed Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend and the debate continues on just how much damage was done. What do the Rascals think of the initial military action and the debate on the effectiveness of the airstrikes? The Rascals also chat about some songs that were created entirely by AI. What did the Rascals think of the quality of AI songs and how do they think AI and emerging technology will impact the music industry? And finally, it’s time for red light, yellow light, green light! What are the Rascals recommending (or not recommending) this week?

Sarah Spain, host of “Good Game with Sarah Spain,” and author of the new book, ‘Runs in the Family: An Incredible True Story of Football, Fatherhood, and Belonging,’ joins John Williams to talk about the popularity of women’s sports and why she continues to shine a light on those stories, how she came up with the idea for the new book, what we should know about the book’s subject, Deland McCullough, Deland’s quest to find information about his birth parents, and what led to an incredible discovery about his family.

Elder law attorney Kerry Peck joins John Williams to answer all your questions about elder law, trusts, wills, and elder abuse. Does the government offer a plan where a family member could be paid for providing care instead of a nursing home or retirement center?

Bob Bertog, president of Bertog Landscape Co. in Wheeling and a certified landscape professional with the National Association of Landscape Professionals, joins John Williams to answer all of your lawn and garden questions. Bob implores us to keep watering those trees and lawns.

Andy Hale, the lawyer for Chester Weger, a.k.a., The Starved Rock Killer, joins John Williams to talk about the passing of his client at the age of 86. Andy tells John how Chester Weger fought until the end to prove his innocence. Will Andy continue to try to prove that Chester Weger did not commit this crime?

John Williams brings you another round of Speed Jokes. Keep sending yours to [email protected].

Jared Gans, Staff Writer, The Hill, joins John Williams to break down the New York City primary election. What will the results of the mayoral election mean for the Democratic Party moving forward?

Dr. Jeffrey Kopin, Chief Medical Officer for Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital, joins John Williams to talk about the hot weather and what you need to know to protect yourself, the new ‘razor blade throat’ COVID variant that has been going around, a monthly weight loss drug from Amgen that helped people lose about 20% of their body weight, and the FDA approving a new HIV-prevention medication.

Eric Zorn, Publisher of The Picayune Sentinel, joins John Williams to talk about the heatwave enveloping the Chicago area, his thoughts on the NYC primary election, if he favors ranked-choice voting, JB Pritzker likely announcing another run for Illinois governor, and the possibility of former mayor Rahm Emanuel considering a run for president.