Don't be confused. There is a difference between Roma's (on Cicero north of Irving) and Original Roma, which is on Milwaukee. They are not related to one another at all and there is a significant difference in the quality of the food.

Ah, thanks. I was confused, actually, and thought they were related, even having had meals of differing quality at the two locations. I chalked it up to bad days/normal variance.

So....which one is supposedly the better of the two?

elakin wrote:So....which one is supposedly the better of the two?

I prefer Roma's on Cicero, though if Roma's Milwaukee Ave is under new ownership that may change. A mini-Milwaukee-Ave-beef-a-thon seems in order.

The Original Roma
6161 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL 60646
773-594-2885

Roma's Italian Beef and Sausage
4237 N Cicero Ave
Chicago, IL 60641
773-725-5715

The Cicero location is the one I was referring to when I posted about the sausage above. That's the one I'm more familiar with.

The Cicero Avenue Roma's is great for IB and sausage -- whether in combo or separately. Also very good fries and hot giardinaire.

This is a destination stop on Friday, when they serve Peppers & (very fresh) Eggs sandwiches. Add a link of their excellent sausage and you will be glad you did.

stevez wrote:Don't be confused. There is a difference between Roma's (on Cicero north of Irving) and Original Roma, which is on Milwaukee. They are not related to one another at all and there is a significant difference in the quality of the food. I haven't been to Original Roma since it (evidently) changed hands and reopened, but when it closed a year or so ago, I didn't shed a tear.

The Original Roma
6161 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL 60646
(773) 594-2885

Roma's Italian Beef and Sausage
4237 N Cicero Ave
Chicago, IL 60641
(773) 725-5715

I had lunch today at Original Roma. Unfortunately. I had a Big Beef wet with sweet peppers and an order of fries. Good sized sandwich, meat was fine, but the jus was WAAAAAAAAAAY too salty. The fries were abonimable. They were the molded, whipped potato variety coated with flour to provide a crunch. Disgusting.

The cost of the sandwich and fries (no drink) was almost ten bucks! Yikes! They're still running the special on Italian sausage and meatball sandwiches. If I had to go back (and I'd HAVE to), that's what I'd order. I'm never coming near those fries again. This place was never great, but it was serviceable. Not any more.

jimwdavis wrote:The Cicero Avenue Roma's is great for IB and sausage -- whether in combo or separately. Also very good fries and hot giardinaire.

This is a destination stop on Friday, when they serve Peppers & (very fresh) Eggs sandwiches. Add a link of their excellent sausage and you will be glad you did.

I dissent on the Pepper and Egg. Get there at the wrong time and you get rubbery steam table eggs.

South on Cicero is Jeff's Red Hots. They crack and fry the eggs as you stand there. I have had most of the storied pepper and egg sammies around and Jeff's is right up there. Get some gardinara on the side and spice it to your preference.

Now - back to the beef at Roma's. Good, not great. Fries are good.

NBC Chicago is having an online debate as to which has a better beef. Al's on Taylor St or Mr Beef on Orleans. Just over 12 days left to vote.

My Bride is away from the city for the day and will not be returning until late (late dinner) and I will stop by both early this afternoon (sometime after the lunch crush) to do my own little Beef-A-Thon just for fun.

Al's Beef
1079 W Taylor St, Chicago
(312) 226-4017‎

Mr. Beef
666 N Orleans St, Chicago
(312) 337-8500‎

At a party last night, the hosts had a big tray of Italian Beef from Dengeos in Buffalo Grove. I hadn't been in there in many years, let alone the one in Skokie, and when I'm there, it's the gyros I went for.

But this was freakin' outstanding. Even considering that it was sitting in a big tray for a couple of hours, it was tender, deeply flavorful, lots of garlic and herb and a big beefy taste. I'm going to have to go out there sometime soon for a full sammy. The catering pack included giardinera (nothing noteworthy) and sweet peppers, and half-cut rolls.

Definitely worth including in a future suburban beef-a-thon.

Dengeos
195 W. Dundee Rd.
Buffalo Grove, IL
(847) 520-0004

does anyone know if johnny's in elmwood park change ownership a few years back? i heard it did and the sandwiches have gotten a lot smaller and less flavorful since then.

having said that i will state that i am a HUGE fan of the johnny's in elmwood park. my wife is from there and got me started on it. if its open when i am visiting i will go and get a beef and sausage with an ice whether i am hungry or not. i know it'll be eaten within an hour or two of purchase.

contrastly, i work less than one block from luke's on jackson downtown. i heard johnny's brother started this. can anyone confirm? though i like the dogs there, the beef and sausage cannot compare to johnny's.

JoelF wrote:At a party last night, the hosts had a big tray of Italian Beef from Dengeos in Buffalo Grove. I hadn't been in there in many years, let alone the one in Skokie, and when I'm there, it's the gyros I went for.

I hadn't heard of Dengeos; thanks for the heads-up. Do you know if they sell gyro meat?

JoelF wrote:At a party last night, the hosts had a big tray of Italian Beef from Dengeos in Buffalo Grove. I hadn't been in there in many years, let alone the one in Skokie, and when I'm there, it's the gyros I went for.

I hadn't heard of Dengeos; thanks for the heads-up. Do you know if they sell gyro meat?

They do.

Good news about the beef there. I had heard one person in the office say it was pretty good. Decent beef sammiches are hard to come by up here. I'll have to investigate...was the giardiniera not hot? What was the issue?

seebee wrote:They do.

Good news about the beef there. I had heard one person in the office say it was pretty good. Decent beef sammiches are hard to come by up here. I'll have to investigate...was the giardiniera not hot? What was the issue?

Are you guys absolutely sure they cook their own Italian beef in house?

If I remember correctly, I think the Gyros were just plain Kronos. I know they don't make their own like Nick's in Niles or something.

seebee wrote:They do.

It looks from the menu as though they sell party trays of gyros - meat and bread and sauce and all. There are three or four places near here that do the same. What I'm looking for is just to buy the meat and make my own gyros at home. Guess I'll stop by and ask sometime soon.

seebee wrote:(regarding Dengeos)

Good news about the beef there. I had heard one person in the office say it was pretty good. Decent beef sammiches are hard to come by up here. I'll have to investigate...was the giardiniera not hot? What was the issue?

No issue at all. Just fine, nothing special. What I said was "(nothing noteworthy)" -- if it were particularly hot, mild, flavorful or otherwise, I'd have said something. What was noteworthy was that the catering pack included both the hot and sweet, the hot usually gets short shrift (especially with my experience with local shops that merely distribute a small cup of pre-portioned giardinera for around $.35).

Bwana wrote:does anyone know if johnny's in elmwood park change ownership a few years back? i heard it did and the sandwiches have gotten a lot smaller and less flavorful since then.

having said that i will state that i am a HUGE fan of the johnny's in elmwood park. my wife is from there and got me started on it. if its open when i am visiting i will go and get a beef and sausage with an ice whether i am hungry or not. i know it'll be eaten within an hour or two of purchase.

contrastly, i work less than one block from luke's on jackson downtown. i heard johnny's brother started this. can anyone confirm? though i like the dogs there, the beef and sausage cannot compare to johnny's.

Johnnies has not changed hands. Johnny is in the Arlington Heights location and his son in law in running the Elmwood Park one. I don't think the sandwiches have gotten smaller, I think we perceive them to be smaller because so many other places have big huge sandwiches. Granted, Johnnies IB have always been smalll, I'm not contesting that - I just don't think that they have gotten smaller.

I have never heard that that Lukes on Jackson is owned by Johhny's brother....I'm going to have to do some investigating on that one. I would tend to say NOT, but who knows.

The Food Diva wrote:

Bwana wrote:does anyone know if johnny's in elmwood park change ownership a few years back? i heard it did and the sandwiches have gotten a lot smaller and less flavorful since then.

having said that i will state that i am a HUGE fan of the johnny's in elmwood park. my wife is from there and got me started on it. if its open when i am visiting i will go and get a beef and sausage with an ice whether i am hungry or not. i know it'll be eaten within an hour or two of purchase.

contrastly, i work less than one block from luke's on jackson downtown. i heard johnny's brother started this. can anyone confirm? though i like the dogs there, the beef and sausage cannot compare to johnny's.

Johnnies has not changed hands. Johnny is in the Arlington Heights location and his son in law in running the Elmwood Park one. I don't think the sandwiches have gotten smaller, I think we perceive them to be smaller because so many other places have big huge sandwiches. Granted, Johnnies IB have always been smalll, I'm not contesting that - I just don't think that they have gotten smaller.

I have never heard that that Lukes on Jackson is owned by Johhny's brother....I'm going to have to do some investigating on that one. I would tend to say NOT, but who knows.

What about the Lukes on N Harlem?

Al's on Taylor Street is not my favorite for an Italian beef sandwich (Johnnie's gets my vote), but in my opinion it offers a damn fine one. It had been quite a while since my visit to the original, but after finding The Brown Sack closed, Al's for some strange reason came to mind. So off to Al's where I enjoyed a beef with both sweet and hot peppers. Having visited a couple of the franchised locations more recently, I was again reminded of the disparity between the original and the franchised locations - the beef at the original so good, the beef at the franchises mediocre at best (not to mention the fries - crispy at the original, soggy at the franchises). I say this to remind anyone judging Al's to make sure you judge the original and not the ones deceiving everyone else.

southwest of city my best beef is duke's drive in 8115 s harlem ave. burbank,il708-599-0576 i get the combo with red ,hot& sweet. great samy

My two current under apprecieated favs;
Freddy's in Cicero
Fabulous Freddie's (Lyons location)

I did a five stop beef tour with a friend earlier this month and I just wanted to quickly mention it.

We hit Chickies, The Patio, Al's on Taylor, Mr. Beef on Orleans, and Joe Boston's. We got the beefs dipped with hot peppers. We knew Al's well, and have always loved it, but man it sure is different than the rest. I like Al's once in a while, but it can get old if I have it too much. And to echo other sentiments on this board, not every Al's is worthy. The Evanston one is a joke. Weak peppers, greasy small beefs, never that good. The Addison one was good, but it recently closed.

We really liked all of them except one and one of them had a little issue. Chickies was great but had weak peppers. Maybe it was just that day, but if they had the typical hot peppers we usually see, we felt it could have been stellar. Mr. Beef is finished. Once the king of beefs, their time has passed (like the 1980's photos and reviews on their walls) and we will not return. In addition to these 5, we recently had Tore's for the first time, and while their sandwich was a bit too big, the thing that hurt it was tough meat. Otherwise, we thought Tore's was great as well.

Our favorite Italian Beef over any we've had is still Johnnie's and I highly doubt that's going to ever change unless they do. I recently took two more friends of mine and my sister to Johnnie's and all agree.

Chickie's peppers are always like that. Not my favorite style, either.

For a several month stretch I was eating Al's on Taylor once or twice a week (convenient to home, open late, and very quick), and I don't think I will ever tire of it. It's a very unique beef, but I love it. I'm also a Johnnie's devotee, as I think almost everyone is (complaints about portion size aside), but I can't compare the two, let alone rank them. They're both fantastic beef stands serving up very different sandwiches.

I feel like Tore's beef has gone downhill in the past year or two. I now pretty much stick to italian sausage or a hot dog or something. The fries are very good, though.

Ram4 wrote:We got the beefs dipped with hot peppers.

When you say "hot peppers" you really mean hot giardiniera, right? I still cannot figure out how "peppers" somehow become a mixture of chopped peppers, celery, carrots, and oil in this city. If I wanted giardiniera, I'd ask for it. It's not the same thing as a hot pepper. Is that so hard to understand?

BTW, Ram4, I was not intending to pick on you, etc. It's just my irritation with one of the local food customs I guess.

Cogito wrote:

Ram4 wrote:We got the beefs dipped with hot peppers.

When you say "hot peppers" you really mean hot giardiniera, right? I still cannot figure out how "peppers" somehow become a mixture of chopped peppers, celery, carrots, and oil in this city. If I wanted giardiniera, I'd ask for it. It's not the same thing as a hot pepper. Is that so hard to understand?

There are some odd local customs. I remember way back when, before the explosion of chain coffee shops, I went into a restaurant and asked for a large coffee. To my surprise that order included cream. To have them exclude it you would have to ask for it 'black'. You always would have to ask for sugar.

Also there used to be a day when 'everything' on a hot dog would not include hot peppers (IE: sport peppers) or (horrors) ketchup and to have them include them you would have to invoke their name.

Actually this is kinda funny! You can go to a hot dog stand and order a hot dog with 'hot peppers' and a beef with 'hot peppers' and will end up with different things.

Just another quirk.

Panther in the Den wrote: Also there used to be a day when 'everything' on a hot dog would not include hot peppers (IE: sport peppers) or (horrors) ketchup and to have them include them you would have to invoke their name.

I don't remember such a day when sport peppers weren't included on a hot dog, a "Chicago Style" hot dog, when you asked for "everything." But I do recall that "everything" didn't include ketchup.

Panther in the Den wrote:Actually this is kinda funny! You can go to a hot dog stand and order a hot dog with 'hot peppers' and a beef with 'hot peppers' and will end up with different things.

I've never thought of asking for "hot peppers" when ordering a beef sandwich. It just doesn't seem to be a "Chicago thing" to do that, at least not something I've heard family or friends ever do. I'll say "sweet and hot" if I want the bell pepper and giardiniera, and "giardiniera" when I want just that - but never "hot peppers." For me, it's become a distrubing trend to see some places routinely substitute jalapeño peppers for sport peppers in their giardiniera and it's reason enough for me not to return (or not to order the adulterated giardiniera again).

I always just say "dipped and hot" and have never gotten anything except giardiniera.

I used to work at a HD/Beef stand and the owner would charge a quarter extra for giardiniera but no charge for sport peppers. The giardiniera was homemade, using chopped sport peppers, celery, carrots, and oil. People would come in and want a beef with "hot peppers", meaning hot giardiniera, and be short of money for the giardiniera, and I would say "I can give you some free sport peppers, how about that?", and invariably they would act like I offered to put dog crap on their beef. I don't get it. I like a beef with sport peppers better than giardiniera. And I would not object to jalapeno peppers on my beef either, they are a better grade of hot pepper than those sport peppers, IMO. I think the bottom line is that most IB customers are meatheads.

Bill wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:Actually this is kinda funny! You can go to a hot dog stand and order a hot dog with 'hot peppers' and a beef with 'hot peppers' and will end up with different things.

I've never thought of asking for "hot peppers" when ordering a beef sandwich. It just doesn't seem to be a "Chicago thing" to do that, at least not something I've heard family or friends ever do. I'll say "sweet and hot" if I want the bell pepper and giardiniera, and "giardiniera" when I want just that - but never "hot peppers." For me, it's become a distrubing trend to see some places routinely substitute jalapeño peppers for sport peppers in their giardiniera and it's reason enough for me not to return (or not to order the adulterated giardiniera again).

Often when ordering they will ask "Do ya want sweet or hot peppers on dat?" and if hot you get giardiniera.

Cogito wrote:I think the bottom line is that most IB customers are meatheads.

A variant of this line would make a great slogan for an Italian beef joint: "Luca's Italian Beef: Our Customers Are Real Meatheads", or maybe "For True Meatheads ONLY".

Dibs!