Thursday April 9, 2020
Woke up today thinking about what Chicago’s most famous foods are. Hot Dogs and Pizza are very popular, but so are Italian Beef Sandwiches… We usually get them from Portillo’s, but Google says supposedly the beef sandwich from the original Al’s Beef on Taylor Street is a real contender. Guess this beats a PB&J!
When we pulled up, I was shocked that this little stand with no seats had one of the best sandwiches. Standing room only. Crazy! Good thing there was no one there when we got there. Social distancing is hard! How do you know if you are really six feet away from someone (arms up emoji).
The lady working behind the counter was so nice, but this is the first place we ordered from that had a big wall in front of us to protect the lady behind the counter. It was scary, but we were here, and they were ready to take our order, so we got the Chicago Style Beef Sandwich and Fries (side of cheese, please - YUM!!!). My dad ordered and they asked him so many questions – would you like it dry, light or dipped? What?!!? Would you like sweet or hot? What?!?! We ordered two plain and two dipped with sweet and hot on the side. Jaw dropped! When we got in the car he explained - dry, light or dipped is for the gravy. How much do you want on it? The more you get the better, but the harder the sandwich is to eat because the bread gets really soggy. Sweet or hot refers to the peppers. He ordered both on the side. NOT FOR ME…
Overall, the Chicago Style Beef Sandwich was an experience, but just not for me. Sorry Al’s! I did love the cheese fries though and would go back for those, a hotdog and 10lb bag of ice (j/k – look at my picture, so random (laughing emoji))…
Agreed! I'm a Portillos girl! Cheesy beef, no dip, & hot giardinera! Side of cheese fries!