Johnnie’s Beef
7500 W. North Ave., Elmwood Park
Chicago, IL MAP
On our time off, we go hunting for authentic local cuisine. Larry Kim does some research and finds the right spots. This place, Johnnie’s, is supposedly the real deal Chicago hot Italian Beef sandwich. We figured it would be good because it was waaay off the beaten path for us. But we knew it was legit when we arrived and saw the line of large, local Chicagoans.
The place was pretty run down, which in my opinion can be extremely good or extremely bad. In this case it was good. We were about 8 people deep in line and it moved surprisingly fast. Once inside, the production was amazing. The assembly line of food is all laid out in front of you and you order, pay, and get your food within several minutes.
The hot Italian beef sandwiches were delicious. Larry mentioned to order them dipped, and we saw many locals ordering the same. The peppers on the sandwich were perfect, not too hot, but exploding with flavor. A common complaint on food blogs is that the fries were not great. This is, however, how fries are done out here apparently. I have yet to actually have good fries on our trip. So whatever.
We’ve seen this Chicago specific sandwich offered elsewhere, and seen people eating them. We didn’t try them but from the looks of it, we probably had one of the best in the city.
Highly Recommended
September 3rd, 2007 at 12:25 am
Damn - I want one.