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 Post subject: Where's the beef? Or the pepper and egg?
PostPosted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 8:31 am 
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I guess I've been spoiled growing up in Chicago, but I can't seem to find a decent beef place around these parts save for Portillo's. Nor can I find a pepper and egg sandwich either. People look at me like I'm from Mars when I ask for it.

Any suggestions?

Portillo's in Merrillville is simply too far from where I live in Munster.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:50 am 
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Food styles change once you leave the Chicago city limits. Would you say the same thing if you moved to Indianapolis? I bet if you did people would call you an arrogant arshole.

But I will not do that. Munster Gyros has a good beef sandwich. Order it with red sauce and sweet peppers. It is not Chicago Italian beef. That is because Munster is not Chicago. Open your mind and your palate. You may be surprised.

If you want something closer to Chicago Italian beef, go to Pop's in Dyer.

Both taste better to me than Al's in Chicago. Either place, on Taylor or Ontario. Nutmeg doesn't belong in a beef sandwich. Al's is also very expensive. You can get two sandwiches at Munster Gyros for the price of one at Al's. And they're the same size.

That reminds me. The best Italian beef isn't in Chicago anyway. It's at Johnnie's in Elmwood Park or Carm's in Hillside.

I can't help you with pepper and egg sandwiches. I don't like them.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:52 pm 
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mhc wrote:
Food styles change once you leave the Chicago city limits. Would you say the same thing if you moved to Indianapolis? I bet if you did people would call you an arrogant arshole.

But I will not do that. Munster Gyros has a good beef sandwich. Order it with red sauce and sweet peppers. It is not Chicago Italian beef. That is because Munster is not Chicago. Open your mind and your palate. You may be surprised.

If you want something closer to Chicago Italian beef, go to Pop's in Dyer.

Both taste better to me than Al's in Chicago. Either place, on Taylor or Ontario. Nutmeg doesn't belong in a beef sandwich. Al's is also very expensive. You can get two sandwiches at Munster Gyros for the price of one at Al's. And they're the same size.

That reminds me. The best Italian beef isn't in Chicago anyway. It's at Johnnie's in Elmwood Park or Carm's in Hillside.

I can't help you with pepper and egg sandwiches. I don't like them.


Buddy,

I have no idea where you get off talking to people like that. I don't believe I denigrated or mocked anyone. I asked a simple question. If none of the above are available in the area, all you have to do is say so.

The fact is, I'm not in Indianapolis. I'm in Munster, a suburb of Chicago for all intents and purposes. Much like Hoboken can be considered a suburb of New York and/or Cherry Hill a suburb of Philly. A place thats closer to the Loop than Schaumburg, Naperville, Aurora, Elgin, Joliet and quite a few other "Chicago" suburbs. A place from where I can throw a rock into Illinois.

Open my mind and palate? This from a guy who views Chicago as a a world apart? Suffice it to say my friend, my mind and palate are quite open and eclectic. More than you can ever imagine.

I've tried Munster Gyros and ........ well, never mind. They have a pretty good gyros sandwich.

Pops I haven't tried.

And if you're trying to give me a lesson in Italian Beef sandwiches, save it for someone else. Worked in beef stands for quite a few years as a a kid. My college girlfriend lived on 75th Avenue and Armitage, 4 blocks north of Johnnie's. And one of my old neighborhood buddies owns Carm's in Hillside. I know that area like the back of my hand. Those two are my favorites anyway. And I went to school a few blocks away from Al's on Taylor, which I don't like. Much preferred Vittori's.

Don't know who you are, but it seems you have quite a chip on your shoulder. Some kind of complex maybe? Relax. Take a load off. I'm new to the area and simply trying to find the good spots.

btw, not everybody puts nutmeg in a beef sandwich. And its quite funny how YOU are determining what goes and/or doesn't go (whatever that means) in a sandwich that's uniquely Chicago. What next? Are you going to tell us mustard doesn't "go" on a Maxwell?


Last edited by Joey Doves on Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 6:45 am 
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Try Pop's in Dyer on route 30. I like their beef better than Potillo's. I am not sure about pepper and egg I think just during lent. :wink:

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 7:00 am 
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Thanks dyerbill. that's all I was looking for-a recommendation. I'l be sure to try it.

btw, kind of ridiculous to assert a sandwich is NOT ITALIAN Beef but ROAST Beef, when its made on a Turano or Gonella Italian loaf, served with marinara sauce and/or giardinera (garden) peppers, and topped with mozzarella. Now if it came on a bun or kaiser roll and was topped with cheddar cheese or horseradish sauce, I'd say you're on to something. But there's a difference between a roast beef you find at Zel's or Arby's and an Italian Beef you find at Portillo's or Munster Gyros.

p.s. notwithstanding the big name suburban beef stands (Johnnies, Carm's, Buona) there still are some outsatnding places in the city like Lu Lu's on Taylor & Ogden, Roma's on Cicero, Mr Beef on Orleans, Chickie's on Pulaski, Max's on Western, The Patio on Taylor, Ricobene's on 26th and Princeton, etc....Vittori's on Taylor was also great before it closed down.


Last edited by Joey Doves on Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:01 am, edited 3 times in total.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:49 pm 
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mhc wrote:
Food styles change once you leave the Chicago city limits.


Really now?

So "food styles" change in Elmwood Park (Johnnie's), Berwyn (Buona), Hillside (Carm's), Oak Park (Michael's), etc.......? How is the "food style" in the aforementioned suburbs any different than in the city? This I want to hear.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:08 pm 
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All three places make very different roast beef sandwiches. Buona uses caraway. Carm's uses a fatty cut of beef. Johnnie's uses lots of black pepper. Think about where each place is. Then think about who lived in those towns 40 years ago. The beef sandwiches are about the towns. Not about Chicago.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:22 am 
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Most places use an inside round.

Not sure what you're trying to say, but it doesn't make much sense.

The Bonavolanto's are from the southwest side of Berwyn, with roots on Taylor Street. Their beef stand didn't exist 40 years ago. Buona Beef started in the early 80's from a stand on Roosevelt and Oak Park next to Gina's Lemonade.

Carm's started in Berwyn (just like Buona's, about 3 blocks west on Roosevelt) but Dennis, the owner of the Hillside location, grew up in Cicero.

The Demos family that owns Johnnie's is Greek, and was from Taylor Street.

For those that can't decipher the above, it basically means that the areas are all the same. Blue collar, immigrant, lower middle class, with plenty of Italian Americans. Most of the Italians from Berwyn and Cicero came from Taylor Street. Most of them from Elmwood Park came from the Patch, which is no more than two miles from Taylor Street anyways.

Not sure the point you were trying to make, but your initial assertion is that palates change when you leave the city limits. That's absurd. And the demographics of the aforementioned towns are eerily similar.

Now explain to me how the palate of an Elmwood Park resident is different than that of a Berwyn resident. This one should be fun.

btw, the Carms location in Hillisde next to the Mediterranean Deli hasn't been there that long. Certainly not 40 years. More like 10-15 years, max. The owner isn't 40 himself. And he started working for Carm's (family business) first in their Lombard location on Roosevelt.


Last edited by Joey Doves on Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:06 am, edited 5 times in total.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:30 am 
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mhc wrote:
All three places make very different roast beef sandwiches. Buona uses caraway. Carm's uses a fatty cut of beef. Johnnie's uses lots of black pepper. Think about where each place is. Then think about who lived in those towns 40 years ago. The beef sandwiches are about the towns. Not about Chicago.


And I used to use caraway, nutmeg, fennel, bay leaves, pepper, garlic, and oregano as well. So what?


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:14 am 
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mhc wrote:
All three places make very different roast beef sandwiches. Buona uses caraway. Carm's uses a fatty cut of beef. Johnnie's uses lots of black pepper. Think about where each place is. Then think about who lived in those towns 40 years ago. The beef sandwiches are about the towns. Not about Chicago.


As far as I know, only Zel's and Arby's make roast beef sandwiches in the Chicago metro area. The rest are Italian Beef.

I'd like for you to tell me why a sandwich from Munster Gyros is a ROAST Beef and one eerily similar from Pop's is an Italian Beef. What distinguishes one from the other? And then what do you call what you get from Zel's or Arby's? How is that SIMILAR to what you get at Munster Gyros?

If it's on an ITALIAN roll, dipped in gravy (au jus) and possibly topped with MARINARA sauce and GIARDINERA or SWEET GREEN PEPPERS, and smothered with MOZZARRELLA CHEESE, it's an ITALIAN Beef.

If it's on a bun and you put either cheddar cheese, horseradish sauce, lettuce and tomatoes, and/or any other kind of slop that passes off as sauce (Arby's Sauce), its ROAST beef.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:26 pm 
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Couple of more underrated beef places-Scatchells on 22nd and Cicero and Mr. Beef on Orleans.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:21 pm 
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Location: Gary
Miller Pizza in Gary on Lake street best Italian Beef for the money and Pizza in the entire area.

The business has been there for over 60 years and the sandwich has enough meat to choke a bear and the pizza has loads of cheese and meat the only other place that I would advise is Bronkos and there in Crown Point I have not purchased anything from them since they left Gary back in the 80s but every friday for 10 year they were our place of choice.

Restaurant: Bronkos Kitchen Delite
Restaurant Details: (printable version)

Name: Bronkos Kitchen Delite
Address: 1244 North Main Street
City: Crown Point
County: Lake
State: IN
Zip: 46307
Phone: (219)662-0145



Restaurant: Miller Pizza Station
Restaurant Details: (printable version)

Name: Miller Pizza Station
Address: 622 South Lake Street
City: Gary
County: Lake
State: IN
Zip: 46403
Phone: (219)938-7071



http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... n%26sa%3DN

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:46 am 
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Ok, since I'm new in the area, what's the best way to get to this place in Gary from, lets say Calumet Avenue and 294? Is that the place by the train station in Miller close to Miller Bakery Cafe?

Thanx for the recommendation, btw.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:29 pm 
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Joey Doves wrote:
Ok, since I'm new in the area, what's the best way to get to this place in Gary from, lets say Calumet Avenue and 294? Is that the place by the train station in Miller close to Miller Bakery Cafe?

Thanx for the recommendation, btw.


Seriously, don't go there.

Cal City had a wonderful place called "Pepino's." They have since relocated in Schererville - I believe off of Indianapolis Blvd. This place is notorious for real egg & green pepper sandwiches during lent. He also sells his Italian sausage raw if you want to cook it yourself. If you buy within, he has the best of Italian Beef Sandwiches, Italian Sausage, and a small deli (in Cal) for notorious potato salad, etc.

I've bought and cooked his Italian sausage for many gatherings...he is the best and I miss him...but he's not far from me in Hammond, considering it's just as far going to Cal City.

What a loss for Cal City, but the neighborhood is for fried chicken now and fast food.

He must be doing well out there....I have noticed Capri Imports moved to Dyer from Sibley, in Cal City - they are great for picking up deli imported Italian cheeze, groceries, etc. I think they now have a restaurant area within the store.

They were really great for genuine, Italian imports...the deli was great.

Falvo's (I think that was the name), used to be a big hit with our half-Italian side of the family. They were in Chicago Heights, IL, and since retired, went out of business. They had the best Italian sausage - fennel seed and all. We used to make Italian sausage by hand....but since my ex-mom died, we haven't made it....

So, I know good Italian roast beef sandwiches and Pepper & Eggs sandwiches, and Pepino's in Schererville is worth the trip...try it. You won't want to go anywhere else....


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:29 pm 
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P.S. - Zell's is a pot-hole.


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