midas wrote:
Yea, I sure wouldn't consider either Johnnie's or Al's great bang for the buck. Bob-O's is a good choice in that category but I'd have to pick Jay's on Narragansett. But Bob-O's definitely has much better fries.

Al's has my favorite sandwich and second favorite Italian sausage, but in terms of beef for the buck it's gotta be the worst deal in town! I always take out of town visitors to Al's on Taylor for a great experience but it is definitely not a cheap meal.

Who has the best combo? Are Al's, Johnnie's, Satchell's, etc. the best in this category as well or are their sausages less stellar than their beefs?

If combos are concerned, I think Pop's is part of the conversation. Beef is good, if *a bit* inconsistent, hot giard is tops, and italian sausage is great. If you are south, then it is about as good as it gets.

ld111134 wrote:Who has the best combo? Are Al's, Johnnie's, Satchell's, etc. the best in this category as well or are their sausages less stellar than their beefs?

I've always thought Johnnies was at or near the top for the combo. I've had a couple people tell me,over the last year or so, of having received badly overcooked sausages but I've never experienced that so don't know if it was a timing thing or possibly even a perception. It's still my go-to.

Kman wrote:I've always thought Johnnies was at or near the top for the combo. I've had a couple people tell me,over the last year or so, of having received badly overcooked sausages but I've never experienced that so don't know if it was a timing thing or possibly even a perception. It's still my go-to.

Definitely agree on this. I think the sausages at Johnnies are among the best in town, if not the very best. There have been times I went there and ordered a double-sausage without beef. And their beef is certainly good enough to place their combo in the upper echelon. I've never had an overcooked sausage there either, though it has been a little over a year since I was last there.

=R=

blackbookali wrote:You guys got a suggestion for the best Italian Beef for your Buck?

Well, here's the thing. I am 40 miles away from Al's/Taylor, but for many years I was 5 minutes away. And in those days I loved 'em, and could 'process' a large combo--hot & wet--much better than I can currently. So, for the maybe one time a year I'm in the Taylor Street vicinity now, I don't care about the cost, although at whatever-the-hell-it-is now--eleven, twelve bucks--it seems a mite high, even with the high beef prices.

But I think that sandwich continues to be a thing of beauty. I can't even eat it doing the 'Italian stance'--I just default to a plate, fork & knife. That giardiniera mixed with the juice and the meat and the soaked bread--you almost don't care what form it's in, you just want to taste it. And it's been the same since my first time, about 1974.

Can't say that about almost anything else, including the opposite sex...

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Kman wrote:I've always thought Johnnies was at or near the top for the combo. I've had a couple people tell me,over the last year or so, of having received badly overcooked sausages but I've never experienced that so don't know if it was a timing thing or possibly even a perception. It's still my go-to.

Definitely agree on this. I think the sausages at Johnnies are among the best in town, if not the very best. There have been times I went there and ordered a double-sausage without beef. And their beef is certainly good enough to place their combo in the upper echelon. I've never had an overcooked sausage there either, though it has been a little over a year since I was last there.

=R=

Its about timing, methinks. At Johnnie's, I've had sausages pulled from hot holders filled with jus in the mid-afternoon and near closing time. Its still a tasty enough product, esp. in the combo. While I would not call it dried out, the texture is definitely homogenous compared to a sausage right off the grill– losing its snappy skin and juicy interior. One of those best-at-peak-hours situations.

I've never had a better combo than the one at Johnnie's. Not saying it's the best, just the best I've had.

A "bang for your buck" contender has to R&V in Lake Forest.

R&V - LTH thread

The IBs while not great certainly are good, and they are really big. One sandwich ($7.95) will fill up two moderate eaters.

R&V Italian Market & Deli
13801 West Laurel Drive
Lake Forest, IL 60045
847-816-6468

midas wrote:I've never had a better combo than the one at Johnnie's. Not saying it's the best, just the best I've had.

I think those two words "I've had" are a necessary qualifier for just about all "best of" statements, though frequently they're not included and not always even implied.

Exactly. Many choices out there and to each his own. Of course, I love Al's taste profile. Been lucky to have hit Johnnies a couple of time for combo's. Heading to Switzerland on Saturday. On all overseas flights, I always stop at Tore and Luke's for a Beef Combo so as not to eat the airline food. I also love their beef and skinny fries. Good start to the trip. Enjoy.

Since we're talking combos, I've got to put in a good word for the one served at Jay's. They cook their sausages over charcoal just like Johnnie's and Al's and for my money, at least at the original location on Narragansett, it's my favorite version at the moment.

Jay's Beef
4418 N Narragansett Ave
Harwood Heights, IL 60706
(708) 867-6733

AlexAC wrote: So there is this ‘Bridgeport's Got Beef’ thing goin’ on soon http://https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20151023/bridgeport/bridgeports-best-beef-sandwich-got-beef-contest-aims-answer
{edit}

Here is the thread for Soluri & Sons.
I am going to this event in Bridgeport [the community of the future ]. I will take pictures and report back here on which was my favorite.

I'll take advantage of this thread to refer in my recent tasting of Duke's on north Central Ave.

I went to Saturday's "Bridgeport's Got Beef" event at the Co-Prosperity Sphere on S. Morgan St.
It was an illuminating event for me. My foodie visits to Chicago's south side were generally restricted to italian breaded steak sandwiches. There were eight restaurants selected. It was a blind tasting, for both the five judges, and the Lumpen populace. The beefs were to be judged upon their

• appearance
• beef
• bread
• au jus
• toppings

on a 1-5 scale.

After a weekend in which I failed to pick the winners at Ramenfest or Trident's annual Chili Cookoff @ Jackhammer [SFW], my cultivated italian beef tongue astutely nailed the most popular entrant here: The sandwich from Phil's Pizza(!) (1102 W. 35th St.).
The esteemed judges' winner was Mangia Fresca (2556 S. Archer Ave.).
The beefs were numbered in order, however, due to logistics, some were served out of sequence. The service order became 1, 2, 4, 3, 6, 5, 7, 8. Additionally, nos. 7 & 8 underestimated the numbers attending, nearly being unable to offer a proper sample serving.
The event was a solid success, and most likely, a profitable one for the Public Media Institute, and its low-power radio station, WLPN-FM 105.5.
The selected restaurants were

1. Ricobene's
2. Fabulous Freddie's
3. Soluri & Sons Italian Deli
4. Mangia Fresca
5. Phil's Pizza
6. Kathy De's Deli
7. Johnny O.'s Hot Dogs
8. Turtle's Bar & Grill

As I have read next-to-nothing about these stands on LTHF, I encourage all of you to try them out, as I shall in the upcoming weeks and months.
The next food related fund-raiser for PMI & WLPN could be "Get Sliced" in which Bridgeport pizza parlors shall be challenged. Its fundraiser tickets are sold via Eventbrite.

Pudgym29 - I have always respected your Italian Beef prowess - I think you may have been to more beef joints than anyone on here, maybe even more than Da Beef. But, I need to clarify your post.

You felt the best of the 8 beef sandwiches was from Phil's Pizza, correct? And if so, how does it rank among your overall best beefs? Were any other beefs worth mentioning as being among the best around?

I was savvy enough to scarf an extra paper towel to mark down my favorites, since we had to turn in the ballot in order for the votes to be counted.
My selection order was: 5, 6, 3, 1, 4, 7, 8, 2.
Numbers 7 and 8 were dispatched to the bottom half of the table because they miscalculated how much beef they would need. We did not receive a sufficient sample to fairly judge it. Number 2 finished last because its au jus tasted like dishwater.
I struggle trying to place these venues on the overall composite list. Realize, none of these italian beefs were completely built on site. They would probably be better if you were at the shack.
I expected Ricobene to be there. But even there, I am at a failing: Whenever I go there, and I've been going there for a quarter-century, I get the breaded steak. Sometimes, I'll change the sauce. Here on the northwest side, the Luke's at Harlem and Belmont has both an italian beef and a breaded steak sandwich (and is in the Vienna Beef Hall of Fame for its hot dog). There I can positively tell you to go for the italian beef, as I've had both.
But that is not the instance for these other seven shacks. I just did not know about these places. It is not that I do not go to the south side. (I've ridden bus transit to Blue Island in the south suburbs.)
Sorry for the ambiguity. But judging by what we had, #5 was the best italian beef there.

With the beefs not being made on site, I completely agree that would be a problem to truly compare them at their best. I go to Luke's of Lake Bluff a few times a month, it's a decent beef, certainly one of the better ones in Lake County since we have hardly any around. I wonder how similar it is to Luke's on the NW side?

Not near as good as the two Tore & Luke's on Rand Road. The one in Lake Bluff was very disappointing to me. I gave it two tries and was middle of the road.

Puckjam wrote:Not near as good as the two Tore & Luke's on Rand Road. The one in Lake Bluff was very disappointing to me. I gave it two tries and was middle of the road.

I hear you. I have had the Lake Bluff Luke's enough times that it has been pretty good when it hit the spot. The only other italian beef option that I know of that is very good is Portillo's in Vernon Hills. Most hot dog joints don't do their own recipe, and most are mediocre to me. At least in my area.

All this combo talk.

I have said it before and will repeat...combos do not work.

A beef must be, at a minimum, wet to work. Depending or not if I have to be in court, dipped is better.

The dipping or just wet compromises the structural integrity of the sandwich, albeit in a delightful fashion.

A good Italian sausage has a natural hog casing which is stuffed to stretching. Both a natural casing plus the stuffing creates an item in need of a firm grasp to control in a sandwich. A firm grip on a wet Italian beef is death. A steady, one handed grip while bending over the counter.

One must attack an Italian sausage with an aggressive bite. This will cause a combo to explode.

I like Italian sausage sandwiches. I love beefs. But never the twain shall meet.

Toasted roll. That's the only way the combo works. You sacrifice some wonderful sogginess, but it makes it manageable.

I agree with Angry Sarah, but seems to be angry at combo's. I'll go to Johnnies and get one of each, but never together.

I totally agree with Angry Sarah that combos don't work wet. If your not careful the sausage could wind up in your lap. My solution if the establishment will accommodate is a somewhat dry combo with the gravy on the side (french dip style). If not then seperado is the only way.

A combo for combo-lovers: Fork-Knife

Nope. If it's a great sausage, and both Al's and Johnnie's make great sausages, than the combo, in all their messy glory work wonderfully. As good as beef is with giardinara; beef with giardinara and sausage = better. I will say this, the quantity of beef on a combo @ Johnnie's is a bit on the sparse side. I tend to get a straight beef if a) I'm hungrier b) more in the mood for the taste of beef. Sure it all falls apart somewhere mid-sandwich, but what, do we live in California? Deal with it.

Vital Information wrote:Nope. If it's a great sausage, and both Al's and Johnnie's make great sausages, than the combo, in all their messy glory work wonderfully. As good as beef is with giardinara; beef with giardinara and sausage = better. I will say this, the quantity of beef on a combo @ Johnnie's is a bit on the sparse side. I tend to get a straight beef if a) I'm hungrier b) more in the mood for the taste of beef. Sure it all falls apart somewhere mid-sandwich, but what, do we live in California? Deal with it.

Amen, my brother! Allow me to be clear, I do feel sorry for our digitally challenged friends who cannot manage the dexterity necessary to handle a beef AND sausage, but I cannot abide their gastronomically errant opinions. Gimme a beef and sausage combo, and maybe put a collection box for our less fortunate brethren at the register so I can leave my change to help find a cure.

Vital Information wrote:

I will say this, the quantity of beef on a combo @ Johnnie's is a bit on the sparse side.

I agree -- and Johnnie's is not the only offender. All too often one gives up too much beef to get the sausage.

While I do enjoy the taste of a good combo, my inclination usually is to get either the beef or the sausage, or one of each rather than a combo.

I have said it before and will repeat...combos do not work.

I'll go to Johnnies and get one of each, but never together.

If not then seperado is the only way.

A combo for combo-lovers: Fork-Knife

Sorry to go all Prufrock on y'all but Do I dare to eat a peach?

=R=

Combo's work. Particularly Al's, "hot and sweet, dipped, w/fries, thanks."

AngrySarah wrote:All this combo talk.

I have said it before and will repeat...combos do not work.

A beef must be, at a minimum, wet to work. Depending or not if I have to be in court, dipped is better.

The dipping or just wet compromises the structural integrity of the sandwich, albeit in a delightful fashion.

A good Italian sausage has a natural hog casing which is stuffed to stretching. Both a natural casing plus the stuffing creates an item in need of a firm grasp to control in a sandwich. A firm grip on a wet Italian beef is death. A steady, one handed grip while bending over the counter.

One must attack an Italian sausage with an aggressive bite. This will cause a combo to explode.

I like Italian sausage sandwiches. I love beefs. But never the twain shall meet.

I think I agree with you. The combo sandwich is just two different foods awkwardly pushed together, that's no better than the sum of its parts. Like those weird Asian pizzas with mayonnaise and corn for toppings. I think it's that the saltiness and fennel of the sausage completely overpowers the taste of the beef. When the two are on the same sandwich all you taste is the sausage and the beef is just flavorless filler on top.

I do like an Italian sausage sandwich, dipped like a beef with hot giard though.