Brando's Beef (New Beef Place in Berwyn)

Brando's Beef
http://brandosbeef.com/

Getting a few good reviews in the Berwyn Talk Forum
http://www.berwyntalk.com/smf/index.php?topic=8432.0

I hope it's great - they have a lot of great beef competition around, that's for sure.

Phil wrote:Brando's Beef

Have you been?

Brando's Beef
6838 Windsor Ave
Berwyn, IL
708-788-2333

G Wiv wrote:

Phil wrote:Brando's Beef

Have you been?

Brando's Beef
6838 Windsor Ave
Berwyn, IL
708-788-2333

The website says they're open everyday but when I stopped by this past Sunday they where closed. I'm going to try again Friday.

Trial run today. Here's a quick take on it. Solid beef, solid hot giardiniera, Turano bread, seriously good fries. Small menu, not your typical grease joint with everything under the sun on the menu if it can be deep fried straight from the freezer. Beef, dogs, italian snausages, meatball sammiches, burgers, pizza. Phil posted the menu above. Dogs are depression style (mustard, onion, relish, sporters.)

Exterior. They spent some $ fixing up the front.



Tiny interior, few tables, big screen tv, menu on chalkboard behind the counter. Not a dive by any means. Friendly folks runnin the joint.



The beef:
Solid. I'd grade it as a solid B. Nicely seasoned, I wouldn't call it salty at all. Tender, nicely cut (shaved.)
Regular portion size. I wouldn't call it a hefty portion of beef by any means - might vary, or they might measure - not sure. Definitely one of the better beefs in the area. Giardiniera packed a nice kick. Doubt it was housemade. Decent stuff. Solid. The fries were pretty much what you want fries to be. Reminded me of Gene & Judes when you ask them for extra crispy. Tiny bit of a thicker cut than G&J, but done right. These fries were flippin great. I'll definitely be back here to try the combo (wonder if they char grill the snausage a la Johnnies to make it something special,) the meatball (hopefully homemade and different than the standard salt bomb meatball that most joints are slinging these days,) the 1/2 pound burger, and a pizza trial will be in order too, I'd assume.
Very welcome addition to the block in these parts. Very solid beef, and A grade fries. Hope to try some other stuff soon.

One more thing -
That place to the left with the word Rainbow in the window is actually a little ice cream shop named "Over The Rainbow."

They have standard ice cream flavors and frozen treats, but, I gotta tell ya - Soy shakes.
Soy ice cream, and soymilk. I really dig on their chocolate soy malts.

I tried it Friday, Saturday and Tuesday.

Beef was good on Friday and Saturday. I thought it was very good. I thought the portions were good sized. You can get a "deluxe" which includes fries and a drink. The portion of fries are huge. As seebee said, they're very good.

Tonight was a meatball sub for me, sausage for my wife. Three large meatballs, red sauce on the bun. I left stuffed. The sausage was grilled and came plain on the bun (we asked for some red sauce on the side and received a large container).

The family that runs it is very friendly and seem to have their act together with a small menu that they do very well. Next thing to try is gravy bread.

I brought Brando's sandwiches home for dinner last night. Combo for me, sweet beef for my wife. Split one order of fries and it was plenty. Best combo I have had since the Mr Beef on Ogden closed. They also have thin crust pizza which I am anxious to try.

Stopped by today about 4:00 pm and the place was quiet. A few people did come in for takeout.


Italian Beef

Pretty good! Bread fresh and beef tender. Nice gravy with a bit of spice and fat for flavor. Good portion while not huge nor small. Owner mentioned that they make their own beef. Doing a good job!



Fresh cut fries that were double fried. Some were a bit crunchy with a soft interior. Good spud flavor. Clean oil.

I am eager to get back to try the combo and the burger. They do have a gas grill to impart a flamed flavor. Sold out of their popular 2 a day soups. Gonna make my return visit during the lunch rush to see how it holds up.

Interior very nice! Almost too nice for a beef stand. BTW, when googling I did run across several restaurants named Brando's. No relation as this is the one and only.

Very good beef for the area! Thanks for the tip!

Panther -
If you can, try the meatball sammich. It's a definite winner IMO.

seebee wrote:Panther -
If you can, try the meatball sammich. It's a definite winner IMO.

I Love a good meatball sammie!

On the list... Thanks!

Stopped by for a beef and fries. Both were solid, good flavor, good size.

I had a wonderful meatball sandwich from here with hot and sweet peppers. I am curious about the dogs. Being of the "Depresssion Style" variety, how do they compare to genes n Judes?

I've had two dogs from here. They are not the same dog that GnJ uses, I can tell you that much. I'm not big on dogs, so I can't tell you the maker, but it's a longer, paler one, I can say that I don't think it's a vienna product.

The pizza sounds good, but how do you get that many servings out of a thin crust? Maybe if everyone had a beef with it?
Your 18" Pizza is $26.95? "Yeah, but it serves 6 people..."

Brando’s Special Pizza
Brando’s Beef, Sausage, Meatball & Hot Giardiniera
Medium 14” (serves 3-4) $19.85
Large 16” (serves 4-5) $24.20
XL 18” (serves 5-6) $26.95

Mikey wrote:The pizza sounds good, but how do you get that many servings out of a thin crust? Maybe if everyone had a beef with it?
Your 18" Pizza is $26.95? "Yeah, but it serves 6 people..."

Brando’s Special Pizza
Brando’s Beef, Sausage, Meatball & Hot Giardiniera
Medium 14” (serves 3-4) $19.85
Large 16” (serves 4-5) $24.20
XL 18” (serves 5-6) $26.95

Where is the Like button.

Those "serves X people" statements they put on pizza menus are a joke. What's on the pizza, and who is eating it are the salient questions. I know plenty of guys who can basically demolish a 14" sausage pizza by themselves. But if you load up a 14" pizza with sausage, mushrooms, peperoni, ham, bacon, and green peppers, you could likely feed 6 women.

But if you load up a 14" pizza with sausage, mushrooms, peperoni, ham, bacon, and green peppers, you could likely feed 6 women.

Surely you don't mean six women who would frequent this forum, do you??

[schtick]

sundevilpeg wrote:

But if you load up a 14" pizza with sausage, mushrooms, peperoni, ham, bacon, and green peppers, you could likely feed 6 women.

Surely you don't mean six women who would frequent this forum, do you??

I think he does, and don't call him Surely.
[/schtick]

Mikey wrote:The pizza sounds good, but how do you get that many servings out of a thin crust? Maybe if everyone had a beef with it?
Your 18" Pizza is $26.95? "Yeah, but it serves 6 people..."

Brando’s Special Pizza
Brando’s Beef, Sausage, Meatball & Hot Giardiniera
Medium 14” (serves 3-4) $19.85
Large 16” (serves 4-5) $24.20
XL 18” (serves 5-6) $26.95

I can see how a pizza with beef, sausage, and meatballs would feed a decent number...although not of LTHers perhaps

Any "living social" users out there/ Sim to groupon. Brando's has a deal on there for several more hours.

Brando's Deal.*

This is a link provided to me by the livingsocial site. Apparently,if three ppl buy the deal using this link, I will get refunded my 8.00 purchase price. Please do not feel obligated in any way to use the above link. You can just go on the site and purchase the certificate using this link:

http://livingsocial.com/deals/17202-50-off-italian-beef

Shoot, I am a day day late and $8 short on the deal. nice heads up though. I am in the west burbs and have been meaning to try this place. My sons and I will go try that pizza!

BAM! The Beef and Meatball from Brando's. A nice change of pace combo.

Great Googley-Moogley does that look good!

Posted on their Facebook page today...

We'd like to share some news, Brando’s has decided to close its doors.

One thing in life that is guaranteed is change. While a very hard decision, it is a positive one. Gianni (co-owner) will continue to dedicate himself to the union pipefitting career he has worked so hard to build and Brian (co-owner) will open a new restaurant called “Bubba’s Place” located on Ogden and Ridgeland in Berwyn.

Thanks to each and every one of you for the continued support throughout the years. We are extremely proud of all the stomachs we satisfied and all the support we were able to provide to local businesses, schools and churches as well as those less fortunate, donating hundreds of meals to those who were in need.

The wonderful memories and solid friendships will continue on, just in new spaces and places. Make sure to stop by Bubba’s Place in a few weeks to grab a bite and say Hello!

I had this place on the radar to try soon. If Bubba's Place keeps the Brando's beef recipe going then I guess that will work (if it's as good as advertised).

Ram4 wrote:I had this place on the radar to try soon. If Bubba's Place keeps the Brando's beef recipe going then I guess that will work (if it's as good as advertised).

... and keep Arnie Salerno's pizza recipe alive.

Arnie actually brought his crew (and recipe) over and was present during the transition. I do not understand why Brando's never advertised...

Just because I correctly guessed its wi-fi password {its staff told me it didn't know it} (it was its 10-digit telephone number) is no reason to shut down the entire joint!
I referred in a picture of its italian beef sandwich in this thread.