"italian beef" news and stories

Last year, I went to Chicago. I was intent on eating quintessential Chicago foods, and while I already knew about Chicago dogs and stuffed deep-dish pizza, one thing that came up in pre-trip conversations was Italian Beef, something I had never heard of. Suffice it to say, I went to Mr. Beef and fell in love.

Apparently, Italian Beef has a mild cult status among Chicago-ans, with lots of joints that specialize in it, different interpretations of the basic ingredients, and people claiming to be die-hard fans of a certain place. Chicago food blog Skillet Doux is currently going through what he calls a "Beef-off," going to different Italian beef places around the city, reviewing the sandwich, and ranking them. On his third run, he declared Chickie's number one, calling it "the Italian Beef for beef lovers" and "a superlative beef experience." As of this posting, the current list in order is:

1. Chickie's
2. Johnnie's
3. Mr. Beef
4. Bostons
5. Tore's
6. Portillo's
7. Roma's
8. Al's

All the Chicago beef and hot dog fans out there should appreciate this one. GreaseFreak.com is a photographic survey of meaty Chicago fare like beef sandwiches, hot dogs, chili, Italian subs, burgers and (shrug) turkey clubs. While the site's host, Peter Strazzabosco, claims to not be a fast food expert, he does a good job of outlining the qualities one should look for in aforementioned foods. He also rates each of his "intimate shots of greasy edibles" with stars for taste, presentation and ambiance. As you might imagine, the list of hot dog places is quite extensive.

Last year, I visited Chicago and after eating around for three days, decided to compare some of the foods I ate with similar foods I have found in LA. One of the things I ate in Chicago was an Italian beef sandwich from Mr. Beef, which I compared in a WWF (world Wide Food) Smackdown to a French dip from Philippe the Original in LA.

Chicago's Italian beef won, and now, thanks to the Chicago Tribune I can try making it at home. Yesterday's Food section re-printed a copy of an Italian beef recipe from the book Two for the Road by Jane and Michael Stern. The article is worth a peek, since it also reprints recipes from a few other memoir-type food books.

Now all I have to do is find some of that giardiniera...

Once again, it's time for the World Wide Food (WWF) Smackdown - a totally unscientific, wholly biased and completely personal, opinionated, non-blind taste test between some Chicago places I tried on a recent trip and relatively similar places in LA. If you've been following along, you know Chicago is up 2 to 1 for both Rick Bayless' kicking the Too Hot tamales' butts, and PJ Clarke's beer battered vegetables stomping all over Finn McCool's calamari. LA's one point comes from Pink's, though they might have to surrender that point since Portillo's just opened in Orange County.

Today, beef sandwiches go head to head in a battle of epicurean European proportions. The West Coast offers Philippe's in downtown LA, the home of the original French Dip, and the Midwest doesn't hold back with Italian beef from Mr. Beef in Chicago.