Beefathon IV - south by southwest, now beefathon V/VI - 9/24

[This topic has been renamed and cleaned up a bit so we can continue to use it]

In celebration of George R's birthday, the next tour de boeuf will be on May 21. The goal is a taste of the south.

We would also like to include some western stops - Freddy's and Chickies. These are places that have been highly ranked in the first tour, but only a small number of people have sampled them.

Please nominate places we should visit, and let us know if you can make it.

George has graciously forgiven my gaffe with the scoresheets, but indicated there would be an appropriate penalty should I repeat this error.

Count me in. My calendar is marked.

I would nominate Donald's on S. Western. (I can't track down the exact address, roughly Western & Cermak give or take a few blocks). Maybe not as far south as you want, but I'm not sure.

I've never tasted their beef, but they advertise "the best beef in town", of course Ch. 32 featured them in their highly dubious beef tasting.

Best,
Michael / EC

I don't know how far south and west you mean, but I'd remind you of the bit of research I turned up courtesy of my nanny and her dad (longtime Palos-whatever residents), about:

My nanny's dad recommended, so I wrote:Pop's Italian Beef
123rd and Harlem, Palos Heights

Turk's Italian Beef (apparently result of an angry split from Pop's)
14600 S. LaGrange, Orland Park

Rene had mentioned being to one of these before and not being wowed by it but maybe that means it's the apostate and the other is holding true to its principles. We won't know until we try 'em.

Actually, here's what Rene said:

Rene G wrote: Pop's Italian Beef (10337 S Kedzie) if quite good though maybe Tony's (7007 S Pulaski) is better. Another good one is Parisi's at 6216 W 63rd (that reminds me yet again, I really need to file my southside beef report).

It took some mighty googling but I tracked down Donald's. The name actually is Donald's Famous Hot Dogs and there are three locations, one on south Western Avenue, one further SW on Central, and one on Roosevelt Road in Westchester.

I am assembling a list of possibles (I have nearly 20 names so far) which I will post with addresses. It will take me a few days to get it in order.

Pop's is great -- we have one in Homewood. While the sausage sandwiches and the beef sandwiches are really good, I'm not very fond of most of their menu. We ordered gyros sandwiches there last week for dinner and after two bites, I threw mine out. It was by far the worst gyros sandwich I have ever eaten.

There is another place in Chicago Heights, Marnell's, which used to have the best italian beef in the area. I think it is now owned by someone else. I'll try to swing by there this week and get a sandwich to see if it is a worthy destination for this group.

Here, at last, are some abbreviated reports and comments on twenty south side beef places.

Anthony’s – 4720 W 63rd – Just okay. Big Baby better than beef.

Calabria Imports – 1905 W 103rd – Nice little Italian deli but their beef is nothing special at all.

Coppolino’s – 4455 W 55th – Heard good things but they wouldn’t serve me a beer (no driver’s license) so I’ll never know.

Damenzo’s – 2324 W Taylor – Definitely homemade, scarily variable. Used to be a fantastic deal (huge, cheap, sometimes excellent) until prices were raised.

Donald’s – 2325 S Western – I believe their sign said, “We vote ours best beef in Chicago.” Not top tier but pretty good, like most of their stuff.

JJ Sausage (was Nello’s) – 10500 S Western – Only went once to the new JJ’s but I was surprised that it was at least as good as Nello’s used to be.

Ken-Tone’s – 551 W 18th – I noticed nothing remotely special on a single visit.

La Milanese – 3156 S May – Never tried the beef but they make a killer breaded steak. I bet the beef is good too.

Marnell’s – 849 Halsted, Chgo Hts – This 45 year old place has been on my list for years. Would love to try it. Please report, sdritz!

Morry’s – 5500 S Cornell – Like most of their fare, not very good.

Nicky’s – 10255 S Western – Even though Metromix cites their IB, it comes on a toasted bun (!) and is quite poor.

Parisi’s – 6216 W 63rd – One of the real old-timers (50+ years), good sandwich, great bare-bones beef stand ambience.

Pete’s Italian Beef – 7843 S Stony Island – Almost guaranteed to be nobody’s favorite but it’s a style that probably should be tried. Cheap pig ear sandwiches.

Pop’s – 10337 S Kedzie – Good beef, low prices, no surprise it’s popular. Excellent fresh-tasting giardiniera. If I sounded negative about Pop’s, I didn’t mean to.

Ricobene’s – 252 W 26th – They do a lot of things pretty well including a serviceable IB. Notable for three choices of hot peppers.

Skyway Dog House – 9480 S Ewing – Completely edible, nothing to write home about.

TNT Pizza & Beef – 601 W Root – I so wanted to like this place by the old stockyards, with one of the coolest interiors anywhere. Worst beef I’ve had in years, just awful.

Tony’s – 7007 S Pulaski – One of the better ones, definitely worth a stop. Good paleteria a couple doors north.

Uncle Johnny’s – 500 W 32nd – Neat old Bridgeport grocery that serves a very good beef.

Vince’s – 6217 W 63rd – Old pizza parlor right across from Parisi’s. Limited experience but seems quite good (excellent relish-style giardiniera).

Thanks Rene G. This is really helpful.

YOur comments also confirm what I've suspected for some time -- that it will take more than one Beefathon to cover the south side.

I suggest we do one Beefathon which goes pretty much straight south and another going southwest.

Please count me and Randy in on this. Also please consider adding Marnell's to your list -- I know it's way down in da Heights, but I feel it is worth the trip.

I mentioned this Beefathon to a friend who immediately told me we must add Dukes in Bridgeview to the list. He says it's the best. Time permitting, I may take a trip there to see if the claims are true before the Beefathon.

http://www.dukesitalianbeef.com/index.shtml

Suzy

Thanks to ReneG’s impressive research we have a good basis for planning the next two (at least) Beefathon’s. I’ve taken his post above and divided it into two geographical areas, straight south from the Loop and southwest. Places which ReneG gave mediocre reports on were removed. I also added comments from other posters and then listed separately more places which have been mentioned over the last year or two either on LTH or the other site. If my paraphrasing of comments by other posters doesn’t fully represent what was intended, please correct.

The south/southwest breakdown is arbitrary. Alternately, we could do an inner ring (near the Loop) and an outer ring. In any case it’s clear we’ll need a minimum of two Beefathons to do justice to the south/southwest areas.

Now it’s up to posters to choose 1) which area to visit on the May 21st Beefathon, and 2) which places to chow down at in each area.

If there are places which have been overlooked please mention those also. I’d particularly like to hear from people who live south/sw. It’s an area that should be better known to those of us who live north.

Let me make one point. Based on experience the practical limit is to visit about five beef stands on one Beefathon. Time and stomach capacity seem to be the main factors. We might do six if they are close together which would save drive time. After that I think a lot of people (myself included) would fade into a beefy haze.

I have no preference – just looking forward to sampling lots of IB. OK LTHer’s now it’s up to you.

SOUTH per ReneG:
JJ Sausage (was Nello’s) – 10500 S Western – Only went once to the new JJ’s but I was surprised that it was at least as good as Nello’s used to be. La Milanese – 3156 S May – Never tried the beef but they make a killer breaded steak. I bet the beef is good too.
Marnell’s – 849 Halsted, Chgo Hts – This 45 year old place has been on my list for years. Would love to try it. Please report, sdritz!
Pete’s Italian Beef – 7843 S Stony Island – Almost guaranteed to be nobody’s favorite but it’s a style that probably should be tried. Cheap pig ear sandwiches.
Pop’s – 10337 S Kedzie – Good beef, low prices, no surprise it’s popular. Excellent fresh-tasting giardiniera. If I sounded negative about Pop’s, I didn’t mean to. Other locations: Harlem between 111th & 127th; 183rd & Governor's Hwy, Homewood (Cherry Creek shopping center)
Ricobene’s – 252 W 26th – They do a lot of things pretty well including a serviceable IB. Notable for three choices of hot peppers. LTH (Alison MacKenzie) 7/04: “Family-run. Breaded steak is signature sandwich, but Italian Beef is VG also.”
Uncle Johnny’s – 500 W 32nd – Neat old Bridgeport grocery that serves a very good beef. An L.A. chowhound says it’s excellent and tries to stop there on every visit to Chicago.

SOUTH per others:
Freddie’s, 31st & Union, Chicago. Chowhound (Southside Willy) 8/04: "Slightly garlicky, well seasoned, good |juice. The sandwich must have weighed in at 1.5 pounds. Only $5.50."

SOUTHWEST per ReneG:
Coppolino’s – 4455 W 55th – Heard good things but they wouldn’t serve me a beer (no driver’s license) so I’ll never know.
Damenzo’s – 2324 W Taylor – Definitely homemade, scarily variable. Used to be a fantastic deal (huge, cheap, sometimes excellent) until prices were raised.
Donald’s – 2325 S Western – I believe their sign said, “We vote ours best beef in Chicago.” Not top tier but pretty good, like most of their stuff. Featured in Channel 32's beef tasting earlier this year (it wasn’t the winner).
Parisi’s – 6216 W 63rd – One of the real old-timers (50+ years), good sandwich, great bare-bones beef stand ambience. (Alison MacKenzie + Phil) 7/04: no-frills, family-run kind of place lots of old b/w photos on the wall of family and the beef stand dating back to the 50's. Phil: a gem; huge beef sandwiches.
Tony’s – 7007 S Pulaski – One of the better ones, definitely worth a stop. Good paleteria a couple doors north.
Vince’s – 6217 W 63rd – Old pizza parlor right across from Parisi’s. Limited experience but seems quite good (excellent relish-style giardiniera).

SOUTHWEST per others:
Duke’s Italian Beef, 8115 S. Harlem, Bridgeview. See posts above.
LuLu’s Hot Dogs, 1000 S. Leavitt, Chicago. (kvltrede, Antonius) 3/05: pretty good beef. black olives in giardiniera. Amata prefers it to Joe's on Taylor.
Novi’s, 6746 Ogden Ave (at Oak Park Avenue), Berwyn. Chowhound (Jim Taggert) 6/04: "not the greatest beef (was better under prior owners), but they have fantastic hand-cut fries that are worth the trip."
Freddy’s Pizzeria, 1600 S. 61st Street, Cicero. Chowhound (Jim Taggert) 6/04: "call ahead; short hours-will close early if slow."
Johnny's Italian Beef, 657 N. Cass Ave (Cass & Ogden Plaza), Westmont. Also another location in Darien. NOT related to Johnnie's in Elmwood Park.
Chickie’s, 2839 S. Pulaski, Chicago. Chowhound (ddickson) 11/03: very good; among the best in the first Beefathon.

George, thanks for all the advance work.

From yesterday's ice-cream-athon, I can offer my opinion that there is some VERY good eating way down south. I look forward to additional exploring (and I hope, perhaps on that south-side trip, we can sneak in a stop at Cunis or Gayety*).

Rob

*I am sure there will be reports, with tons of picures soon.

George R wrote:Donald’s – 2325 S Western – I believe their sign said, “We vote ours best beef in Chicago.” Not top tier but pretty good, like most of their stuff. Featured in Channel 32's beef tasting earlier this year (it wasn’t the winner).

I had lunch at Donald's today. I would say the beef is worthy of addition to the tasting menu. I'll be curious to hear everyone's opinion of this one. I found the giardiniera, in particular to be quite tasty, with a decent amount of heat. The sandwich photographs well, too.

Donald's "#1 in their own minds" Beef

Steve, thanks for the input. I apologize for not making it make it clearer, but only the last sentence quoted was mine; the first part was me quoting ReneG.

Nice work George. I have done up to 8 places in a tasting, but it does become a bit of an endurance test.

I count 19 or 20 places in your list, so we either need to eliminate some of them, or make it 3 or 4 more tastings. In any event, to get the ball rolling, here are some suggested geographical groupings that can probably easily be done in a day. Not exactly respecting your south & southwest divisions or 5 place maximum, but they seem to be clusters as I look at them.

Group 1, near south side:

Damenzo's - 2324 W Taylor
Lulu's - 1000 S Western
Donald's - 2325 S Western
Uncle Johnny's 500 W 32nd
Ricobene's 252 W 26th
Freddie's 31st & Union
La Milanese 3156 S May

Group 2, south & southwest:

Freddy's 1600 S 61st
Chickie's 2839 S Pulaski
Coppolino's 4455 W 55th
Parisi's 6216 W 63rd
Vince's 6217 W 63rd
Tony's 7007 S Pulaski
Duke's 8115 S Harlem

Group 3, far south:

JJ Sausage 10500 S Western
Marnell's 849 Halsted Chicago Heights
Pete's 7843 S Stony Island
(can we get an Old Fashioned Donuts stop in here?)
Pop's 10337 S Kedzie
We could move Tony's from group 2 into here, or make some bbq stops...

I left out Novi's because the description did not seem to really recommend it, and Johnny's in Westmont because it is so far west compared to the others. I will, again, try to stop by there, sample and report. If we wanted to include it, the grouping that might work would be this:

Alternate Southwest Group

Freddy's 1600 S 61st
Parisi's 6216 W 63rd
Vince's 6217 W 63rd
Duke's 8115 S Harlem
Johnny's Cass & Ogden Westmont

Then maybe you move one or two from group 1 (Lulu's & Donald's?) to group 2, etc.

Anyway, we can shuffle them around 14 different ways, but these groupings seem to at least respect clusters that are relatively close together as I see it. Presented for discussion.

Sushiboy and I would love to join , if you can accomodate. Thanks.

(Obviously) Dickson's groupings/scheduling makes sense. Even I cannot got to more than about 10 beef joints in one day...

The only thing I wanna add is that La Milanese is closed on weekends. I could make a Friday beefathon at some point, but I do not know how much demand there could be for such a day. Anbother place that is worthy of our listings and (surprisingly) is off, is J&C Bombacingno's. This too, however, is a weekday only place.

Are there takers for a Friday attempt, and if so, we should organize some of the places near Bridgeport/near loop (i.e., Ricobenese) for this Friday run.

Rob

Dicksond wrote:

Group 1, near south side:

Damenzo's - 2324 W Taylor
Lulu's - 1000 S Western
Donald's - 2325 S Western
Uncle Johnny's 500 W 32nd
Ricobene's 252 W 26th
Freddie's 31st & Union
La Milanese 3156 S May

Thanks Rob for pointing out that La Milanese is closed on weekends. I suspect that Friday runs are harder for most people to arrange than Saturdays, but let's hear from the group. If you can get several together for a Friday Beefathon, we'd all like to hear your report.

Meanwhile I think it's clear that clustering is the most sensible approach. therefore, I suggest that the May 21st beefathon be Dickson's group 1 above, less La Milanese. If there turns out to be overlap with a Friday Beefathon, we can either adjust or go a second time to at least some.

I am okay with that plan. Perhaps we should add Bombacigno's, 558 W Van Buren, per Rob's suggestion? I know that makes it a bigger group than is ideal, but the geography sure works to our advantage with minimal driving.

I am open to a Friday run, tho some would say given my recent schedule this is unrealistically optimistic on my part (but soccer season does end, and the kids go to college and there will be some time of my own, even if business stays busy). We could start and meet at La Milanese and then head to the deep south places, perhaps, for the Friday run?

George, will you get the hours and work out the sequence? I would volunteer, but the next week or so are full of travel and other crazy stuff for me.

dicksond wrote:I am okay with that plan. Perhaps we should add Bombacigno's, 558 W Van Buren, per Rob's suggestion?

Bombacigno's keeps very erratic hours, so you've either got to catch it in the middle of a weekday lunch hour or you are taking your chances on its being open.

For those who may not have noticed, Rob has started a new thread for a Friday Beefathon. It's at: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3667&start=0

Meanwhile, I will work on a proposed schedule for May 21st.

Here's the proposed route. Sorry about the delay in getting it up- last week became rather busy at work. If anyone has suggested changes, please post.

Let's start at 10:30 am at Damenzo's, followed by Lulu's, then work our way south and then east.

Experience has shown we should allow approximately 45 minutes per place. However, as this group is pretty compact it should reduce drive time and shorten things a bit.

Damenzo's - 2324 W Taylor (opens at 9:30 am)
Lulu's - 1000 S Leavitt (officially opens at 11 am, but often opens a few minutes before that)
Donald's - 2325 S Western (opens at 11 am)
Ricobene's 252 W 26th (opens at 11 am)
Freddie's 700 W 31st Street (31st & Union) (opens at 10 am)
Uncle Johnny's 500 W 32nd (opens at 6:30 am, IB sandwiches should be ready by 9am)

Note: As stated in a separate post on Lulu’s, it is at the SW corner of Ogden & Taylor: approach it from one of those two streets as Leavitt disappears at that point. Lulu’s is just a few blocks from Damenzo’s and you may prefer to walk.

As the White Sox will be playing at Wrigley Field this weekend, traffic and parking will be easier on the South Side. Of course, dedicated fans of both baseball and Italian Beef will have an agonizing choice as to how they spend their day.

Beef on!

George R wrote:Let's start at 10:30 am at Damenzo's, followed by Lulu's, then work our way south and then east.

... Lulu’s is just a few blocks from Damenzo’s and you may prefer to walk.

Hello beefologists,

I would like to stroll down and join you for the first two stops in Tri-Taylor, if I may. Antonius and Lucantonius might come along, too.

Damenzo's and Lulu's are so close together that it would be kind of a pain to move your car from one spot to the next. On a Saturday morning it should be no problem to find a space on Taylor, especially down toward Lulu's. (Note that most of Taylor has the "Euro" style metering, where you get a slip of paper to put on your dashboard from a kiosk.)

Just in case Taylor is all parked up, I'll bring along a few visitor parking permits good for the side streets.

For those driving in on the expressways: take the Western-Oakley exit off of the Eisenhower, then go south on either Western or Oakley to Taylor. Damenzo's is at the corner of Taylor and Claremont; Claremont is the north-south street between Oakley and Western.

see you Saturday morning,
Amata

When you all visit Damenzo's, you will have an opportunity to see one of the 27 Wonders of the World: the massive grease stains that cover trottoir and kerb and much of the surrounding street macadam all around the place. This substance is known as "permagrease." Decades of pizza and sub and beef drip is presumably the cause.

Antonius

P.S. At the bottom of page one is some parking info for the first leg of the Beefothon from Amata, perhaps easily missed since the new page started.

David,

I'm one of the last people on earth without a cell phone. You'll have to check in with Dickson. We look forward to seeing you whenever you can get there.

Absent "real time" reports, allow roughly 35-45 minutes per place to estimate the Beefathon's progress. Previous Beefathons have averaged about 45 minutes per, including drive time. As this is a more compact grouping it should go a little faster.

Thanks also to Amata for driving/parking info.

Beef on!

Beefathon etiquette. (Talk about oxymorons.)

Since a number of LTHers haven't attended a Beefathon before, I thought I'd review what happens.

First, everyone is welcome. There really is no size limit to the group as we just pile into each stand and order several beefs to be shared around.

At each stand we normally get one sandwich for every 4 or 5 people so everyone has a chance to compare beef from several places.

Usual practice has been for people to take turns buying a round of beef sandwiches or to share the cost of a round. While we're enjoying the goodies there often is a dialog with the stand owner, which has resulted in several kitchen tours.

Rating sheets will available (courtesy of Dickson) so we can get a sense of the group's opinion. Results will be posted by the Tabulator-General.

If you can only make it to part of the event that's fine. From my previous post you can estimate where the group will be at any given time.

It's all very informal and relaxed, and a lot of fun. Join us if you can.

Yes, I will bring score sheets. Please consider bringing a knife, napkins, a pen, and water if you wish. People have also been known to car pool for some or all of the event.

And I swear I will post results in a timely manner, and not lose the scoresheets.

My cell phone is 630-399-9172.

See you at Damenzo's.

David Hammond wrote:

dicksond wrote:And I swear I will post results in a timely manner, and not lose the scoresheets.

dicksond,

Thanks for the cell number. Might I suggest radically simplified scoring sheets?

David "Just Dummy It Up a Little, Okay?" Hammond

dear Dav'd "dumb like fox" Hammond,

If I have the time. Of course, I will mention here that changing the methodology in mid-test voids all previous results and invalidates the experiment.

But I would not want you to feel challenged by this. Perhaps you wish to just make your own notes, send them to me, and then I will re-interpret them as makes sense to me...

dicksond wrote:If I have the time. Of course, I will mention here that changing the methodology in mid-test voids all previous results and invalidates the experiment.

But I would not want you to feel challenged by this. Perhaps you wish to just make your own notes, send them to me, and then I will re-interpret them as makes sense to me...

Having different test populations doesn't void results right out of the box?

Seriously though, if you found that you were getting quality responses in all categories, then there's no reason to change. As I recall, there were so many parameters to consider that I ended up just responding to maybe a third of them.

Looking forward to massive consumption on Saturday,

Hammond

George R wrote:Damenzo's - 2324 W Taylor (opens at 9:30 am)
Lulu's - 1000 S Leavitt (officially opens at 11 am, but often opens a few minutes before that)
Donald's - 2325 S Western (opens at 11 am)
Ricobene's 252 W 26th (opens at 11 am)
Freddie's 700 W 31st Street (31st & Union) (opens at 10 am) [701 W 31st]
Uncle Johnny's 500 W 32nd (opens at 6:30 am, IB sandwiches should be ready by 9am)

Since the schedule looks rather light—only six stops—here are a few comments and suggestions so that not too many of you go home hungry.

The best thing at Damenzo’s is probably the calzone (“pizza puff”) but since it takes about a half hour it won’t be practical to order one. You should certainly go around the corner to Masi’s Bakery (933 S Western) and get a few slices of pizza to take home. You might want to stop at Masi’s first because the pizza sells out early.

You’ll pass Ferrara Bakery (2210 W Taylor) on the way to Lulu’s. Might as well pick up a few pastries and some cookies for later. Lulu’s is probably best known for their “2 hot dog special” but I wouldn’t really recommend them. I’ve heard good things about Lulu’s chili but never tried it. Anyone willing to take one for the team?

Be sure to check out the electric gyros clippers they use at Donald’s. A friend who works nearby swears by their foot-long Polish on French bread with sautéed peppers and onions. It’s pretty good but I think they should be sued for false advertising: that thing is a foot and a half, easy.

Ricobene’s is best known for their breaded steak. You might want to try one and see if it’s as bad as Erik thinks. A frozen lemonade might hit the spot about now. It’s not Mario’s but it’s not too bad.

Freddie’s also has lemonade so you might want to compare. You’re only a few blocks from Southside Shrimp House (335 W 31st). As we found on the first Beefathon (9+ stops), a sack of shrimp is a nice change of pace from all that beef.

There’s nowhere to eat inside Uncle Johnny’s but I think there’s a little park at 33rd and Shields. You’re practically around the corner from Jimbo’s where you could have a beer and root, root, root for the Cu. . . no wait, that’s a really bad idea.

Rene G wrote:There’s nowhere to eat inside Uncle Johnny’s but I think there’s a little park at 33rd and Shields. You’re practically around the corner from Jimbo’s where you could have a beer and root, root, root for the Cu. . . no wait, that’s a really bad idea.