The Cheesesteak's Cousin: Chicago's Italian Beef
Every major American city has its sandwich. New Orleans has the po'boy. New York has the pastrami on rye. Philadelphia has the cheesesteak. Chicago has two: the Chicago-style hot dog and the Italian beef. The hot dog gets more press. The Italian beef deserves more credit.
The History: Wedding Sandwiches and the Italian South Side
The Italian beef sandwich developed in Chicago's Italian immigrant communities in the early 20th century, and its origin is one of those practical stories that makes complete sense once you hear it. Italian immigrant families in Chicago's Near West Side and South Side neighborhoods faced the same economic pressures as immigrants everywhere: large families, modest budgets, occasions that required feeding a crowd.
For weddings and large gatherings, they would buy a less expensive cut of beef — typically the rump roast or bottom round — and slow-roast it until very tender. Then they would slice it extremely thin, almost shaved, and serve it on Italian bread. To make the meat go further and to moisten it, they would dunk the sliced beef in the cooking juices — the au jus — before serving.
This was practical economy that happened to produce something extraordinary. The thin slices of beef, soaked in seasoned cooking liquid, packed into an Italian roll, created a sandwich that was simultaneously sturdy and yielding, deeply savory, and built to be eaten standing up over a napkin.
By the 1930s, the Italian beef was available from street carts. By the 1950s, it had become one of Chicago's signature foods. Al's Beef, founded in 1938 on Taylor Street, is widely cited as the first Italian beef stand operating in the current tradition.
Wet, Dry, and Dipped: The Critical Distinctions
Understanding how to order an Italian beef is essential to getting the most out of it. The terms are not complicated but they matter.
Dry: The sandwich as assembled — thinly sliced beef on a roll, with your choice of giardiniera or sweet peppers. No additional interaction with the au jus.
Wet: The beef is ladled with extra au jus before the sandwich is completed, ensuring the interior of the bread is saturated with cooking liquid but the outside is intact.
Dipped: The entire assembled sandwich — bread and all — is submerged in the vat of au jus for two to three seconds. The bread becomes completely saturated. The sandwich is handed to you in wax paper, and it will drip. Significantly. You will need multiple napkins. You will need to eat it over the counter.
The dipped is the test. A restaurant that can't execute the dipped — where the bread falls apart, where the beef is too dry or the au jus too thin — is a restaurant that doesn't understand what it's making. When the dipped works — the bread exterior still providing a slight structural shell while the interior is fully saturated, the beef tender and seasoned, the giardiniera cutting through the richness — it is one of the singular eating experiences in American sandwiches.
First-time visitors should order dipped, giardiniera, and eat standing at the counter with both elbows out.
The Giardiniera vs. Sweet Pepper Question
Giardiniera is a pickled vegetable condiment — celery, sport peppers, olives, carrot, sometimes cauliflower, all preserved in oil and vinegar with a calibrated level of heat. The Chicago version is spicier and oilier than Italian jarred giardiniera; the oil carries heat from sport peppers and makes it the ideal counterpoint to the rich, fatty beef.
Sweet peppers are exactly what they sound like: bell peppers cooked soft, served warm on top of the beef. They add sweetness and textural contrast without heat.
The correct answer to this question is giardiniera, but both are legitimate. "Giardiniera and sweet" gets you both, which is also legitimate if you're making your first visit and want the full picture.
The Players
Al's Beef: The institution. Three locations now, with the Taylor Street original being the pilgrimage destination. The au jus is deeply seasoned with Italian herbs and garlic. The roll holds up to the dip better than most.
Mr. Beef on Orleans: The late Anthony Bourdain's documented obsession. Mr. Beef is not the most polished operation — it is a counter with a few stools and a parking lot — but the Italian beef hits everything it should, every time.
Portillo's: The chain that made Italian beef accessible to the suburbs and eventually to the rest of the country. The quality is genuinely high for a chain operation, and if you're not in Chicago proper, Portillo's will give you an accurate idea of the format.
Johnnie's Beef in Elmwood Park: The outer-ring institution. Often cited by Chicagoans who want to avoid the tourist concentration downtown as the best beef in the metropolitan area. Worth the drive.
The Bear and National Attention
FX's The Bear — the restaurant drama that debuted in 2022 — sent a significant portion of the country searching for Italian beef for the first time. The show is set in a fictional Chicago beef sandwich shop (explicitly based on Mr. Beef on Orleans), and its depiction of the sandwich, the kitchen culture, and the Chicago setting was specific enough to function as functional tourism advertising.
The effect was measurable. Google searches for "Italian beef sandwich" spiked following each season's release. Restaurants in cities with no Italian beef tradition began offering their interpretations. Food publications that had ignored Italian beef for decades published explainers.
Whether this national attention improved Italian beef or just spread its name is debatable. The best Italian beef remains in Chicago, at counters that have been doing this for decades, served to people who know how to order. The attention was deserved.
How to Make It at Home
The roast: Use a rump roast or bottom round. Season aggressively with Italian seasoning, garlic, salt, and black pepper — much more than you think is necessary. Roast low and slow (275°F for 4-5 hours for a 4-pound roast) until very tender.
The au jus: Collect every drop of cooking liquid. Supplement with beef stock, a splash of red wine, more Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, and salt. The au jus should be deeply savory and pleasantly herby. This is where the sandwich lives.
The beef: Slice as thin as possible — a mandoline if you have one. The slices should be nearly translucent. Submerge them in warm au jus for a few minutes before assembling.
The bread: Italian hoagie rolls that are crusty outside and soft inside. The bread choice is the hardest part to replicate at home — look for a substantial Italian bakery roll, not a grocery store hoagie bun.
The dip: Fill a wide, shallow bowl with hot au jus. Pick up the assembled sandwich with both hands and dip for two to three seconds. Eat immediately.