City Consensus
What Chicago locals agree on · updated 4 weeks ago
Would your top five be different?
Rank your Italian Beef →Top 5s
1 listMattFounder@biznut1.Al's #1 Italian Beef2.Johnnie's Beef3.Mr. Beef4.Carm's Beef and Italian Ice5.Portillo's & Barnelli's ChicagoMatt's Top 5
Editor’s picks
Sourced from the local food press. As seen in The Infatuation, Chicago Magazine, and LTHForum. Updated June 2026.
Johnnie's Beef · Elmwood Park
The 1961 Elmwood Park stand that LTHForum regulars and the Chicago Tribune have long treated as the platonic Chicago Italian beef. Thin-sliced, properly dipped, with a giardiniera that defines the genre.
Al's #1 Italian Beef · Little Italy
Al Ferreri and the Pacellis opened the original beef stand in 1938, making Al's one of the earliest documented Italian beef operations; the Taylor Street flagship has been the Little Italy anchor since the early 1960s.
Mr. Beef · River North
Joseph Zucchero's 1979 Orleans Street stand directly inspired FX's The Bear, which filmed its pilot inside the original shop. a thin-sliced, juicy-dipped Chicago beef that remains a River North rite of passage.
Portillo's & Barnelli's Chicago · River North
The Clark & Ontario flagship of Dick Portillo's chain still pulls the most recognizable beef in town. a sweet-peppered, fully dipped sandwich that set the citywide standard for the fast-service format.
Carm's Beef and Italian Ice · Little Italy
The Little Italy hole-in-the-wall at Polk and Carpenter that Chicago Magazine and LTHForum both cite as essential. Hand-carved beef and a lemonade-bright Italian ice counter that still feels like 1970s Chicago.
What’s your #1 Italian Beef in Chicago?
Rank your top five and see where your taste lands next to the locals.