Quick Bite Italian Beef and Sausage with self-serve giard

After a truly disappointing first time trying Max's Italian beef on Western, I felt the need to wash the taste out of my mouth with a second lunch, and what better way to cleanse the palate than with another Italian beef? I happened to see Quick Bite on my drive back and I immediately knew I had to try it out:



This tiny stand shares a corner lot with a muffler shop and doesn't look like much on the outside (or the inside) but don't be fooled. Quick Bite turns out a solid beef sandwich, probably in the 85th percentile of beefs in this city. The tasty olive-heavy giardinera is free on the dining counter, just like god intended:



The beef tastes like it's house-made, not prepackaged in gravy. It's thin-sliced and aggressively spiced with black pepper and crushed red pepper, with seasonings folded into each slice. This one was spicy enough that I needed two napkins at hand: one for the mouth and one for the forehead.



Best of all? it was $4.99. Fifty percent cheaper than its neighbor Max's and like 500% better.

Quick Bite Italian Beef and Sausage
5155 N Western Ave

eating while walking wrote:This one was spicy enough that I needed two napkins at hand: one for the mouth and one for the forehead.

More than enough to get me into Quick Bite after a multi-year absence.

eating while walking wrote:After a truly disappointing first time trying Max's Italian beef...

Couldn't agree more. Max's was terrible, So much so that I couldn't throw the sandwich in the garbage can fast enough and b-line it out of there. I haven't been in a while, but from what i remember Quick bite's sandwich is respectable, at least in comparison to Max's, and I love that the giard is sitting out on the counters.

eating while walking wrote:After a truly disappointing first time trying Max's Italian beef on Western, I felt the need to wash the taste out of my mouth with a second lunch, and what better way to cleanse the palate than with another Italian beef? I happened to see Quick Bite on my drive back and I immediately knew I had to try it out.

You felt the need to wash the taste out of your mouth with a second lunch? My kind of guy! Your pictures and description probably sold ALL of us beef fans on here. You get full credit if this turns out to be a diamond in the rough. I am sure DaBeef is getting ready to head over there.

Looks like Gonella bread on the Quick Bite, yes? If so, dat's a good thing.

Quick Bite is one of my guilty pleasures, their $1.95 hot dog has been consumed more times than I'd like to admit. Don't hate me purists, it's skinless, but every now and then it scratches an itch. Now I'll have to try the beef.

mbh wrote:Don't hate me purists, it's skinless, but every now and then it scratches an itch.

I like your take on the skinless scratching the itch. It's certainly a Vienna, but you know there's better. I just wish Vienna would not sell skinless to restaurants - and especially stop giving out their signs that show a natural casing hot dog when the place sells skinless (yeah Dog Out in Bannockburn, I'm taking to you).

I drive by "quick bite" daily ...and too have been disappointed in Max's and haven't found a go to beef place on my "regular route(s)"....a stop at quick bite is on my "very soon" list #ilovebeef


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I, too will be giving Quick Bite a try sometime soon. As I recall, back during the Beefathon days, Quick Bite served a very poor beef sandwich that looked nothing like what is pictured above and ended up at the very bottom of the rankings (Beefee's never got included in an "official" Beefathon, or there would have been at least one place below Quick Bite). Besides being bad, tough beef, it came wrapped in foil, which is a cardinal sin in my book. It appears things have taken a turn for the better!

2013 Quick Bite is much improved from the last time I was there. No threat to my favorite Al's on Taylor, but a solid rendition of the Chicago classic.

Quick Bite