North & Harlem area- Michael's Beef and Palermo Bakery

Stopped at Palermo Bakery for sfogliatelle and cannoli. Sfogliatelle was OK (there's a bakery in Schaumburg that has much better ones, I'll have to get the name) and the cannoli was decent. What really stood out was the "lobster tail" similar to the sfogliatelle but filled with feathery french cream.

Stopped at Michael's for a beef- it was decent, but the fries were absolutely outstanding. Fresh cut, crispy, but internally they were creamy like mashed potatoes. Best fries I've had in Chicago.

Also stopped at Novi's in Berwyn today. Ok beef, not much flavor, and a fairly dry piece of sausage. Reminded me that even though I work a few blocks away, it's why I haven't been there for 20 years.

Michaels Beef House
6747 North Avenue
Oak Park

Palermo Bakery
3317 North Harlem
Chicago

Novi's Beef
Don't Go

Appreciated your comments about cannoli. I am on the search for a great cannoli. Years ago Ferrara in the Taylor and Halsted area was the place to go, but cannot find a decent Italian bakery now. Boston has Modern Pastry and Philly has Termini Bros. Where is the great Chicago cannoli?

Pay a visit to Olde World Pizza, on North, just behind the Walgreen's on Harlem. I actually drive from Midway sometimes for their pizza. Deep dish is outstanding.

BigDar wrote:Appreciated your comments about cannoli. I am on the search for a great cannoli. Years ago Ferrara in the Taylor and Halsted area was the place to go, but cannot find a decent Italian bakery now. Boston has Modern Pastry and Philly has Termini Bros. Where is the great Chicago cannoli?

Ferrara is still there, you know.

Michaels also has a pretty decent Italian ice. we had the lemon, its a bit more on the sweet vs. tart side, but still pretty good. Up the street on North, Claudio Bakery has a pretty good cannoli.
LO

I assume the bakery in Schaumburg is Franco's on Golf near Roselle (or the original on Barrington Rd.)?

I love Michaels beef. For the big eaters there's the beef and a half!
THe cheese fries rock! I also love the italian ice!

Palermo has great assorted pastries, like to bring to a party. I think the cannoli is good. Vitello's in Skokie, (now closed) had good as well.

The food at Michaels is, day in and day out, superior to what Johnnie's serves up down the street, IMO. Johnnie's is living on a reputation earned 20-years ago, but which is no longer delivered (again, IMHO).

Stopped at Michaels today to try the beef. First let me say that the fries were indeed excellent.

The beef itself was a mix of good and bad. I liked the size. And the quality of the meat itself was excellent. But it seemed to lack a little in the flavor department. It didn't taste bad, like some places. It just didn't have a lot of flavor.

I suspect this might be due to the time we were there. They'd only been open about 10 mintues. Maybe if the beef had more time to sit in the gravy it would have a little more ooomph. I'll give them another chance sometime after they've been open for a while.

LO wrote:Michaels also has a pretty decent Italian ice. we had the lemon, its a bit more on the sweet vs. tart side, but still pretty good. Up the street on North, Claudio Bakery has a pretty good cannoli.
LO

I stopped in front of Claudio Bakery tonight and noticed that they feature house-made cannoli and pizza...and free coffee! Intend to stop by tomorrow for all three. Curious: Claudio's seems promising but has not really been covered on this board.

Domino's Pastries (1745 N. Harlem) is run by my extended family; in my very biased opinion, they make-a the best cannoli in the city.

I lived in North Oak Park and became familiar with Michael's, and learned to appreciate and enjoy the place more than Johnnies - for both the hot dogs and the beef sandwiches.

I've long, long been a fan of Michael's. I routinely get a combo from Johnnie's and then grab fries from Michael's. Their fries are consistently some of the best in Chicagoland if ordered well done. Grew up on those Michaels fries, beef sammiches, meatball sammiches, and "belly buster" burgers.

David Hammond wrote:

LO wrote:Michaels also has a pretty decent Italian ice. we had the lemon, its a bit more on the sweet vs. tart side, but still pretty good. Up the street on North, Claudio Bakery has a pretty good cannoli.
LO

I stopped in front of Claudio Bakery tonight and noticed that they feature house-made cannoli and pizza...and free coffee! Intend to stop by tomorrow for all three. Curious: Claudio's seems promising but has not really been covered on this board.

Claudio's is under new management as of about six months ago. The family running it now are Siciilan. A few days a week they make a feather light Sicilian type of bread (braided,seeds) that's excellent, but I'd love to hear from someone like Antonious or Choey who can really speak to this breed of bread. Their filled to order mini-canoli are quite good too.

Ixnay on Michael's beef. I lived a couple blocks from there for 4 years and gave up on their beefs. Fries and hotdogs were OK, but I got too many bland, gristly beefs. I wanted to like them because they were so close, but they drove me to Johnnie's or Buona.

After a few decades of going to Johnnie's, I gave up on the present owners and the finger sandwich sized beefs they now serve. I stop in at Michael's about once a week for a good sized, pretty good beef, with their terrific home made giardiniera and the best fries on the west side. Be sure to order them well done. Unlike the previous poster, I have never had a problem with tough, gristley beef. If I had to make a negative comment, I would say that the seasoning could be a bit more assertive. In any event, I enjoy the place.

The best beef in that area is Mr. Beef on the east side of Harlem just north of Addison. (3917 N Harlem Ave) Best size sandwich too.

The new owner of Johnnie's never even cracks a smile. Just the implicit "gimme the money" assembly-line like you see at Chinese fast food places in food courts. Learn to lighten up people and learn to like your customers!!

Johnnie's doesn't have tomatoes for their hot dogs. If I recall correctly they were missing one other item from the standard list of Chicago hot dog garnishes.

The best beef in that area is Mr. Beef on the east side of Harlem just north of Addison.

I don't consider North Avenue and Addison St. as the same "area."

Bill wrote:

The best beef in that area is Mr. Beef on the east side of Harlem just north of Addison.

I don't consider North Avenue and Addison St. as the same "area."

You're right Bill, but the Mr. Beef on Harlem has a super IB sandwich. Much larger than Johnnie's and much better taste/quality than Michael's.

Vital Information wrote:

David Hammond wrote:

LO wrote:Michaels also has a pretty decent Italian ice. we had the lemon, its a bit more on the sweet vs. tart side, but still pretty good. Up the street on North, Claudio Bakery has a pretty good cannoli.
LO

I stopped in front of Claudio Bakery tonight and noticed that they feature house-made cannoli and pizza...and free coffee! Intend to stop by tomorrow for all three. Curious: Claudio's seems promising but has not really been covered on this board.

Claudio's is under new management as of about six months ago. The family running it now are Siciilan. A few days a week they make a feather light Sicilian type of bread (braided,seeds) that's excellent, but I'd love to hear from someone like Antonious or Choey who can really speak to this breed of bread. Their filled to order mini-canoli are quite good too.

As the facade suggests, this is a work in progress. They're trying stuff out, seeing what works, what sells. They offer free coffee, which is kind of a good deal for those who want to stroll and munch.



As VI mentioned, the bakery was recently purchased by Sicilians cum Chicagoans, the Puccio family. Lareadana, pictured, works the front; her husband, Giuseppe, bakes.



I had a pizza slice that was abyssmal: very bready, slightly flavored tomato sauce, and vile sausage. However, I did enjoy a ravozzata, a pastry puck filled with cheese and, it seemed, almond paste.



The bread did look good...but I forgot to buy any.




Hammond

Caputo's canolli's are great too, great tasting shell as well as good filling,
Harlem just north of Grand.
Joey B

Palermo bakery does a sort of "deconstructed" cannoli, where they give you a bag of crispy cannoli wrapper "chips" and a separate container of filling to dip them in. This makes a great way to serve cannoli to a group, without everything getting soggy as the filled pastries tend to do very quickly. I think it works quite well.

RiverWester wrote:The best beef in that area is Mr. Beef on the east side of Harlem just north of Addison. (3917 N Harlem Ave) Best size sandwich too.

The new owner of Johnnie's never even cracks a smile. Just the implicit "gimme the money" assembly-line like you see at Chinese fast food places in food courts. Learn to lighten up people and learn to like your customers!!

Johnnie's doesn't have tomatoes for their hot dogs. If I recall correctly they were missing one other item from the standard list of Chicago hot dog garnishes.

Not to pick nits, but the beef place you are referring to is called Mr. Beef & Pizza. It's different than Mr. Beef, which is located on Orleans. Also, there are many people, myself included, who think that tomatoes are not among the "standard list of Chicago hot dog relishes". I think that everyone can agree that mustard, relish, onions and sport peppers (and maybe even pickle) are on that list. After that, it's all open to interpretation and the whim of the particular hot dog stand owner.

The ensuing (and quite interesting, in my opinion) discussion of what actually constitutes a Chicago hot dog can be found here.

Claudio Bakery is closed and has "for sale" signs in the window.

Anyone know what happened to the couple that ran the place? It was my go-to cannoli place. That's a real bummer.

Further up on Harlem, just south of Irving Park, I got takeout from a place called The Beef and Pizza.

I was quite surprised by the simple, not even too-salty goodness of their Italian Beef. It was a large portion and under $5. I mention this because I've not heard any of our Beef mavens mention this place before, and it seems to be a heavyweight contender.

Not only that, but they make a serious double char-burger, with emphasis on the char, that must be a half-pounder for under $4.

Their fries looked like an overpriced waste of time, and the pizza slices while big did not appear to be anything special. Now, I am a lakefront guy and do not make it out as far west as Harlem too often. Maybe great italian beef is a geopolitical thing, and on the northwest side something like this is no big deal. Not even top tier. But I'd grab this before I'd grab Al's or Portillo's or anything else on the northside east of Western Ave, and that includes the overrated Max's.

Marco wrote:Further up on Harlem, just south of Irving Park, I got takeout from a place called The Beef and Pizza.

Sounds like Mr. Beef and Pizza. There are many posts here about this place.