It started with one tent. By Saturday night it was a full production. Eddie has spent the better part of the day turning his garage into what can only be described as a backyard block party, complete with a Billy Joel sing-along on the docket and a Rodney Dangerfield theme that Big Cat is already fully bought into.
I can’t wait to hang out with Rodney Dangerfield tonight
Big Cat name-checking Rodney Dangerfield hours before the party even kicked off tells you this thing has been in the group chat for a while. Whatever the bit is, it's apparently a returning tradition, because it's got its own inside jokes and its own regulars already lined up.
Eddie kicked things off with the first tent going up and a promise that Billy Joel's Scenes From An Italian Restaurant was getting the full sing-along treatment, rain or shine. Given Eddie's history of throwing block parties around Chicago and even touring the actual Vienna Beef factory with Big Cat, this tracks as another entry in his ongoing bit of turning any occasion into a neighborhood-scale event.
From there the operation only grew. Eddie posted an update that more tents had gone up, including one on loan from Vienna Beef itself, and followed it with video of the actual hot dog vendor setup: a branded umbrella, a roller cart, mustard, sport peppers, Chicago-style relish and a guy in a paper Vienna Beef hat manning the station.
A Vienna Beef branded cart, roller grill and full Chicago-style condiment spread staffed by a vendor in a paper hat.
Not everyone is making it into the tent, though. Kate said she's devastated to be missing what she's now calling, for the 2nd year running, Eddie's garage tent Billy Joel Rodney Dangerfield hot dog cart pappy and tang party. That's a mouthful of a name, but it also confirms this isn't a one-off — it's an annual thing with its own established lore, and Kate is now 0-for-2 on attendance.
Whether the rain holds off for the Billy Joel serenade or Rodney Dangerfield gets his due respect is still to be seen, but between the Vienna Beef partnership and the growing tent footprint, Eddie's garage has quietly become one of the more consistent recurring events on the Barstool social calendar.