lhbeetle wrote:

Cogito wrote:

thick wrote:I consider Johnnie's the White Castle of IB. While good, their increasingly smaller sammy is now almost a two biter-just like a slider.

Yeah, they are small, but they are also cheap.

Ok I am wondering if anyone else chuckled when reading about the size of Johnnies beef and in comparison to Freddies?
Maybe I have perverted mind but hey being a man.... is it the size or what you do with it?
(I could not help myself)

The beef at Freddie's is bigger.

Cogito wrote:Thanks for the tip. I've driven by those joints a million times and almost broke down a couple of times when I was starving, but ultimately was always driven away by their sleaziness. They never seem busy either.

Don't do it!

Cogito wrote:

thick wrote:I consider Johnnie's the White Castle of IB. While good, their increasingly smaller sammy is now almost a two biter-just like a slider.

Yeah, they are small, but they are also cheap.

Ok, so how small is small, and how cheap is cheap? I recall the old incarnation of Man-Jo-Vins used to do a quite small IB on a burger bun, for $1.50. It would hit the spot w/o wiping you out.

Just guesstimating, I'd say they are about 1 inch shorter than most, and a buck cheaper. I think they are just as cost effective as the larger ones, but in some cases you may have to buy two. I wouldn't worry about it, the difference is not a big deal.

yesterday had a combo from duke's on harlem in burbank .
the best ! red &sweet

Dukes is GOOD, have not been there in a few years. Man they have been there since 1975. Use to roll there in my teen years for the car shows n meets on the weekends....good times....good times and YEAH GREAT beef!
Will have to get back there this year when the weather warms up.


8115 South Harlem Avenue
Bridgeview, IL 60455
(708) 599-0576
http://www.dukesitalianbeef.com/

Something new at Johnnies last week when I ordered a combo. A new kind of sausage. Not a typical Italian. This one had what looked like a ton of paprika in it. Not a great sammy. The sausage overpowered the two or three shreds of beef in the sandwich. This place still packs them in no matter what they throw at the customers.

philw wrote:yesterday had a combo from duke's on harlem in burbank .
the best ! red &sweet

I'm a fan of Duke's Drive In, both the old school sign and their very good beef. It might even be on my all beef first team. I imagine if a beef from pop's were to have a child with a beef from Jay's-Duke's would be the offspring. The hot peppers are very good as is the beef and they pile it on to the point where I have to eat a few fries wrapped in beef and peppers before I dig in. I haven't had a combo, I only get them at Johnnie's but hopefully the below average sausage mentioned below is a one time blip.


beef with hot from Duke's

Da Beef wrote:I haven't had a combo, I only get them at Johnnie's but hopefully the below average sausage mentioned below is a one time blip.

I had a combo from Johnnie's last week, sausage was pretty much identical to what I've gotten there for years.

ucjames wrote:

Da Beef wrote:I haven't had a combo, I only get them at Johnnie's but hopefully the below average sausage mentioned below is a one time blip.

I had a combo from Johnnie's last week, sausage was pretty much identical to what I've gotten there for years.

I was at Johnnie's about 2 weeks ago and I agree with the different tasting sausage comments. The sausage was way too hot for me. Almost painfully hot. It was also a lot thinner and very dry. The beef was spot on as always. If they are tinkering with the sausage recipe or switching purveyors, count me out next time.

philw wrote:yesterday had a combo from duke's on harlem in burbank .
the best ! red &sweet

RED???? That's sacreligious!

I had a combo at Johnnie's last week. The sausage did seem a little different, but it jump out at me. The usual paltry amount of beef on the combo hasn't changed though.

Cogito wrote:I had a combo at Johnnie's last week. The sausage did seem a little different, but it jump out at me. The usual paltry amount of beef on the combo hasn't changed though.

The time of day you order a combo has a lot to do with the taste/quality of the sausage- at least that's been my experience at the poorly run Arlington Heights location. After about 9:30pm, the workers start cleaning the floors around your feet with what smells like antiseptic, horsing around with eachother, and generally showing no concern about the product or customers. Consequently, the unsold leftover sausage has sat in it's cooker for ages, drying out and shrinking. It'll be sold/served anyway. It can be pretty bad- the taste and texture will be completely different than what you'd get around lunchtime.

Can anyone shed some light and give opinions on these 3 downtown Chicago Beef establishments?

Al's on Ontario
Portillos on Ontario
Mr Beef on Orleans

These are the only 3 I have tried, and wanted to know what the general consensus is on them in comparison to one another. Al's is def the spiciest and most flavorful out of the 3, but I wonder if I should be going to the original Taylor st location for the best Al's experience? Anyone have any thoughts on this? I had an Al's Italian Beef up in the burbs once, and never again shall I bother!

I really liked Portillo's Beef, it was in between Al's and Mr. Beef in terms of spice, but it didnt have the nice meshing of the beef making the bread soggy like Mr. Beef. I enjoyed Mr. Beef the most, but wish it the hot was actually HOT, it's so mild but at least this way you focus on the beef itself, which I did and contrary to other people's complaints, the bread to me was the best, if not a bit small. I ate it so fast I could have easily had 2 or 3! Overall I have to rate Mr. Beef #1 thus far with Portillos and Al's a close tie for 2nd, but I'm wondering if the Taylor St. Al's is the one I must try before coming to this conclusion?

FoodSnob77 wrote:I'm wondering if the Taylor St. Al's is the one I must try before coming to this conclusion?

If you have not been to Al's on Taylor, the original, and only in my opinion, you have not tried Al's.

Phil wrote:

ucjames wrote:

Da Beef wrote:I haven't had a combo, I only get them at Johnnie's but hopefully the below average sausage mentioned below is a one time blip.

I had a combo from Johnnie's last week, sausage was pretty much identical to what I've gotten there for years.

I was at Johnnie's about 2 weeks ago and I agree with the different tasting sausage comments. The sausage was way too hot for me. Almost painfully hot. It was also a lot thinner and very dry. The beef was spot on as always. If they are tinkering with the sausage recipe or switching purveyors, count me out next time.

I had a sausage sandwich from Johnnies today for lunch. Maybe it was the weather (one of the reasons for the visit), but man was it all good. The fries (I think Johnnie's makes the best frozen fries), the giardinara, the sweet peppers (way ahead of the pack), the aroma (is there any more reason needed), and then the saw-sage. No discernable difference.

My only complaint (well I agree that as a combo there is too little beef) is that often the sausage gets too burnt.

Johnnie's in Elmwood Park is fantastic. Juicy and mouth-watering.



Beef+Italian Ice+Best=Johnnies

FoodSnob77 wrote:Can anyone shed some light and give opinions on these 3 downtown Chicago Beef establishments?

Al's on Ontario
Portillos on Ontario
Mr Beef on Orleans

These are the only 3 I have tried, and wanted to know what the general consensus is on them in comparison to one another. Al's is def the spiciest and most flavorful out of the 3, but I wonder if I should be going to the original Taylor st location for the best Al's experience? Anyone have any thoughts on this? I had an Al's Italian Beef up in the burbs once, and never again shall I bother!

I really liked Portillo's Beef, it was in between Al's and Mr. Beef in terms of spice, but it didnt have the nice meshing of the beef making the bread soggy like Mr. Beef. I enjoyed Mr. Beef the most, but wish it the hot was actually HOT, it's so mild but at least this way you focus on the beef itself, which I did and contrary to other people's complaints, the bread to me was the best, if not a bit small. I ate it so fast I could have easily had 2 or 3! Overall I have to rate Mr. Beef #1 thus far with Portillos and Al's a close tie for 2nd, but I'm wondering if the Taylor St. Al's is the one I must try before coming to this conclusion?

First off, as Gary said, if you've haven't tried Al's on Taylor St, you haven't had Al's. So you need to stop there. But you really should do yourself a favor and go down Taylor St. to The Patio as well. Their beef is right up there with the best and is far cheaper than Al's, plus they give you a lot of beef. Mr. Beef openly admitted (on the Food Wars TV show) that their giardiniera is MILD, not hot. I find this kind of annoying because if you order a Beef with Hot on it, you should get "hot" peppers, right? Doesn't mean it's good or bad, because some people don't like it too hot.

The Patio
1503 W Taylor St
Chicago IL 60607
(312) 829-0454

A hearty second for me on The Patio. The Patio's beef is more of the Johnnie's school than Al's, but it's not much of a problem for me when you have two great beef places within walking distance of each other.

What do you all think of the Beef at Portillo's? I go often to the large one off ontario downtown, and I find it to be a good middle ground between Al's and Mr. Beef. It hardly gets mentioned here much and I wonder why it's overlooked?

FoodSnob77 wrote:What do you all think of the Beef at Portillo's? I go often to the large one off ontario downtown, and I find it to be a good middle ground between Al's and Mr. Beef. It hardly gets mentioned here much and I wonder why it's overlooked?

portillo's is ok , to me but would rather go to al's if i'm downtown
the sammy is smaller also ?

FoodSnob77 wrote:What do you all think of the Beef at Portillo's? I go often to the large one off ontario downtown, and I find it to be a good middle ground between Al's and Mr. Beef. It hardly gets mentioned here much and I wonder why it's overlooked?

I've always been a fan of Portillo's Beef, and it's definitely still one of my favorites. But side by side with places like Al's, Johnnie's, Patio, Boston's, Chickie's, etc it might not stand out as the winner. It has it's own charms to it and I still love it.

I just went to Johnnies last night after buying a craigslist couch in Oak Park. My uncle lives in Elmwood Park and every trip out there garnered me an italian ice with spoon straw eaten in the back of our family station wagon. I love that ice so much that it took me until just last summer to finally try a beef sammich. Oh man, are they good. What ever they do to the sweet peppers, whatever spice it is, is so slight and subtle and really brings out the sweetness of the peppers.

The sammie was a tad smaller than I remember, not in length but in filling. One beef is about $3.20, a combo just $3.62; definitely a value. I wish I could've taken my time eating it, but with all that deliciously soggy bread, it demanded a faster pace. I savored my ice on the ride home, and was glad I remembered to get a small, since they heap it way above rim.

Ram4 wrote:

FoodSnob77 wrote:What do you all think of the Beef at Portillo's? I go often to the large one off ontario downtown, and I find it to be a good middle ground between Al's and Mr. Beef. It hardly gets mentioned here much and I wonder why it's overlooked?

I've always been a fan of Portillo's Beef, and it's definitely still one of my favorites. But side by side with places like Al's, Johnnie's, Patio, Boston's, Chickie's, etc it might not stand out as the winner. It has it's own charms to it and I still love it.

I especially like the freshly toasted bread at Portillo's as a change of pace to the standard untoasted.

One thing that can be said for Portillo's is that it's consistent. I'll sometimes send first-timers there simply because I know it'll be good. You'll never get a 10 at Portillo's, but I'd rather a first-timer get a solid, dependable 7 to whet their appetite and leave them with some future upside at the better joints than take the chance they end up catching a bad beef and swearing them off altogether.

And...in a pinch for an immediate, casual to-go entree to bring home & cook quickly for 6 or 20, Portillo's has ALWAYS delivered. Good quality shrink-wrapped beef. A pail of au jus with accompanying 'fat plug', which is important because one can weigh fat grams vs. taste. Believe it or not, the jus without ANY of the fat plug at all is still pretty good. The Italian bread I think is baked on premises--not sure tho--but whatever, it's some of the best around. I ask them to cut it in 3" pieces for multiple 'mini-beefs'. And finally, the sweet peppers in oil are perfect and their giardiniera has a great bite to it.

I love Al's/Taylor but it's 35 miles away. Portillo's is right NOW.

I enjoyed the Italian beef sandwich I had at Portillo's last week, but wished in hindsight it had more sauce. Should I have asked for it "dipped," or do they only give you sauce on the side?

Portillos IB is good in a pinch when a ride to Johnnies isnt possible, IB is ok, so is the Combo, extra hot peppers.

Although I typically go for a chili dog and a burger when I go to Portillos, and skip the IB til I can get a better one.

Katie wrote:I enjoyed the Italian beef sandwich I had at Portillo's last week, but wished in hindsight it had more sauce. Should I have asked for it "dipped," or do they only give you sauce on the side?

They will make your beef any way you like, gravy on the side, dipped, dry, whatever. They'll do this with just about anything on the menu, I always order my fries well done for example and they don't bat an eye. Kind of like In 'N Out Burger, whatever you want, they'll do it. A guy who works for my dad orders a combo, with the sausage "naked" on the side. So he ends up with an Italian Beef, plus a sausage. I don't know why he does this, but I guess he doesn't care for them as a combo and likes the sausage as a side dish and it's much cheaper than ordering a seperate Sausage sandwich. Weird perhaps, but to each his own!

Dmnkly wrote:One thing that can be said for Portillo's is that it's consistent. I'll sometimes send first-timers there simply because I know it'll be good. You'll never get a 10 at Portillo's, but I'd rather a first-timer get a solid, dependable 7 to whet their appetite and leave them with some future upside at the better joints than take the chance they end up catching a bad beef and swearing them off altogether.

You do have a point. I took an out of town friend to Johnnie's for his first beef and it ruined his entire beef education. Now, every time he trys a new beef he always says, "It's OK, but I'd rather go to Johnnie's.*" For me, it took an entire lifetime's experience trying every beef I could that led me to that conclusion. For him, the journey has lost it's purpose.


* The lone exception to this, interestingly enough, was Al's, so at least he's got good taste.