Pat Scala spread the gospel of Italian beef.
In the 1970s and ’80s, he approached hundreds of hot dog and burger joints that already purchased Italian sausage from his family’s meat wholesale operation — Scala Packing Co. — and pitched them on the virtue of adding Scala’s Italian beef to their menus.
His idea was a winning one.
And to ease the transition, he basically taught Italian beef 101.
Trim like this. Slice like this. Add the all-important herbs and spices to make the au jus.
He was one of the first purveyors to get his Italian beef into grocery stores, like Jewel and Treasure Island, so people could prepare the Chicago delicacies at home, Mr. Scala’s son, Mickey Scala, said.
He later expanded into major league ballparks, like Wrigley Field, and other sports arenas.
“Pat was a real go-getter; he was out there all the time,” said Chris Pacelli Jr., co-owner of Al’s Beef.
“Italian beef really didn’t go outside the Chicago area too much until Pat started doing that,” Pacelli said. “It stayed 50 or 60 miles around Chicago, and if you went farther than that, they probably thought you were selling martians.”
Mr. Scala died May 3 from natural causes. He was 77.
“He played a huge role, and every Italian beef stand owes him a little respect. Hats off to him,” said Chris Zucchero, the second-generation owner of Mr. Beef, which for decades purchased beef from Mr. Scala, but, like many of the city’s Italian beef heavy-hitters, used its own blend of au jus herbs and spices.
Scala Packing Co. closed about a decade ago, Mickey Scala said.
Its office location, at 707 N. Orleans St., is now a parking lot. The beef plant that was down the street, at 351 W. Huron St., was knocked down and turned into condos.
Mr. Scala liked his Italian beef hot and wet — code for with spicy giardiniera and dipped au jus.
Mr. Scala was old school, like the company itself.
“For the longest time he didn’t even have a cellphone because he didn’t want people calling him all the time. He just took messages through his office,” his son said.
When payments were dropped off at the company, the guy manning the desk at the loading dock would yell “Bucket!” and then someone from the accounting office opened a window that overlooked the dock and lowered a bucket that would haul the cash up.
“He was a big personality, a character, very social,” his son said. “He was the guy, he’d talk to you like you were friends for 20 years, but really you just met him.”
He’d regularly grab a dock worker or sausage maker to go have lunch down the street and pick up the tab.
“He was the king, a great guy,” said Strat Matsas, a retired beef/burger/hot dog stand owner who is certain that the Abe “Sausage King of Chicago” Froman character from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” was based on Mr. Scala.
“He got that a lot, but we have no evidence it’s true,” his son said.
Dean Ciluffo, owner of Accurate Scale Co., knew Mr. Scala as a longtime client.
“Pat seemed like he had a hard-shell finish on him, but whenever one of my girls or grandkids was having a birthday party, he’d say ‘Go in the back, Dean, and take whatever you need. Go back there and tell the guys what you want.’
“I’d go home and heat up the juice first and add beef, then it would suck in all that flavor, and the smell that filled the house, oh my God.”
Mr. Scala was born Aug. 17, 1947, in Chicago to Robert and Leah Scala.
Robert and his brother, Ralph, were second-generation owners of the company.
Their father, Pasquale Scala, an Italian immigrant, started the company in Chicago in 1925.
One of several origin stories behind the Italian beef sandwich holds that Pasquale Scala invented the Chicago icon as an affordable food option to serve at Depression-era Italian weddings.
Another version has it that Anthony Ferreri, whose son opened the acclaimed Al’s Beef, invented the sandwich.
Mickey Scala doesn’t put much stock in the lore.
“Who knows? It was a long time ago,” he said.
Mr. Scala grew up on the West Side, not far from Oak Park, and attended Grace Lutheran School in River Forest, and Walther Lutheran High School in Melrose Park before graduating from Valparaiso University.
In addition to his son, Mickey, Mr. Scala is survived by his son Bobby and daughters Christina and Victoria, as well as five grandchildren.
Services have been held.