Portillo’s popular Italian beef with sweet and hot peppers.
Happy customers: Jeff DuBose, Debra DeBose, John Priola and Jim Aikman, all from the Chicago area. Lisa Stark photos.
Founder Dick Portillo poses with wife Sharon.
Crystal Garcia slices bread in the kitchen at Portillo’s.
Erica Parra and LuAnn Dapron from the Florida Orthopedic Institute in Brandon.
Bill and Sandy Connizzo from Naperville, Ill.
Portillo’s employees had to hustle to keep up with demand.
Florida residents from near and far flocked to the Grand Opening of Portillo’s in Brandon on Tuesday, April 12, happily gobbling up their famous Italian beef sandwiches, Chicago-style hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, cheese fries, salads and chocolate cake, and raving about the taste they’ve been eagerly awaiting for months.
The opening of the first Florida Portillo’s at the corner of S.R. 60 and Lakewood Drive attracted food fans not just from Brandon and Tampa, but from Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Zephyrhills and Orlando, as well.
“We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time,” said Jeff DuBose of St. Petersburg, grinning happily between bites of his juicy Italian beef sandwich with hot peppers. “We’re originally from the Chicago area, so coming here today is like coming home.” Jeff and wife Debra drove an hour to dine in their favorite Chicago-style restaurant. “We wouldn’t miss this for anything.”
Portillo’s was founded by Dick Portillo in 1963 in Villa Park, Ill., under the name The Dog House. The first Portillo’s hot dog stand was nothing more than a 6-foot by 12-foot trailer without a bathroom or running water. A replica of the original Dog House was poised near the entrance of the new Brandon location, providing a perfect photo setting for customers wanting to commemorate the event.
The staff at Portillo’s had to hustle to keep up with the hundreds of customers in lines that wound around the large warehouse-style dining room filled with Prohibition-era replica posters and vehicles. Founder Dick Portillo, posing with his wife in front of the new restaurant, said: “This crowd is wonderful. It’s the American dream happening right before our eyes.”
“We look at a few different things when we look for a new location,” said corporate rep Nick Scarpino. “We ship Portillo’s frozen food to 50 different states and the number one place we ship to is here in the Greater Tampa area. We also keep track of requests we have from customers, many of them former Chicagoans, and Tampa is one of the places that’s been most requested for many, many years.”
Among the satisfied customers were Bill and Sandy Connizzo from Naperville, Ill., who revealed: “When we go home to our family reunion, we visit Portillo’s before we even go to see our relatives.”
Many took time off from work to get to Tuesday’s event, which was well staffed by cheerful, upbeat employees from both Florida and Chicago. Erica Parra and LuAnn Dapron appeared in their scrubs, taking a break from their jobs at the Florida Orthopedic Institute in Brandon. “We’ve found a great new lunch spot,” said Parra. “Believe me, we will be back.”
Today, most of Portillo’s restaurants are located in the greater Chicago metropolitan area, but the company has expanded into California, Arizona and now into Florida. Portillo’s is owned by the Portillo Restaurant Group and is the largest privately owned restaurant group as of June 2015. Dick Portillo said he hopes to open more locations in Florida, including one near the University of South Florida.
“Whenever I visit Chicago, Portillo’s is the first place I go,” said John Priola from Elmhurst, Ill., who spends his winters in Lake City. “Now I can get a taste from home right here in Florida.”
The new Portillo’s in Brandon is on the northwest corner of S.R. 60 and Lakewood Drive. For more information, visit portillos.com. Job applicants may apply at jobs.portillos.com.
