rolled into Turk's down in Orland for lunch today, first checked out DaBeefs great Italian Beef blog: http://www.beefwithhot.blogspot.com - thumbs up review there so I was good to go.

Husband and wife team, nice folks, sandwich was really well balanced, nice pepper mix, tender beef with a garlic hint, solid bread. I can definitely see making Turk's part of my regular rotation.




Turk's Combo - hot:



Turk's Beef and Sausage
14600 S. LaGrange Road
Orland Park, IL.

http://www.turksbeef.com

As I recall turks has a pretty tasty nicely breaded shrimp as well.

7th combo in the past 10 or so days, 5 new to me spots and 2 spots I have hit a few times. Found a couple spots that I will put in my regular roation joining the likes of: Lil Joes, Al's(taylor), and Johnnies(N Ave.).

Today was Pop's Beef over in Orland @ 143rd and Wolf Road. Might prefer the sandwich i had here vs the Palos spot, Beef was really nice, tenderjuicy., jalapeno heavy pepper mix, nice sausage, and bread that holds up. one of the best sandwiches of the last 7.

They made me up a beef in error so i got a couple pics of that as well as the combo

Pop's Orland:



Pop's Beef Hot:



Pop's combo hot:



Pop's Italian Beef and Sausage
14279 Wolf Road
Orland Park, IL.

Off topic, but if you are happy with Pop's Orland Park at Wolf and 143rd---pop into:
Pyramid Supermarket
14259 S Wolf Rd
Orland Park, IL 60467
(708) 460-8400
Hours:
Mon-Sun 9 am - 9 pm

Very respectable shawarma, freshly fried falafel, smokey baba ganoush--all beautifully garnished--delish patries, spinach pies with or without meat, and more, all to go, no tables, at the opposite end of the same strip mall.


shawarmafalafel by raeban99, on Flickr


ganoush by raeban99, on Flickr

Does anyone know what the green peppery, pickle-ish garnish is in the middle of the baba ganoush? Really, really delicious stuff...

Food Nut wrote:Does anyone know what the green peppery, pickle-ish garnish is in the middle of the baba ganoush? Really, really delicious stuff...

Zhug, skhug, schug, or however you want to spell and pronounce the Yemenite chile relish. You can find many recipes, for both green and red versions, including this one from Claudia Roden.

Food Nut wrote:Off topic, but if you are happy with Pop's Orland Park at Wolf and 143rd---pop into:
Pyramid Supermarket
14259 S Wolf Rd
Orland Park, IL 60467
(708) 460-8400
Hours:
Mon-Sun 9 am - 9 pm

Very respectable shawarma, freshly fried falafel, smokey baba ganoush--all beautifully garnished--delish patries, spinach pies with or without meat, and more, all to go, no tables, at the opposite end of the same strip mall.

thanks for the info on this spot, saw it in the strip mall and was curious.

Finally had a chance to be in Westchester yesterday, so a stop at the new Chickie's was called for. Ordered a beef, juicy, with a lot of hot. Also ordered well done fries too. Sammy was terrific, with thinly sliced beef that hadn't spent the entire day in the gravy and hot jalapeno/celery on top that went along with, rather than overwhelming, the beef. The fries were cooked to order and mighty good. Very nice, accommodating people behind the counter. I still have good memories of the old Carm's at this address, but Chickie's is doing a nice job of filling the void. I will be back soon.

jimswside and others recent posts on this thread had me craving a good beef a couple times of late. It had been a while since I stopped thru Marco's Beef so I gave it a go when passing by. You might not get the vibe when looking at it from the outside but this place takes the time and care of making their own beef.


Fullerton just west of Austin

From my standpoint it's still a better than average example of this style of sandwich served in this city, though not 1st team. The folks there are good people and they load up their tender thinly sliced beef. The gravy has a nice spice kick and the peppers seem to have a little bit of everything in them. A solid option to have if you're anywhere near.


Beef with Hot

Marco's Beef & Pizza
6008 W Fullerton Ave
Chicago, IL 60639
(773) 745-1015

Funny that you mention Marco's today. I just drove by there today, on the way to Honey1 BTW, and I mentioned to my wife that I used to go there back in the early 90's when I worked in the area. I was basically surprised that they were still in business. Not because the food was bad. It's just not normal for those type of places to last 20+ years.

might squeeze in a couple stops this week, hit Dukes Drive-In over on Harlem Ave. in Bridgeview yesterday. Cool spot:



Sandwich was pretty good, definitely worth the stop. Alot of beef - good stuff, nice sausage link, and a good pepper mix.

Duke's Combo Hot:



I bet their address has been posted before but her it is again:

Dukes Italian Beef Drive In
8115 S. Harlem
Bridgeview, IL.

http://www.dukesitalianbeef.com

A few days ago I tried Luke's on Jackson in the loop and I thought was terrible. The IB featured bland beef, nasty gravy, punchless giardiniera and stale bread (I could tell despite it being dipped). Blah!

Al's on Adams is the best IB I've had in the loop. Not as good as the Al's on Taylor St, but it does the trick. Any other suggestions?

jimswside wrote:might squeeze in a couple stops this week, hit Dukes Drive-In over on Harlem Ave. in Bridgeview yesterday. Cool spot:



Sandwich was pretty good, definitely worth the stop. Alot of beef - good stuff, nice sausage link, and a good pepper mix.

Duke's Combo Hot:



I bet their address has been posted before but her it is again:

Dukes Italian Beef Drive In
8115 S. Harlem
Bridgeview, IL.

http://www.dukesitalianbeef.com

Jim, I am NOT picking on you - I swear. My brother and I hit Duke's on one of our Beef runs and we were very unimpressed. I know DaBeef likes Duke's too, which kind of surprised me once I had it. I don't ever go to that area, so I won't miss it, but I thought it was average at best. Looking forward to finally trying Pop's on 103rd and Kedzie and maybe Duke's one more time.

And I recently had Luke's of Lake Bluff a couple of times. Considering the options around here for a good beef are slim, it was pretty good, but definitely not a starting lineup contender.

Luke's of Lake Bluff
203 N Waukegan Rd
Lake Bluff IL 60044
(847) 615-9705

PopcornMegaphone wrote:A few days ago I tried Luke's on Jackson in the loop and I thought was terrible. The IB featured bland beef, nasty gravy, punchless giardiniera and stale bread (I could tell despite it being dipped). Blah!

Al's on Adams is the best IB I've had in the loop. Not as good as the Al's on Taylor St, but it does the trick. Any other suggestions?

U.B. Dogs!

Ram4 wrote:Jim, I am NOT picking on you - I swear. My brother and I hit Duke's on one of our Beef runs and we were very unimpressed. I know DaBeef likes Duke's too, which kind of surprised me once I had it. I don't ever go to that area, so I won't miss it, but I thought it was average at best. Looking forward to finally trying Pop's on 103rd and Kedzie and maybe Duke's one more time.
5

all good,

I thought Dukes was good, not one of the top 2 or 3 sandwiches I have had the last couple of weeks(I think ive had 8 different spots), but a good sandwich. Plus the whole drive-in factor makes me like the place.

I'm just having fun getting some recent pics up of the IB/Combo spots that are around my work.

UB Dogs is ok, a little small but it does the job, I give it a 7.

Is there a halfway decent beef stand in the Loop or on the North Side (other than Mr. Beef)? I mean like in Bucktown, Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Ukrainian Village, Humboldt Park, etc.? I don't mean anything tht rivals Al's

ld111134 wrote:Is there a halfway decent beef stand in the Loop or on the North Side (other than Mr. Beef)? I mean like in Bucktown, Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Ukrainian Village, Humboldt Park, etc.? I don't mean anything tht rivals Al's

I've always wondered about...

Jay's Beef
2255 W North Ave
(773) 772-2333
www.jaysbeef.com

... but have never been...

Panther in the Den wrote:

ld111134 wrote:Is there a halfway decent beef stand in the Loop or on the North Side (other than Mr. Beef)? I mean like in Bucktown, Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Ukrainian Village, Humboldt Park, etc.? I don't mean anything tht rivals Al's

I've always wondered about...

Jay's Beef
2255 W North Ave
(773) 772-2333
http://www.jaysbeef.com

... but have never been...

If it's anything like the original location , you'll get a pretty good, but not great beef. But you'll get lots of it. The sausage is good, but less spicy than Johnnies. It should definitely qualify as more than half way decent.

Ld111134 try Joe Boston's on Chicago Ave in Humboldt Park.

I had a combo at mr beef on Friday...still gets my vote. It was empty, though I may have been the first one in the mood for a beef as it was only 11am. I found it interesting that they open at 8am ?? Who's eatin' beef at 8am?


Sent from my iPh

rubbbqco wrote:I found it interesting that they open at 8am ?? Who's eatin' beef at 8am?

People whose shift ends at 7AM or shortly thereafter.

gullit wrote:Ld111134 try Joe Boston's on Chicago Ave in Humboldt Park.

I second that. Easily one of the top 10 beefs. My brother currently has it in his top 5.

Stopped by Mr. Beef and Pizza on North Harlem and Irving today. I have passes this place a zillion times, but have never stopped in. I enjoyed a juicy beef with hot peppers. Delicious gravy, tender beef and lots of it. A big, tasty sandwich and well worth the 5.00 price tag.

thick wrote:Stopped by Mr. Beef and Pizza on North Harlem and Irving today. I have passes this place a zillion times, but have never stopped in. I enjoyed a juicy beef with hot peppers. Delicious gravy, tender beef and lots of it. A big, tasty sandwich and well worth the 5.00 price tag.

One of my top 5.

Ram4 wrote:

gullit wrote:Ld111134 try Joe Boston's on Chicago Ave in Humboldt Park.

I second that. Easily one of the top 10 beefs. My brother currently has it in his top 5.

Boston's is in my top 3. It is where Chicago and Grand meet.

ld111134 wrote:Is there a halfway decent beef stand in the Loop or on the North Side (other than Mr. Beef)? I mean like in Bucktown, Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Ukrainian Village, Humboldt Park, etc.? I don't mean anything that rivals Al's.

Panther in the Den wrote: I've always wondered about...
Jay's Beef
2255 W North Ave
(773) 772-2333
http://www.jaysbeef.com/
... but have never been...

I've been there a couple of times. I think its beef is satisfying. It managed to duplicate its taste from north Narragansett Ave., which doesn't always happen when a venue expands.

my 2 favorite spots of the recent sampling of the Homer/Orland/Palos corridor were Mr. Beef on 143rd in Homer Glen & Turks over on LaGrange Rd. in Orland. Didnt have time to get as far east as Orland(I like Turks alot, especially that they are a not a franchise beef) so I hit Mr. Beef for lunch before heading home. Nice combo hot, Their pepper mix is one of my favorite, lots of jalapenos. Hit the spot



combo hot & the Sun Times sports page:

Bumping this because Al's has been aggressively franchising, and apparently a Chinese franchisee just picked up 2 location, one to be situated in Alhambra, CA, a city a few miles away from my house known for rows and rows of Chinese/Vietnamese restaurants. The future Al's will be 350 ft away from one of the better/busier dimsum joints in LA. Back to Al's -- I'm in Kennyz's camp, which is to say, Taylor street Al's was rather gross the one time I tried it.

Does anyone have opinions after sampling the franchises? Worse? Better? (Is that even possible?).

All worse. Much worse. And I'm a fan of the original. Sort of on par with Fat Burger and, increasingly, 5 Guys in terms of a cynical sham effort at keeping it tight. I can only assume Portillo's does a better job of ensuring that some CA beef is tethered to reality, if only because it's the most commercial and centralized IB player.

There is only one Al's. That is all.