Italian Beef

Gentlemen, as far as fine dining I know nothing. I grew up around Amitage, Western and Milwaukee, eating at Chicks Hot Dogs and Marges Ice Cream. Later moved to Irving Park and Whipple, Manzos's Pizza, Carmen Pizza, Roma's Beef. I'm now in Schaumburg with a ton of strip malls and not one Mom and Pop joint thats good. At least none I've found up to the flavors of Chicago. If you know of any please respond to this. Pizza, Beef, Burrito's. (I know of Portillo's and Buono's)
Does anybody remember Marges Beefs on Cicero Ave. It was across from Pettibone and a bar called No names... Best beefs I ever had, I use to eat 2 every sitting. (Late 70's)
I'd like to be invited to your next Beef run. I've eaten all over Chicago until I moved to raise my kids in the burbs.
Thanks
BeefyJoe

Johnnie's Beef
847/357-8100
1935 S. Arlington Heights Road
Arlington Heights

If you want beef in Schaumburg proper, try:

Devil Dog
847/985-9363
951 W. Wise Road
Schaumburg

Sir,

Welcome to LTHforum.

You are in luck, the next Beefathon is October 28th. No need to wait for someone to invite you, just sign up on the list to advise you are coming!

Regards,

Lately, I have really been liking the beef from Joe's at 530 Wise road in Schaumburg. It'smade on site and has a slightly sweet/spicy character I find very appealing. He also does a good job with his sweet peppers and hot gardinara...all excellent. Much better than Buono for sure . Definitely worth a try if you're scouting the area for good beef spots. Johnnies is of course also outstanding, but very different in style.

Can someone tell me where Chicks Beef is? It sounds like something I need to try.

You might find this site interesting:

http://www.greasefreak.com/beefs.html

Places I like in order:

Johnny's Beef
7500 W. North Ave.
Elmwood Park

Johnny's Beef
1935 S. Arlington Heights Road
Arlington Heights

Al's # 1 Italian Beef
1079 W. Taylor St. ONLY

Roma's Beef & Sausage
4237 N. Cicero Ave.


Places I don’t, no order:

Carm's Beef

Portillo's

Buona Beef

Teddy's (2 locations)
Downers Grove, IL

Paul's Pizza & Hot Dogs
3044 Wolf Rd
Westchester, IL.

R.

I grew up eating Marnell's (Chicago Heights) beef sandwiches. They were much better in the late 80's - then they sold to someone else and it wasn't the same. Now I live in Napa Valley, Cali and I can't find a decent beef sammie (or pizza for that matter - Aurelio's in Homewood spoiled me for life). Later this month I'm hosting a Bears (me) vs 49'ers (DH) party and want to serve Ital. beef, does any one have a good recipe? I tried to search this site for one, but I've not been sucessful (I'm not sure I know what I'm doing). Any hints, tips or leads would be helpful!! Thanks!! FYI, I'll be posting this on a couple of threads. GO BEARS!!!!

dodger wrote:Places I like in order:

Johnny's Beef
7500 W. North Ave.
Elmwood Park

Johnny's Beef
1935 S. Arlington Heights Road
Arlington Heights

Al's # 1 Italian Beef
1079 W. Taylor St. ONLY

Roma's Beef & Sausage
4237 N. Cicero Ave.

I might place these joints in a similar order myself, but I need to go back to Roma's one of these days to see if I just had one bad experience or not, as a lackluster beef really put me off to it a few years back.

By the way, to complement the beef in the 'burbs, the Johnnie's in Arlington Heights also serves a banana ice in addition to the standard lemon Italian ice served on North Avenue. I found the banana to also be pretty flavorful, though its taste reminded me of the ol' banana-flavored Quik mixes with milk I enjoyed as a kid (but in a good way). Totally worth it.

dodger wrote:Places I don’t, no order:

Carm's Beef

Portillo's

Buona Beef

Teddy's (2 locations)
Downers Grove, IL

Paul's Pizza & Hot Dogs
3044 Wolf Rd
Westchester, IL.

R.

I actually don't mind the beefs from the two chains, Portillo's and Buona B. Maybe not outstanding, but reliably consistent in my humble opinion. The GreaseFreak beef page referenced earlier seems to concur, but you'll have to make up your own mind about the acceptability of their beefs in the end.

Hope that helps,
Dan

Barbika:

I, too, grew up eating Marnell's Beef & Sausage sandwiches in "da Heights" and it breaks my heart to see how seedy it has lately become. After they switched locations (& owners) everything seemed to go south. These days, IMHO, your best bet in the south suburbs would be Savoia's T'Go Shop on Route 30. Their beef, sausage & combo sandwiches are fab-u-lous!

I have the recipe for Italian Beef from the original San Rocco Recipe Cookbook (if you're interested, email me) and have made it many times, but just can't slice the beef thin enough without the commercial machine to get the exact same effect. Still, it's incredibly tasty!

Savoia T'Go Shop
708-756-7600
402 W 14th St
Chicago Heights, IL 60411