Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Italian Beef Sandwiches

My favorite Italian beef sandwiches are from Portillo's. If you are ever in Chicago you MUST get one for yourself, preferably dipped, peppers are optional. (Dipped means they dip the whole sandwich in the beef juices until the bread is sopping; also called juicy. Peppers can be sweet green bell peppers or hot sport peppers.) Al's Beef is a close second and there are tons of small "beef stands" all around the city that are good, but Portillo's is the BEST.

However, the nearest one to our house is at least 15 minutes away in normal traffic; dinnertime is also rush hour, so Portillo's for dinner during the week is out. I have tried a few frozen Italian beef tubs and Papa Charlies is the best one (so far). Tonight we tried the Aldi brand which is Cattleman's Ranch. It was okay; the meat was good, not chewy, and there was a lot of gravy, but it just didn't have that zip of flavor. Not bad, just not great. Oh well, it was definitely edible. I served it with french bread to make the sandwiches and cold pasta salad on the side.

My daughter is watching the movie Bolt right now, and stuffing her face with popcorn. It is an adorable movie, great for kids as well as adults (the cat steals the show, very funny) - I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. Borrow a kid to watch it with if you don't have one!

Happy eating!

3 comments:

  1. Yummy dinner :) We loved Bolt, very cute movie, Miss M could watch it over and over and over. lol

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  2. LOL, I'm thinking "why borrow a kid, I love to watch movies like Bolt". we haven't seen it yet, but its on our list to rent.

    interesting about those sandwiches; if I'm ever in Chicago, I will have to try to remember the name of the place; I'm sure my hubby would enjoy it :)

    betty

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  3. I have to admit, I've never had an Italian Beef sandwich, but they sure do sound good! There is a recipe for them on AR that has good reviews. I may have to try it!

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