NEW ORLEANS — Andy Reid has a routine for each Chiefs street sport. He gathers the group on the resort the evening earlier than the sport and imparts some non-football data to his gamers.
“Each Saturday, he talks in regards to the native cows and what forms of burgers we’re going to have,” security Justin Reid stated of his coach with a smile. “He has a motto: Let your persona present and I’ll deal with you to a cheeseburger.”
When Andy Reid shouldn’t be instructing his gamers the sport plan or a method to enhance on the sector, he’s most frequently sharing with them his ardour, ideas and experiences with meals, which he appreciates as a lot as a 40-yard go play.
A few years in the past, Justin Reid was set to journey to Frankfurt, Germany, to assist promote the Chiefs’ 2023 sport towards the Miami Dolphins within the metropolis. He was stunned when his coach really helpful a restaurant with elite German delicacies, Predominant Tower Restaurant & Lounge.
“It was fireplace, brah,” Justin Reid stated, shaking his head. “It was so good. It was actually, actually cool.”
A lot of the Chiefs have an identical anecdote about Andy Reid.
He’s identified for a lot of issues, together with a penchant for trick performs, mastering the display screen go, the NFL’s hardest coaching camp and an affection for Tommy Bahama Hawaiian shirts.
Reid can be a licensed foodie.
When anybody mentions meals — any kind of delicacies, restaurant or cheeseburger — Reid’s temper nearly at all times improves.
Previously 12 months, The Athletic has requested many within the Chiefs group a easy query: What’s the finest meal you’ve ever had with Reid or due to him? Virtually each participant and coach had a unique reply.
“Andy loves meals,” Chiefs proprietor Clark Hunt stated. “He loves cheeseburgers, however he loves steaks, he loves seafood and it’s at all times enjoyable to see him having fun with dinner.”
Andy Reid on his favourite restaurant in New Orleans, and why he ‘most likely will not go there’ this 12 months 😂#ChiefsKingdom @KCTV5 pic.twitter.com/PTwyliYHab
— Marleah Campbell (@MarleahKCTV5) January 30, 2025
Since Reid joined the Chiefs in 2013, each offseason has included an annual group dinner at a steakhouse throughout the NFL homeowners’ conferences in late March. The dinner lately has featured Hunt, Reid, common supervisor Brett Veach and group president Mark Donovan. The gathering additionally serves as Reid’s belated celebration of his March 19 birthday.
“We let him give us the grades for the restaurant,” Hunt stated, smiling. “He positively enjoys chocolate cake.”
Reid and the Chiefs are in certainly one of Reid’s favourite meals cities, New Orleans, this week as they search to win their fourth Lombardi Trophy in six years. In the event that they beat Reid’s former group, the Philadelphia Eagles, in Tremendous Bowl LIX, they’ll grow to be the primary group to win three consecutive Tremendous Bowls.
Reid shared the favourite meal he’s ever had in New Orleans, a eating expertise that occurred greater than 15 years in the past when he was teaching the Eagles. Reid was invited to Emeril’s, the acclaimed restaurant of chef Emeril Lagasse, by the top chef on the time, an Eagles fan.
“He stated, ‘I’m going to start out on the ocean and end within the mountains,’” Reid stated. “He put me within the kitchen and he stated, ‘Have at it. I’ll cease while you’re full.’”
Reid stated the meal ended 4 hours later.
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Reid has an affinity for cooks. When potential, he tries to speak with the chef — or a number of cooks — after a meal, which permits him to study extra in regards to the artwork of cooking.
“Being a prepare dinner is like being a coach,” stated Dan Williams, the Chiefs’ assistant quarterbacks coach who spent two years as Reid’s assistant. “You’re making an attempt totally different components. You’re bringing issues to the desk that is likely to be totally different than what different individuals are bringing. You need to put all of it collectively and make one of the best product. I feel that’s how (Reid) equates it.”
One in all Reid’s favourite cooks is Michael Mina, an award winner who has 27 eating places. A few decade in the past in Orange County, Calif., Reid and Tammy, his spouse, first skilled certainly one of Mina’s finest entrees: the Maine lobster pot pie, which is cooked in a copper pot.
The lobster pot pie sparked a dialog between Reid and Mina, which led to their friendship.
“Oh, it’s unbelievable,” Reid stated of the dish. “The crust across the copper pot, that’s one of the best a part of it. They don’t put it on the stinkin’ plate. I stated, ‘Hey, go away that pot right here!’”
Throughout the 2021 season, the Chiefs’ bye week included Thanksgiving Day, which allowed Reid to spend extra time at dwelling than on the group’s coaching facility. That day, he had a query in regards to the turkey. He known as Mina.
“I stated, ‘Coach me up on cooking the turkey,’” Reid stated. “I already knew easy methods to prepare dinner the turkey. However about an hour later, I had a complete pad of notes on what to place on this stinkin’ turkey. I am going, ‘That is going to be an unbelievable hen proper right here.’
“I’d’ve needed to go to the shop and purchase half the shop to place on this turkey. I had a couple of of the issues and went with it and it turned out nice.”
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Two summers in the past, after President Joe Biden honored the Chiefs on the White Home, Reid broke down the meals served to them as if he had been analyzing a touchdown-scoring play. Earlier than the 15-minute ceremony within the Rose Backyard, throughout which the Chiefs had been celebrated as Tremendous Bowl LVII champions, Reid devoured an entree he had by no means tried earlier than: a French Toast grilled cheese and ham sandwich.
“They sprinkled a little bit little bit of powdered sugar on,” Reid stated. “It was phenomenal. There was an abundance of this. That they had unique hen fingers.”
Then, Reid remembered one other dish.
“The most effective half, which I hadn’t seen earlier than, was little bite-size squares of the center of the watermelon,” he stated. “I went again and talked to (the chef). I simply go, ‘You guys are unbelievable.’ Whoever reduce all of that out and had the endurance to do this, my hat goes off to them.”
What kinda meals does the White Home serve to the Tremendous Bowl champions?
The total overview from Andy Reid 🍗⬇️ (by way of @Chiefs) pic.twitter.com/a7mDaFBBeL
— NFL (@NFL) June 8, 2023
Final June, after the Chiefs’ second go to to the White Home, Reid praised one other dish: fried fish tots.
“I had an opportunity to satisfy all of the cooks,” Reid stated. “The whole lot was chunk dimension, so it will get harmful.”
Reid doesn’t have a lot time to prepare dinner, however, in accordance with a number of members of the group, he has perfected mac and cheese. In March 2018, Reid shared the cheeses he makes use of — fontina, mozzarella, parmesan, sharp cheddar, all grated, gouda and gruyere — with sportswriter Charles McDonald when the 2 met at an airport.
Final 12 months, Nick Jacobs, a sports activities producer in Kansas Metropolis, tried to get extra particulars on Reid’s mac and cheese recipe simply days earlier than Thanksgiving. Reid was coy.
“Yeah, you’d prefer it,” Reid told Jacobs. “You and I might do some injury on that factor. So long as it tastes good, we eat it. That one tastes fairly good. I can’t give away the secrets and techniques, man.”
Rising up in Los Angeles, Reid’s favourite dining-out meal as a child was a cheeseburger from Authentic Tommy’s, a quick meals joint that has 34 areas, largely in California.
“I beloved it — and chili cheese fries,” Reid stated.
Reid loves Authentic Tommy’s cheeseburgers a lot that he has them flown into Kansas Metropolis from Los Angeles.
His love for cheeseburgers has remained all through his teaching profession, utilizing them as a strategy to reward and inspire his gamers. When Reid was in Philadelphia, a number of Eagles gamers used to eat a cheeseburger within the locker room after a pivotal victory. He even advised a cheeseburger be the prize for a enjoyable wager between him and a participant throughout a sport.
Throughout his time with the Chiefs, Reid added a brand new occasion to his weekly routine: Friday evening date evening with Tammy, who can be a licensed foodie. A lot of these dinners are — you guessed it — cheeseburgers from 5 Guys.
Lunchtime 🍔 pic.twitter.com/IQJpJ2GSlR
— Kansas Metropolis Chiefs (@Chiefs) April 25, 2020
He informed 96.5 the Fan easy methods to make his good cheeseburger.
“I prefer it medium,” Reid stated in 2015. “It’s laborious. I imply, it’s a must to execute that factor the correct approach. You need to get it to the place it’s good and juicy while you reduce it open however not uncooked. Then a pleasant slice of excellent, recent Vidalia onion on it. Some mayo and ketchup. A little bit squirt of mustard however not an excessive amount of. Pickles, lettuce and tomato and I’m able to roll.
“The bun turns into essential. To place all that collectively and make it good, there’s a while concerned. That’s the place it is available in. You apply, you get it proper, after which while you chunk into it, child, it’s ecstasy proper there.”
The Chiefs received their first championship in 50 years when the group rallied from a 10-point deficit in Tremendous Bowl LIV to beat the San Francisco 49ers. One in all Reid’s first on-field interviews after the victory was with NFL Community.
“I’m going to get the most important cheeseburger you’ve ever seen,” Reid stated, smiling and laughing. “It is likely to be a double.”
On Christmas Eve in 2022, the Chiefs beat the Seattle Seahawks. After Reid’s brief postgame speech within the locker room, his gamers, led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight finish Travis Kelce, stunned him with a wrapped reward. Reid smiled when he opened the field and noticed a freshly made double cheeseburger.
“Thanks,” Reid stated to his gamers. “Might you all get a present as nice as this: cheeseburgers in paradise, child.”
The most effective reward for one of the best coach ❤️ pic.twitter.com/2Nvw6Oz3BO
— Kansas Metropolis Chiefs (@Chiefs) December 24, 2022
The Chiefs’ success, turning into the NFL’s latest dynasty, has allowed Reid to indicate his persona by way of nationwide commercials alongside Mahomes selling State Farm insurance coverage. When Reid and Mahomes filmed their commercials in Los Angeles in 2023, certainly one of them needed to be them consuming cheeseburgers collectively.
“The funniest half was the producer wished me to attempt to speak and do my traces with my mouth stuffed with the cheeseburger,” Reid informed Advanced Sports activities this previous summer season. “Pat is sitting proper in entrance of me and I’m making an attempt to do that and there’s cheeseburgers flying all over the place at these guys. They couldn’t maintain a straight face. They had been dying laughing. Lastly, Pat goes, ‘Lower it! We’re not doing this!’”
Reid’s most well-known line from the commercials with Mahomes is one he now hears on a regular basis from folks — “Clarify it once more, with these nuggies.” The business ends with Reid making an attempt to steal Mahomes’ hen nuggets.
“He finishes his meals quick,” Mahomes informed NBC Sports activities in September. “I’m fast about consuming as nicely. He’ll seize from different folks’s plate. The business is admittedly actual. That line within the business, he made up. He stated it as soon as and I bear in mind the director being like, ‘I like that, let’s maintain working with that.’”
The Chiefs’ final group assembly the evening earlier than a sport at all times ends the identical approach — with Reid’s signature line: “Deal with you to a cheeseburger.”
A selection of meals awaits the gamers, at all times together with cheeseburgers.
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Six years later, Dave Merritt can nonetheless bear in mind certainly one of his favourite conversations with Reid.
Merritt, a former NFL linebacker, turned a profitable defensive backs coach underneath coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, serving to the New York Giants win two Tremendous Bowls. When Reid employed Spagnuolo on Jan. 29, 2019, because the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator, Merritt was a number one candidate to affix the teaching workers. However he additionally was contemplating becoming a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars. When Merritt and Reid chatted, their conversion turned towards contract phrases.
“I stated, ‘Coach, I don’t care in regards to the contract. Inform me in regards to the meals right here,’” Merritt stated. “He began getting excited, going, ‘Oh, you must go to Q39! We’ve one of the best barbecue!’”
As soon as Merritt agreed to affix the Chiefs, one other deal was made: Reid promised Merritt to deal with him to his first meal at Q39, certainly one of Kansas Metropolis’s hottest barbecue eating places. Merritt ate the dish Reid really helpful: the meat burnt ends.
“I needed to report again to him,” Merritt stated. “I stated, ‘Coach, you had been proper.’ It was fairly doggone good.”
After the Chiefs received their first championship, Reid took Tammy and different members of the family to Q39, which stunned the restaurant stuffed with Chiefs followers.
“I had a yearning for burnt ends,” Reid stated. “I had onion straws with mac and cheese. Doggone it, I had a Eating regimen Coke to chase it.”
Merritt marvels at how Reid bonds together with his gamers over meals.
“It could be one thing that you just don’t like that possibly he’s eaten,” Merritt stated. “Andy eats all the pieces. He can adapt to no matter it’s you want. He can join with all folks.”
Reid had one quibble with Merritt’s assertion.
“I like all the pieces besides liver,” Reid stated.
Three years in the past, the Chiefs wished to signal Justin Reid, who was an unrestricted free agent for the primary time in his profession. Justin agreed to a three-year deal after dinner with Reid, Veach and Spagnuolo at Inventory Hill, certainly one of Kansas Metropolis’s finest steakhouses.
All through the season, Spagnuolo brings massive aluminum pans into the Chiefs’ coaching facility on Fridays. Every pan holds 15 beneficiant parts of banana pudding made by Spagnuolo’s spouse, Maria. A few years in the past, Williams took his first chunk of Maria’s banana pudding alongside Reid.
“Man, that took the cake, for positive,” Williams stated. “It was phenomenal, the feel, the crunch of the cookie. (Reid) was like, ‘Each time this is available in, we’re having it collectively.’”
Defensive sort out Tershawn Wharton and proper guard Trey Smith are often called the Chiefs linemen who can eat essentially the most meals. Smith stated his finest meals with Reid are within the group resort on Saturday nights earlier than a sport.
“That unfold we now have, it’s wings, brisket, burgers, sizzling canine, pies and muffins,” Smith stated, smiling. “It’s ridiculous. Each week, having the ability to share that meal with him is admittedly one of the best.
“He’s identical to me. I really like meals, he loves meals and we’re each massive guys. He will get it. Nobody desires to see a kale wrap the evening earlier than a aggravating sport.”
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Andrew Mather / Kansas Metropolis Chiefs by way of AP)