- Hey, we're in Peoria, and we're gonna learn that a lot of people are gonna be moving in downtown in this big town!

- And we're not gonna just go big city.

We're going small town.

We're gonna talk to a guy who's been making pasta for 50 years.

He's made, 100 tons, of pasta!

That's a lot of pasta.

- Oomph, my stomach hurts - Coming up next.

(upbeat rock music) - Mm.

You had to talk about pasta, didn't you?

I love Italian food.

Can we, (hands clapping) tell me the story?

- Well, you know, with a name like Luciano, I'm always interested in Italian food, and we're gonna go to a town near Peoria, that's really well known for its Italian dishes.

What is really amazing about this place is, that, there's a fellow there, who's been working there for 50 plus years.

- Wow.

- He's 86, he still works four times a week, and the amount of pasta he's made in his lifetime, man, it's gonna make you even hungrier when you see what he does.

- I can't wait to meet him!

Maybe he'll make, well some samples?

- Well, you're not getting anything, but, you can go get something to eat later.

- Well, let's talk about apartments then.

If you wanna live in a nice, cool place, like downtown Peoria, there is a lot of new apartments coming this way.

- The city has been working for years, and how do we get more people to come to town to live, and work here.

- More, more, more!

- And what's gonna happen soon is, if all these plans come to fruition, it's gonna be like there's almost, another village coming to downtown Peoria.

- Did he just say village people are coming to Peoria?

- Well, I would love nothing more, but we're talking like 750 people that are gonna be just joining us in Peoria.

And that's bigger than a lot of the towns around here.

- Oh, absolutely.

- We're gonna take a walk, and show you where they're gonna live, next - [Julie] In Peoria's warehouse district, a new village is poised to pop up.

Seeds of redevelopment have been sprinkled for a little retail here, a little commercial there, but the biggest push has been for residential space, and a lot of it.

If plans come through, five big old warehouses will be rehabbed, and carved into 500 apartments, for about 750 new residents.

That total population is bigger, those of Mapleton, Deer Creek, Bradford, Spring Bay, and many other villages in the Peoria area.

There are a lot of players involved in developments in, and around the Warehouse District, but, the linchpin is the DDC.

- The DDC was set up to promote the downtown redevelopment, of, Peoria's downtown.

It's a not for profit 501c3 organization supported by about 65 businesses in the city of Peoria.

We've been, in existence since 2014.

- [Julie] The Warehouse District got a huge shot in the arm more than 10 years ago, with about 35 million dollars in federal, and state funding.

The money revitalized streets, sidewalks, sliding, and other infrastructure, dramatically transforming the area.

Since then, as far as residential development, eight older buildings, most around three stories or so, were reshaped, and at a price about 6 million dollars a piece, creating a total of about 400 apartments.

But today, almost all of those apartments are occupied, with many would-be tenants on a lengthy waiting list.

- Right now, we could add 500 new units to the downtown, and, still have demand.

- [Julie] The DDC now, is focusing on Adams, and Washington Streets, between Oak, and Persimmon.

Apartments are intended for five old warehouses.

At Adams, and Oak Streets, the Southwest corner of Oak, and Washington, in the 900 block of Southwest Washington.

And in the 1000 block of Southwest Washington, at the three story building to the left of your screen.

- And of course with 150 people living in each of those buildings, we're gonna need parking.

And that's one of the issues that the city is working on addressing right now.

And it's critical, for further development in the Warehouse District.

- [Julie] Parking presents a challenge.

Where can a city put a 400 spot multi-level parking deck?

But, that challenge also presents an opportunity, in terms of enhancing the neighborhood.

- Anyone who's walked down the street next to a big parking deck, they can appreciate, how uninviting that is.

So, we've worked with the city to acquire enough land so that the city can actually, when they do build a parking deck, tuck it back behind the street, so that we can have commercial, and residential development right along the street.

And the parking deck is actually hidden behind those buildings.

So when that eventually is done, you'll see on Washington Street, as you're walking down the street, you'll see commercial, retail, and apartments.

What you won't see is the parking deck behind it, that's providing all the parking to support all of the residential units, and the commercial activity that's happening, in this part of the Warehouse District.

- [Julie] Meantime, the DDC is making pitches to make all of these plans come true.

Together with federal, and state funds, and incentives, Peoria hopes to bring big ticket developers to town.

- [Michael] And the city of Peoria is competing with every other community in the United States.

Sometimes we don't realize that.

- [Julie] The DDC believes Peoria has momentum on its side.

- What developers tell me, is they like Peoria.

They like the Warehouse District.

They like, the demand.

They love being close to the riverfront.

The other infrastructure developments that we're going to, and community amenities that are coming online, such as the Downtown Riverfront Park.

Those are things that residents like.

- [Julie] All these urban apartments would help Peoria lure young employees to town, which in turn, could also draw new businesses.

- The main reason why we're doing this, is we want Peoria to be more competitive.

It's very difficult for employers to attract talent to the area.

Young people want to live in a place where they can congregate with other young people.

They want that urban neighborhood, that urban feel.

They don't necessarily wanna live in Chicago, or New York, but they do want to be in a place that feels like it's exciting, and dynamic, and they can walk to work.

- [Julie] And a stronger downtown makes for a stronger Peoria, and stronger Central Illinois, Frielinger says.

- Investment that we make in bringing development to downtown, benefits the entire region.

(upbeat percussive music) ♪ Fun fact - Fun fact, porcupines float.

If you're ever drowning just grab on to the nearest porcupine.

(upbeat jazz music) - [Phil] In the longest project of Rick Telander's career, the renowned sports writer, aims at a new audience, kids, specifically, sick kids.

For nearly five decades, The Peoria native has enjoyed a wide following, including stints on ESPN, with the "Chicago Sun-Times", and as a book author.

And for the past 30 years, he's slowly but surely, has been working on a bedtime book aimed toward ailing children.

It's called "Sweet Dreams", Poems and Paintings for the Child Abed.

It's not for sale yet.

However, thanks to donors, copies soon will be given to children connected to the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Peoria, and Chicago.

Meantime Telander is dreaming big.

He wants to get a book into the hands of every child whose family stays at any of the 350 plus, Ronald McDonald House Charities across the globe.

- Kids get sick.

And it's one of the saddest things in the world.

My children would get sick.

Had one daughter, and that we had to take her to the Children's Hospital in Chicago, the old one.

And it was, it was just gut wrenching.

For her to see the kids there, to have her go through the diagnostics that she had to go through.

So sad.

I mean, children are just fragile beings.

- [Phil] At Richwoods High School, Telander was an all conference quarterback.

He then headed to Northwestern University, where as a defensive back, he made all big 10 his senior season.

In 1971, he was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs, but got cut in training camp.

Still, he stuck with sports.

He freelanced for "Sports Illustrated", before becoming a senior writer in the 1980s.

He later expanded to TV, newspapers, and books.

But the latest book, "Sweet Dreams", started almost as a fever dream.

- It actually started, I would say, 30 years ago, and I was in a hospital, and I couldn't do anything at all.

I mean, I couldn't watch TV, I couldn't read, I just felt so terrible.

Just felt nauseated all the time.

The only thing I found I could do was, do things in my head.

So I started writing poems in my head, and that was the genesis of it.

So it was yeah, 30 years.

- [Phil] Aside from studying poetry in college, Telander had little experience with meter, and verse.

- I've written some limericks, (laughs) I couldn't repeat here.

No I, - [Phil] Plus, in working on the book, other responsibilities often got in the way.

- You know what intruded was my life.

I have four kids, you know, I'm married, four kids.

I had a job, a full time job writing four columns a week, traveling on weekends, for quite a while I had a radio show.

I was doing a TV show.

I wrote nine books in that period, you know, published books.

So this was always something on the back burner.

- [Phil] Over time though, the poems fell into place.

Many focus on kids being sick, but some poems are simply written as lullabies, and not just for children.

- They can be about somebody who's sick, but it's mostly about going to bed.

Anybody that has to go to bed, anybody needs comfort at nighttime, as children all do.

But the poems, I wrote them in an adult way, in that, my model was Robert Louis Stevenson's, "A Child's Garden of Verses", an old book, of poetry, but the poems that I wrote, have meter, and rhyme, and follow structure.

- [Phil] Meantime Telander worked meticulously regarding the book's artwork.

Telander who paints as a hobby, contacted artists from across the country, and overseas.

Each was assigned to do an original work for one of the 42 poems.

- [Telander] I don't know if that's been done, that way before.

So a full page of their painting.

And it's all old fashioned ways of doing things, whether it's pastels, watercolor, acrylic, oil, or colored pencils.

- [Phil] Over years, Telander would exchange ideas, and drawings, with the artists, seeking the perfect illustration.

- And you have to remember this started before the internet was really up, and bopping around.

So there's a lot of FedEx, a lot of mail back, and forth to artists all over the country, even in different countries, you know, not just the United States.

So it took a while to develop that.

- [Phil] The book should be available for public sale this summer.

He isn't sure if he, and the artists will make much money, but he isn't concerned about turning a profit.

Rather, Telander is more interested in pushing the second phase of "Sweet Dreams".

He wants to get a book to every kid touched by Ronald McDonald House Charities, which provides free meals, lodging, and other support to families, and guardians of hospitalized children.

And he wants to get them a physical book, rather than just a link to a website.

He has found that many kids don't own even a single book.

- Everybody's got an iPad, a phone, they've got everything digital, they can play games, they can do all the electronic stuff they want.

But a book is something you can hold.

And that always meant something to me.

- [Phil] And he intends this book to be personalized.

- To be able to take this book, and have it, and one of the main things I did in the book, was I had on the opening page, it says, "this book belongs to you, there's a place for it", and then you write your name in there.

So this would be a kid's book, hopefully you keep it forever.

- [Phil] In the Chicago area where Telander lives, he got donors to pay for 1000 books for the five Ronald McDonald Houses there.

Wanting to help likewise in his hometown, Telander contacted WTVP, which is arranging to cover the cost for 200 copies for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Illinois, down on Northeast Monroe, in Peoria.

There, CEO Amber Kaylor expressed gratitude for Telander's book outreach.

- Reading to your child is a key in comfort, and being together as a family.

So I think this can only enhance that family centered care, and the recovery, and just the the sense of togetherness that happens here, and that happens over at the hospital.

- But Telander says the effort won't stop at Peoria in Chicago.

He wants to get the book to kids connected to the 350 plus sites in 62 countries.

- Main thing is, I wanted the child, or family to take this book, to have this book, and go back to it, and look at it again, and again.

(ethereal orchestral music) - [Phil] For generations in the city of Toluca, much of the economy has been driven by pasta.

Toluca boomed in the early 1900s, as a mining town.

But the last coal mine dried up in 1924, and the population nosedived from, 6,000, to 1400.

But it didn't become a ghost town, in large part, thanks to a pair of restaurants.

Mona's opened in 1933, and Capponi's followed the next year.

For more than 50 years, they've been owned by the Bernardi family, which also birthed the Pasta Factory.

All told in a town still holding tight at 1400 residents, those businesses boast hundreds of workers.

And one employee has witnessed most of that history, firsthand.

Meet Ray McAllister, known as Ray Mac.

For an astounding 54 years, he has worked in the kitchen at Mona's, where he has cooked more than 100 tons of pasta.

He still comes to work four days a week, a job he credits with keeping the spring in his step, at age 86 - Basically I come here, I go up Sud's, have a couple beers in the afternoon, from three to five to go home, watch a little TV, and that keeps me going.

It really does.

- [Phil] Meantime, he served as a mentor to countless teen employees, while keeping the kitchen upbeat, and humming.

Outside work, he is a good natured ambassador for Mona's, and the community, because in Toluca, everybody loves Ray Mac.

- He has been the core of quality, consistency, and helped us build this grand reputation.

- McAllister grew up in Streator, but he met, and married a Toluca girl, so Ray, and Juanita McAllister moved to Toluca, where they raised six kids.

In 1968, he was asked to try his hand in the kitchen at Mona's, which was short on cooks.

With no restaurant experience, McAllister said, he'd take the job on a trial basis.

50 plus years later, he is still going strong.

Every work morning, he gets up at 4:00 AM, feeds and walks his dog, then rides his bicycle three blocks to Mona's.

At 5:00 AM, he starts cooking all sorts of pastas.

- I've cooked spaghetti, probably 20 pounds a day.

- [Off Camera] Yes.

- Tortellini, I probably do 50 pounds a day, and bunch of chili probably, 15 pounds.

and fetti, probably 10 pounds, that's a day.

- [Phil] Over more than half a century.

That's alotsa pasta.

- I figured between 120 ton, and 150 ton of pasta, since I've been here.

- [Phil] Plus he makes lasagna with his own special flare.

- I put, I put brick cheese in mine, slices of brick cheese in mine.

It makes it better.

It makes it the best.

It's number one.

- [Phil] Years back when employed full-time at night, MacAllister interacted with a countless number, of local teens working at Mona's.

He not only taught them how to make pasta, but also shared life lessons, such as treating others with respect.

(metal pan clanking) - How to get along with people.

I got along with all them kids.

They were great.

I still see a lot of 'em.

They come see me, yeah.

- [Phil] MacAllister doesn't like to toot his own horn, but owner Bernardi says that McAllister has been a leader at Mona's through his work ethic, and attitude.

- I would say number one would be responsibility.

That brings a lot to the table, as far as the job goes, consistency, working together as a team.

- [Phil] Meantime, McAllister has liked to keep things loose in the kitchen.

- (laughing) Just playing jokes on people, and doing silly things, and just having fun, yeah.

- [Phil] Some of that fun came from McAllister's fondness for pranks.

For example, he'd sometimes ask a newcomer to go down the street to the sister restaurant, Capponi's, to borrow a sausage stretcher.

Yes, a sausage stretcher.

- Ray, over the years, along with the cooks down at Capponi's, cause we own both locations, would send some of the newer employees, down the street for the sausage stretcher, which there is obviously no such thing.

So the kids would go down the street, on the other end of it, The chef at Capponi's knowing the same thing, they'd send 'em back with a tool out of the toolbox, that the kid wouldn't know what was anyway.

They'd bring it back down the street, and Ray would obviously get a kick out of whatever mechanism was gave to the kid that worked for us in exchange.

- [Phil] Amid the laughter, McAllister is known as a hard worker, though, he never takes himself too seriously.

For instance, after all those tons of pasta, he laughs, when asked if he has any cooking secrets to share.

- Make sure the water's boiling, that's all, that's a big, and stir, boil, stir, dump.

Put it in the cooler come back, and do it again.

I mean, (laughs) you don't think rocket scientist.

- [Phil] But he does have a secret to his long, and active life, thanks to Mona's.

Hauling pasta around the kitchen takes a lot of huffing, and puffing.

For McAllister, the kitchen has doubled as sort of a workout room, that he credits with keeping him healthy, and on the move.

The kitchen workouts were even harder back in the day when the cooler was downstairs.

- [Off Camera] Yep.

- These are steps that kept me alive.

We carried all the pasta down, and all of it back up again, every day.

- [Phil] A widower for three years, McAllister says he has no intention of slowing down.

He plans to keep up his schedule, 5:00 AM, three hours a day, four hours a week, making pasta at Mona's - He's real.

Ray is a real person, a loving, caring person.

- [Off Camera] So when will this air?

(upbeat jazzy music) (glasses clinking) - Hey, my name is Dustin Crawford, I work here at The "33" Room.

We're gonna be making some cocktails today.

Today, we're starting off with the Blackberry Velvet.

It's a sour cocktail.

(ice clanking) It's gonna be going up in this beautiful coupe.

And you always wanna put a cold drink in a cold glass.

(ice clanking) We're gonna add some ice to it, and water, it'll chill it down very quickly.

That way you're not warming up your drink, when you get to it.

This cocktail's gonna have an egg white in it.

Gonna start by splitting that off, cause if you mess up the egg white, you have to restart.

You don't wanna waste any of your other ingredients on that.

(water trickling) Get a little rinse.

All right.

Now we're going to go ahead, and add some citrus, we have lime juice today.

We're going to do I believe three quarters, yeah, three quarters of an ounce of fresh lime juice.

(liquid tinkling) All right, we're gonna do a bar spoon of blackberry jam, to give it some flavor, some depth.

(bar spoon tinking) And you'll see some speckles of that, after you shake that into the cocktail.

(bar tools clinking) All right, now we need some simple syrup, You can make this a home, it's very easy to make.

One part water to one part sugar, You can do that by weight, generally.

Only doing half an ounce.

Also doing the cheapest ingredients first, again, if you mess up your cocktail you don't wanna throw away the expensive stuff.

I'm gonna come around to some rhubarb bitters.

Bitters offset your alcohol taste, and that adds a little bit of flavor as well.

And it's very concentrated.

Plum as well.

It's gonna go well in this cocktail with rum, with berries, with a little bit of egg white, it gives a velvety taste to it.

Now we're gonna get some crème de mûre, or crème de cassis.

(bottle clinking) We need a half ounce of that.

Crèmes are very, very, sweet.

That's why we only needed a half ounce of the simple syrup, and we have Cruzan Black Strap molasses rum, a half ounce of that, this rum is thick, sweet, has some of those original flavors that are in some less processed sugars.

And then we're also gonna add some white rum.

This balances out the rum a little bit.

It's not gonna have too many intense flavors.

It's gonna be a little bit more palatable.

(bottles clanking) All right.

And then we are going to shake this without ice.

It's called a dry shake.

This will emulsify the egg white and it will also incorporate all, everything together, and begin the foaming of the cocktail.

(metal clanking) I'm gonna shake hard for about five to 10 seconds.

(metal clanking) When you do that, there's no ice in there.

So it is gonna try to expand, so you wanna hold the two halves of the shaker together.

(ice clinking) Then we can add some ice.

(ice clanking) This will chill, and dilute the cocktail, (ice clanking) and give you the volume that you need.

(ice violently clanking) About 10 to 15 seconds.

See it gets nice, and chilled, starts to frost up, give it a smack to release the suction it gives.

And then we're gonna make a third shake to really build that foam.

You can see all the ingredients are a cohesive, color.

(ice clanking) (bar tools clinking) Get rid of the ice, cause it's diluted enough.

(hand tapping metal) I'm gonna build the foam.

(ice clanking) (hand claps metal) Get our fine mesh strainer.

(ice clanking) (metal clanking) And then we can begin the garnish.

(bar tools clanking) Since this has a lot of blackberry flavor, we're gonna add some blackberries onto it.

You're always welcome to eat the garnish, for the garnish to have some sort of reasoning for being there.

These are Peychaud's bitters.

This keeps the nose nice, and palatable, as when egg white warms up, it doesn't smell as good.

Make it pretty.

And you have the Blackberry Velvet.

It's frothy, it's tasty, it has juicy flavors to it.

It reminds me of March, cause of the beginning of Spring, but, you still have the ice cold of Winter coming in, especially here in Illinois.

(upbeat lively music) - Well, I think that show hit the bullseye.

- I think we were right on target.

Thanks so much for joining us on this episode of "You Gotta See This".

- See you next time.

- There could be at least, whole scads of people moving in downtown Peoria.

- What amounts to a village.

(beep) - And there's a master chef that we're gonna talk to, that, eats a lot of pasta.

- And more!

Master chef?

(laughs) - I don't know what happened.

What do I know?

(beep) - Oh yeah.

There's lots of fun things going on down here, and the CDC, not the CDC.

- Sorry.

- And pincha pincha.

- You gotta see this.

That was terrible.

(upbeat lively music)