Foot Locker Opened a Restaurant Pop-Up INSIDE Its Los Angeles Flagship Store

Michael Jordan beat three teams on the way to his first NBA finals appearance during the 1990-91 season: the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers and Detroit Pistons. After losing a total of one game in those three series, MJ trounced the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals to begin his reign in the league. This summer, Nike honored this playoff run by releasing the Air Jordan 1 Mid SE “Rivals,” a shoe featuring each team’s colorways. More recently Jordan brand released an accompanying Rivals clothing line featuring the same bold colorways and retro style. To celebrate the release of this collection, Foodbeast and Foot Locker have teamed up to open the “Rival’s Cafe” Pop Up in Los Angeles during the next two weekends.

The “Rival’s Cafe” will open up in Foot Locker’s flagship store at Hollywood & Highland as a pick-up window that will be available to anyone buying a piece from the Jordan Rivals collection. The pop-up will be open during the weekends of Oct. 24-27 and Oct. 31-Nov. 3 from 5-9 PM Thursday-Saturday and 3-7 PM on Sundays . Here, we’ll be dishing out iconic menu items specific to the flavors of Los Angeles and Chicago.

The LA vs CHI menu pits two cities, and their corresponding versions of two iconic street foods, against each other. Let’s break it down:

First up, the hot dog. The LA Dirty Dog will have a bacon-wrapped hot dog, grilled onions, peppers, charred jalapeño, mayo, mustard and ketchup. It’s opponent, the Chicago Hot Dog, features an all-beef dog, chopped white onions, sweet pickle relish, dill pickle spears, tomato, short peppers, and mustard, all served on a poppy seed bun.

The other juxtaposition we see is the two city’s variations of a beef sandwich. The LA French Dip is a white roll stacked with thinly sliced roast beef and a side of beef broth, as well as the option of Swiss cheese and onions. The last menu item is the famed Chicago Italian Beef, which is an Italian roll stuffed with simmered beef, hot giardiniera, and sweet peppers.

What menu item, and city, will come out on top? It doesn’t really matter. Both cities win, purely for having these delicacies grandfathered into their culture.

But, really, it would be a shame if I had to try every item to see what I like best. A real shame.

Created in partnership with Foot Locker.