- You think you know pizza?

We're gonna show you one that'll blow your mind and your taste buds.

- Ooh, I wanna taste it, but first, you gotta see this.

(upbeat jazzy music) (upbeat jazzy music continues) - You ever taste goat?

Yum yums.

- Mm, sounds a little goaty for my taste.

- Well, it's delicious in dishes at a small authentic Mexican place right in the middle of Peoria.

- And we are gonna take you there to show you pizza like you've never had before.

- We're also gonna visit a town that got its name from, of all things, a rooster.

But it's the biggest, baddest rooster that ever strutted through central Illinois.

- While we're speaking of roosters and animals, I don't know if it's the biggest and baddest, but we are definitely gonna talk to a box turtle.

I even tried to give him a high five.

- And for one of our journeys, we're gonna go back in time to the Old West and check out the legend of Wild Bill Hickok.

- Woo!

(Julie imitates guns shooting) Well, you know, he did make himself famous on the American frontier, but he started out here in central Illinois where he grew up as a boy.

- Watch those things.

They're dangerous.

Check this out.

One of the most famous names of the Old West, Wild Bill Hickok left a complex legacy.

Was he a kindly frontiersman, benevolent lawman or ruthless gunslinger?

- But Wild Bill in his self was probably without much question, probably one of the more famous of lawmen, of shootists, if you will, out there, and he, it wasn't that he was aggressive in that respect.

He never really started anything.

He finished a lot of 'em, but he never started much.

- Whatever the truth of his legacy, one thing is certain.

It started in LaSalle County about 75 miles north of Peoria.

James Butler Hickok was born in the town of Homer on May 27th, 1837.

Later that year, because another town was known as Homer, the village changed its name to Troy Grove.

And in time, he took his dad's name of Bill.

His parents, William and Polly, used their home as a stop along the Underground Railroad, and he helped his dad transporting fleeing slaves.

That might have been the first time he got shot at.

- [Jim] I got to experience what bullets came as they came by, passed the wagon and over our heads.

It was quite an experience.

- [Phil] As a boy, he learned to handle guns, in part to hunt to help feed the family.

He became so proficient with firearms, he won shooting competitions and earned renown as an expert marksman.

- [Jim] Because of my fondness for firearms, I didn't get to school as much as I probably could have.

- [Phil] Still, he liked to read, especially dime novels about frontier life.

He thirsted for adventure, but he might never have become one of the Wild West's biggest names if not for a local mishap that turned him into an accidental desperado.

At age 15, he headed south to LaSalle and the I & M Canal to work the mules that pulled boats along the waterway.

When a coworker mistreated a mule, Bill lashed out and the two wrestled, with both falling into the canal.

Bill, incorrectly thinking he had killed his foe, dashed away to home.

- Mom packed me a little bit of a lunch and some extra clothes and sent me out of town for a spell.

- [Phil] He'd be gone more than a decade.

Meantime, he made his way to Kansas, where he took a job driving a stagecoach.

Highway men would routinely try to rob his well-heeled passengers, giving Bill a chance to show off his gun slinging skills and giving him the nickname of Wild Bill.

His further exploits soon cemented the nickname.

In 1860, while driving for a freight company that owned the Pony Express, he stopped to shoo away two bear cubs off a roadway.

Suddenly, the mama bear appeared and went after Wild Bill.

He shot the bear once, which only served to enrage the beast.

It pounced on Bill and the two began to tussle.

- Chewed his arm and shoulder up pretty bad, and he actually killed her with a knife.

- [Phil] Bill served other adventuresome roles, including Union soldier and frontier scout.

He worked on both sides of the law, sometimes as a constable or deputy, other times as a gambler and cattle rustler.

Through it all, he became known for his gunfights.

Legends accounted for numerous duals that claimed the lives of countless men.

However, experts say Wild Bill likely gunned down just six or seven men.

His firearm of choice?

- [Jim] I personally carried a pair of Colt Navy Revolvers, .36 caliber.

They were one of the most popular guns that Sam Colt ever made.

- [Phil] In 1870, Wild Bill returned to Troy Grove for the first time in 14 years to visit his widowed mother.

After three weeks though, he grew bored and he headed back west for his next frontier escapade.

He would never return to Illinois again.

About that time, with his eyesight starting to fail, Wild Bill took occasional work as an actor and showman, sometimes with Buffalo Bill Cody sideshows, but his gritty demeanor alienated ticket buyers.

So, in 1876, he decided to seek fortune in the gold mines of the Dakota Territory.

Wild Bill made his way to Deadwood, where he often could be found playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No.

10.

He'd usually take a seat with his back to the wall and eyes to the front door to look out for troublemakers.

But as he entered the saloon on August 1st, 1876, the only open seat in the house faced away from the front entrance.

Wild Bill asked for his usual spot, but the occupant wouldn't budge.

- I went in to play, and he did not want to leave his seat.

He had had the pretty good hands of cards there, and I mentioned I would like to have it.

He said, "I don't want to move.

I'm doing really well."

- [Phil] So, Wild Bill took a seat and left his fate to chance.

At first, fortune smiled on him.

Playing draw poker, he drew two black aces and two black eights, a promising hand.

But then, in walked Jack McCall.

The night before, the drifter and miner had played poker at a table with Wild Bill, losing heavily.

He'd returned in anger that next day with Wild Bill the target of his ire.

McCall drew his .45 caliber revolver, pointing it toward Wild Bill, who could see nothing behind him.

Wild Bill died instantly, leaving his cards on the table.

Those black aces and eights forever became infamous as dead man's hand.

As for the fifth card?

- Well, it's debatable.

Some people say it's a queen.

Some say it was a jack.

It's lost to history.

- [Phil] McCall didn't get far from the saloon before he was caught.

He was later tried and hanged.

Wild Bill lies nearby at the Mount Moriah Cemetery among Calamity Jane and other Old West characters.

His grave site there is the top tourist draw.

His name's still commanding attention and respect.

And in his hometown of Troy Grove, Illinois, you can find multiple memorials and markers dedicated to their most famous son who fled central Illinois by mistake, only to become perhaps the most famous name of the Wild West.

At Cuco's Tacos, owner Alin Aranda relies on her roots.

Two decades ago, she and her family arrived in Peoria from central Mexico.

Two years ago, she chucked an office job to buy Cuco's Tacos.

- The difference about us is that we are a hundred percent Mexican cuisine.

- [Phil] From recipes from her mom, Aranda has created one of the most distinct menus in town.

She especially created a buzz among local foodies as well as the Hispanic community by being one of the few places in central Illinois to sell Birria pizza.

- Ever since we brought the pizza Birria, everything went crazy.

It's just people love the Birria that we made here.

- [Phil] Birria, which is more or less a stew, was a food fad nationally about two years ago.

Now, the big trend is Birria pizza.

For that, brother-in-law Daniel Carachuri is a whizz with the griddle.

- Pizza Birria is like two big flour tortillas.

And what we do, we salt the tortilla on the meat juice and then we crispy the tortilla on the grill.

We put cheese, we put a lot of meat and then we put more cheese and then cover it with another tortilla, so the taste is different and better.

- [Phil] It's been a hit since the get go.

- [Alin] The first time I put the video on Facebook, it went crazy.

It went viral.

More than 4,000 views and shares.

And I, we got super busy.

We couldn't answer the phone for three to four days.

And we have a line outside asking for the pizza Birria.

And ever since we got it out, I mean we sell a lot every day.

- [Phil] What's her secret?

The spices.

Though Aranda won't talk specifics.

However, she says states in northern Mexico are more Americanized and use fewer spices.

But in central Mexico, the original home of Aranda's family Birria and other dishes are made with layers of spices.

- It's hard to explain the spices because there's so many.

But for the Birria that we make, we probably use different, 20 different spices for the Birria.

And some people in some other states, they might use like 10 different spices on the Birria.

But we use probably more than 20.

- [Phil] Other authentic recipes at Cuco's Tacos include goat in soup or in tacos.

- To me, I love goat, but the meat is more stronger.

Like, it is salt, but the taste is more stronger.

- [Phil] Also popular is Menudo, a soup made with tripe or cow's stomach.

It's a weekend favorite.

- The reason why we open at 9:00 AM Saturdays and Sunday is because a lot Hispanics, they like to have the Menudo after they go on a night of fun.

And the Menudo is a good thing to relieve the hangover.

And I sell a lot of Menudo every morning, Saturdays and Sundays.

- [Phil] Other Mexican authentic meats include lengua, or tongue and cabeza, which is braised beef head.

But there are also familiar favorites like beef, chicken and pork on familiar dishes such as tacos, burritos and quesadillas.

Aranda provides several salsas, including her secret variety, hot but flavorful in a special bottle available only by request.

There's not much room inside the small storefront, so only a handful of diners can take a seat.

But the eatery does brisk takeout business and the local Hispanic community is especially fond of the place.

- They like the way that we cook.

They also like the salsas.

The meat that we make here is like, we also have like the, some other different tacos that they cannot find any other places and that's why they come here.

(jazzy music) - [Julie] Meet Rocky, a 10 year old eastern box turtle and animal ambassador at Wildlife Prairie Park.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on this little guy.

Can I hold him?

- [Andrew] Sure.

- Okay.

So, I wanna turn him so I can, okay, there we go.

- [Andrew] And so, these guys are- - Rocky.

- [Andrew] Are omnivores much like that skunk that we just talked about, right?

- Yeah.

- So they're gonna be eating things like earth worms.

Our box turtles really love cherry tomatoes and strawberries.

And one of the kind of main things about turtles that people misunderstand, and I largely blame Franklin the Turtle for this.

- Franklin!

He's not on PBS, so it's okay.

- But a turtle's shell does not work like a hermit crab's.

- Okay.

- Where they move onto a bigger shell when they get too big.

- Right.

- Their shell grows with them as they grow.

- So, it's, yeah- - If you actually look at the inside of a turtle shell.

- Is that making you nervous, buddy?

- This is a snapping turtle shell.

- [Julie] Okay.

- But you can see their backbone is kind of integrated into the bone here.

And so, that is actually his spinal cord there.

- Oh, gotcha.

So, is this like science class for Rocky?

Like, he's like- - Like, this is your anatomy.

- That's, Rocky, that's what you look like on the inside.

- But yes, when you find a shell like this in the wild, it's not because the turtle has moved on, found a bigger shell- - Gotcha.

- It's 'cause that turtle's probably not with us anymore, unfortunately, but.

- So, why the yellow markings on this guy?

Most turtles I think of as green.

- Sure, so eastern box turtles and kind of box turtles in general can have some really wildly different colors.

- [Julie] Okay.

- This guy has a lot more yellow than typically they do.

We've also got one that's got a bit more orange on him and one of the times these guys are active is gonna be in the fall time.

So even though this color isn't gonna, like, blend in real well with the kind of green vegetation, come fall time when the leaves are all yellow and brown and red, this is gonna work a little bit better for him.

- [Julie] What does work out for him are his special turtle adaptations.

- [Andrew] The top bit, the rounded bit, is called the carapace and the bottom bit is called the plastron.

And so, in box turtles, they've got this really cool adaptation where they've got basically a hinge halfway down their plastron.

And so, they can pull their arms and their head up into this cavity here.

- [Julie] Okay.

- And then angle this bottom bit of their shell.

- [Julie] What?

- [Andrew] Up on itself to to cover themselves up.

- [Julie] Congratulations.

Good job.

Learn more about Rocky and his animal ambassador friends at Wildlife Prairie Park.

- [Phil] In the mid 1800s, about six miles from Galesburg, a town called Ionia bustled with vitality.

By 1850, there was a wagon shop, general store, mill, hotel, four taverns and two churches.

Population pushed past 200 people, a solid figure for a burgeoning community.

But when rail lines pushed through the area, Ionia was skipped over in favor of the nearby town of Alexis.

Railroad tracks often decided life or death to rural towns.

For Ionia, no railroad meant commerce would suffer.

But Ionia found a second wind through gambling.

Farmers set up a crude horse racing track, but the favorite wagering was cock fights.

The biggest, baddest fighting rooster was named Shanghai.

Gamblers came from far and wide to see this monster bird.

When leaving for the cock fights, wagerers would declare, "Woo, I'm going to see Shanghai."

The name stuck.

By the 1860s, the community became known as Shanghai City, but not everyone reveled in the raucous reputation.

On the morning of Sunday, May 3, 1868, the wife of a preacher walked past one of the taverns where regulars already were getting a snoot full.

She stomped home to report the scene to her husband, who that afternoon took to his pulpit at the Church of the New Advent.

Congregants packed the place, eager to hear his message.

He delivered a fire and brimstone sermon, sternly warning against pleasures of the flesh, such as those at the tavern.

Outside through the church windows, lightning ripped across the sky as thunder boomed.

Congregants paid little attention though, as rain had pelted the town repeatedly in recent days.

In fact, they were so riveted by the preacher, they didn't even flinch as a funnel cloud popped up in the distance, but then the twister got closer and bigger.

The tornado roared into the church, lifting up the roof, then crashing it down.

From there, the twister jumped through the town like a pogo stick destroying much of Shanghai City before vanishing into the sky.

The storm claimed six lives as well as both churches.

Few structures were left standing, but one of the survivors was the very tavern that had sparked the pastor's sermon.

Laid waste by the storm, Shanghai City quickly began to fade into oblivion.

But at the surviving tavern, regulars wouldn't let go.

Perhaps they saw the building as blessed or lucky and certainly worth saving.

They hoisted the tavern atop log rollers then pulled it by horse three miles to Alexis.

The relocated saloon became a fixture in Alexis for decades.

Then in 1965, new owner Jiggs Allgeyer put his name on the sign out front.

Today, the tavern, the same structure that survived that 1968 tornado in Shanghai City, still stands strong under the ownership of Jiggs' grandson, BJ Allgeyer.

BJ says visitors pop into the pub and ask about its unusual history and staying power.

After the Shanghai days, the saloon had further run-ins with nature, not tornadoes, but animals.

- There's a lot of stories from the earlier times when, you know, there might be a pig run through here or someone rode a horse through or a chicken up on the duct work or just, they had lot of fun back then.

- [Phil] They still have fun at the tavern, which serves as a community hub for Alexis' 800 residents.

And after more than a century and a half, the building remains solid.

- It's got good booms.

Yep, yep.

- [Phil] In fact, just as in the Shanghai City days, the place stays safe from storms.

Not long after BJ took over, a twister headed towards Alexis but veered away at the last minute.

Perhaps the saloon still has a superpower to stave off cyclones.

- [BJ] Yep.

That's what we hope for, anyway, yeah.

- [Julie] Remember that special project you made in school, brought it home to mom.

Maybe it was a cutting board or a pot holder or maybe an apron.

That project brought joy to her, and you were pretty proud of yourself, too.

Now, you can get some of that same feeling back at the Woodworkers Shop just south of Pekin where they offer woodworking classes a lot like the ones you took in school.

- It is, other than the fact that there's no grades.

The whole idea is you want to be here and learn something.

Each class is fairly specific on what we're learning.

They're, class, in the class, you make something, typically, but that's not what the class is about.

It's the learning of the process.

- [Julie] So using their tools, just like in high school shop class, you can make your own masterpiece in about two hours.

- Several years ago we started doing demo classes and then people were wanting more hands on work.

We're here to make a bowl this evening, but that's not the primary reason we're here.

We're here to learn how to make it, not just to produce something.

- [Julie] The class was well supervised and pretty small.

- [Jason] We try to keep it between three to five individuals.

That way you have very one-on-one time, condensed down to two hours of class each time.

This way it's, you know, you don't have to worry about attention span or anything else.

Most people can carve out two hours of free time to learn something.

- [Julie] Starting with just a square block of wood, the first stop was the bandsaw.

Here, the basic round shape was cut out of wood.

From there, the blocks were attached to the lathe, and that's where the wood turns at a high speed and the woodworker carves out the inside of a bowl.

This takes a little time because you only wanna remove just enough material to make it right.

With a little direction from the instructor, the blocks of wood start to take form, looking like, well, bowls.

(machine whirs) (tools click and bang) (machine whirs) (playful music) (machines whir) The bowls were smoothed out and sanded and started to look amazing.

(machine whirs) Some old-fashioned burnishing is applied to each bowl to give it that burned wood appearance.

Jason insists this is a secret 100-year-old technique.

He says bowl making classes aren't the only classes they offer.

- Obviously, we turn bowls, mallets, do a step stool class, which happens to be on dovetailing and a simple one, a three step stool.

It's using the Kreg jig, something very basic in the beginning.

We try to keep the classes enough where an individual who's never done any woodworking before could come in and do it, and someone who's been doing woodworking will still learn something throughout the class.

- [Julie] The two hour bowl turning class was just $55 and included materials, but some classes are free.

(upbeat music) - Mole is basically a Mexican chili sauce with a secret ingredient, chocolate.

You don't have to cook this all day for it to be delicious.

I've already started to saute the onions.

To this, I'll add the garlic.

Stir for about 30 seconds.

You don't wanna burn the garlic.

Now, I'll add the cinnamon, the cumin, adobo sauce, the chipotle chilies, ancho chili powder and chipotle pepper and tomatoes with green chilies.

(upbeat music) I'm giving it a good stir.

I've reduced the heat, and it's been simmering for 15 minutes.

Next, I'll add the chicken broth, the orange zest, the raisins and the peanut butter.

(upbeat music) Give it a good stir.

I've taken the sauce off the heat.

It's time to puree the mixture.

(blender whirs) The sauce is completely pureed.

I've returned it back to the sauce pan and brought it up to a low simmer.

Now, it's time to add the chopped chocolate.

(upbeat music) I'm gonna add a little bit of salt, black pepper and a little bit more chipotle pepper and ancho chili powder, because I do like it a little spicy.

This is the mole.

Mole is incredibly versatile.

Today, I'm using it with my chicken enchiladas.

I've made my enchilada filling and I've lightly fried my tortillas.

So I pour one cup of the mole into a nine by 13 baking pan and one cup of mole into a pie plate.

We take one tortilla and we're gonna put it right into the mole, flip it over, wet the other side.

Now, I'm going to add the filling, a third of a cup.

I spread it out over the tortilla.

Now, it's time to roll it.

Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas.

Oh, that sauce looks good.

Cover your baking pan with aluminum foil and bake it in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes.

(upbeat music) Sprinkle the tap with some cilantro, red onions, pepitas and some queso fresco.

We enjoy this at our house.

I hope you enjoy it in yours.

(upbeat music) (jazzy music) - My name is Brad Gebhards.

We're here at Schooners making the Florida.

So, the drink came from Tim Gebhards, my brother.

He just made it up on the fly and we've been running with it ever since.

And we get a group full of people that come in and ask for the Florida, but usually only if I'm working cause they think that I'm the only one who knows how to make the Florida, which it is pretty easy to drink and very easy to enjoy on the patio.

We got here, we got one part Bacardi, a little heavy 'cause we are making a Florida, the other half Titos.

And the key here is to shake it up until it is completely frosty.

(upbeat music) And so, you want to taste the liquor, but you don't wanna be overwhelmed by it.

'Cause most people don't want to taste the vodka.

They just want to have a good time.

(ice rattles) So, you can do a little ice pour over.

Make it look all nice.

Garnish it with an orange and a cherry, and now you got Florida in the beer garden.

- Well, that was a rootin tootin episode with Wild Bill and all the rest.

- Well, we definitely rounded up some roosters and we rounded up a turtle.

- And the dinosaurs and the unicorns and the monkeys and all the rest.

- No, no, no.

Maybe next time on "You Gotta See This!"

- Dinosaur edition.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (no audio)