Chicago's LEGENDARY Italian Beef Sandwich | Al's Italian beef

hey guys and welcome to another episode of UAE eats I'm UA and I'm in Chicago Illinois for the weekend now we're having a great weekend we hit up all the tourist spots we ate at all sorts of great Local eats but speaking of Local eats I hear that I can't leave Chicago until I eat an Italian beef sandwich and I hear that the place to get an Italian beef sandwich in Chicago is Al's Italian Beef now Al's is one of the first Italian beef restaurants in the whole city they didn't start it but they started the craze ever since owls opened in 1938 there have been hundreds of imitation carts all over the city now they say the Italian beef sandwich is an Italian-American culinary Masterpiece is it as great as people say let's find out let's go foreign guys we're here at owls now this place has been around since 1938 and it claims to be the place that started the Italian beef craze nowadays Al's has locations all over Chicago and this is one of their downtown Chicago locations let's check it out foreign we're here in Al's Italian Beef and they got all sorts of stuff on the menu they've got Italian sausages they've got Burgers they've got Polish sausages and hot dogs however the thing to get here what everyone says is the Italian beef sandwich and that's what we're here for all right guys we just got our Italian beef with some hand-cut fries and honestly even through the wrapper it smells really good when you walk in here you smell that stewed meat cooking in the background it's kind of cool to see them dipping the sandwiches you can either get it wet or you can get it dipped I hear a lot of people like it wet but I chose to get it dipped because I feel like that's the Chicago way and plus they came all the way here I might as well get the full experience so let's open this guy up all right guys this is our Italian beef sandwich from Al's number one Italian beef it looks really really good and guys it smells even better than it looks it's quite messy and getting the sandwich dipped I think my bread underwent like a metamorphosis it looks like it's more like custard now than like bread maybe I should have gotten it wet but hey you know when in Rome it was the Roman zoo and this meat is just paper thin I mean I've eaten Philly cheesesteaks but I feel like this is like next level Thin Meat just look how it just comes apart in my fingers with like almost no Force but guys let's not let the sandwich degrade any further let's eat all right guys it was very messy and slippery but I somehow managed to pick it up so let's take a bite foreign wow wow that that was amazing it's very messy so make sure you pack a lot of napkins but my goodness guys this sandwich is incredible so the Italian beef sandwich what it is is it's thinly sliced pieces of meat the legend is that back then Italian workers in meat factories were only given the toughest pieces of meat that they couldn't sell in order to make the meat more palatable they roasted it and stewed it alongside with seasonings and spices and then they cooked it for even longer in its own juices afterwards they slice the meat paper thin to the point where you can almost see through it and just look at how thin this meat is just look it's literally paper thin honestly guys this might be the media sandwich you will ever meet it's stewed roast beef covered in its own juices and I don't regret getting it dipped at all a lot of people prefer it wet but if you get it dipped the bread really goes through a transformation with the beef uses and just look the bread gets so soft almost cakey it kind of has like a custardy consistency I'm also detecting a very interesting spice blend now with these italian roast beef sandwiches you would expect oregano garlic powder salt pepper thyme but I think I detect something else maybe cinnamon maybe even garam masala whatever they're putting in it it works it's complementing the beef perfectly delicious and look after my commentary I already ate half of the sandwich that's how you know I like it let's fix that problem and finish the rest oh before I finished the sandwich I do want to say that I asked for hot peppers uh I'm gonna butcher this pronunciation giard denieri all right feel free to roast me in the comments for mispronouncing it but I got hot peppers and to be honest I don't really taste them that much they kind of have a more subtle flavor I think they're not really in your face hot they're not gonna let your mouth on fire if anything it's more of a subtle flavor I'm sure I'm tasting them but it's just not really in your face and very strong so don't be afraid to get the hot peppers because it's really not hot at all hmm I'm still trying to figure out what the secret spice is I'm starting to suspect Chinese five-spice it does kind of taste like some Chinese meat dishes I've had whatever it is it's not your typical Italian spice blend but as long as it tastes good that entered the Clean Plate Club in three minutes oh not gonna be real with you guys I've never eaten anything like that in my entire life I've never had a sandwich like that that was so meaty that was just so packed with meaty juice that had such a soft juicy bread it was great I will say that it's a very messy sandwich so if you don't like to eat something so messy it might not be for you or at least get it wet or you can probably request it a little more dry but me I love the messiness I love the wetness ugh perfect I think true to tradition the meat doesn't really melt in your mouth it is very tender but it doesn't melt in your mouth because it's not very fatty and that makes sense because as mentioned the sandwich originated with Italian American workers in factories who were bringing home tougher cuts of meat those meats are not going to be as fatty so they're not going to melt in your mouth like a ribeye steak will but all that is compensated with the spices with the Jew in the meat the bread excellent I can definitely see this being the perfect working class meal after a long day in the factory just regaining all those calories you burned and you know what I was so focused on the sandwich I forgot about the prize so let's try the prize dude the fries were good you can tell these are hand-cut fries they're all different sizes and they still have the skin on them I heard a lot of reviews before saying the fries aren't great that they're just average fries ah I mean I think these are great maybe they heard the feedback and they started making hand-cut fries I mean I guess they could be a little bit more crisp but they're good I can't complain anyways guys thank you so much for coming on this journey with me my flight leaves in a few hours and I couldn't leave Chicago without eating an Italian beef sandwich and I'm glad I did honestly this was the highlight of my trip and that's saying a lot because I had a great weekend have you guys eaten at Al's before do you think owls is the best Italian beef in Chicago is there somewhere else you prefer where do you think I should eat next let me know in the comments below if you like my videos make sure you like And subscribe that way you stay up to date whenever I post another video I'm gonna finish these meat scraps before I go until next time I'll see you later foreign

Channel: UA Eats

Views: 66,848

Keywords: al's italian beef, al's #1 italian beef, als italian beef, als #1 italian beef, al's italian beef vs portillo's, al's italian beef man vs food, italian beef sandwich, italian beef sandwich chicago, italian beef sandwich mukbang, italian beef sandwich the bear, italian beef sandwich recipe, chicago food, chicago food tour, chicago food review, chicago eats, chicago must eats, chicago restaurants, chicago restaurants downtown, best chicago restaurants, italian beef, food vlog

Id: 3lzRVJ8VXdo

Length: 8min 25sec (505 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 16 2022